Chicora (Steamboat), C53588., 17 Jun 1868

The former blockade runner CHICORA has arrived in tow of a tug. She is an iron steamer measuring 230' x 26' and has an oscillating engine with 52" cylinder and 4' stroke. Ever since the close of the Civil War she has been tied up at Halifax, when she was purchased last fall by Malloy & Co., of Toronto. She came through the canal in two sections. She will be fitted up by David Bell and run as a passenger steamer between Collingwood and Fort William. Her speed is from 16 to 18 miles per hour.
      Chicago Republican
      June 13, 1868


Arrival of a Blockade Runner. - The Buffalo Courier mentions the arrival at that place, in [two] parts, towed by a tug, of the steamer CHICORA, [used as] a blockade runner during the war. She was built [at] Liverpool, in 1864, by C. W. Weller & Co., and [her] general appearance is that of a rakish and fast-going vessel, with very fine lines fore and aft, with [round] cutwater and round stern - built especially for fast running. Her hull is of iron, and she is peculiarly constructed. Her dimensions are 230 feet [keel], beam of hull 26 feet, beam extreme over paddle boxes 46 feet, depth of hold 11 feet 8 inches. She is worked by two oscillating engines, [of 52] inch cylinder and 4 feet stroke, and of [?] horse power nominal. Her engines were built [by] Fawcett & Preston, one of the oldest and first builders of marine engines in England. She has [?] large tubular boilers, with 410 tubes in each boiler, four furnaces to each boiler, and works under general low pressure of forty-five pounds of steam. She is built in seven water-tight compartments, [and] fitted up with extra steam pumps, which can at [any] time, be connected with one or all of the compartments at pleasure. At the close of the late war, [she] was taken to Halifax, N. S., where she lay [until] purchased by her present owners, Messrs. [K?] & Co., of Toronto, C. W., last fall, with the intention of fitting her up as a first-class passenger boat to run between Collingwood and Fort William, Lake Superior, touching at intermediate ports. She [has] been brought to Buffalo for alterations, and will go into Bidwell & Mason's dry dock for this purpose.
It is expected that she will be ready for business in about a month. When finished she will have [an] entire sponsing deck running around her, and [new] cabins, and will then be a first-class passenger [boat]. She is fore and aft schooner rigged, and will [?] canvass, and will be able to make from sixteen to eighteen miles an hour. It was necessary to cut [her] in two, so that she could pass through the St. Lawrence and Welland Canals, and she was accordingly cut between two of the water-tight compartments. David Bell, Esq., has charge of the work of pu[tting] her back together.
      Detroit Free Press
      June 17, 1868


The CHICORA. - This redoubtable blockade runner, whose arrival we noticed a few days since, is in Mason & Bidwell's dry dock. Her sections have been put together. They were taken apart by cutting the rivets, and so nicely was the job and the subsequent one of putting her together performed that every rivet hole came exactly to its place, and not one new one was cut.
When she is painted it will be impossible to discover where the cutting apart was done. She is also receiving guards seven feet wide in the middle, which will add fourteen feet to the width of the main neck [sic] in the widest place. An upper cabin is also to be built forward. Taken altogether, with her sharp lines and raking spars and smoke pipes, she will be one of the swiftest and swiftest-looking craft afloat on the lakes. She will be taken to Lake Superior when the repairs on her are completed. - Buffalo Express.
      Detroit Free Press
      June 25, 1868


Paddle wheel steamer CHICORA. Official Canada No. 53588. Built Birkenhead, G.B., 1864. Of 415 tons gross. 221 x 26 x 17. rebuilt Port Dalhousie, Ont. 1878. Ex U. K. LET-HER-BE [blocade runner] Rebuilt barge WARRENKO 1920. DISPOSITION:-- Sank Kingston, Ont., June 1939
      Preliminary List of Canadian Merchant Steamships
      Inland & Coastal, 1809 to 1930. World Ship Society