Steam Navigation and Its Relation to the Commerce of Canada and the United StatesCroil, James
History
Steam Navigation and Its Relation to the Commerce of Canada and the United States
Croil, James
Shipping -- Canada -- History; Shipping -- United States -- History; Steam-navigation -- History
THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS MODEL WAS RECOGNIZED BY THE DOMINION GOVERNMENT.
BY ORDERING A FACSIMILE OF IT TO BE MADE, AND SENDING IT TO THE
COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION, OR WORLD’S FAIR, AT CHICAGO, IN 1893. IT IS NOW
TO BE SEEN IN THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AT OTTAWA.]
This historic vessel was registered No. 2 in the port of Quebec. She
was rigged as a three-masted schooner, of 363-60/94 tons burthen, with
a standing bowsprit and square stern. Her length was 160 feet; breadth,
taken above the main wales, 44 feet; depth of hold, 17 feet 9 inches;
and width, between the paddle-boxes, 28 feet. She cost about £16,000.
The _Royal William_, commanded by Captain J. Jones, R.N., sailed from
Quebec for Halifax, August 24th, 1831, with twenty cabin passengers,
seventy steerage, and a good freight. She arrived on the 31st—six and a
half days from Quebec. Several voyages were made that year to Halifax
and the Gulf ports. Next year, owing to the prevalence of cholera,
trade was at a standstill, and there was nothing for the new steamship
to do. She was accordingly sold by Sheriff Gugy, at the church door,
in the parish of Sorel, for £5,000. In April, 1833, she was placed
under the command of Captain John Macdougall, a native of Oban,
Scotland. During May she towed vessels from Grosse Isle, and in June
sailed for the lower ports, Halifax and Boston, reaching the latter
place on the 17th—the first British steamer to enter that port. On her
return to Quebec, her owners decided to send her to London to be sold.
She sailed August 5th, arrived at Pictou on the 8th, and sailed thence
on the 18th, with seven passengers, a box of stuffed birds, one box
and one trunk, some household furniture, 254 chaldrons of coal, and a
crew of thirty-six men. The voyage to Cowes, Isle of Wight, was made in
nineteen and a half days. She was deeply laden with her coal, had very
rough weather, and had to run with one engine for ten days. A short
time having been spent at Cowes, painting the ship, etc., “she steamed
up to Gravesend in fine style—the first vessel to cross the Atlantic
propelled by the motive power of steam alone.”
The _Royal William_ was sold in London for £10,000, and was chartered
to the Portuguese Government as a transport. In 1834 she was sold to
the Spanish Government, and named the _Isabel Segunda_, and while in
this service was the first war-steamer to fire a hostile shot. In
1837 she was sent to Bordeaux, France, for repairs, but, her timbers
being badly decayed, her machinery was transferred to a new vessel of
the same name, while she herself terminated her brilliant career as a
hulk.[8]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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