The first steamer to enter any port in Prince Edward Island was a tug-boat, built in Pictou for the Albion Mines Coal Company, and named after the then manager, _Richard Smith_. She brought over a party of excursionists to Charlottetown, on August 5th, 1830, and returned the same day. On September 7th, 1831, the famous _Royal William_, on her first return voyage from Halifax to Quebec, called at Charlottetown, but as the merchants of that place declined to purchase the fifty shares of stock in the new enterprise, which they had been offered conditionally, she called there no more. On May 11th, 1832, a steamer named the _Pocahontas_, built in Pictou, commenced to ply between that port and Charlottetown, about fifty miles distant, under arrangement with the post-office authorities. This vessel was followed at successive intervals by the _Cape Breton_, the _St. George_, the _Rose_, and the _Rosebud_, the last three being owned on the Island. A fine steamer, the _Lady Marchant_, owned in Richibucto, also made Charlottetown a port of call. There were many periods, however, between these steamers when communication with the Island had to be kept up by sailing schooners, until about 1852, when a regular service was commenced by the _Fairy Queen_ and the _Westmoreland_, between Point du Chene and Summerside, and thence to Charlottetown and Pictou. In 1863 the Prince Edward Island Steam Navigation Company was organized, and the steamer _Heather Belle_, built in Charlottetown, began the service in 1864, followed by the _Princess of Wales_, built at St. John, N.B. The _St. Lawrence_ was added in 1868. With these three steamers a regular service was maintained between Miramichi, Richibucto, Point du Chene, Summerside, Charlottetown, Brulé and Pictou, until the railway was opened to Pictou, when the service was extended to Port Hood and Hawkesbury, on the Gut of Canso, and to Georgetown and Murray Harbour on the Island. Again, on the completion of the Cape Breton railway and the extension of the Island railway to Georgetown, the service was changed to a daily route between Charlottetown and Pictou, and Summerside and Point du Chene, as at present. The new steamers, _Northumberland_ and _Princess_, are scarcely surpassed for the work they have to do by any steamers in Canada, and the company are able to show a record which is probably unique—that during thirty-three years not an accident has occurred by which a person or a package of freight has been injured. Some years ago the North Atlantic Steamship Company was organized at Charlottetown, with a view of establishing a direct trade with the Old Country. The fleet consisted of one steamer only, the _Prince Edward_, and as the enterprise did not prove self-sustaining, after having run for several seasons the vessel was sold at a considerable loss to the shareholders. THE WINTER FERRY.