The steamer Geneva was built in 1875 in Portsmouth, Ontario. It was a wooden-hulled steamer with two decks and measured 93 feet in length, 20 feet in beam, and had a depth of 5.4 feet. The vessel had a gross tonnage of 96.74 tons and a net tonnage of 39.08 tons. It was powered by a single high-pressure horizontal engine with one cylinder and one propeller. The engine, manufactured by George Chaffey & Bros. Iron Works in Portsmouth, Ontario, had a power output of 50 horsepower.
The Geneva was originally owned by W. Nichols and others in Kingston, Ontario. Over the years, ownership of the vessel changed hands. It was owned by Lewis Springer of Hamilton, Ontario, in 1880, and later by John Turner of Toronto, Ontario, in 1884. On May 10, 1888, the Geneva was sold to American interests and owned by Cape Vincent, New York, under the official number US86005. By 1890, Silas A. Service of Rochester, New York, became the owner of the steamer.
On September 23, 1891, a devastating fire occurred aboard the Geneva while it was docked at Beach Oswego, Oswego, New York. The fire broke out shortly after the vessel had landed a party of excursionists. The flames quickly engulfed the steamer, burning it to the water’s edge. Fortunately, no lives were lost in the incident. The final cargo of the Geneva consisted of passengers who had disembarked before the fire broke out.
The fire was believed to have originated in the engine room or around the boiler. The dry and highly flammable cabin, constructed of light wood, contributed to the rapid spread of the flames. Efforts to extinguish the fire were futile due to the lack of firefighting equipment on hand. The remains of the Geneva’s hull eventually washed up on the beach east of Three Mile Creek.
The steamer Geneva had a significant history, serving as a passenger vessel on the Bay of Quinte before being repurposed for excursion trips in Rochester and later under Nelson Skinner’s ownership. The vessel had an estimated cost of $12,000 to $15,000 when it was first built. It was insured for $4,000 at the time of the fire.
The fire aboard the Geneva underscored the fortunate timing of the incident, as it occurred while the vessel was docked rather than when it was out on the lake. If the fire had broken out during the excursion on Lake Ontario, passengers may not have had enough time to safely evacuate the vessel.
