First Steamboats on the Great Lakes Excerpts
from an article by RICHARD PALMER published in “FreshWater”
A Journal of Great Lakes Marine History Volume 2 Number 1 Summer 1987and "A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River by Barlow Cumberland
In the spring of 1815 a British company was formed with shareholders in Kingston, Niagara, York, and Prescott, to build a steamboat to ply on Lake Ontario. A site suitable for its construction was selected on the beaches on Finkle's Point, at Ernestown, 18 miles up the lake from Kingston, on one of the reaches of the Bay of Quinte.
A contract was let to Henry Teabout and James Chapman, two young men who had been foremen under Henry Eckford, the master shipbuilder of New York. Construction was commenced at Finkle's Point in October, 1815, and with considerable delays caused in selection of the timbers, was continued during the winter. . The steamer was launched with great fanfare on 7th September, 1816, and named the Frontenac, after the County of Frontenac in which she had been built.
In the description of this launch of the Frontenac given in the September issue of the Kingston Gazette, the details of her size are stated. "Length, 170 feet; beam, 32 feet; two paddle wheels with circumference about 40 feet. Registered tonnage, 700 tons." Further statements made are, "Good judges have pronounced this to be the best piece of naval architecture of the kind yet produced in America." "The machinery for this valuable boat was imported from England and is said to be an excellent structure. It is expected that she will be finished and ready for use in a few weeks."
The opening route of the Frontenac, commanded by Capt. James McKenzie, a retired officer of the royal navy, was between Kingston and Queenston, calling at York and Niagara and other intermediate ports. Other stemboats to follow were the CHARLOTTE in 1818 and DALHOUSIE in 1819.
Shortly afterward a group of
enterprising businessmen from northern New York state, decided to build
what appears to have been the first American steamboat on the Great Lakes at
Sackets Harbor. Steam navigation had proven itself on the Hudson River
and the relatively open waters of Long Island, and it was thought it
could be as successful on the Lakes.
After many attempts to incorporate a company and a series
of owners and investors, preparation for the construction of the ONTARIO
finally began. The ONTARIO was built after the model of the SEA HORSE,
then running on Long Island Sound.
The ship carpenter was Ashel Roberts, according to the original enrollment dated at Sackets
Harbor April 11, 1817, Francis Mallaby was Master
The steamboat Ontario by J. Van Cleve 1826, (Courtesy
of the Jefferson County Historical Society, Watertown, New York)
The exact date the ONTARIO made its maiden voyage was
critical to determine the long-standing claim that she was indeed the
first steamboat to sail on the Great Lakes. It was found in the Ontario
Repository, a newspaper published in Canandaigua, New York. The article
is in the form of a letter written from Sackets Harbor on April 22,
1817:
"The Steam Boat Ontario on Wednesday last [April
16] left this port for the first time, in order to try the force of
her machinery. A number of Gentlemen, ambitious to be among the first
that ever navigated the waters of Lake Ontario in a Steam Boat, embarked
on board.
"She started from the wharf, accompanied by an excellent band of
music, greeted by the huzzas from the people on the adjacent shores
and the U.S. brig Jones.
"The novelty of the spectacle had drawn together a large crowd
of spectators, whose curiosity was amply satisfied by the rate of speed
exhibited, full equal in the opinion of many, to any of the North River
Boats. The accommodations on board are excellent, as no pain or expense
has been spared by her owners, in her construction or equipments. The
facility with which the lake can now be navigated, will add new inducements
to its commerce—that of the river St. Lawrence: Travellers whose
curiosity may lead them to nature's grandest scene, the Falls of Niagara,
will be convinced, hereafter pursue the route to Sacket's Harbor and
thence proceed in the Steam Boat.
"From New-York to Niagara in the steamboats and stages; this route
will be performed in five days; a much shorter period than the average
passages were formerly made from New-York to Albany. Such is the revolution
that steamboats have effected in travelling with a few years. We wish
much encouragement and success to the projectors of so useful an undertaking."
The steamboat attempted to make weekly trips between
Ogdensburg and Lewiston. However, she rarely exceeded six knots per
hour. On July 1, 1817, the owners advertised in local newspapers that,
finding the 6oo-mile round-trip impossible to accomplish in a week,
the voyage would be extended to 10 days. The round trip fare was $15.
In the spring of 1818, the Kingston Gazette reported
the grounding of the vessel in Oswego. "Sackets Harbor, May 19.
The steamboat Ontario, which was (in a recent storm), driven on a ledge
of flat rock near Oswego, has been got off, and arrived here this morning.
We are happy to learn also, that the damage done her is inconsiderable
to what has been currently reported. It is expected she will be ready
for further operations in a week, or fortnight at the farthest."
In spite of this mishap, operation of the steamboat
quickly returned to normal.
Operating in conjunction with the steamboat was the
schooner Kingston Packet which had shallow enough draught to enter the
ports where the steamboat could not tie up, such as Oswego and Pultney
ville. The schooner was "provided as a tender" for the Ontario,
and was labeled a "fast sailing craft".
Apparently the ONTARIO was not as a profitable venture
as its owners intended it to be, as it was sold by a decree of Chancery
at Sackets Harbor on May 8, 1824, to Jesse Smith of Smithville, a small
rural community near Sackets Harbor. Luther Wright, later a prominent
banker in Oswego, was captain and clerk, and Judge Hawkins of Henderson,
also near Sackets Harbor, was sailing master.
SinceONTARIO had always plodded along at five or six miles per hour,
her owners decided to put a more powerful engine in her. Accordingly,
in the winter of 1827-28, the square engine then in the steamboat Martha
Ogden (owned by the same parties) was installed in the ONTARIO at Hanford's
Landing. However, for some reason, this re-engining of the ONTARIO was
not successful.
The career of the Ontario continued to be eventful.
In 1829, while under the command of a Captain Hitch, an old whaler from
New Bedford, she was caught in a storm some 25 miles below Niagara.
She was brought to anchor to ride out the storm. After holding most
of the day and night, she began to drag anchor, to avoid going ashore,
being in four fathoms of water, the cable and anchor were slipped.
Although the existence of the Ontario was relatively
short, by freshwater standards she was around for a long time... some
14 years. Many vessels came and went in that period. Also, as improvements
were made these pioneer steamboats generally became quickly obsolete.
A good schooner could make better time than the slow moving Ontario,
which was dismantled at Oswego in 1832. However, the Ontario still had
carried the distinction of being the first steamboat to be "subjected
to a swell" on the Great Lakes.
