Steamboat "Lady of the Lake"

 By Richard Palmer

 Steamboat Lady of the Lake was built in Oswego in 1842. Sketch by C.H. J. Snider

Advertisement for steamboats, Ogdensburg Sentinel, May 30, 1848 

Steamboat Lady of the Lake Sailed Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence

By Richard Palmer

One of the most popular steamboats on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in the 19th century was the Lady of the Lake of the Ontario & St. Lawrence Steamboat Company. She launched from the shipyard of George S. Weeks in Oswego on April 28, 1842.  The keel had been laid the previous December. It was described  as “the best steam vessel which floats on our lake.” At that time, steamboat travel on inland waterways was at its zenith.

About 300 people went on her initial shake-down trip that June from Oswego to Ogdensburg, a distance of 140 miles, was 11 hours, including three stops, or a running time of eight hours in what was described as rough seas. She was commanded by Captain John J. Taylor. She proved to be a very popular boat. 

The vessel had a spacious promenade deck, state rooms and dining hall. It replaced the steamboat United States built in Ogdensburg in 1831 and dismantled in Oswego in 1843. Built at a cost of $50,000 got there Ontario & St. Lawrence Steamboat Company, she was  197 long and 24 feet wide, and was equipped with a 100-horsepower low pressure cross-head engine built at the Allaire Works in New York and shipped to Oswego.

The Ontario & St. Lawrence Steamboat Company was incorporated on January 28, 1831 and owned and operated a fleet of steamboats on the U. S. side of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. These included:

Lake Steamers

Side-wheeler Bay State built at Clayton 1848. Renamed Athenian

Side-wheeler Cataract built at Clayton 1846.  Renamed Columbian

Side-wheeler George Clinton built at Oswego 1842

Side-wheeler Niagara  built at Clayton 1845. Renamed U.S. Army Transport Suffolk during Civil War.

Side-wheeler Oneida built at Pultneyville 1835 

Side-wheeler Rochester built at Oswego 1842

Side-wheeler St. Lawrence built at Oswego 1839

Side-wheeler United States built Ogdensburg (Oswegatchie) 1832

Propeller Mithune built 1850 Renamed Northerner 1854

River Steamers operated in conjunction with O.& St. L. Steamboat Co.

Side-wheeler British Empire built at Port Metcalfe, Wolfe Island,  Ont. 1845

Side-wheeler British Queen built at Port Metcalfe, Wolfe Island,   Ont. 1845

Side-wheeler Jenny Lind built at Montreal, Quebec, 1850 

The Lady of the Lake was the first steamboat on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river with an upper cabin,  It was registered at 422 tons. It was built for the Lake Ontario & St. Lawrence Steamboat Company and could accommodate about 50 cabin passengers. Her regular route was between Lewiston and Ogdensburg, stopping at various ports including Oswego, Sackets Harbor and Kingston and Brockville.  

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for these vessels, particularly in the late fall. The Oswego Palladium of Nov. 14, 1842 reported:

On the evening of the 13th there was a violent squall on Lake Ontario, accompanied as those who were on the lake say, by snow and lightning. The Lady of the Lake, Capt. John Taylor, was on her passage from Sackets Harbor to this port, and encountered the utmost violence of the squall. it lasted but two or three hours, but as the weather was bad for a day or two previous, there soon arose a tremendous sea. Considerable anxiety was felt, as the snow storm precluded all view of objects the boat's length off, and she was known to be on her way. She safely arrived - reporting the extraordinary occurrence of a violent snow squall accompanied by excessive lightning.

It was merely the return of the 13th of November, and of the meteoric showers, which now seem to belong to our system and annually visit us at about that period of the year.

Competition was keen and it was the custom in those days for impromptu races to prove the prous of competing steamboats. In one such trial of speed the Canadian steamer Eclipse challenged the Lady of the Lake in a trial of speed between Niagara and Toronto, a distance of 40 miles. The Eclipse beat the Lady of the Lake by four and a half minutes one fine August day in 1843. Steamboats also transported cargoes from port to port.

This vessel led a relatively uneventful life sailing Lake Ontario and then St. Lawrence River.  Other captains over the years included J. H. Hoag and D. Eggleston. In 1852 it operated as a ferry between Cape Vincent and Kingston.  It was sold to M. W. Brown of Toronto in July, 1854 and  renamed Queen City. It caught fire and burned to the water’s edge at the Queen’s Wharf in Toronto on Jan. 21, 1855. The Constitutional, a newspaper in St. Catharines, Ont., tells the story:

 About 9 o'clock last evening, the steamer Queen City was lying at the Queen's Wharf flames were discovered proceeding from the engine room. The captain and crew were all on board, but they speedily ascertained that all their efforts to extinguish the fire would be unavailing; and they turned their attention to saving the cargo. The steamers Chief Justice Robinson, and Welland were moored astern to the Queen, and were for some time in imminent danger; but, as quickly as possible, they were cut loose and were moved to a place of greater safety. The flames continued to spread and even extended to the wharf, so as to to cause some alarm for the safety of the Peerless, Mayflower, and some schooners moored off the other side; which, after some delay, the Queen was shoved off and suffered to drift to the eastward, where she came to contact with the ice opposite the wharf of the Northern Rail Road Company, and then burned to the water's edge. 

The Queen City was owned by Mr. M.W. Browne, of Hamilton, having been purchased by him last year for the Hamilton route. She was worth about £4,000, and is said to be fully insured. She had about ten tons of goods on board, for the ports between this place and Hamilton, chiefly consisting of dry goods and groceries, only a small part of which was saved. The Queen City was built at Oswego about thirteen years ago, and was then known as the Lady Of The Lake, one of the crack boats on the waters, the honors being about equally divided between her and the Eclipse. Vessels of improved character have since been introduced, and the Lady fell gradually so low as to ply as a ferry boat from Cape Vincent to Kingston. She then fell into the hands of Mr. Browne, who ran her with considerable success, notwithstanding her age, between Hamilton and Niagara. 

There is no reason to doubt that the fire was entirely the work of accident. It probably having originated among the wood in the engine room. 

On March 14 the engine, machinery and equipment were sold at public auction. The remains were scrapped.  

                                  Sources

Great Lakes Maritime Database,  Alpena Public Library

Gerald C. Metzler Great Lakes Database, Wisconsin Maritime Museum

Historical Collections of the Great Lakes, website at Bowling Green State University

Various newspapers (cited in article)

Van Cleve, James, Reminiscences of Early Steamboats, Propellers and Sailing Vessels on Lake Ontario and River St. Lawrence," an unpublished manuscript by James Van Cleve, Lewiston, NY, 1877, p 145. Copy in Oswego City Hall.