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ee MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. | built by J. Dod. In the next year the William Avery was also built at Sacketts Harbor by the same builder and for the same parties, and was 131 ft. by 21 ft. by 7 ft. 4 in. She was also fitted with a low-pressure engine. All these vessels were used to ply to and from Sacketts Harbor and the lake ports. ; The United States was built at Oswegatchie in 1831 by Wil- liam Capes for the Ontario & St. Lawrence Steamboat Co. She has 143 ft. by 26 ft. 7 in. by 11 ft., and was fitted with a low-pres- sure engine, 40 in. cylinder by 8 ft. stroke, built by W. Avery & Co. This vessel continued in service until 1843, when she was broken up at Oswego, her engine being put in the Rochester. This vessel was not used on the St. Lawrence river after the "Patriot War" of 1837, as she took a part in that affair, and having be- come obnoxious to the Canadians it was not considered advisa- ble to use her on that part of the route. This conipany was in- corporated by the New York legislature in January, 1831, with a capital of $100,000, and the United States was its first vessel. For size and accommodations she far surpassed anything that had previously been in service on Lake Ontario. In 1833 the Black .Hawk was built at French Creek by G. S. Weeks for William Baker & Co., for use on the St. Lawrence river. This vessel was 106 ft. by 18 ft. by 17 ft., and was fitted with a low-pressure en- gine of 30 H. P. The Oswego, for Lake Ontario service, was built in 1833 at Oswego; was 143 ft. by 20 ft. by 7 ft.8 in. Her low-pressure engine, built by Avery & Co., was transferred in 1839 to the St. Lawrence. In 1835 the Oneida was built at Oswego. She was 132 ft. by 19 ft. by 9 ft., had a low-pressure engine and was commanded by one of her owners. Some years, later she was on Lake Erie, where she was finally lost. There was also on the river the Telegraph of 131 ft. by 18 ft. 9 in. by 8 ft. She was converted into a sailing vessel and destroyed by fire on Lake St. Clair. There was a small boat of 68 ft. length, built for Black Lake, named Rossie, having a high-pressure engine built by Star- buck & Son,'Troy, N. Y. : tee os In 1839 the St. Lawrence was built at Oswego. In 1844 this vessel was rebuilt and lengthened so that she measured 180 ft. by 23 ft. by about 11 ft. She was in service about five years and was laid up at Clayton, N. Y., in 1850. The engine came out of the Oswego. In 1842 the American Line on Lake Ontario, running from Lewiston to Ogdensburg, stopping at Toronto and Kingston on the Canadian shore, and Rochester, Oswego and Sacketts Harbor on the American shore, had four steamboats in operation. "They were the Rochester, which was 158 ft. by 27 ft. by 11 ft., with high-pressure engine, 28 in. by 8 ft.; Lady of the Lake of about the same size; the Oneida, built in 1835, and the St. Lawrence. The time consumed for the trip from Ogdens- burg to Lewiston was twenty-four to twenty-six hours. In 1849 the United States Mail Line, or American Steamboat Co., and in 1859 the Ontario Steamboat Co. had the Northerner, the Ontario and the Bay State. The Ontario was 222 ft. by 32 ft. by 12 it., with a beam engine of 50 in. by 11 ft. The Northerner was 200 ft. by 37 ft. by 12 ft., with a beam engine of 60 in. by 11 ft.; and Bay State, 200 ft. by 27 ft. by 10 ft., with beam engine of 40 in. by 11 ft. The New York was added in 1852. She was 223 ft. by 33 ft. by 12 ft. with beam engine, 60 in. by 12 ft. The building of railroads along the lake destroyed the business of this line in the same way and about the same time--a few years later--that it caused the withdrawal from active service of the large side-wheelers on Lake Erie, but with the differetice that while the Lake Erie vessels had their engines re- moved and mostly sent to New York city, to be used in other vessels, the Lake Ontario vessels had in the St. Lawrence river, notwithstanding its rapids, an outlet by which they could reach American ports on the Atlantic seaboard. In 1860 the New York and the Northerner and in 1863 the Suffolk and Bay State, and in 1865 the Ontario, were all taken safely down the St. Lawrence to ports on the Atlantic coast. The New York saw considerable service on the New England coast and on the Delaware river and bay and was laid aside from further service about 1893. The Ontario and the Bay State were sold to foreigners about 1867. Most of the engines for these vessels were built at the Morgan Iron Works, New York city.. Some months prior to the New York 1unning the rapids in 1860 two Canadian built side-wheel steamboats that were larger than the New York attained the same distinction. The Canadian steamers were 208 by 30 by 9 ft. They were named originally America and Canada. There was American capital invested in their construction by the Great Western Railroad Co. They had beam engines of 70 in. by 12 ft., constructed by H. R. Dunham & Co. After they arrived in New York they were altered for coast service--for they were much like our Long Island Sound steamboats--by cutting off part of their guards to 3 ft. in width, and building up the structure on the main deck more solid and firmly, and by adding heavy hog frames to enable them to withstand the severe weather en- countered on the coast. One of these vessels was chartered to the quartermaster's department to transport troops. Her namé changed to Coatzacoalcos. Jt has been an enigma how this ves- sel, so ill-adapted to this work, could have gone through the many trying situations in which she was often placed without greater damage than she received. A special act of congress was: ob- tained to give her American register. Her charters to the gov- ernment ran from March 16, 1861, to Sept. 17, 1862, at from $1,100 to $1,400 per day. After the vessel was placed on the Nicaragua route, where she remained until 1866, her name having been changed to the original one of America, she was rebuilt, her bottom being planked over the original hull, with strengthen- ing of bulkheads and hull in general. She was then sent around to the Pacific ocean, and came near being lost on the voyage. She 5 [Dec. 17; was finally destroyed by fire while lying in the harbor of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, April 11, 1869. The Canada was pur- chased by Hargous & Co., renamed the Mississippi, and placed on their Tehuantepec route from New Orleans for a year or more. History seems to have swallowed up her record after this, . though it is thought she was sold for service in South American waters, from Panama to Valparaiso. Marshall O. Roberts of New York was interested in these vessels. STORY OF HOW THE RAPIDS WERE RUN. An account is thus given of the America and the Canada running the rapids of the St. Lawrence: "The fine steamers Canada and America have been brought safely down the rapids ~ of the St. Lawrence to the ocean. They cost half a million dol. lars, and were found to be worth nothing above the rapids, In | passing down the rapids they made some leaps 7 or 8 ft. in height. For vessels 300 ft. long and 6 or 8 ft. draught this was regarded as a neck or nothing experiment. The first rapids--the Long Sault--are 7 miles long and extremely rough, the boiling water . heaving up from 8 to 12 ft. high in places and dashing about the - rocks like the ocean in a violent storm. This passage was made in fifteen minutes. The rapids of Split Rock were next in the way. Here it was necessary to make a curve almost at right angles within a space only two-thirds the length of the same. The pilot, in the. Long Sault rapids, with the dexterity of a skilful player at billiards making his carom, let the bow. of the boat strike - -a rock forcibly on her starboard side, thereby throwing her stern into the center of the channel by the only practical method, and permitting her to pass through in safety. Next the Cedar rapids were reached. They were passed at the same rate, the boat strik- ing alike aft and forward, but no substantial injury was sus- tained. The Lachine rapids, near Montreal, were the next. Here the Canada again struck. The rocks here are exceedingly bold and present a rough and ragged surface, but were passed in safety, and in a short time the vessel and her, bold mariners glided pee and exultingly through the abutments of the Victoria ridge. There was no further running of these rapids by American vessels, or those for use on our coast, until June, 1891, when the whaleback Colby shot the rapids of the St. Lawrence, on her way from Duluth, Minn., to the Atlantic coast. This vessel was 250 - ft. by 36 ft. by 22 ft., and drew 6 ft. 9 in. aft and § ft. 6 in. for- ward. The first running of these rapids by American steamers was by two revenue cutters, about 1848 or 1850, named the Jeffer- son and the Dallas. Since 1870 more than one attempt has been made to establish an American line on the St. Lawrence river for the summer travel exclusively, but they have all ended in a failure. LOSS OF LIFE ON THE GREAT LAKES. During the season of navigation just closed on the great - lakes ninety-four lives were lost. Of this number ten were pass- engers, being the first passengers to be lost for over a decade. 'The total number of lives lost is the smallest since 1896. In but a single case was a vessel lost with her entire crew, the founder- ing of the schooner, Emerald on Lake Ontario in November being the exception. While the loss of property was the heaviest for ~ five years the crews of the wrecked vessels were generally taken off in the life boats. Singularly enough the wrecks were not caused by the heavy gales but by the more moderate ones. By causes, the losses were as follows: Overboard, forty-one; fell into hold, eleven; foundering, twenty-three; collision, five; killed by machinery, ten; fell from mast, two; fire, one; shot by mis- 'take, one. Divided by lakes, Lake Erie leads with twenty-nine fatalities. Lake Michigan is next with twenty-six. The others were: Lake Ontario, fourteen; Lake Superior, eight; Detroit river, three; St. Clair river, four; Lake Huron, ten. Compared with other seasons, the record is: 1896, sixty-six; 1897, eighty-eight; 1808, ninety-five; 1899, 100; 1900, 110; 1901, 122; 1902, 140; 1903, ninety-four. ~ _In the number of lives lost, the foundering of the steamer Erie L. Hackley on Green bay, Oct. 4, was the most notable, in that twelve people went down, ten of them passengers. This disaster was caused by a tornado, which swept Green bay after doing a vast amount of destruction on land. The foundering of the big wooden steamer W. F Sauber on Lake Superior, Oct. 26, the most important in a money way of all the disasters of the season, would have been attended by the loss of the entire crew had it not been for the heroism of Capt. James Johnson of the steamer Yale, who stood by the sink- ing boat all night through the storm and unassisted rescued all but two of her crew. Capt. Albert Clinton, superintendent of the Detroit, Belle Isle &-Windsor Ferry Co., died at his home in Windsor last week. He was born near Tilsonburg, Ont., in 1843. While he was still a boy his parents moved to Belle isle, then known as Hog island. He followed the lakes as a calling, his first command being the steamer Minnie, owned and operated by the Peninsula Iron Co. Later he became captain of the tug Doyle, owned by the Brown Dredging Co. In 1873 he entered the service of the Detroit, Belle Isle & Windsor Ferry Co. as master of the steamer Hope. Ten years later he became master of the steamer Fortune, and in 1893 he became superintendent. He is survived by a widow and daughter.