Our Ship of the Month No. 112, featured in the Mid-Summer issue, was the steamer ROSEDALE. If such a feature provokes comment and additional research from our members, then we have served one of our most important functions. Accordingly, we are pleased to present herewith some further information on ROSEDALE which our correspondents have developed for us.

As was typical of most canal-sized steamers built in British yards for Canadian operators, ROSEDALE was originally registered in Great Britain and later came under Canadian registry. When ROSEDALE first entered service, she was registered at Sunderland, England, the site of her building. In February 1891, her port of registry was changed from Sunderland to Toronto, and it was on March 17, 1909, that it was changed from Toronto to Hamilton.

We also now have the official details of several of ROSEDALE's bill of sale transactions. On May 18, 1907, her ownership was transferred from the St. Lawrence and Chicago Steam Navigation Company Ltd., Toronto, to R. 0. Mackay and A. B. Mackay, Hamilton, and C. A. Jaques, Montreal (joint owners). On May 22, 1907, she passed to Rosedale Ltd., Hamilton, and on May 25, 1916 she was transferred to Canada Steamship Lines Ltd., Montreal. Her register was officially closed on June 18, 1919, some two months after her loss at sea. It is interesting to note that her actual transfer to C.S.L. ownership took place some three years after her absorption into the C.S.L. fleet at the time of the formation of that corporate conglomerate.

The date of ROSEDALE's altercation with the rocks of Knife Island has been confirmed as 1893. A photo of the stranded ship shows that she slid right up on the island, with her bow out of water.

As two additional points of interest, we should note that ROSEDALE was refitted at Port Arthur during the winter of 1915-16 at a cost of $50,000 and that, on May 16, 1916, she cleared Quebec for London, England, with a cargo of deals (ungraded pine lumber). This was obviously the commencement of the voyage during which, on May 30, she sustained gale damage whilst en route across the North Atlantic.

We are also now in a position to comment further upon ROSEDALE's accident of November 11, 1912, in which she stranded on DeTour Point while, upbound light from Kingston for Fort William, she was attempting to enter the St. Mary's River. A report carried in the December 1912 issue of "The Marine Review", Cleveland, stated that ROSEDALE ran ashore in a storm. She was released on November 12 and was taken to DeTour. Leaking badly, she arrived at Sault Ste. Marie on November 14; there she was lightered of part of her cargo and received temporary repairs. She left the Soo on November 18 for Port Arthur, where she was to be drydocked.

For their efforts in putting together this additional detail on a most historic steamer, we extend our sincere thanks to George Ayoub, to Ken Thro and to Robert J. MacDonald.

Return to Home Port or Toronto Marine Historical Society's Scanner

Reproduced for the Web with the permission of the Toronto Marine Historical Society.