Toronto Knew Well These Lake Erie Craft: Schooner Days DCCCLXXI (871)

by C. H. J. Snider

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108 Schooners, 16 Tugs and Steamers, Dozens of Fish Boats Made Old Long Point Bay Busier Than Our Own Harbor in Heyday of Sail—Many Came to Lake Ontario and Stayed Here

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WHAT C. L. Saxton of Port Rowan said of the traffic of Long Point Bay in the days of sail is borne out by the adjoining list of vessels compiled by Enid Johnson for the Simcoe Reformer some time ago. Miss Johnson has included many vessels familiar to Toronto people when one had to cross the railway tracks to get to the waterfront because these Long Point Bay vessels found a home on Lake Ontario when they left Lake Erie. Port Burwell, which is not on Long Point Bay itself but west of it, was particularly prolific in lake schooners. It is credited with building 35 of the 124 vessels here mentioned. Many Port Burwell vessels were bought in Port Hope on Lake Ontario and sailed from there for they suited Port Hope's lumber trade well. Schooner Days has taken the liberty of adding the Island Queen and Arthur Hanna and a few more to Miss Johnson's list. Those two came here about 1900 and others have been named by Long Point Bay folk.

OLD NORTHERN CUSTOMER

The "Ada" in the list was renamed Marcia A. Hall at Windsor and brought to Lake Ontario by Capt. Maurice Fitzgerald of Oakville. She was afterwards owned and sailed by Capt. Pat McSherry of Toronto, and was a familiar figure in the old Northern docks when she was running lumber to Wilson, N.Y.

Other Toronto owned vessels in the list were the "barque" D. M. Foster, (Sylvester Brothers), the scow brigantine, Grace Amelia, converted into the funny Steambarge Gordon Jerry, the J. J. Pugsley, better known as John Goldring's Helen, the Viking, a standing keeler on the lines of a North Sea fish cutter, and the Clara Youell, three-masted schooner with clipper bow. The lady after whom she was named died in Toronto only recently. Erie Stewart was another Toronto caller, but she went to Lake Huron and sailed out of Southampton.

TRAGIC ARIADNE?

In this list the "Ada Adna", which we take to be the Ariadne, came to Oshawa from Port Burwell and was owned and sailed by Capt. Farewell. Later bought by Capt. Alex Ure of Toronto, who sold her to Capt. Sutherland McKay, resident in old Yorkville. Capt. McKay and his son, Capt. Hugh, who was master of the vessel, were lost with most of the crew when she foundered on Stoney Point in 1886.

The Anna Craig, Erie Belle, Erie Queen, Eliza White, D. Freeman, Mary Ann Lydon, both the Suffels, and Two Brothers (named after W. J. and George Suffel) came to Port Hope ownership, the Enterprise and George Dow to Port Credit, Vienna to Cobourg, Saucy Jack, Lady Macdonald, St. Clair, O. S. Storrs to the Bay of Quinte.

SOME CORRECTIONS

The timber tug, W. T. Robb, whose wreck lay at Victoria Park 60 years ago, hailed from Dunnville, which is hardly on Lake Erie, being an "inland port" on the Grand River, which sent many vessels, steam and sail, to the wider waters of the Great Lakes. Friend J. H. Riddell of Dunnville politely takes issue with some of the things said in a Lake Erie article, in a letter which is given below. He may be correct in every detail. Our own information about the Lake Erie vessels is hearsay, though we know the A. H. Jennie as a little Steambarge on Lake Ontario, and also saw the Erie Stewart on this lake. She was very long in the legs, with the draught-marks XV on her sternpost. Possibly the early French landed both at Port Dover and at Turkey Point. And was there more than one Bay Trader?

LONG AGO VESSELS OF LONG POINT BAY

Nearly all the vessels listed were schooners. There were also a few fish tugs, passenger steamers and steam barges. In general the vessel's name comes first, then her builder's or owner's and the place where she was built or belonged.

Arabian, Foster, Pt. Ryerse.

Austin, Miller, Pt. Ryerse.

Eliza Allan, Allan & Co., Pt. Dover.

Ada Adna (Ariadne?), Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Alliance (Bungalorum), Cutting, Foster, Pt. Ryerse.

Ada (Marcia Hall), Shaw, Dover.

Argo (Alice Mary), Bell, Pt. Burwell.

Albatross, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Annie Craig, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Adria, Bantum, Pt. Rowan.

Alzora, Hagerback, Pt. Burwell.

Arthur Hanna, Spain, Pt. Rowan.

Wm. Alderson, Str., 1884, D. Foster, Pt. Dover.

Ivy Alderson, Str., Allan, Dover.

Britannia, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Bermuda, Pt. Burwell.

Belle, Allan, Pt. Dover.

Bay Trader, Becker, St. Williams.

Blossom (Scott) Norquay, Dover.

Blake, Ed. McDurward, Pt Burwell.

Bay Queen (Dauntless), Allan, Pt. Dover.

Tug Belle, G. A. Brown, 1896.

Craftsman, 1873, Freeman Foster & Titus, Pt. Burwell.

Col. David Tisdale, Capt. Wm. Dickenson.

Conservative, Reid, Pt. Burwell.

Dunham (Kate Kelly), E. Ryerse, Clear Creek.

Dow, Geo., Woodward, Long Point.

Dow, Alex., Dow, PL. Dover.

Dominion, A. & B. Woodward, Pt. Rowan.

Ealnor (Eleanor?), 1826, Hugh McCall, Fisher's Glen.

Erie Belle, 1873, Foster (Youell & McDurward), Pt. Burwell.

Ella, Steamer, 1898, McDurward & Mason, St. Williams.

Eunice Ann (Elm City), Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Erie Queen, N. Woodward, Pt. Rowan.

Erie Stewart, Allan, Pt. Dover.

Erie Wave, 1882, Dow, Hoskins, Pt. Dover.

Ellen Theresa, Ryerse, Pt. Burwell.

Enterprise, Spain, Long Point.

Eclipse.

Flying Cloud, Allan & Co., Dover.

Free Trader, Allan & Co., Pt. Dover.

Annie M. Foster, 1875, D. Foster. Pt. Burwell.

Fellowcraft, 1873, Foster & McBurney, Pt. Burwell.

D. Freeman, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

D. M. Foster, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

G. Fisher, Turkey Point.

Grace Amelia, 1874, A. McBride.

Garibaldi, N. Woodward, Rowan.

Gena, Tug, P. B. & Co., 1906,

Hazard, 1849, Arnold.

Hazard, Str., 1892, Dow?, Pt. Burwell.

Lily Hamilton, 1874, W. Youell & Co., Pt. Burwell.

Island Queen, Port Rowan.

Tug Ida Belle, C. C. Bates, 1890.

A. H. Jennie, Str., Buck, Pt. Rowan.

Tug Kingfisher, Emery & Co., 1886.

John G. Kolfage, Pt. Burwell.

Kate Kelly (Dunham), E. Ryerse, Clear Creek.

Lillian, Pt. Burwell.

Lurea Emma (Sarah), Leask, Pt. Dover.

Louisa, Mc and Mc, St. Williams.

Lady Mowat, Pt. Rowan.

Lady MacDonald, 1873, Youell & Light, Pt. Burwell

Julia Larson, Pt Rowan, Pt. Dover.

Str. Lena, Acker, St. Williams, 1898.

Tug Lulu Beatrice, P. Hagerblow, 1896.

Lady Dufferin, 1872, Freeman & Cooper.

My Emma, Allan, Pt. Dover.

Mocking Bird, Allan, Pt. Dover.

McBride (John), Allan, Pt. Dover.

Margaret, Pt. Rowan.

Tug May B., C. C. Bates, 1900.

Muskrat, C. Smith, Pt. Rowan.

Mary Ann Lydon, Foster.

Mary Jane, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Marco Polo, Geo. Dow, Long Point.

Mayflower, Currer Bell, Dover.

Mary Ellen, Pt. Burwell.

Maud S., Crooker, Pt. Rowan.

D. W. McCall, .PL Ryerse.

Maple Leaf, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

McDermott, Pt. Burwell.

McKenzie, J. I. Dow, Long Pt.

New Dominion, Geo. Waterbury, Pt. Royal.

North Star, Pt. Dover.

Norman, Van Norman, Jos. Jackson.

Norfolk, Dec. 1870, Spain, Long Point.

Tug Nellie May, Young Bros., 1884.

Tug Norfolk, 1897, Musner & Co.

Oata, Ira Perry, Pt. Rowan.

J. J. Pugsley (Helen), Hoover & Bagley, Nanticoke.

Pine, 1890, T. Jenkins, May.

Royal Oak, 1850, J. Wilson, Port Dover.

Wm. Ross, 1858, Alex. McBride.

Saxon, Port Burwell.

Rosa Stearns, Woodward, Pt. Rowan.

Tug Swan, 1895, H. Swan.

Tug Star, 1904, P. Bates & Co.

Starlight, Pt. Burwell.

Snow Drop, Pt. Dover.

Sarah (Lurea Emma), Pt. Burwell.

Saucy Jack (1864), J. Roop, Peacock Pt.

Suffell, W. J. (1874), G. Suffel, Pt. Burwell.

Scott. S. & J. (Blossom), Pt. Dover.

Jas. Scott, 1874, M. Heil.

Sterling (1947), Geo. Stark.

Suffel, Geo., 1866, D. Williams & Titus.

Storrs, O. S., 1866, Foster & Mc Connell.

St. Clair.

Ellen Tracey.

Tedley Edley, Pt. Burwell.

Three Friends.

Two Brothers, 1868, G. W. Suffel, Pt. Rowan.

Twilight, Capt. Jno. Collett

Teal, W. Leaney, Pt. Dover.

Two Friends, 1873, Suffel & McDurward.

Union, McCall, Pt. Ryerse.

Tug Uncle Tom, 1893, Young & Son.

Vienna, 1871, G. W. Suffel, Pt. Burwell.

Viking, Pt. Dover.

Vera, B. Ball, Pt. Dover.

W. W. Wright, Pt. Dover.

Wheeler, J. C., Pt. Dover.

Woodruff, Wood, Pt. Ryerse.

Wright, Geo., Pt. Burwell.

Eliza White, Foster, Pt. Burwell.

Clara Youell, 1872, Wm. Youell, Pt. Burwell.

P. E. Young, Pt. Dover.

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This is Mr. Riddell's friendly letter:

"For a long time I have been reading with a great deal of pleasure your articles in The Telegram on 'Schooner Days' and was especially interested in The Story of Long Point in last week's issue. I hope you will not think that I am presuming too much if I tell you that there were several errors in your story. First you state that the French priests and explorers landed at Turkey Point; instead they landed at the place that is now Port Dover where a stone cross and cairn have been erected as proof of my statement. Then you refer to the Bay Trader as a two master boat whereas she had three masts. You refer to the steamer A. H. Jennie as a tug. She was really a cargo steamer. I am a native of Port Dover and as a boy I used to get a lot of pleasure in haunting the harbor and keeping track of all vessels I saw there. I still have a list of the names of 38 schooners and 26 steamers I have seen in the harbor there. A large number of vessels were built there in early days. The last schooner built there was (I think) the 'Erie Stewart.' I remember well the day she was launched for the schools were given a holiday on that occasion. I have been told by one who should have known that the first schooner built there was named 'Resolution.' There were a number of wrecks which I can remember at the Port and in Long Point Bay."

DEAD MAN'S BAY

R. F. Wheelan, Queen's student, asks about Dead Man's Bay at Kingston. We spell it that way, though the charts incline to Deadman's, and we are quite prepared for the assertion that Grampa Deadman was a UEL who etc., etc. All we know about Dead Man's Bay is that it is just around the corner from Navy Bay and Point Frederick, where most of the Eighteen-Twelvers were built. Some of them were dismantled and moored in Dead Man's Bay when the war was over, and allowed to sink there, and an interesting collection of relics from them adorns the Fort Henry Museum. As for the name, we have been told that in the 1830's or 1840's a large ferryboat filled with passengers — possibly workmen employed on the new fortifications — capsized there and drowned twenty persons or more. The water is very deep between the steep shores, and some of the bodies were never recovered. Local histories, St. George's parish register, and the files of the Kingston Whig, may have correct details. We have no more than is here given, which is confessedly meagre, but would be glad to hear the result of Mr. Wheelan's researches.

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BELOW THE BRIDGE AT PORT DOVER, showing the ERIE STEWART, two-masted schooner; VIKING, one of the few Lake Erie cutters or sloops (single-stickers), and tugs and fishboats of fifty years since.