Harbour_Panel5_6 The Ontario Car Ferry Company had an outstanding safety record. However there were several incidents. On January 6, 1924, Ontario No. 1 sailed from Port Charlotte and soon encountered a heavy gale with 20 foot swells and 75 knots of wind. After making only one and a half miles in one hour, Captain Redfearn decided to run with the storm. By radio, he instructed the Cobourg offices to have lighthouse keepers light their beacons along the shore for guid- ance. The lake was so rough that at Bowmanville and Newcastle, the keepers couldn't get to the lighthouses. At Port Union, an enterprising CNR agent put fuses along the shore as an aid. The vessel finally reached the approaches to Toronto harbour at 2:30 a.m. on January 7, but Captain Redfearn decided not to enter the harbour. Instead he cruised up and down the shore off Port Credit and rode out the storm until morning. The vessel was coated with a thick layer of ice - 3 feet on the deck and the pilot house and windows were covered. The Ontario No. 1 prepared in Toronto harbour for the trip home and fi- nally hove up the anchor at 7:30 p.m. and set sail for Cobourg arriving safely on January 8. Bells of the Town Hall and the churches rang as the citizens of Cobourg rejoiced at its safe return. Another incident occurred on August 5, 1924 when Ontario No. 2 was at- tempting to return to Cobourg in dense fog with 930 passengers on a church excursion. Captain Forrest misread the fog horn signals and the ferry ground- ed on the sandy bottom. Passengers had to be removed by smaller boats and barges to the pier until the ferry was refloated. On March 23, 1923 the two ferries collided in dense fog and both vessels sustained considerable damage. The 1910s and 20s represented the golden era for the car ferries and the Company. They carried 70,000 passengers per season during this time and in 1925 they loaded and ferried 12,863 coal cars. With the advent of the Depression years, hard times hit. In 1923 the Grand Trunk Railway had been absorbed by the Canadian National Railway. Then in 1932 the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway was purchased by the Baltimore and Ohio. Design provided by Steve Smiley, RGD, Quench Design & Communications, Port Hope. THE HISTORY OF COBOURG HARBOUR To keep the ferries busy, both vessels were leased out for excursions at various places around Lake Ontario. By the 1940s even these excursions could not prevent financial losses from mounting. Ontario No. 1's last trip out of Charlotte was on July 31, 1949 - her certificate expired and she had to be dry docked. On the day of her last crossing, April 30, 1950 , the Ontario No. 2, blew her whistle and left the Genesee dock for the last time. The Ontario Car Ferry Company's service ended when the steam was let down for the last time after the Ontario No. 2 docked at Cobourg. Ontario No. 2 The last trip out of Charlotte for Ontario No. 2, April 30, 1950 END OF AN ERA