Steamboats on the Lakes

In the nineteenth century, steamships ruled the Great Lakes and rivers of Upper Canada (now Ontario). Powered by ever-evolving engines that helped them defy the forces of wind and waves governing the progress of a sailing ship, steamships sped up not only the transportation of passengers and goods throughout the province but its very settlement and growth.

In Steamboats on the Lakes, marine historian Maurice D. Smith brings together technological and social history. From the story of the building of the first Ontario steamship in 1816, the Frontenac, and its successors that carried vital supplies into and rich resources out of growing communities, to the fire on board the passenger ship Noronic in 1949 -- an event that marked the beginning of the end for the steamboat era -- and the preservation of the Segwun, Smith shows us the range and colour of these magnificent vessels' history.

With a rich collection of paintings, photographs, and other illustrations from museums and archives across Ontario, Steamboats on the Lakes tells the unique story of the boats, the dangerous waters they plied, and the daring entrepreneurs and hardy sailors who navigated the many rough and glorious passages of the steamships' heyday.