Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Scanner, v. 29, no. 6 (March 1997), p. 8

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Ship of the Month -cont'd. 8. hold, doing damage to the interior of the hull that would not have otherwise been known. A call for aid sent to the city meant that the old Hyslop-Ronald engine, which had not been used in years, had to be sent. This required cal­ ling out a special team, those in the central station being required there. "A team, after some difficulty, was secured from Joe Newman, together with a driver. Chas. G. McDermott took charge of the engine and a start was made for the scene of the fire about one hour after it was first discovered. A one-horse conveyance, from Hyne's Stable was pressed into service, and in charge of President Charles Herald, of Central Fire Co., who not long ago underwent a delicate operation, raced to Port Dalhousie, followed by the en­ gine which made the trip over the rough country road in 40 minutes. Steam was up on the engine's arrival and a strong stream was immediately laid, which soon was followed by another line of hose on the arrival of Capt. Yound and Chief Riddell. The fire on the upper works was checked in good time by the water and the work of the men. "The engine, under Mr. McDermott's handling, performed admirably and showed that its retention at the fire hall is more than a 'bluff' scheme. Its work was quite surprising. After extinguishing the flames above, the firemen found a stubborn resistance in the fire in the hold. Water was poured into the boat until nearly 11 o'clock, and it was about midnight when the engine arrived at its home at the Central fire hall, where after cleaning it will be again stored in the reserve quarters for the next emergency. The mystery as to the cause of the fire is increased by the fact that there was no fire under the boiler. Had there been steam up in the steamer's boiler the crew could have manned the pumps and put out the fire themselves. "The OCEAN was insured. The loss may be estimated at $25, 000. The OCEAN was a passenger steamer, 150 feet in length and 24 feet beam. She was built in 1872 at Port Dalhousie by the late (sic) S. Andrews, a few hundred yards from where she burned. (The 'late' Stephen Decatur Andrews was alive and well in Collingwood, where he had moved in 1881 to help found the drydock there. He died at Collingwood, but not until January of 1943, shortly before his 99th birthday. ) Only of late years has she been owned by the Wentworth Navigation Company, of Toronto. She had been renewed several times, and had been entirely rebuilt during the past nine years that Capt. Trowell has sailed her. When the fire broke out, Engineer Geddes was busy painting the smokestack... "... The absence of any stiff wind is all that saved the surrounding build­ ings from destruction. The village of Port Dalhousie is entirely without any fire fighting appliance. Coal for the engine was a serious problem. Capt. Trowell's face was a study as he gazed upon the 25 tons of coal burning away in the boat, and the prospect of the (fire) engine shutting down on account of the shortage of the same material. Enough was procured, however, by the captain to keep the engine streams in almost continuous operation until the fire was declared out. The mate was absent from the boat when the fire broke out. The second mate, Albert Thurott, however, was on hand and assisted the firemen considerably. " It is interesting to note that the propellor ST. MAGNUS (98), (a) R. W. STANDLEY (80), (c) MAGNOLIA (19), (d) LUCKPORT (C. 77693 & C. 103690), which has been mentioned earlier in this feature, also fell victim to a fire while she lay in the very same drydock as OCEAN. The 180-foot ST. MAGNUS, 853 Gross, had been built at Hamilton in 1880 on the burned-out hull of the STANDLEY. After her capsizing in the Cuyahoga River at Cleveland on June 7, 1895, ST. MAGNUS had been taken to Port Dalhousie for repairs, and she was on Muir's drydock when she burned on September 5th, 1895. The hull, however, survived and lasted until a fourth fire claimed her at Midland, Ontario, in 1934. Like ST. MAGNUS, the hull of OCEAN survived her Port Dalhousie fire. The re­ mains of the steamer were sold and removed from Muir's drydock in December

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