Two types of vessel registers in the Bruce County Archives collection provide information about historic ships stopping in the area.
Inland Lloyds Vessel Registers: Canadian Hulls (1884, 1886-1889, 1891-1892)
Created for private use by insurance companies in determining vessel seaworthiness and whether, or how, to insure ships traveling on inland waters in Canada, these historic registers now provide information about some of the ships that stopped at Bruce County ports on Lake Huron.
Some of the Bruce County, Ontario ships and ports of hail mentioned include:
Kincardine is listed as port of hail for:
- Schooner Mary S. Gordon, owned by Gordon & M.D. (1884, 1886, 1888, 1891, 1892)
- Schooner Harry Baird, owned by Baird & Co. (1888, 1891)
Port Elgin is listed as port of hail for Propeller ship Elgin, owned by Guyer (1892)
Southampton is listed as port of hail for
- Propeller ship Lillie Smith, operated by J. Brody, owned by G.E. Smith (1891)
- Propeller ship Mary Arnet, owned by Corley (1892)
- Propeller ship Maud L., owned by Brookes (1892)
Wiarton is listed as port of hail for the Propeller ship Minnie Kidd, owned by Clark (1891, 1892)
The registers provide an alphabetical list of ships with information recorded under the following headings:
- Names
- New Tonnage
- Where Built
- By Whom
- When
- Rebuilt [date]
- Owners
- Port of Hail
- Value
- Class
- Remarks
The types of ships in the register include sidewheel steamers, propellers, schooners, and barges.
Register of Vessels employed in the Coasting trade of the Dominion of Canada, which departed from the Port of Kincardine (1876-1883)
This partial “Register of Vessels employed in the coasting trade of the Dominion of Canada, which departed from the Port of Kincardine,” is a register of Steam Canada vessels, screw steamers, paddle vessels, propeller vessels, and/or other vessels which departed from the Port of Kincardine, Bruce County, Ontario, from August 1876 to November 1883. The register records the ships’
- number
- date of departure
- rig and name of the vessel
- master’s name
- destination
- under what flag
- with cargo or in ballast, and
- under coating license (tons, crew).
Ship names listed in this register include, but are not limited to: Alliance, Asia, Caledonia, Cartin, City of Owen Sound, Erie Bell, Etty Woodward, Gladstone, Manitoba, Nemesis, Niagara, Quebec, Ontario, Otonobee, Prince Edward, Regina, Sarah Jane, Sovereign, Tecumseh, and Vanderbilt.
