JOYLAND C138108

ex WILLIAM A. HASKELL wooden package freighter (C 138108 ex U 81025).

The JOYLAND, originally measuring 1,530.89 tons gross and 1,440.78 tons net, with a length of 242.66 feet (between perpendiculars) and 255 feet overall, was launched on April 10, 1884, by Detroit Dry Dock at Wyandotte, Michigan. It was assigned Yard #67 and featured diagonal strapping. The tug had two funnels positioned aft and abreast. Its fore and aft compound engine produced 725 indicated horsepower and 800 rated horsepower. In 1917, the JOYLAND underwent Canadian measurements, resulting in an increased gross tonnage of 1,845 tons and a net tonnage of 1,070 tons. The vessel had a length of 250.4 feet. Its capacity was 42,000 bushels of wheat, equivalent to 1,250 tons.

Initially, the Ogdensburg Transportation Co., the shipping arm of the Ogdensburg & Lake Champlain Railroad, owned the JOYLAND. This shipping company, operated by the Central Vermont Railroad, aimed to transport western grain to Ogdensburg, New York, for eastward shipment by rail and to transport manufactured goods and building stone westward. The JOYLAND served as a running mate to other vessels such as the WILLIAM J. AVERELL (later known as the Montreal Transportation Co.’s OATLAND) and A. McVITTIE (also later owned by the Montreal Transportation Co.).

Throughout its history, the JOYLAND encountered various incidents and underwent repairs and ownership transfers. It hit a rock in the St. Lawrence River on December 10, 1884, and ran aground in Lake Erie on September 15, 1887. On November 30, 1889, it went ashore near Cape Vincent, New York. Caulking of its bottom took place in 1893. In October 1896, the JOYLAND found itself stranded on Squaw Island in Lake Michigan. In 1899, ownership of the vessel was transferred to Rutland Transit, which took control of the Central Vermont Railroad. Although the JOYLAND was laid up around 1910, it returned to service and underwent repairs in 1911 and 1913.

The American Panama Canal legislation of 1915 resulted in the railways being required to sell their Great Lakes fleets. Consequently, the JOYLAND’s ownership was transferred to the Great Lakes Transit Co. in 1916. In the same year, it came under the Canadian registry, owned by the Lake & River Transportation Co. of Montreal (Canada Shipping Co. – managed by Hackett), and was renamed. The Lake & River Transportation Co. was owned by Roy M. Wolvin, who also controlled the Montreal Transportation Co. At that time, the JOYLAND was lengthened by 7 feet at Cantin’s Dry Dock in Montreal. The Montreal Transportation Co. acquired Lake & River Transportation Co. in 1917. The JOYLAND typically carried Canada Steamship Lines package freight upbound and Montreal Transportation Co. grain cargoes downbound. It underwent dry docking in Buffalo in September 1917 and was involved in towing the Montreal Transportation Co. barge HAMILTON when the barge ran ashore on the Point Peninsula in October 1917. The JOYLAND stranded near Kingston in October 1920.

In 1921, the JOYLAND’s ownership was transferred to Canada Steamship Lines as part of the final winding up of the Montreal Transportation Co. fleet. On April 22, 1922, the vessel was declared a constructive total loss after grounding near Little Round Island in the St. Lawrence (near Clayton, New York) while en route from Port Colborne, Ontario

, to Montreal with a cargo of corn. The underwriters abandoned the JOYLAND on May 1, 1922, but it was later refloated by Russell of Toronto and underwent repairs at Kingston Dry Dock, Toronto Dry Dock, and Port Dalhousie, Ontario.

In 1922, the JOYLAND was sold to Aube Steamship Co. of Montreal (managed by Mapes and Ferdon), and in 1924, it was converted into a sandsucker for new owners Maitland Sand and Gravel Co. (managed by Fox Island Gravel Co. of Detroit but registered in Windsor, Ontario). The 1925 ownership was listed as M.D. Nicholson of Goderich, Ontario, but the Canada List of Shipping in 1927 still indicated Maitland Sand and Gravel as the owners. The JOYLAND went aground and was abandoned at Little Burnt Island Harbour on Manitoulin Island in 1926. It was finally removed from the register in 1940.

Sources for this information include the Montreal Transportation Co. Annual Directors’ Reports from 1918 to 1920, Montreal Transportation Co. Charter (1917) Schedule B, Montreal Transportation Co. Directors’ Minutes on April 14, 1917, and November 11, 1921, Montreal Transportation Co. Kingston Grain Ledgers from July 20 to November 18, 1917, August 30 to November 16, 1917, and May 6 to November 15, 1918, as well as various publications and records such as the Alpena Public Library Great Lakes Maritime Database, American Bureau of Shipping Great Lakes Register 1919, American Shipmaster’s Association Record of American and Foreign Shipping 1898, Bascom and Gillham’s “Early Ships of Canada Steamship Lines,” Beeson’s “Steam Vessels of The Northwestern Lakes,” and additional maritime databases and registers.