First Into Port: Schooner Days CLIV (154)

Our worthy Harbor Commission has joined the great company of centennial year celebrants with a publication which does its compilers and the city and harbor great credit. It is known as "The Port and Harbor of Toronto, 1834-1934." Brig.-Gen. J. G. Langton, general manager of the Harbor Board, has, in this, made a valuable contribution to Toronto. Citizens are also grateful to the board's librarian. Mr. V. M. Roberts, whose patient accuracy in research and the collection of records shines through the product.

It will be news to most that the Port of Toronto dates as far back as the old French fort, that is, 1749. It is possible and probable that it was used by the early craft before that, for Father Hennepin speaks of putting into the mouth of the Humber, on the way to Niagara, in the preceding century.

But "in this year (1749) the first commercial cargo arrived at what is now the Port of Toronto," says the centennial book. "It was carried by a French armed vessel of about fifty tons and consisted of trade goods and supplies consigned to M. Varran, the keeper of Fort Rouille."

Now we have 59 steamship lines operating in and out of the port, and last year 2,428 vessels brought in 2,500,100 tons of cargo.

What was the name of this "first arrival," which deserved, but did not get, the harbor master's hat?

The French had, in 1749, the schooner Huzalt, of 50 tons, built that year at Fort Frontenac, and the brigantines St. Francis and St. Gabriel, built at the same place in 1741. It would be gratifying to find that Gabriel, who, presumably will be first up on the resurrection morn, was also first into the port of Toronto But we may have to wait until then to find out.

This harbor master's hat is an ancient tile, annually awarded to the skipper who first brings a laden vessel into our port. He dons the lid, looks proud, gets photographed, puts on his own hat again and goes uptown to buy another with the cheque the harbor master gives him: a fine old Toronto custom of eighty years' standing, copied extensively by other ports.

How the old names ring in the memory! Mr. Roberts' arrival records go back to 1868, when the Oakville schooner Smith and Post won the hat on April 2nd. The Smith and Post was named for the firm of grain and lumber exporters who owned her. The harbor was open that year until December 10th, when the scow Ionia, of Port Nelson, sailed in with the last load of cordwood.

In 1869 the old Highland Chief, which later came to grief at the Eastern Gap, opened navigation here on April 9th. The schooner Primrose closed it on December 13th.

In 1870 the schooner J. G. Beard, a fine vessel—she had, by the way, an Indian figurehead—owned by the mayor of Toronto, whose name she bore, arrived on March 31st. The stonehooker Mary Ann was last in, two days before Christmas. Mary Ann was the first arrival of the season five years later, opening navigation on April 15th, 1875—for a long period. The scow Ionia was again the last arrival that season, coming in on January 8th, 1876.

The schooner Meteor was the first in on March 27th, 1871, and the schooner E. Hall the last, on December 15th. Navigation opened next year with the schooner Storey arriving on March 18th. It closed with the steamer Canada's arrival December 9th.

On April 2nd, 1873, the schooner Minnie Proctor, known long afterwards as the Snowbird, was first I into port for the season. The schooner A. H. Moss was the last arrival, on December 2nd.

The Lone Star, of Port Credit, recently rebuilt from the hull of the schooner Hunter, arrived on March 21st, 1874, and the stonehooker Coral, of Oakville, then new, closed the season on December 23rd; a cold date to be delivering lake shore stone.

The arrival of the stonehooker Ionia on January 8th, 1876, was only the closing of the 1875 season; the Port Credit schooner scow, Minnie Blakely, inaugurated Toronto navigation for 1876 by arriving on April 13th. The season ended with the tug Mollie Spence bringing in two barges December 18th.

Early among arrivals stands schooner Friendship, entering on March 1st, 1877, with the scow Morning Star closing 308 days of navigation by arriving January 2nd, 1878; the port's best record.

Next year the small schooner Jenny Lind arrived on March 7th and the Lone Star was back again as the last ship in, on December 10th.

In 1879 our blunt-nosed friend, the Mary Ann, came in on St. Patrick's Day, and the schooner Belle Sheridan—lost with all hands but one the following year—was the last arrival, on December 19th. She was rebuilt during the winter, to leave her bones in Weller's Bay. Some of her timbers were brought to Toronto last November, 53 years to a day after her wreck.

In 1880 the first arrival was the appropriately named schooner Surprise, on March 3rd, almost a record. The schooner Octavia of Colborne, commemorating one of the daughters of the Keeler family, was last in, on December 4th.

Capt. Maurice Fitzgerald, of Oakville, brought his new schooner Marcia A. Hall into port on April 2nd, 1881, and the Defiance—already an old-timer, for she was built in the Etobicoke in 1845—closed navigation on December 19th. Her defiance applied equally to the frost king and father time, but she was given her name to signalize the triumph of her builder, "Boss" Harris, of Port Credit, over the farmers, who claimed the mouth of the Etobicoke as private property. He built his schooner there and proved it, for the time, to be a "port."

Another venerable antique, the stonehooker barque Swallow, built in 1841 to carry sand for the site of the old jail at the foot of Berkeley street, established an all-time record in 1882 by arriving with a load of cordwood on Feb. 27th. The barque Swallow survived up to the days of the Cobourg harbor work of 1910. The 1882 season was closed by the stonehooker Betsy on Dec. 6th.

For 1883 the schooner Ploughboy opened the port on April 12th and on Dec. 15th the then new Highland Beauty, whose lovely name and memory brought a cheque to the firemen's widows and orphans fund only last week, closed the year. The Highland Beauty had been intended for a steam yacht, but was finished as a schooner and traded here for twenty years.

The little schooner Minnie of St. Catharines, a tiny standing-keeler, was the first arrival both in 1884 and 1885. Those must have been hard winters, for she came in each time as April was going out. The barque Swallow traded right up to the end of the year, arriving Dec. 31st, 1885.

Again the Lone Star was first in for 1886, arriving March 24th. The Marion L. Breck, well-known Kingston schooner, was last in on Dec. 14th.

Another stonehooker Minnie, hailing from Toronto, opened navigation April 18th, 1887, and the Defiance closed it Dec. 19th.

Maud S. was the great trotter of the time, and Aaron Walker's new stonehooker, named after her, was the first arrival of 1888, on April 7th. The barque Swallow brought in the last cargo on Dec. 21st, the shortest day of the year.

Capt. John Miller's big scow Morning Star arrived on March 23rd, 1889, and the Port Union scow Una, another stonehooker, closed the season, arriving Jan. 6th, 1890. The Una was a late runner, for she closed navigation the following season on Dec. 23rd. The first arrival that year, 1890, not counting the Una, was the Port Credit stonehooker White Oak, called after the famous Oakville schooner of that name. She came in on the 4th of March.

In 1891 the stonehooker Coral, no longer new, was the first arrival, March 24th. The schooner Brothers, a hooker larger than the Coral, almost ran the year out, arriving with her last load on Dec. 28th.

The hat was taken by the little White Oak again on March 29th, 1892. The large hooker Flora, rebuilt from Capt. Palmateer's scow Flying Scud of Picton, was the last to arrive, on Dec. 22nd. She was lost two seasons later, going into Oakville.

In 1893 the stonehooker Lillian arrived on April 4th, and the persistent Coral finished the season on Dec. 8th. She also opened the next season, again arriving with a cargo on the 17th March, 1894. Capt. George Blowers, nicknamed Samson who had her then, was a hard driver, working early and late.

The tail-ender of the season arrived Dec. 26th, the day after Christmas. This was the scow-built steam barge Gordon Jerry, originally rigged as a sailing brigantine and named the Grace Amelia. She was the first of the stonehookers to try steam. It was not a success in that trade.

"Samson" Blowers, by the way, was the first of the stonehookers to see the possibilities of the gasoline auxiliary engine. He installed one in the Lillian, ten years after this time, and in the last days of the trade they nearly all had a one-lung cougher.

The Lillian was the first arrival in 1895, on April 15th. She, by the way, was the last surviving stonehooker, and was a boys' training vessel in Burlington Bay up to a few years ago. She was built in Henderson Bay, N.Y., in 1859. A steamer closed the 1895 season, the Arabian, arriving Dec. 9th.

The Zebra, smallest hooker except the Minnie of St. Catharines, opened navigation here on April 8th, 1896, and the schooner S. and J. Collier closed it on Dec. 14th.

Hitherto the sailing craft had had it all their own way with the Harbor Master's Hat or the cash the honor carried - a modest $3 - but in 1897 the supremacy of the steamship, long threatening, asserted itself. For three years in succession the passenger steamer Lakeside, with Capt. Nelson Wigle in the pilot house, was the first arrival, in March, and in the next year the steam-barge St. Joseph captured the honor.

The sailors tried to come back, and present century the barque Swallow scored once and the Madeline once, and the Maple Leaf twice. She was the last sailing vessel to open navigation here, performing the feat on March 31st, 1909.

But the honor fell with increasing frequency on the steamers, either the Lakeside or Macassa or, in later years, the Dalhousie City or the sand dredgers, Charles Dick or Sandland, or the collier Coalhaven.

The reason for the sailing vessels ceasing to be the early birds was that they were ceasing to sail altogether. The old Defiance kept going until 1917, when she went down off the Highlands. Her master was bitterly disappointed when he brought her into port on Jan. 5th, 1898, with a load of lake-shore building stone frozen to her decks, and was told she was not the first arrival of 1898, but the last arrival of 1897.

Lake sailing vessels disappeared from Toronto harbor with the sale of the North West, last of the fleet, in 1928. We cannot count the Lyman Mr Davis, lately burned at Sunnyside, for it was years since she had spread her wings here.

But we still have the Bluenose, and a fine sight she is.

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CAPT. F. J. MARIGOLD, steamer Dalhousie City, winner of 1926, wearing the famous harbormaster's hat. This one, originally owned by Capt. John Mead, of Mead's Island, dates from 1875. The first is said to have been presented by Capt. Hugh Richardson in 1854.

Seventy Years A Marine Engineer

Charles LaVallee, 298 Lumsden ave., has retired from active service.

"Boy-and-man" he spent 70 of his 86 years in marine engine rooms, and was chief of many Great Lakes steamers. He was in charge of the engines of his father's small steamer Young Canadian when he was twelve years old, and the Young Canadian was chartered to carry II.R.H. Prince of Wales when he visited Toronto in 1860. The Prince, later Edward VII, commended young LaVallee for his skill, presented him with a decoration and adjured him to be "a good engineer." The picture above is reproduced from a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Charles LaVallee.

Mariner and Builder Too

Capt. D. P. LaVallee, master mariner, father of Chas. LaVallee, of Toronto, built the Great Lakes steamers Young America and Ontario, the tug Hero, the schooner Undine, the yacht Seagull and the Windsor car ferries of the Great Western Railway. He was born at Berthier, Quebec, in 1825 and earned his first dollar working in a shipyard. He died at Hamilton, Ont., in 1886.