A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S or PS ; however, these designations are most often used for steamships.
The SS Alpena was a sidewheel steamer built by Thomas Arnold of Gallagher & Company at Marine City, Michigan in 1866. She was operated by the Goodrich Line after being purchased from Gardner, Ward & Gallagher in April 1868. The Alpena sank in Lake Michigan in the "Big Blow" storm on October 15, 1880, with the loss of all on board.
The Owen Sound Transportation Company, Limited was the forerunner of the enterprise that currently operates the vehicle and passenger ferry - M.S. Chi-Cheemaun - between Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula, and South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. For updated information, see the article on the M.S. Chi-Cheemaun.
Port McNicoll is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the Simcoe County township of Tay.
SS Keewatin is a passenger liner that once sailed between Port Arthur / Fort William on Lake Superior and Port McNicoll on Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada. She carried passengers between these ports for the Canadian Pacific Railway's Great Lakes steamship service. Keewatin also carried packaged freight goods for the railway at these ports.
The Puget Sound mosquito fleet was a large number of private transportation companies running smaller passenger and freight boats on Puget Sound and nearby waterways and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers plied the waters of Puget Sound, stopping at every waterfront dock. The historical period defining the beginning and end of the mosquito fleet is ambiguous, but the peak of activity occurred between the First and Second World Wars.
The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centres of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto.
Lake Washington steamboats and ferries operated from about 1875 to 1951, transporting passengers, vehicles and freight across Lake Washington, a large lake to the east of Seattle, Washington. Before modern highways and bridges were built, the only means of crossing the lake, other than the traditional canoe or rowboat, was by steamboat, and, later, by ferry. While there was no easily navigable connection to Puget Sound, the Lake Washington Ship Canal now connects Lake Washington to Lake Union, and from there Puget Sound is reached by way of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks.
USC&GS A. D. Bache (1901-1927), often referred to only as Bache, continued the name of the Bache of 1871 and has been confused, including in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, with that ship even though an entirely new hull and boiler were built in 1901 and only the name and some machinery and instruments were transferred to the new hull. The Bache of 1901 was transferred to the U.S. Navy for World War I service between 24 September 1917 through 21 June 1919 when she was returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey.
The Peace River, which flows from the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia to the Peace–Athabasca Delta and Lake Athabasca in Alberta, was navigable by late nineteenth and early twentieth century steamboats from the Rocky Mountain Falls at Hudson's Hope to Fort Vermilion, where there was another set of rapids, then via the lower Peace from Vermilion to Lake Athabasca. The Peace is part of the Mackenzie Basin, a larger river complex which includes the Athabasca, Slave, and Mackenzie Rivers.
Waubuno was a side-wheel paddle steamer that conveyed passengers and freight between Collingwood and Parry Sound in the 1860s and 1870s. She sank with all hands during a gale on the night of November 22, 1879, though the exact cause of her sinking is unknown.
The Cumberland was a wooden-hulled side paddlewheeler built in 1871; it was wrecked off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1877 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Queen of the Lakes is the unofficial but widely recognized title given to the longest vessel active on the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada. A number of vessels, mostly lake freighters, have been known by the title.
The Galway Bay Steamboat Company provided shipping services between Galway and the Aran Islands from 1871.
The California Steam Navigation Company was formed in 1854 to consolidate competing steamship companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and on the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. It was successful in this effort and established a profitable near-monopoly which it maintained by buying out or bankrupting new competitors. In response to the Fraser Canyon gold rush and economic growth in the Pacific Northwest, the company expanded to ocean routes from San Francisco north to British Columbia. Similarly, as California's economy grew, the company offered service from San Francisco south to San Pedro and San Diego. It exited these markets in 1867 when competition drove prices to unprofitable levels. While the California Steam Navigation Company was successful throughout its life in suppressing steamboat competition on its core Bay Area and river routes, it could not control the rise of railroads. These new competitors reduced the company's revenue and profit. Finally, in 1871, the company's assets were purchased by the California Pacific Railroad, and the corporation was dissolved.
Manistee was a packet steamer that disappeared on Lake Superior on November 15 or 16, 1883. She was presumed to have sunk, with no surviving crew or passengers. The cause remains a mystery, and her wreckage has not been found.
The PS Anthony Wayne was an early wooden-hulled sidewheel steamship that sank on April 28, 1850, in Lake Erie off the coast of Vermilion, Ohio, after two of her starboard side boilers exploded. There was an estimated 50 to 69 people on board, but the ship's passenger manifest was unclear about how many passengers boarded the Wayne at each location. Although the ship's clerk reported that there were 80 to 100 people on board, which included the crew, with about 30 of them surviving.
The SS Atlanta was a wooden hulled Great Lakes steamer that sank in Lake Michigan off the coast of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, United States, after burning down. Her wreckage still remains at the bottom of the lake, and on November 6, 2017, the wreck of the Atlanta was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
SY Tern, now operating as MY Tern, is a passenger vessel on Windermere, England. Launched in 1891 she was built for the steamer service carrying passengers from the Furness Railway. She underwent several changes in owner as companies were merged throughout the twentieth century, and spent time as a sea cadet training ship during the Second World War. Refitted several times, her original steam engines have been replaced with diesel engines. Tern is the oldest vessel operating on Windermere, and is a member of the National Historic Fleet. She is currently operated by Windermere Lake Cruises as the flagship of their fleet.
The SS Raven, sometimes also referred to as the SY Raven, is a steam barge ordered by the Furness Railway for use on the lake of Windermere in the English Lake District, where she has spent her entire working life. She is a member of the National Historic Fleet, and is now preserved. She is the second oldest ship on Lloyd’s Register and the oldest with her original machinery.
