COMET (1848, Steamer)

Description


Identification
Vessel name:
COMET
Also known as:
MAYFLOWER;COMET
Year of Build:
1848
Official Number:
92861
Construction and Ownership
Built at:
Portsmouth, ONT
Vessel Type:
Steamer
Hull Materials:
Wood
Number of Decks:
1
Builder Name:
Fisher's Shipyard
Master Carpenter:
George Ault
Original Owner and Location:
James, Joseph & Lewis Platt, Kingston, ONT.
Power
Number of Masts:
1
Propulsion:
Sidewheel
Engine Type:
Vertical Beam (Walking Beam)
Propulsion Notes:
Two engines by Ward Foundry, Montreal; from SHANNON, 1830 (2nd engine for SHANNON; earlier one to NONSUCH, 1834).
Hull Dimensions
Length:
174'
Beam:
23.5'
Depth:
10'
Tonnage (old style):
336.1
Final Disposition
Final Location:
Off Nine Mile Pt., North of Oswego, NY.
Lake Ontario.
Date:
14 May 1861
Final Depth:
90''
How:
Wrecked.
Final Cargo:
Farm implements.
Notes:
Explosion & fire following collision with schooner EXCHANGE; 2 or 3 lives lost. 1967 wreckage located.
History
Chronology:

1848, Jun 14 Launched.

1848, Jul 4 Registered Kingston, ONT; ran Kingston, Hamilton & Toronto.

1848, Oct 2 Stranded Galops Rapids.

1848, Dec 1 Stranded & badly damaged, Highland Creek near Toronto.

1849, Nov 3 Burst boilers approaching Gibraltar Pt., killing 3, injuring 6; large repairs.

1849 - 53 Owned John MacPherson et. al., Kingston, ONT following foreclosure proceedings.

1850 Ran Through Mail Line, linking Montreal boats with Kingston, ONT; expanded with cabins on deck & new overall promenade deck.

1851 Apr 21 Port boiler exploded, destroying upper works; sank; 8 crew killed.

1851 May 20 Owned & salvaged by Miller, Montreal, QUE; repaired there; renamed MAYFLOWER.

1852 Chartered Great Lakes Western Railway, Canada; ran Toronto - Cape Vincent via north shore ports.

1853, Jun 25 Collision with steamer PRINCESS ROYAL near Whitby.

1853, Aug 10 Ashore at Scarborough Bluff near Toronto, ONT.

1853 Owned Alexander Campbell, Kingston, ONT; renamed COMET.

1854, Mar 7 Owned Rome & Watertown Railway; ran Hamilton - Cape Vincent & Ogdensburg, NY.

1855 Ran Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal & Quebec.

1855, May Repaired at Oswego, NY.

1856 Owned Hamilton Hill, Oberlin, OH.

1857 - 60 Laid up at Portsmouth in panic of 1857.

1860 Sep 3 Owned Thomas Kirkpatrick, Kingston, ONT; passenger & freight service Montreal to head of Lake Ontario.

1860 - 61 Rebuilt, 180 x 26 x 10.

1861, May 7 Torn from moorings during gale & slammed into Cataraqui Bridge, Kingston, ONT.

1861, May 14 Collision with schooner EXCHANGE.

Notes
From the Collection of:
C. Patrick Labadie
Sources:
Donald V. Baut
Board of Lake Underwriters Marine Directory
Canadian Registers
Edward J. Dowling Collection, University of Detroit - Mercy
Erik Heyl, Early American Steamers
William MacDonald Collection, Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit
Newspaper Clippings
John E. Poole notes, Bowling Green State University
H. G. Runge Collection, Milwaukee Public Library
Steamboat Era in the Muskokas by Richard Tatley
Contact
Contact
Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library
Email:specialcollections@alpenalibrary.org
Website:
Agency street/mail address:
211 N. First Ave.
Alpena, Michigan 49707
USA
(989)356-6188
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