Other Names #
- CANADA No 2
- YOUNG CANADA
History #
The Canada, also known as Canada No. 2 and Young Canada, was a sidewheel tugboat built in 1852 in St. Antoine de Tilly, Quebec. It had no official number. The tugboat was made of wood and had dimensions of approximately 108x18x? feet, weighing around 59 tons.
On November 28, 1865, the Canada was lost in a storm near Bar Point on Lake Erie. It was attempting to bring a schooner and a barge into the Detroit River when it struck bottom near Bar Point. The heavy seas quickly caused the little sidewheel tug to break up. The exact details regarding the loss of life and the cargo it was carrying at the time are unknown.
Captain D. Miesel was both the master and owner of the Canada. During the incident, the Hackett brothers, local tugmen from Malden, Ontario, came to the rescue of the Canada’s crew at great peril to themselves using their tug named Zouave. The Canada’s machinery was recovered in 1875.
Prior to the loss, the Canada had been sold to American ownership after a devastating fire at its dock on the St. Clair River in October 1855. It was then owned out of Bay City in 1864. The tugboat was rebuilt in Detroit in 1856. In 1862, the Canada was involved in a collision with the tug Winslow in the St. Clair River, resulting in considerable damage to the Canada and minor damage to the Winslow.
The Canada’s wrecked remains on Bar Point had only five feet of water covering them. Other vessels lost or heavily damaged in the same area during that period included the schooner Guerriere (1832), steamers Erie and Daniel Webster (1839), steamboat Little Western (1842), schooner C.C. Trowbridge (1857), schooner Morning Light (1860), propeller Cleveland (1866), and schooner W.S. Lyons (1869).
Please note that the information provided is based on historical records and may not be exhaustive.
