FLEUR De MARIE C77585

• Schooner
• 92ft 28m Lengths
• 52ft 17m Depths
• St. Lawrence River
• N 44 43’00.2″ W 75 28′ 35.9″

The Fleur de Marie, a clipper-bowed vessel, was originally built in 1853 at Lanoraie, down the St. Lawrence. It was later brought to Lake Ontario to cater to the growing grain and lumber trade. The ship had a distinct appearance with a black upper section and a red lower section. It was square-rigged on the foremast and had a capacity of carrying approximately 300 to 350 tons of coal.

In the years leading up to its demise, the Fleur de Marie embarked on a memorable journey from Toronto on Christmas Day. On that occasion, the ship was loaded with a substantial amount of lumber, stacked high above its rail and secured with chains. These chains were not only draped over the deckload from one covering board to another but also passed underneath the vessel’s keel and rose on the opposite side. Tautened with purchases or turnbuckles, the chains served to frap or undergird the ship, following a similar technique used on the ancient Alexandrian corn-ship Saint Paul when it was wrecked in Malta. This method of securing the cargo and tightening the chains not only kept the deckload in place but also prevented the Fleur de Marie’s aging structure from deteriorating further, ensuring that her oakum-sealed seams held firm and she remained afloat.

By this time, the Fleur de Marie was considered quite old, and sailors understood the risks associated with sailing on her. Prior to embarking on this Christmas voyage, the crew demanded and received a fare of $40 for the trip to Oswego, a journey that could take anywhere from fifteen hours to fifteen days, or possibly even end up being abandoned altogether. Additionally, the sailors ensured their return fare home if the vessel were to be laid up for the winter in the foreign port.

Information about the Fleur de Marie can be found in Ships Registration CC PAC R184, RG12-B-15-A-i, Volume number: 3015.

Video by Daniel J Gildea #

Schooner Days #

BORN AT LANORAIE

The Fleur de Marie was a clipper bowed vessel, black above and red below, built down the St. Lawrence at Lanoraie in 1853 and brought to Lake Ontario for the growing grain and lumber trade. She was square-rigged on the foremast, and could carry 300 or perhaps 350 tons of coal. A few years before her demise she had sailed out of Toronto on Christmas Day, loaded almost decks-to with lumber, her cargo piled high above her rail, and secured with chains. These passed not only over the deckload, from coveringboard to coveringboard, but went clear around the vessel, under her keel and up on the other side. They were hove taut with purchases or turnbuckles. That was the way they frapped or undergirded the Alexandrian corn-ship Saint Paul was in when he was wrecked on Malta, and that is the way they held more than one old hooker together in schooner days on Lake Ontario. The chains or cables not only held the deckload in place, but they squeezed the ancient ribs and planking together and kept the Fleur de Marie—as the Castor and Pollux eighteen hundred years before—from spewing her oakum from her seams and drinking the lake dry. The Fleur de Marie must have been pretty old by this time, and sailors knew they were taking a chance when they shipped in her. Before they cast off her lines for this Christmas trip they demanded, and got, $40 for the run to Oswego—maybe fifteen hours, maybe fifteen days, maybe never—and their fare paid home if the vessel was laid up for the winter in the foreign port.

Ships Registration CC PAC R184, RG12-B-15-A-i, Volume number: 3015 #