Since childhood, I’ve been interested in the “olden days” and how people lived. As a historical fiction author, I take delight in curating facts and impressions about people’s daily lives and how the times in which they lived impacted them. You can imagine the extensive research required to construct a believable world within a novel. For history lovers, this aspect of writing is pleasurable work.

This being said, I’ve been learning about steamship travel in Canada in the 1800s and early 1900s. What might my characters encounter aboard such ships? I’d imagined grunge and simplicity at every turn.

I discovered that the first Canadian-built steamship, the Accomodation launched in 1809. The ship was 72 feet long, with two paddle wheels producing a top speed of 4 miles per hour along the St. Lawrence River. Its two funnels belched black smoke. From shore, ox-teams towed the ship through currents too strong for its engine to handle. Passenger paid $8 to travel upstream and $9 downstream, including meals and berth.

Frontenac, the earliest Great Lakes steamship launched in 1816. The 740-ton ship was equipped with sails and steam power enabling speeds of 10 ½ miles per hour. The nine-day trip from Kingston to York cost $12. Gentlemen’s servants and steerage passengers paid $3 and furnished their own meals.

One passenger had this to say about his 1819 trip. “I could not but invoke a thousand blessings on the inventors and improvers of the steamboat for the delightful mode of conveyance with which their labours have been the means of furnishing mankind. It required some recollections to perceive that I was not in the Kingston Hotel.” The challenge with history is that experiences tend to be documented by upper class people. It’s the common man whose stories capture me, so I’ll continue searching for stories about travel in steerage.

Not all voyages succeeded. In May 1834, the small steamship Enterprise left Bytown set for Kingston. First water leaked into the steamer which then relied on a borrowed pump to continue the journey. A few days later, the engine failed, so the Captain sent two smaller boats for help. It was all downhill from there!  

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