THE MAPLE LEAF'S CANADIAN
 HISTORY
 By Gerald T Girvin

Competition from the Railroads.
    Despite the profitable successes of the previous season, the year 1857 began on a less positive note. Competition from the railroads was taking its toll on lake shipping. A few years previous, the lake steamers afforded the quickest, cheapest and most reliable means of transportation between the growing lakeside cities of the northeast. The New York Central had been completed across New York State in 1853, but its main line was inland enough so as not to present a prominent threat to coastwise lake shipping. But when the Grand Trunk was completed from Brockville to Toronto along the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario in 1856, it followed the shore line quite closely - with stations at Cobourg, Port Hope and all the ports previously served only by the steamers.

    The International Company, as it had come to be called, had some critical decisions to make before beginning service the coming season, since all indications pointed to a downturn in trade. The two-year charter for the Highlander, due to expire, would not be renewed, and the steamer would be returned to its owners. In view of the prospective of a continuing decline in water trade along the Canadian shore, it was decided to concentrate on the cross-lake portion of the route and eliminate all north shore stops except Port Hope and Cobourg, terminals for most of the cross-lake trade. Arrangements were completed with both the United States and the Canadian postal services permitting the Maple Leaf to carry mails between the three ports allowing the company to add the title Royal Mail Line in its advertising.

    Since the company was first formed in 1855, much of the stock held at first by Canadian investors had been transferred to Rochester interests, and by 1857, only one director remained who was not a Rochester resident, William Weller of Cobourg. When the news of the company's plans reached Canada, reactions were clamorous and threatening. The Cobourg Sun expressed the fears of its readers that one vessel on the line would dispel any continuation of the daily service they had so favored. A proposition was presented to obtain another steamer by purchase or charter and operate it across the lake in opposition to the Maple Leaf.

    A sound scolding of the International Company came from the Colborne Transcript, protesting the elimination of Colborne as a port of call:

    We must have direct communication between Charlotte ... and Colborne, or our trade with Rochester will cease and be transferred to Oswego or the Cape (Cape Vincent).

    The Rochester Union and Advertiser summarized the situation precisely:

    The International Company...have yielded of necessity to the improvement of the age - the railway - and must surrender to that its hitherto profitable shore trade of Canada. Their boats can no longer cruise along the shore from Colborne to Toronto and make a paying business. The next best thing for the Company to do was to become a ferry company, and convey passengers and merchandise across the Lake and let the railway convey them to their destination. By this arrangement, the interests of the Railway and Steamers become mutual.⁸⁰

    On March 21, the company made an announcement that was very well received, at least in Colborne, Port Hope and Cobourg. The Maple Leaf, running alone, would henceforth make daily trips to the north shore, leaving Charlotte every morning at 8 o'clock and connecting at Cobourg with the Grand Trunk Railway for all points east and west along the Canada shore. Connections would also be made with the Cobourg and Peterboro Railway for points in inland Canada. After a stop at Port Hope, the Maple Leaf would leave Cobourg in the evening and return to Rochester overnight in time for the next morning's departure, connecting at Rochester with the New York Central by way of the Charlotte boat train. Twice each week, the boat would go east to Colborne for a stop before crossing over to Rochester. It was reported that:

    ...the boat has been thoroughly repainted by W. A. Bascom, and now looks as well as she ever did. Some improvements have been made in the interior of the boat, which will improve her sailing qualities, enhance the comfort of passengers, and her capacity for carrying freight.

    An additional announcement of interest to citizens on both sides of the lake was the notice of the resignation of the popular Captain Robert Kerr of the Maple Leaf and the appointment of Purser George Schofield as his replacement as master. Captain Kerr had become almost a legend on the lake and had had an admirable career, "one of the pioneers of the Rochester route:" His physical appearance was striking; he was

    ...as compared with most men, a giant, his height was six feet five inches, and built in proportion, in fact, a splendid specimen of a man. His strength was immense, and yet he was one of the most quiet and inoffensive men possible ... courteous and polite to his passengers, which rendered him a great favorite with all who knew his real worth.

    Captain Kerr was to assume command of the steamer Bowmanville, a Canadian freight vessel operating on the Independent Through Line between Hamilton and Montreal.

    The new captain, George Schofield, had served under Captain Kerr for many years on the Toronto to Rochester route as purser. When the Maple Leaf was purchased in Rochester, Captain Schofield had relocated his home to the steamer's new home port because it was important that the purser be available for the steamer's business throughout the year. It was not an infrequent occurrence for a purser to be promoted to captain, as there was no ship master's license required on the lakes prior to 1883.⁸¹

It was first announced that the Maple Leaf would begin the new service on Monday, March 23, a date that was postponed at least three times because of forbidding weather. She finally was able to depart Charlotte at 11 P.M. on Thursday, March 26, "with a full freight and a fair number of passengers ...the first steamer out on Lake Ontario this season." She returned to Rochester the following day with a cargo of wheat and seed peas.⁸²

    The spring trips were marked by the usual problems of weather and corresponding delays. Passenger traffic was relatively light ("thirty passengers and nine horses.") But the Maple Leaf was holding her own in a relatively dismal season, while many steamers on Lake Ontario, like the larger America and Canada and the Mayflower and New Era, were tied up idle.⁸³

    On June 2, an event occurred on the Maple Leaf that made the news on both sides of the lake. While the boat was docked at Charlotte, a deck hand named John Fee was carrying fuel wood aboard and throwing it from the deck down into the hold. One stick of wood accidentally hit Thomas Quilty, a fireman, whose task it was to pile away the wood below. Quilty ran up to the deck with an ax, but was restrained by the crew members. He then "seized a stick of wood and felled Fee to the deck with a powerful blow on the head." Fee was taken at once to the house of a Charlotte physician, in serious condition and in danger of death. A policeman went on board the Maple Leaf in search of Quilty, but some crew members had concealed him under the canvas cover on a lifeboat and he was not discovered. When the Maple Leaf landed at Cobourg, Quilty fled into Canada and escaped American justice.⁸⁴

    Later that same month, Maple Leaf was again in the news when three small abandoned children were brought over from a Canadian port by Captain Schofield, who assisted in raising sufficient funds to send them on from Rochester to relatives in Philadelphia.

    In July, the Maple Leaf carried more than a hundred German immigrants on one crossing. The group, which arrived in Rochester from New York City by train, was on route. to a new settlement in Canada.⁸⁵

    Based on the season's experience with the new arrangement, the company decided to alter the route of the Maple Leaf in the fall. Beginning on October 5, the boat would be cut back to three trips per week, but would restore calls at other north shore ports from Colborne through to Whitby, but not extending all the way to Toronto.⁸⁶

Panic Almost Halts Business.
    The company was fortunate in that, although the business of the Maple Leaf was not what could be regarded as prosperous, yet it was not as disastrous as it had been for other steamboat proprietors. The Maple Leaf shared the Charlotte docks with the larger steamers of the Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat Company, the American Line, which in July, had cut back its U.S. Mail Line from four to two steamers.

    By October, business had come almost to a halt in the United States and Canada - the historic financial panic of 1857. Only one steamboat proprietor was left operating on the Canadian side of the lake - Honorable John Hamilton - and this line was on the brink of bankruptcy, which eventually became a reality. The American Line tied up its nine steamers in October, a month earlier than usual.

    On November 5, it was announced in Utica that the Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat Company was bankrupt. The company originally had a capital stock of $500,000 - some of its nine steamers had cost more than $100,000 each when new. Now the stockholders were facing a debt of $75,000 and had no assets for payment other than the steamers themselves and their wharf facilities.⁸⁷

    The Maple Leaf remained in service late in the season. The Union and Advertiser reported on November 20 that:

    ...navigation of the Lake is hazardous and uncertain. All other lines on the Lake were discontinued some time since. A stray propeller and now and then a sail craft is the only sign of animation that the Maple Leaf falls in with in making her trackless path across the lake.

    The Maple Leaf docked at Charlotte on Saturday November 28 in the evening, "with full freight but no passengers," and fastened up her lines for the winter.⁸⁸

    The Union and Advertiser published some interesting statistics about the Maple Leaf after the close of the season:

    The steamer Maple Leaf ... runs more miles per season than any other [boat] on the lakes ... During the season, the boat performed 173 round trips crossing the Lake at its broadest point 346 times; and for a portion of the season she ran up the north shore as far as Whitby. In making these trips she steamed over 40,000 miles. She has a crew of 30 men who can boast that they have sailed, since last spring, a distance of once and a half around the world, and that without accident. To perform this service, the furnaces have consumed wood equal in value to $14,000.
    The Maple Leaf has been in service, we believe, some six years, and is likely to continue as many more if not wrecked. An average of 40,000 miles per year for twelve years would amount to 480,000 miles as the distance to be run by a Lake Steamer in her lifetime.⁸⁹

A Change of Course.
    Over the winter, conditions in the economy of the United States and Canada not only did not improve, they worsened. Much of the shipping on the Great Lakes was prostrate. The Ontario and St. Lawrence Steamboat company was in receivership, but that crisis was complicated by the fact that two different judges had appointed receivers, one favoring the central New York stockholders centered in Utica, while the other was preferred by the Ogdensburg businessmen, who had always exercised a weighty influence on the company. Finally, the nine steamers and company facilities were sold at an auction in Ogdensburg to the interests in that city, reorganized as the American Steamboat Company, for the sum of $73,000. The bitterness that ensued between the new owners, who had gained control at the auction by means of sealed bids, and disenfranchised stockholders was not to be soon resolved.⁹⁰

    There was, of course, a question among many as to whether or not the Maple Leaf would run at all once spring arrived. The Union and Advertiser related that "there is difficulty in the affairs of the company owning her," but did not elaborate. A hope was expressed that the Maple Leaf would run through to Toronto because "a great deal of money has been made by steamers on that route in the last 25 years." Perhaps the Union and Advertiser had not heard about the Grand Trunk!

    The directors of the International Company finally met on March 17 and announced that the Maple Leaf would begin service about April 1, under Captain Schofield - no further details were given. The Maple Leaf was painted and put "in excellent order for the season's trade" - but did not come out on the date announced. The painting was again executed by W. R. Bascom, "our well known artist," and some work was done on her machinery. On Saturday, April 17, she was taken out for a trial trip some 15 miles out on the lake, and "her machinery worked well." It was claimed that:

    ...she was never in better order for business than she is now. A better sea steamer probably cannot be found on the Lakes.

    The Rochester press was always partial to the Maple Leaf!⁹¹

    The first trip was made from Charlotte on Monday, April 19,

    ...nearly a month later than usual, but thus far little trade has offered, and there has been no inducement to commence business.

    The service would be tri-weekly, as it had been in the latter part of the previous season, but trips were extended from Colborne on the east through to Toronto.

    Captain Schofield was soon to discover that returning the Maple Leaf regularly to the port of Toronto so soon after her repairs in the Charlotte yard might not have been the wisest decision. As a result of numerous injuries and deaths as a consequence of steam engine explosions, mostly on steamboats, the Canadian Provincial government had passed the Steamboat Inspection Act, requiring any steam vessel trading at Canadian ports to submit to a rigid inspection prior to being issued a proper certificate "for the conveyance of passengers."

One Samuel Risley had been appointed Steamboat Inspector at Toronto, and when the Maple Leaf docked there April 27, he informed Captain Schofield that his boat would have to undergo inspection. The routine was graphically described by the Union and Advertiser:

    After going through all the preliminaries which are indispensable to the manifestation of dignity in a Canadian officer, Risley went on board with his suit, consisting of four or five deputies, pages, and super ministaries, including ship carpenters, boiler inspectors, engineers and tin-smiths. He directed what should be done by all the hosts of mechanics who attended him, and it was done, detaining the boat ten days. While the work was being completed, there was a fox hunt somewhere in the woods back of Toronto, in which sundry of her Majesty's officers were to participate, and his Excellence, the Inspector, thought he must attend, to maintain the dignity of his office. The boilers were tested with a cold water pressure far beyond any pressure to which steam may be raised and a new safety valve applied to regulate the quantity of steam which may be used. The fire hold has been enclosed with tin, and all the precautions taken against accident which man can desire. The hull was inspected thoroughly, and in conclusion the inspectors gave the boat a certificate which pronounces her to be A No.1 in every particular.

    When the required work on the Maple Leaf was completed, Captain Schofield, worried that the Maple Leaf had already missed three round trips and had lost an amount of badly needed business, sailed for the other north shore ports and landed in Rochester with a full cargo of passengers and freight. She left again for the north shore that same day, May 5, and again on May 7.

While still away on his fox hunt, Inspector Risley heard that the Maple Leaf had sailed in his absence, and in a fury wrote a letter to the Governor General claiming that the Maple Leaf was in deplorable condition, and demanding that the Collector of Customs at Toronto prohibit the boat from leaving the port again without the Inspector's permission. His request was granted, and a letter of May 4 directed:

    ...that this order be communicated to the ... Custom House Officer, and to the Owner or Captain of the said vessel.

    The letter was signed by P.M. Vankoughnet (who had been the prosecutor in the trial of Magnet vs Maple Leaf in Hamilton in 1852), on behalf of the Executive Council.

    On Saturday, May 8, the Maple Leaf was impounded by the Toronto Collector who threatened a £100 ($400) fine should the vessel try to leave port again. A troubled Captain Schofield failed to telegraph George Darling immediately about the new development and caused a few very anxious days in Rochester. Risley did not return to Toronto until May 13, and after approving the prescribed repairs, issued his official Certificate of Inspection, and the Maple Leaf sailed for home.

    The Union and Advertiser published its views of the Risley incident, and dispatched them to Toronto:

    The Inspector thought his dignity touched, and demanded that she (Maple Leaf) should await his pleasures This is old fogy Canada all over! The importance of official station is felt by all who attain it, and the whole business public must submit to the insolence of office. He who demurs or shows any unwillingness to pay homage to the austere official who holds some petty position, is not loyal. The trade of the Lakes has pretty much dried up and gone to seed. With Consuls and Inspectors to levy tribute upon trade, there will soon be nothing to tax nothing to seize and no trader to wrong.
    After such vexatious proceedings on the part of a contemptible petty government official in Canada, don't let us hear anything more from the Canadian Press about the action of the United States Treasury Department to cripple trade by an illiberal construction of the Reciprocity Treaty.⁹²

    The Maple Leaf continued her tri-weekly trips and the trade was reported as "moderate." A fair number of passengers were crossing as well as a quantity of freight: "two hundred live hogs," flour, wheat, peas, etc. The new American Steamboat Company had reduced the U.S. Mail Line along the American shore to one steamer, the Ontario, in place of four the year before. Also tied up was the Toronto to Niagara steamer, the Peerless. Captain Horatio N. Throop, formerly of the old American Line, went to Toronto and chartered the Canadian Europa, and placed her in opposition to the Ontario. But with her western terminus at Toronto, she was also competing with the Maple Leaf between Toronto and Rochester.⁹³

    An event happened in June 1858  that was to become something of an omen of some future developments on the lake. The Great Western steamers America and Canada, the largest passenger steamers then on Lake Ontario, had been built in 1854, but had been tied up idle for some time. When the railroad had an opportunity to sell the vessels for service on the East Coast of the United States, there was no hesitation to take advantage of the offer. Since vessels of 288 feet were too large for the St. Lawrence Canals, the Canada and America had all items of unnecessary weight removed and were in turn sailed down all the rapids of the St. Lawrence, with the indomitable Captain John Rankin as pilot, the only man capable of such a feat. The steamers arrived at Montreal safely and continued on to New York, and eventually to service in the Civil War. Over the next four years, at least seven more Lake Ontario steamers would follow this path to
history.⁹⁴

    Partly because of the Risley incident, perhaps, and possibly somewhat out of deference for Captain Throop, the company in early July cut its north shore route to Toronto and limited the Maple Leaf's calls to Colborne, Cobourg and Port Hope.

    On July 30, the International Company held its annual meeting of stockholders at its Rochester office. The depressed financial condition of Rochester business was evident. Only five directors were elected from Rochester, including Rankin and Holden from Charlotte, with Captain Schofield and George Darling now among the Rochester directors. One director was chosen each from Port Hope and Cobourg, and two directors would be from assertive Colborne.⁹⁵

    Partly in an attempt to recoup some of the losses being suffered from a slow season, the Maple Leaf engaged in an unusually heavy excursion trade in 1858. The Maple Leaf was not only very special to Rochesterians, it had become the "good will ambassador" to Port Hope, Cobourg and Colborne. In addition to the traditional Fourth of July excursions out of Charlotte, Captain Schofield decided to invite the Maple Leaf's Canadian friends to join the Americans in their national celebration.

    The Canadian response was overwhelming. On July 3, the Maple Leaf went west as far as Whitby to start her shore stops, taking on
Canadian "friends" at reduced rates at every port - Oshawa, Darlington, Bond Head, Port Hope, Cobourg, Grafton, Colborne, Brighton and at Consecon on Weller's Bay alone about a hundred excursionists boarded Maple Leaf The boat arrived at Charlotte on Sunday evening, where every preparation had been made to welcome the visitors from the other shore. The holiday was being celebrated on Monday July 5, and Americans and Canadians reveled and dined and danced - and after the fourth excursion, the visitors embarked on the steamer and sailed for home.

    The thirteenth Annual Provincial Exhibition, or Provincial Fair, was held at Toronto beginning on September 28. The Cobourg Star carried an advertisement for a number of special excursions from Cobourg to Toronto throughout the Fair weeks, adding that passengers would be "carried at HALF the present rates."⁹⁶

    Rochester newspapers were always quick with praise for the Maple Leaf, but said little about the financial troubles of the company. So news of the events of October 13 came as a shock to many in Rochester. The Maple Leaf was seized at her dock by a U.S. Marshal on a process issued by the U.S. District Court in Buffalo.

    Seven suits have been commenced by parties who have furnished supplies and performed services on the steamer ... The total amount claimed is about $700.

    The International Company had no money at all to satisfy the debts. From this point on, news accounts were extremely brief, and often confusing. Captain Schofield and company representatives were to appear at the Buffalo Court on November 9 - but this appearance did not materialize. The Democrat and American claimed as early as October 15 that:

    We understood that Captain Schofield is now the owner of the boat, by virtue of a purchase from the Company which lately owned her, and that he has gone to see the President of the Company for the purpose of obtaining means to release her.

    This report was evidently premature.⁹⁷ However, while the Maple Leaf laid up under seizure for the rest of the navigation season, Captain Schofield and George Darling evidently kept busy trying to resolve the crisis and somehow save the steamer. Arrangements were made with Capt. Throop to make calls at the north shore ports twice each week with the Europa, en route from Toronto. And on October 25, the Canadian steamer Arabian arrived at Charlotte to take up the Maple Leaf 's route for the remainder of the season. That same day the crew of the Maple Leaf demanded their wages and presented their claims:

    ...at the office of George Darling ... somehow the men managed to get their pay... Mr. Darling, Capt. Schofield and Mr. William Ward were shelling out over the counter, and the men were signing receipts for the amounts received.

    In late November, it was reported that a:

    ...referee was appointed, and he will no doubt report this week, when an order for the sale of the steamer will probably be given.

    It was also reported that an opposition movement had developed across the lake:

    Some wealthy gentlemen of Cobourg, with Peter Sinclair, late mate of the MAPLE LEAF, have purchased the steamer MAGNET, to be put upon the route lately filled by the MAPLE LEAF... She will be taken to Cobourg at once, by Captain Sinclair, and fitted up this winter for the trade to which she is well adapted.

    This plan never came to fruition.⁹⁸ The auction of the Maple Leaf took place at her Charlotte dock on January 25,1859, at 11 AM., by the U.S. Marshal,

    ...in pursuance of an order of the United States District Court ... the boat and all her appurtenances as she lies at the dock in good order and condition.

    We are told that "there was some competition" in bidding, but the boat was finally sold to former company director George J. Whitney for $6,800.

    The bargain is a pretty good one ... Three years ago, she was purchased by the company ... for $50,000. We understand that Mr. Whitney was offered $10,000 for her yesterday, by some parties from Canada.

    It seems that some arrangement may well have been taking place out of view of the press, however, because in a few days the was sold again for $10,000 to "Capt. George Schofield and other parties in Canada. "⁹⁹

    Captain Schofield lost no time in announcing plans for his steamer-

    ...to put the boat in order, and as soon as the weather will permit in the spring, take her upon her old route upon the Lake She will probably make daily trips to Colborne, Cobourg and Port Hope.

    The Union and Advertiser added:

    It is hoped that trade will revive somewhat the coming season, and enable the steamers to do a living business, which they fell short of last season.

    It was also announced that George Darling would attend to the Maple Leaf s business in Rochester, which might have been expected.

Due to the weather, work on the Maple Leaf did not actually commence until February 21, when "a gang of hands was set to work on the Maple Leaf, re-fitting her for service."

    On March 17, ... the steamer MAPLE LEAF made an engineer's trip ...from Charlotte, to try her engine and boilers, after undergoing the repairs incident to the season ... The captain and engineer expressed themselves pleased. On Monday March 21, the MAPLE LEAF began tri-weekly service to Colborne, Cobourg and Port Hope, leaving Charlotte at 11 P.M. and making railroad connections at each of the three north shore ports. The Cobourg Star remarked: "We wish her commander a more successful season than the last" .¹⁰⁰

CW 2/21/05