Also known as:

ARGYLE;GRIMSBY;FRONTIER

Year of Build:

1876

Official Number:

72998

Built at:

Mill Point (Deseronto), ONT.

Vessel Type:

Steamer

Hull Materials:

Wood

Builder Name:

E.W. Rathbun & Co.

Master Carpenter:

William Jamieson

Original Owner and Location:

A.W. Hepburn, Picton, ONT.

Propulsion:

Sidewheel

Engine Type:

Low Pressure

# Cylinders:

1

Propulsion Notes:

33 1/2 x 96", 75hp engine, H.P. Rathburn & Son, Mill Point, ONT, 1876.

Length:

170'

Beam:

26'

Depth:

9'

Tonnage (gross):

579

Tonnage (net):

336

Final Location:

Windmill Point.
Lake St. Clair.

Date:

Mar 1918

How:

Abandoned.

Notes:

Abandoned Windmill Point boneyard after being towed to Detroit from Chathem for possible repair.

1876 Chartered Torono Navigation Co.; ran general excursion trade off Toronto, ONT.

1877 - 78 Extensive repairs, Picton, ONT.

1878 Chartered Imperial Navigation Company; continued excursion trade.

1878 Went over Mill Dam due to broken rudder, 8 lost.

1881 Owned Smith.

1882 Owned Hepburn, Picton.

1883 Operated in Niagara area; new boiler & engine.

1886 Rebuilt.

1891 Rebuilt.

1899 Rebuilt & lengthened at Picton; 185.16 x 26 x 9.75'; 700.29 gross / 373.87 net tons; 3 decks, 1 mast; renamed ARGYLE, C94926.

1907 Owned F.T. Hutchinson's Argyle Steamship Co. Ltd., Toronto;

possibly repossessed by Hepburn later.

1908 Owned Lake Ontario Navigation Co., Picton.

1911, Feb.13 Owned Grimsby Beach & South Shore Navigation Co., Toronto.

1913 Operated as GRIMSBY unofficially between Toronto & Port Dalhousie, ONT; owned Margret Cook, Windsor, ONT.

1914 Renamed FRONTIER.

1915 Owned Peoples Steamboat Co., Chathem, ONT; operated between Chathem & Detroit, MI; owned Frontier Steamship Co.

1916 Sunk under Chathem bridge.

1918 Abandoned Windmill Point boneyard.

From the Collection of:

C. Patrick Labadie

Sources:

Board of Lake Underwriters Marine Directory

Edward J. Dowling Collection, University of Detroit - Mercy

Great Lakes Register

John O. Greenwood

Newspaper Clippings

Steamboat Era in the Muskokas by Richard Tatley

William MacDonald Collection, Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Detroit

C. Patrick Labadie

Canadian Sessional Papers

Canal Park Marine Museum, Duluth

Donald V. Baut