Ontario
- First Steamboat 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 1987
The
steamboat ONTARIO by J. Van Cleve 1826 (Courtesy of the Jefferson
County Historical Society, Watertown, New York)
Shortly after the end of the War of 1812 a group of
enterprising businessmen from northern New York state, decided to build
what appears to have been the first 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 ownersand 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. It was no' x 24' x 8', registered
at 237 tons.
The ship carpenter was Ashel Roberts, It was equipped
with a low pressure cross-head beam engine built at the works of Daniel
Dod in Elizabethtown, New Jersey.? The boilers were 17 feet in length
and three and a half feet in diameter. The engine cylinder was 20 inches
in diameter and had a three-foot stroke. The paddlewheels were n feet,
4 inches in diameter and the engine was rated at 21 horsepower. The
rigging consisted of three fore-and-aft gaff sails.8 By the fall of
1816, the cast hubs for the paddlewheels for the Ontario had been ordered.
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."
In fact, the Ontario Repository had already reported
that "In passing out of the mouth of the Genesee River, on Saturday,
we are informed, she had one of her wheels broken, being near the point,
in a heavy sea." This incident occurred during the vessel's maiden
voyage. Like all previously built steamers, the shaft on which the paddlewheels
were mounted rested by its own weight in unsecured boxes. The action
of the waves soon lifted the shaft which tore the wheel coverings to
pieces and damaged the paddlewheels.
Captain Mallaby hoisted sail and immediately brought
her about to return to Sackets Harbor for repairs. The shaft was then
properly secured by bolting of boxes and bearings under the outer ends.
This event was the only thing that marred that had been quite an experience
for those aboard.
Everywhere the Ontario went she was met with much fanfare.
When she arrived at Oswego, school classes were dismissed and there
was a big celebration. Bells pealed and cannon roared.
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.
"Steam Boat Ontario”—This fine boat
continues to ply most successfully between Ogdensburg and Lewiston.
It is well fitted up, and notwithstanding the unfortunate accident that
occurred early in the season and the many prejudicial and unfounded
reports propagated, receives very liberal patronage and rides the lake
with perfect ease and safety.
An advertisement gives some interesting details of operation
of the Ontario. Going up, the vessel left Ogdensburg at 9 a.m. Saturday,
3 p.m. Sunday from Sacket's Harbor, and 3 p.m. Monday from Hanford's
Landing [port of Rochester]. Going down, it departed from Lewiston at
4 p.m. Tuesday, Hanford's Landing at 4 p.m. Wednesday, and from Sacket's
Harbor at 4 p.m. Thursday. The fares were $5 from port to port, and
steerage passengers (without board,) $2.50, Freight and families moving
were carried "as reasonably as in other vessels."
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.^
Since Ontario 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.
OWNERS AND MASTERS OF THE STEAMBOAT ONTARIO
11 April 1817 Hunter Crane, Samuel F. Hooker, Elisha Camp, Melancthon
T. Woolsey, William M. Sands, Jacob Brown and Charles Smyth, owners.
Francis Mallaby, Master.
17 May 1819 Eri Lusher, owner. Peter Sexton, Master
20 Aug. 1820 William Waring, owner. William Vaughan, master.
19 Aug. 1823 William Waring, owner. Rovert Hugunin, master
2 May 1824 Jesse Smith, owner. Luther Wright, master.
i June 1825 Leonard Denison, owner. William Vaughan, master.
7 June 1827 Leonard Denison, owner. Peter Ingalls, master.
29 June 1828 Leonard Denison, owner. Patrick Wallace, master.
11 May 1830 Leonard Denison, owner. WR, Miller, master.
14 July 1831 Re-enrolled at Oswego. No names given.
Source: United States, National Archives, RG 41, Records of the Bureau
of Marine Inspection, Master Abstracts of Enrollments Issued at Lower
Great Lakes Ports, 1815-1911.
Other sources state her last owner were Enos Stone and Elisha Ely of
Rochester.
