EAST, CANTIN
EAST ex CANTIN wooden propeller/package freighter (later U 47123). 1865- 1871. 347 gross tons, 218.9 tons register, 137.08’. She was launched by A. Cantin in Montreal in May 1864. Round stern. One mast. Her engine came from OSHAWA (340 tons) that had been wrecked near Kingston in September 1861. 1864 value $24,000. 1866 rated A1 and valued at $18,000 by the Canadian insurance register, but $26,000 by the American one. 1869 rated A2 and valued at $15,000 by the Canadian register. 1871 rated A2 and valued at $18,000.
CANTIN was renamed very soon after her launch. She was a near sister to NORTH and Canadian Railway & Marine World claimed she was one of four (NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, and WEST) that were built as blockade-runners. That claim could not be substantiated by other sources consulted. In 1864-65, EAST was owned by J.F.D. Black and I. Bonner of Montreal. She was owned by J. McLennan 1865-67 when she was chartered to the Chaffeys. She broke two lock gates in the Welland Canal in 1867. Also in 1867, she was in collision with the American CONGRESS (possibly U 4392 ex DETROIT 398 tons register) off Port Dalhousie Ontario with $300 damage to EAST. EAST was repaired in Andrew’s yard there.
Montreal Transportation Co. owned her 1868-71. She hit a pier and was damaged at Port Stanley Ontario on 11 November 1868. She was scuttled in place to protect her over the winter and then salved and repaired at Detroit in the spring. She broke her shaft in Lake Erie in 1869. She was running Kingston – Chicago that season. In 1870 she lost two of her “buckets” (propeller blades) while upbound in the Detroit River. She was sold to “McKay and others” (presumably A.B. and R.O. MacKay of Hamilton) in 1871. Her 1872 operator was the Dominion Transportation Co. In July 1872 she went aground on a shoal in St. Lawrence near Gananoque Ontario. By 1873 she was owned by Zealand et al and then by Craig & Co. She was sold by auction to Capt. Tait of Bowmanville Ontario in 1874 for $11,800. In 1875 she was running in the “Dominion Line”.
EAST ran down and sank the American tug JOE MAC (U 13301, 42 tons register) near Cole’s Light in St. Lawrence in 1875. EAST did not stop and sustained damage to her upperworks. JOE MAC’s crew was rescued by the crew of the schooner she had been towing. After being repaired, EAST re-entered service until she was seized by the American authorities on the St. Lawrence River in November 1876. At that time she was supposedly owned by “McCelland and others”.
Although only 13 years old, she was cut down to a coal barge in 1877 while owned by Seymour & Co. of Ogdensburg New York. They renamed her KENT (U 47123, 318.36 tons gross). In 1875 Seymour & Co. had been the owners of JOE MAC. They got the steamer in settlement of their legal action. Her 1884 owner was the Ogdensburg Coal and Towing Co. She foundered on a bar near Ogdensburg about 1885 and was blown up on 2 June 1906.
Alpena Public Library Great Lakes Maritime Database; Association of Canadian Lake Underwriters Lake Vessel Register 1866 and 1869; Board of Lake Underwriters Marine Register 1878; Canada List of Shipping 1877; Canadian Heritage Ship Information Database; Classification of Lake Vessels and Barges 1871; Lake Vessel Register 1866 (Buffalo); Lytle Holdcamper List (Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1790-1868); Marine Museum of the Great Lakes Canadian Ship Registers on line; Merchant Vessels of the United States 1886; New Mills List; British Whig 15 November 1879; Canadian Railway & Marine World July 1906; Chicago Times 10 April 1865; Cleveland Herald 26 December 1878; Detroit Free Press 2 December 1870; Detroit Tribune 9 November 1876; Kingston Daily News 11 June 1864, 4 April 1865, 11 June and 17 August 1867, 16 April and 12 November 1868, 21 April 1869, 17 December 1873 and 25 February 1874;Toronto Globe 26 August 1875.
