revived and in the spring of that year a British company was formed with shareholders in Kingston, Niagara, York, and Prescott, to build a steamboat[Pg 18] to ply on Lake Ontario. A site suitable for its construction was selected on the beaches on Finkle's Point, at Ernestown, 18 miles up the lake from Kingston, on one of the reaches of the Bay of Quinte.A contract was let to Henry Teabout and James Chapman, two young men who had been foremen under David Eckford, the master shipbuilder of New York, who during the war had constructed the warships for the United States Government at its dockyard at Sackett's Harbor. Construction was commenced at Finkle's Point in October, 1815, and with considerable delays caused in selection of the timbers, was continued during the winter. (Canniff--Settlement of Upper Canada). The steamer was launched with great eclat on 7th September, 1816, and named the Frontenac, after the County of Frontenac in which she had been built.
A similar wave of enterprise had arisen also on the United States side and it becomes of much interest to search up the annals of over a hundred years ago and ascertain to which side of the lake is to be accorded the palm for placing the first steamboat on Lake Ontario. Especially as opinions have varied on the subject, and owing to a statement made, as we shall find, erroneously, in a distant press the precedence has usually been given to an American steamer.
The first record of the steamboat on the American side is an agreement dated January 2, 1816, executed between the Robert Fulton heirs and Livingston, of Clermont, granting to Charles Smyth and others an exclusive right to navigate boats and vessels by steam on Lake Ontario.
These exclusive rights for the navigation on American waters "by steam or fire" had previously been granted to[Pg 19] the Fulton
partnership by the Legislature of the State of New York.
The terms of the agreement set out that the grantees were to pay annually to the grantors one-half of all the net profits in excess
of a dividend of 12 per cent. upon the investment. On the 16th of the next month a bill was passed in the Legislature of New York incorporating the "Ontario Steamboat Co.," but in consequence of the too early adjournment of the Legislature did not become law.
At this time, (February, 1816) the construction of the Canadian boat at Ernestown was well under way.
By an assignment dated August 16th, 1816, Lusher and others became partners with Smyth, and as a result it is stated (Hough--His-
tory of Jefferson County, N.Y.) "a boat was commenced at Sackett's Harbor the same summer."
Three weeks after the date of this commencing of the boat on the American side, or Sackett's Harbour, the Frontenac, on the Cana-
25
dian side, was launched on the 7th September, 1816, at Finkle's Point.
In the description of this launch of the Frontenac given in the September issue of the Kingston Gazette, the details of her size are stated. "Length, 170 feet; beam, 32 feet; two paddle wheels with circumference about 40 feet. Registered tonnage, 700 tons." Further statements made are, "Good judges have pronounced this to be the best piece of naval architecture of the kind yet produced in America." "The machinery for this valuable boat was imported from England and is said to be an excellent structure. It is expected that she will be finished and ready for use in a few weeks."
Having been launched with engines on board in early September the Frontenac then sailed down the lake from Ernestown to King-
ston to lay up in the port.[Pg 20]
In another part of this same September issue of the Kingston Gazette an item is given: "A steamboat was lately launched at Sackett's
Harbor."
No name is given of the steamer, nor the date of the launch, but this item has been considered to have referred to the steamer named Ontario, built at Sackett's Harbor and in consequence of its having apparently been launched first, precedence has been claimed for the United States vessel.
This item, "A steamboat was lately launched at Sackett's Harbor," develops, on further search, to have first appeared as a paragraph under the reading chronicles in "Niles Weekly Register," published far south in the United States at Baltimore, Maryland. From here it was copied verbatim as above by the Kingston Gazette, and afterwards by the Quebec Gazette of 26th Sept., 1816.
Further enquiry, however, nearer the scene of construction indicates that an error had been made in the wording of the item, which had apparently been copied into the other papers without verification.
In the library of the Historical Society at Buffalo is deposited the manuscript diary of Capt. Van Cleve, who sailed as clerk and as captain on the Martha Ogden, the next steamboat to be built at Sackett's Harbor six years after the Ontario. In this he writes, "the construction of the Ontario was begun at Sackett's Harbor in August, 1816." He also gives a drawing, from which all subsequent illustrations of the Ontario have been taken. Further information of the American steamer is given in an application for incorporation of the "Lake Ontario Steam Boat Co." made in December, 1816, by Charles Smyth and others, of Sackett's Harbor, who stated in their petition that they had "lately constructed a steam boat at[Pg 21] Sackett's Harbor"--"the Navy Department of the United States have generously delivered a sufficiency of timber for the construction of the vessel for a reasonable sum of money"--"the boat is now built"--"the cost so far exceeds the means which mercantile men can generally command that they are unable to build any further"--"the English in the Province of Upper Canada have constructed a steam boat of seven hundred tons burthen avow-edly for the purpose of engrossing the business on both sides of the lake."
All this indicates that the American boat had not been launched and in December was still under construction.
It is more reasonable to accept the statements of Capt. Van Cleve and others close to the scene of operations rather than to base conclusions upon the single item in the publication issued at so far a distance and without definite details.
It is quite evident that the item in Niles Register should have read "was lately commenced," instead of "was lately launched." The change of this one word would bring it into complete agreement with all the other evidences of the period and into accord with the facts.
No absolute date for the launching of the Ontario or of the giving of her name has been ascertainable, but as she was not commenced until August it certainly could not have been until after that of the Frontenac on Sept. 7th, 1816. The first boat launched was, therefore, on the Canadian side.
The movements of the steamers in the spring of 1817 are more easily traced. Niles Register, 29th March, 1817, notes, "The steamboat Ontario is prepared for the lake," and Capt. Van Cleve says, "The first enrollment of the[Pg 22] Ontario in the customs office was made on 11th April," and "She made her first trip in April."
The data of the dimensions of the Ontario are recorded, being only about one-third the capacity of the Frontenac, which would ac-
count for the shorter time in which she was constructed. The relative sizes were:
Length. Beam. Capacity, tons. Frontenac170 32 700
26
Ontario 110 24 240
No drawing of the Frontenac is extant, but she has been described as having guards only at the paddle wheels, the hull painted black,
and as having three masts, but no yards. The Ontario had two masts, as shown in the drawing by Van Cleve.
No distinctive date is given for the first trip in April of the Ontario, on
