[71] By the kindness of Rev. Moses Harvey, D.D., of St. John’s. [72] “Statistical Year Book of Canada, 1896,” p. 280. [73] “Report U. S. Commissioner on Navigation, 1896,” p. 201. [74] “Report U. S. Commissioner on Navigation, 1896,” p. 127. APPENDICES. I. CAPTAIN JOHN ERICSSON. The name and fame of the inventor of the screw propeller are less widely known in Britain than in America, and in neither country, perhaps, has full justice been done to his memory. As a mechanical genius, he was one of the most remarkable men of his time, and did much to promote the development of steam navigation. Ericsson was born in the Province of Vermeland, in Sweden, in the year 1803. Coming to England in 1826, he entered into partnership with Braithwaite, a noted mechanician, in London, and there and then entered upon his remarkable career as an inventor. In 1836 he married Amelia, daughter of Mr. John Byam, second son of Sir John Byam. Accompanied by his wife, he came to the United States, arriving at New York, in the _British Queen_, November 2nd, 1839. His wife, however, soon afterwards returned to England, and during the rest of their lives, “by an amicable arrangement,” the Atlantic rolled between. Before leaving England, Ericsson had already patented a number of his inventions. One of the first of these was a machine for compressing air, a discovery which has since proved valuable in the construction of long tunnels and in many other ways. The introduction of his system of artificial draught was the key-note of the principle on which rapid locomotion chiefly depends. He electrified London with his steam fire-engine, but the conservative authorities would not countenance “a machine that consumed so much water!” In 1829 he entered into competition with Robert Stephenson, when a prize of £500 was offered for the best locomotive. He came off second-best, but it was a feather in his cap that his locomotive, the _Novelty_, glided smoothly over the track at the amazing speed of thirty miles an hour! His experiments with hot air occupied much of his time, and not without valuable results. His forte, however, was in the construction of steam-engines, of which he designed a large number, introducing many new principles, some of which were destined to survive. Ericsson’s first stroke of business in the United States made him famous. The _Princeton_ war-ship (see page 69), built at the Philadelphia navy-yard under his direction, and fitted with his screw propeller, proved a great success, and gained him the favour and patronage of the government officials. Soon after the completion of the _Princeton,_ he embarked in what he then accounted the greatest enterprise of his life— THE CALORIC SHIP “ERICSSON.”