XXXII.
THE HARBOUR: ITS MARINE 1828-1863.
he Canada's advertisement for the season of 1828 appears in the Loyalist of April 2. It differs a little from the one previously given. "The British steam-packet Canada, Captain Hugh Richardson, plying between York and Niagara, weather permitting, leaves Niagara, &c., &c., as before. N.B.—A gun will be fired and colours hoisted twenty-five minutes before starting."
It is interesting to observe that the traffic of the harbour carried on by schooners is still such as to require additional vessels of that class. In the Loyalist of April 19, 1828, the following item appears:—"A new schooner called the Canadian was launched here (York) yesterday morning. She is owned by Mr. Gamble and Capt. Bowkett, the latter of whom, we understand, takes command of her." From the same number of the Loyalist we learn that "the launch of Mr. Hamilton's new Steam Boat at Niagara was expected to take place on the 21st instant. In the paper of the 17th, the launch of another schooner at York is recorded. "A fine schooner called George the Fourth was launched here on Wednesday last. Burthen about 70 or 80 tons." In June this schooner is bringing emigrants to York. "During the last week," the Loyalist of June 7th says, "several families of emigrants, arrived from Great Britain by the spring shipping at Quebec, have reached York. The new schooner George the Fourth landed nearly one hundred persons, besides those which have been brought up by the steam-boats and other vessels." The case is then mentioned of the very reprehensible conduct of the master of one of the Lake schooners (the name is withheld), "who, regardless of the consequences to several families who had taken passage from Prescott to York on board his vessel, landed a body of emigrant settlers on Gibraltar Point, during the last week, instead of putting them, with their baggage, on one of the wharves in the Harbour—in consequence of which, women and helpless children were exposed during a whole night to the violence of a tremendous storm of rain, without any shelter, and, from ignorance of their situation, unable to get to the town. On Thursday morning the schooner Catherine, Captain Campbell, relieved them from their uncomfortable situation, and landed them safely in York.
In the Loyalist of June 28, 1828, the arrival in York Harbour of the steamer lately launched at Niagara as successor to the Frontenac is noticed. She is named the Alciope. "The new steam-boat Alciope, lately built at Niagara, owned by Robert Hamilton, Esq., and under the command of Capt. McKenzie, late of the Frontenac, with a number of ladies and gentlemen on a party of pleasure, made her first entry into our Harbour on Thursday last. She is a fine model, and fitted up in a most elegant and convenient manner for passengers. She commences her regular trips, we understand, next week: and under the command of Capt. McKenzie, so well known for his skill and experience as a seaman, and for attention to his passengers, we have no doubt the Alciope will be found a valuable acquisition to the regular communication which is now afforded by means of the several steamboats plying on the Lake; and that she will receive a share of that public patronage which is so deservedly bestowed upon the owners and commanders of other boats, whose public spirited exertions are deserving of the highest praise."
Alciope is a singular name, taken as we suppose from the Greek mythology, betokening, it may have been thought, one of the Nereids, although we are not aware that the name occurs on the roll of that very large family. One of the several wives of the mighty Hercules was a daughter of Alciopus; she consequently may be conceived to have been an Alciope. But how Mr. Hamilton, of Queenston, or Captain McKenzie, came to think of such a recherché name for the new steamer is a mystery which we wish we could clear up. It is certain that the selection led to mispronunciations and misconceptions on the part of the general public. By the unlearned she was usually spoken of as the Alci-ope, of course. By a kind of antagonism among the unwashed she was the All-soap. In a similar way, Captain McIntosh's vessel, the Eunice, which frequented the harbour at an early period, was almost always popularly and excusably termed the Euneece.