S.S. Ontario No. 2, Cobourg Ontario

Description

Media Type

Image

Item Type

Postcards

Description

Ontario No. 2 was about 307.5 feetlong, 54 foot beam, 20 foot draft, speed 15 mph, capacity 30 loaded cars and 1200 passengers, and cost about $460,000. The Ontario No. 2 did not have an open bridge but was conned from an enclosed raised pilothouse. She had higher horsepower and therefore was somewhat steadier than her sister ship.

Notes

The Ontario Car Ferry company was formed in 1905 in a joint venture between the Grand Trunk Railway and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pennsylvania Railroad. The two ferries based in Cobourg also perfomed the secondary function of taking passengers and sometimes their cars across Lake Ontario. Business expanded so extensively that a second ship was ordered in 1915 from the Polson Iron Works also of Toronto. She was launched in August, and carried her first load of cargo on September 15th, also with Captain Forrest at the helm. The two ferries gave daily summer passenger service but from the fall to the spring did not offer this service at all.

Date of Original

c. 1920

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