Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 25, no. 2 (November 1992), p. 11

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Ship of the Month - cont'd. Capt. Howard relinquished command of BANSHEE in 1860 to take over the iron hulled steamer MAGNET, which had been purchased by Alexander Milloy that spring. Her upperworks were totally rebuilt and her machinery was overhauled and improved before she was placed in service. MAGNET connected with the Mail Line ships at Quebec, and departed twice a week for Riviere du Loup, Cacouna and the Saguenay River. The command of BANSHEE passed to Capt. D u n can Sinclair, formerly of the MAYFLOWER. He was described as "a very smart, active officer, and a good seaman to boot". [17] In 1861, the Royal Mail Line, whose official name actually was the Canadian Inland Steam Navigation Company Ltd., underwent a corporate reorganization, and became simply the Canadian Navigation Company. On Friday and Saturday, September 27 and 28, 1861, another violent storm hit Lake Ontario, and it was reported that a more severe storm had not been experienced on the lake for 25 years. The wind blew with hurricane force from the northeast, and the seas ran high. At the always-dangerous eastern end of the lake, the storm was particularly severe and inflicted considerable damage upon shipping. When some fifty miles out of Kingston, on Saturday morning, BANSHEE, which was bound for Toronto with mail and passengers, fractured her shaft whilst labouring in the waves. She put back with great difficulty, only having the use of one wheel, and eventually reached Kingston safely, from which port on Sunday her mail and passengers were dispatched to Toronto aboard PASSPORT. A new shaft was ordered for BANSHEE and repairs were effected at Kingston. While the steamer had been creeping back to Kingston in the storm, she had met the steamer GEORGE MOFFAT, of Messrs Holcomb & Henderson's freight line, under Capt. Collins, which had been bound from Port Stanley to Montreal. The MOFFAT fractured her propeller shaft and, late on Saturday afternoon, drifted ashore below Long Point, Ontario. The seas broke over her with great violence, stove in her bulwarks and sprang her timbers. She was loaded with flour and dried peas, and the latter swelled when they became wet, and burst the deck of the MOFFAT. Capt. Sinclair of BANSHEE had communicated with Capt. Collins at noon but, being in distress himself, was unable to render any assistance. When BANSHEE arrived at Kingston, however, he reported the plight of the MOFFAT, and the steam tug HERCULES was dispatched to her aid. The tug arrived a quarter of an hour after the MOFFAT finally went ashore, but the waves were running so high that no attempt could be made to haul her off. The crew of the MOFFAT reached shore safely, but their steamer became a total loss. (It is notable that, in the same storm, the steamer OSHAWA, Capt. Riddell, was driven ashore at South Bend, thirty miles west of Kingston, on Friday night whilst en route from Port Dalhousie to Montreal with flour; her crew got ashore safely but their ship was abandoned to the underwriters. Capt. Robert Gaskin's schooner ST. GEORGE was reported ashore near "The Ducks", and on the U . S. side of the lake, the steamer BAY STATE, Capt. Morley, of the American Express Line, was detained two days in the Genesee River, not daring to venture out. Two propellors were reported ashore on the south side. Said the "Leader": "It is creditable to the staunch steamer ZIMMERMAN that her trips were regularly made throughout the week, not withstanding the severity of the weather. If anything further were necessary, this fact is about sufficient to establish her as a thorough and reliable sea-going ves s e l. " [18] ) Two years later, on August 20, 1863 (otherwise reported as during the night of August 21-22), ZIMMERMAN burned at Niagara with the loss of two lives. Less than two weeks later, on Tuesday, September 1st, BANSHEE was downbound in the St. Lawrence, ten miles below Kingston, under the command of Capt. H . E. Swales, when she fractured her shaft and damaged one of her wheels. The incident caused damage of $4, 430 to BANSHEE, of which only $1, 250 was r e coverable from the insurers. All of BANSHEE's passengers were transferred to "the American steamer from Ogdensburg", and BANSHEE was towed back to Kings

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