"At an Anchor at 60 Fathom Water," November End, 1678: Schooner Days DCCCXXV (825)

by C. H. J. Snider

AFTER a wild night of wilder tossing, dawn of November 27th, 1678, broke white and chill on Lake Ontario—morning at seven, but no lark on the wing nor hillside dew pearled. For lark read black cormorant and ghost white herring gull, for hillside take snapping black peaked waves with snarling crests. Since the day before, the Sieur de la Motte's 10-ton brigantine Frontenac had ridden to her long straight-armed slim-shanked anchor, spray freezing on her bow wales and cable in a solid walrus moustache of ragged icicles. She was in the grip of a hard head wind which had blown her offshore on this world's first voyage of sail to Niagara. The night must have been hell without flames for the fifteen or sixteen men packed into her thirty foot length like frozen fish. There was no room to walk, hardly enough to swing the arms or kick the heels. They would have frozen in their sleeping bags but that the cold kept them continually rubbing their hands and faces. Now in the grey dawn light they stared hollow-eyed and saw with joy that the wind was freeing them, coming "fair," that is a tailwind for where they wanted to go. As soon as they could make out the high loom of the backbone of old Ontario far off to the north, they hove in sixty fathoms of hempen cable, hard and heavy as a frozen snake, beat the casing of frozen spray from their furled sails of new canvas, and hoisted them, snapping and banging in the new breeze.

ON TO TORONTO

The changed wind was now northeast, the new day clear and cold as sometimes a northeaster gives. Lake Ontario was a deep rich dark green when the sun rose, creamy where the breakers flung their golden treasure of foam. The sun, daily farther on his journey to the warm south, shone brightly as the night clouds cleared. The high ridge of Northumberland climbed up the sky to starboard, its ragged russet oaks making a thin overtone through the everlasting green of pine and fir. Farther west the forest land marched dim and blue, with heights known later as Scarboro showing mauve and beige in the sun. Toronto Island seemed not a sandbar but trees in water.

And so, ere the short November day was done, after 10 days voyaging from Kingston they put into Teiaiagon, up the Humber, for there was Indian corn there, and they were very hungry and very cold.

HARD TIME AHEAD

THE first known sailing craft on, Lake Ontario was left last week "eight days out," between the Wicked and St. Peter (each having their Points in Prince Edward County), with the promise to continue the, voyage begun at Kingston on Nov. 18th, which is here to be fulfilled.

The course to the western shore of Prince Edward has been traced with fair accuracy but thence onward 'tis in deep water, literally and figuratively. Father Hennepin, enviably concise, left this record:

"On the 26th we were in great danger about Two large Leagues off the Land, where we were oblig'd to lie at an Anchor all that Night at sixty Fathom Water and above; but at length the Wind coming to the North-Eaft, we fail'd on and arriv'd fafely at the further end of the Lake Ontario, called by the Iroquefe, Skanadario. We came pretty near to one of their Villages call'd Tajajagon, lying about Seventy Leagues from Fort Frontenac, or Catarokouy."

UNKNOWN ANCHORAGE

Where had they spent the night "at an Anchor?"

The sixty fathom curve in Lake Ontario runs 15 miles from the north shore—nowhere nearer—which would be two very "large leagues" indeed, five English or French ones, and four Dutch ones. Taking a "large" league to be three "good" miles, the rough night's anchorage would be six or seven miles off shore. This gives soundings of forty fathoms off Point Peter, 20 south of the Scotch Bonnet, 40 south of Port Hope, 40 south of Frenchman's Bay and 24 south of the Humber. Without daring to rewrite Hennepin, any sailor is at liberty to question whether so small a craft as the Frontenac, supposed name of this first sail, would have more than 60 fathoms of cable aboard, even if she were carrying some of the cordage of a future ship which is improvable. Elsewhere Hennepin says they were not able to get bottom at 70 fathoms. This would indicate that was all the line they had to sound with, for you can get bottom anywhere in Lake Ontario if you have rope enough.

Before being forced to anchor on the 26th they may have got past the Wellington Sandbanks in the Prince Edward Peninsula and as far as the Scotch Bonnet, 10 miles south of Brighton and Presquisle.

LONG ROPE FOR SHORT BOAT

TO ride at anchor in 60 fathoms would require 200 fathoms of cable, for an anchor will not hold if the cable is "up and down." From, three to five times the depth of the water is minimum length of cable needed for proper holding. So the Sulpician father may have meant that they had 60 fathoms of rope out, which is a very great deal for a 30-foot craft. If their anchor held it was probably in water twenty fathoms deep. This would bring them perhaps six miles south of Nicholson's Island and the Scotch Bonnet reef, earlier known respectively as St. Nicholas and the Egg. These would be on their course, coasting around the future Prince Edward Peninsula in the effort to again pick up the north shore mainland, from which the projection of the present county forced her.

At this anchorage she would be 95 miles from the mouth of the Humber River and could reach it in twelve hours or so with a northeast wind. But not between dawn and dark in November. They may have taken two days, or sailed all night while they had a fair wind and a moon.

An alternative suggestion is that they did their uneasy tossing off Port Hope or Frenchman's Bay, where there were villages of the Cayugas and Senecas, Ganaraska and that jawbreaker Ganatskeywayagon. They may have hoped to get provisions there, as they ultimately did at the Humber. Fifteen miles off shore, south of these places, there is 60 fathoms of water and mud bottom, good holding ground, but no place for a small craft in freezing November weather.

"CROSS THE WATER"

At Teiaiagon they were still 32 miles from Niagara, having actually passed that place through their clinging to the north shore.

The Teiaiagon or Cross-the-Water, spelled with "j" in place of "i" by Father Hennepin, is one of the English spellings of the name of the hill fort and village Seneca newcomers (about 1660) built on Baby Point two miles up the Humber. They themselves had crossed a deal of water before they got there from the present state of New York. There had been "towns" or camps there before, Huron or Algonquin, and there were afterwards. The Mississagas built there later on the opposite side of-the river.

Cross-the-water was not what the Indians or the white visitors called the place. One of many translations, offered for Teiaiagon is "It crosses the stream." Cross-the-water might serve the purpose, for the Humber shallows here, above the Old Mill, providing an easy ford. Excavations show that Teiaiagon "crossed the water" frequently, being built first on one side of the Humber and then on the other. In 20 years or so the convenient firewood would be used up and the site would be unsanitary because the Indians did not dispose of their refuse scientifically. So they would cross the stream and erect their bark houses on the opposite site, returning when its possibilities were exhausted and nature had replenished the woodshed and sweetened the fouled soil. The east bank was the favored one for habitation, being more easily fortified.

Next stop Niagara. All out. End of the line. We shall try to get these first voyages of the sail to that port next week.

BREAD ON THE WATERS

Commodore Farquhar of the Burlington Yacht Club, confirmed this at the club's third annual dinner last week:

The boys in the BYC sloop Brenda arrived in Toronto Saturday night too late to find out what interested them most—who won the Truman Cup contest and how the L.Y.R.A. competitors finished, and what Schooner Days had in store for them. Not a Saturday Tely left on the news stands, and the other papers hadn't what they wanted. So they made sail disconsolately for their home port on Sunday, and as they cleared the Western Gap they saw a white patch floating in the water. When they came up to it they saw "EVENING TELEGRAM, NIGHT EDITION, ALL STOCKS, ALL SPORTS, ALL NEWS.," across the top of it. They stabbed at it with a boathook, landed it on deck at the first try, gently opened the dripping pages and—found Schooner Days on one side and LYRA results on the other with a bang-up picture of the LYRA fleet, at Presquisle.

Maybe that was why the Burlington Yacht Club honored the compiler of Schooner Days, by the hands of the Hon. Secretary, Mr. W. J. Reeves, with an honorary membership at the dinner.

We continue through the kindness of another good friend, the Burlington Gazette, which sent an account of the proceedings:

Presentations of two new trophies to skillful sailors was a feature of the club's third annual dinner.

Of the two new trophies, the Vinton trophy, donated by Vice-Commodore N. R. Vinton, a striking award, decorated with silver models of sailing craft, is to be raced for in annual competition by skippers of 16-footers; the Farquhar trophy, presented by G. E. Farquhar, a past commodore, is to be presented to the junior or intermediate member who each year provides the best example of good sportmanship.

At the dinner, the prizes were presented by their donors to the winners of the 1947 season; the Vinton trophy to Brian Hayden, and the Farquhar award to Brian Marshall.

As well as the newly donated trophies presented for the first time, awards were made to the winners of other cups. The "Sea Elf" trophy won by Norman Vinton, sailing Brenda II, was presented by C. R. Lunt, commodore of the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, while the commodore of the Burlington club, W. A. Wooley, presented the 1947 season championship awards, in the form of engraved silver coffee spoons.

These were given to: First division (keel and centreboard craft), N. R. Vinton, R. H. Gilbert, Commodore Wooley; second division (16-footers), Brian Hayden, Bob Marshall, C. Sneath; third division (Snipes and Sunrays), J. Bellchamber (who shared his award with five others, who all skippered his Snipe, Bill G II, on various occasions), Ian Olsen, Larry Ball.

Head table guests were: J. Husband, measurer and starter of the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club; E. A. Cole, rear commodore of sailing, BYC; C. R. Lunt, commodore, RHYC; Hughes Cleaver, MP for Halton; N. R. Vinton, vice-commodore, BYC; C. H. J. Snider, W. A. Wooley, BYC commodore; W. M. Gilbert, property chairman, BYC; S. Vila, past commodore, RHYC; G. E. Farquhar, past commodore BYC; William Hall, rear commodore of power division, BYC; George Scott, rear commodore HBYC; W. J. Reeves, secretary, BYC; N. Robertson, RHYC.

LAST TRIPPERS, LOCKING THROUGH AT THE SOO

Show what it is to face November gales in present steam-heated conditions. It was worse two hundred and sixty-nine years ago.