As already stated, Molson’s _Accommodation_ began to ply between Montreal and Quebec in 1809—two years later than Fulton’s _Clermont_ on the Hudson, and three years earlier than Bell’s _Comet_ on the Clyde. The _Accommodation_ proved a fairly successful commercial venture, although Mr. Molson did not obtain a monopoly of the business as Mr. Fulton had done. She was soon followed by the _Swiftsure_, the _Malsham_, the _Car of Commerce_, the _John Molson_, the _Lady Sherbrooke_, and other steamboats. The last-named was 170 feet long, 34 feet beam, and 10 feet in depth, with a sixty-three horse-power side-lever engine. A much better service had now been instituted, for up to about 1818 many preferred to drive all the way from Montreal to Quebec in caleches over rough roads. Now, however, that the steamboats had comfortable cabins, and canvas awnings over their decks, they secured nearly all the through passenger traffic. About the year 1823 several powerful tow-boats were built, which also carried passengers. After these the _Waterloo_ and the _John Molson_ of the Molson Line, the _St. George_, the _British America_ and the _Canada_, owned by John Torrance & Co., and other boats of larger dimensions, having better passenger accommodation and higher speed, followed in rapid succession. The _Waterloo_ foundered in Lake St. Peter, and was replaced by the _John Bull_, a fine boat of 190 feet in length, but which was burned in 1838. The _John Bull_ used too much coal to be profitable, and the saying that she made most money when lying at anchor, arose from the fact that, anchored off the city, she was repeatedly used as the official residence of the Governor-General, Lord Durham. The _Canada_, which came out in 1837, was 240 feet long, and was accounted the largest and fastest steamer then afloat in the New World. In 1840 the _Lord Sydenham_ (the former _Ontario_) and the _Lady Colborne_ ran as the mail boats to Quebec. About 1845 several famous boats were built—the _Rowland Hill_, Mr. Torrance’s _Montreal_, Wilson Connoly’s _Quebec_, the _Queen_ and the _John Munn_—all upper cabin boats of high speed. The _John Munn_ was longer than any previous, or, indeed, any subsequent, river steamer on the St. Lawrence, being 400 feet in length. Her boilers were placed on either guard, as the fashion then was, and a huge walking-beam in the centre. She was too large for the trade. After running a few years she was broken up, and her magnificent engines were sent to New York. The _Montreal_, also a large and fine steamer, was lost in a snow-storm near Batiscan, in November, 1853, and was replaced by the _Lord Sydenham_, afterwards lengthened to 250 feet, and renamed the _Montreal_.