Reconstruction of the ONTARIO – Summer 1991
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The Great Lakes… 84% of the continent’s fresh water… a different story in every drop.
By Richard C. Dillo
The Ontario left Sacket’s Harbor, New York on April 16, 1817 to begin her maiden voyage on Lake Ontario. She was built of navy wood left over at Sacket’s Harbor from the War of 1812 which had ended 28 months earlier.
On her maiden voyage the paddle wheels on cast shafts cantilevered outboard from the deck raised out of their unsecured bearing blocks in the heavy seas and caused damage. There were lessons to be learned; she proved to be underpowered, structurally weak and a dull sailer. Nonetheless, the Ontario enjoyed a modest success in her lifetime of many years on the lake. She was dismantled in 1832 having helped prove the usefulness of steam on the Great Lakes.
Model of the ONTARIO.
The Ontario’s Canadian counterpart, the steamboat Frontenac. was already plying Lake Ontario to share in the developing passenger commerce. The Frontenac first sailed on September 7, 1816 thus becoming the first steamboat on the Great Lakes. The Walk-in-the-Water would follow shortly to become the first on Lake Erie.
The inspiration for this reconstruction came from an Inland Seas& article by Richard F. Palmer, “First Steamboat on the Great Lakes”. Of particular value other than basic specifications was an illustration of the Ontario by James Van Cleve upon which the reconstruction is heavily based and the log of Ontario’s Captain Pease which provided many valuable word pictures.
Captain James Van Cleve shipped aboard the Ontario in 1826 as a clerk 10 begin his long connection with the maritime history of Lake Ontario; he was about I8 years old. Through the years to follow he commanded many fine vessels, schooners and steamers. From the commencement of his career upon the lake, he collected historical materials and made sketches. From this the author concluded that Van Cleve was a reliable authority on the Ontario.
The reconstruction hull lines are by Samuel Humphreys from a proposed plan, year 1818, of a steamer for river and coast service showing the accepted ideas of that period. This plan matches the aforementioned information on the Ontario. Humphreys was a U.S. naval constructor at the time, later lo become U.S. Chief Naval Constructor, a position that required knowledge of current marine development.
The Ontario’s steam engine, a J.P. Allaire (or Al lair) low pressure crosshead was reconstructed and is visible through the cut-away engine house roof of the model. The source for this engine reconstruction is an engineering drawing of a crosshead engine of the period which matches previously cited information. The engine steam was supplied from two low pressure, wood fired, copper or iron, surface boilers.
In summary the basic specifications for the Ontario are:
Hull Length – 140ft
Hull Beam – 24 ft
Depth of Hold – 8 ft 6 in
Draught – 6 ft
Tonnage – 220
J.P. Allaire (N.Y.) Crosshead Steam Engine
Horsepower – 21
Cylinder Bore – 20 in.
Stroke – 36 in.
Paddle Wheel Diameter – 11 ft 4 in
Two “Low Pressure” Surface Boilers
Diameter – 3 ft 6 in
Length – 17 ft
Square Sailed Schooner Rigged
Speed – 5 to 6 mph
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