Travelling between Ottawa and Kingston today takes about 2 hours by car on either Highway 15 or the 416/401 route. A driver can have breakfast in Ottawa, throw on their favourite driving tunes and arrive in Kingston before lunch. This journey was not always so simple, in fact it would take days by steamship along the Rideau Canal route, the only option other than horseback before railways were in service. 

Travelling between Kingston and Bytown (Ottawa’s Pre-1855 name) was a luxurious and refined affair aboard one of the many steamships. They were outfitted with the finest dining rooms, overnight accommodations and a dedicated crew to make your journey on the Rideau Canal an enjoyable one. 

The first steamship on the Rideau Canal was the “PUMPER” and it left Kingston at 4pm on May 22nd, 1832. PUMPER was re-named “RIDEAU” for the special inaugural journey after the canal’s completion with Lieut.-Col. John By aboard, Royal Engineers, his wife and two daughters, and other dignitaries of the time. PUMPER left Kingston and reached the head of the locks at Bytown a week later on May 29th, 1832. 

Thus began the 130-year history of the Rideau Canal as a commercial waterway, and the use of luxury steamships to complete the journey. All those magnificent ships have been lost in time, once the backbone linking the two cities and the communities in between. What happened to them and where are they now?….

This is the Search for the Lost Steamships Of The Rideau Canal…

THE SHIPS

During the 130 years of steamship transit on the Rideau Canal, many steamers plied its waters, but for the focus of this investigation, I will be searching for the THREE most prominent and luxurious steamships; The Rideau Belle, The Rideau King, and The Rideau Queen. With such an amazing history between these beloved ships, it seems a shame not a trace of any of them can be found. Let’s see what we can discover…

THE RIDEAU BELLE

The first of the luxury steamships on the Rideau Canal was the “RIDEAU BELLE”. Built in Kingston by Robert Davis in 1885 with a single watertight deck, the 69-foot long, 15ft. beam ship was launched to carry 40 passengers. Powered by a 20 horsepower engine, Rideau Belle was to be the newest and most splendid of Victorian steamships to ply the Rideau Canal route, so much so that only after a year of service her hull was extended in length to 85ft with a new 40horsepower engine, and subsequently could now carry up to 100 passengers. The journey was a duration of 38 hours each way, in unparalleled Victorian luxury.

The interior of the Rideau Belle saw the finest cherrywood panelling adorn the dining room, velvet curtains with satin sofa lounges throughout. The luxurious Rideau Belle would sadly not operate for more than ten years when she met her fate one cold November day in 1895.

According to an article I found in the Ottawa Journal from March 12, 1895, on Page 7, it states the “THE RIDEAU BELLE BURNS”…Anchored for over-wintering in a bay of Sand Lake on the Rideau system, a fire somehow broke out and burned her hull to the waterline. The Rideau Belle met her final fate on Sand Lake and it seems her service was over, but where did she sink on Sand Lake?

FATE of RIDEAU BELLE

The 1895 article states that the luxury steamship was undergoing repairs in “West Bay” when the fire broke out, and the nearby lockmaster from Davis Lock noticed her burning. After her charred remains were left to smoulder, local legend states that the Lockmaster from Chaffey’s scavenged some of the fine cherrywood from the dining room to build his own luxury outhouse! (torn down in the 1930s)

So where is West Bay on Sand Lake and did Rideau Belle slip beneath the waves there or did remnants of her hull get dragged elsewhere?

A search of the nautical chart of Sand Lake and West Bay does not show any indication of a “wreck” or unusually shallow shoals that could mark the remains of Rideau Belle. Perhaps it drifted into the swampy bay of the inlet and slowly sank into the muck of the bay bottom. Perhaps a local resident from the area knows what happened to the remnants of Rideau Belle, and if it is still there waiting to be discovered after 130 years of abandonment.

THE RIDEAU KING / JAMES SWIFT

Two years prior to the demise of Rideau Belle, construction began in 1893 on what was to be the epitome of luxury steamship travel on the Rideau Canal: the “James Swift” . The 1890’s were a romantic period in Canadian history, and the steamship came to symbolize the leisurely and elegant way of life on the rivers and lakes of Canada. Captain Noonan wanted to ensure that his new Rideau Canal steamer would boast an opulent refinement never before experienced on the Rideau.

Built in Kingston by Matthew Davis with a length of 107 feet and a beam of 23ft., James Swift was one of the first ships to have electric lighting and a steam heating system. First licensed to carry 100 passengers, the ship also had conveniences such as hot and cold running water and made the journey from Kingston to Ottawa in about 27 hours.

With James Swift offering music and dancing at night under the moonlight as she steamed along the Rideau, she became such a popular means of travel that within only two years the ship was renovated and passenger capacity increased to 150. “Swift” made such an impression with her striking appearance and elegance that crowds of gawkers would rush to the local lockstations to take in her presence and local newspapers created headlines about the visiting steamship.

Captain Noonan and his ship James Swift was so popular that he incorporated the newly formed Rideau Lakes Navigation Company (RLNCo), and became the managing director and principal shareholder. However, it would only be 8 years later that the James Swift would almost meet the same fate as its predecessor in a tragic fire. While at dock in Ottawa in 1901, fire broke out on the James Swift, partially destroying her and killing an Ottawa fireman who gave his life trying to extinguish the fire. Robert Ireland was killed and three others were seriously burned.

Fortunately for Captain Noonan, the hull and portions of the deck remained intact and even though the fire began in the boiler room, the Swift’s working machinery was not seriously damaged, and the damages of $2,000 was “fully covered by marine insurance”. The burnt hulk was thus rebuilt and substantially upgraded and launched again in 1902 as the “Rideau King”.

Starting services on May 1st, 1902 as the Rideau King, Capatian Noonan’s newly restored steamship offered round trip service from Kingston to Ottawa for $5.00 ($3.00 one way) with meals and berths extra, leaving Kinsgton at 1pm and arriving in Ottawa at 3:45pm the next day.

Tragedy would strike yet again in 1909 when the ship lost control and ran aground on Newboro Lake on Whitehall Island, causing $1,000 in hull damage. It was around this time that the end of the steamship popularity was becoming evident. With the popularity of the personal motorboat on the Rideau system, and the network of railways now in operation between major cities and towns, the steamship era was drawing to a close.

FATE OF THE RIDEAU KING

By 1912 steamship travel on the Rideau was on a serious decline and with the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914 the end of the opulence was at hand. With few passengers and a tired engine, Rideau King was still in service in 1916, but had to be removed from its duty halfway into the season on the Rideau as the ship was deemed “unsafe” since it had become “structurally unsound” with the boiler and engine requiring complete replacement. With the cost of repairs unjustified without passengers to pay for them, Rideau King ended her days being sold for scrap in 1917. After being partially dismantled for its parts, the Royalty of the Rideau, Rideau King was sunk in a lagoon off Garden Island across from Kingston, On.

Local legend states that her hull is still visible in the shallow water on a calm day, but Garden Island is somewhat of a “scrapyard of the sea” with many old ships being sunk off the island’s shores. Which of these sunken hulls is that of Rideau King?

A Google Maps satellite image of Garden Island shows many wrecks visible under the water’s surface, so without proper diving verification of hull lengths, construction details etc. it would be hard to discern which of the wrecks visible is that of the once illustrious Rideau King. (*Please let me know if you have any further info on which wreck could be it!)

THE RIDEAU QUEEN

During the success of Captain Noonan’s Rideau Navigation Company at the turn of the century, he and his company was doing so well with the steamship service on the Rideau Canal that he commissioned the construction of another steamship in addition to his Rideau King...The Rideau Queen.

Also built by Robert Davis in Kingston, the Rideau Queen entered service in 1900 at a length of 108ft. and a breadth of 24ft. The most luxurious of all the Rideau steamships the Queen was ready for 300 passenger service in June of 1900, boasting accommodations rivalling any hotel of the time.

Ads in newspapers would boast that the latest Rideau steamship had “steam heat, electric lighting, electric fans, and cabins priced from $1.00 to $5.00, with meals at 50cents, and “lavish marble wash basins”.

Thousands of passengers boarded the Rideau Queen, with many amplifying local economies along the Rideau Canal route it took, with many towns benefiting from its stops along the way between Ottawa and Kingston.

Word spread to America of the Queen’s journey, with many American tourists taking the train from New York City to Ogdensburg or Clayton, New York and across the St. Lawrence River for service to Ottawa along the picturesque Rideau Canal.

However, all good things must come to an end, and in 1912 steamship travel began its death spiral, and in 1914 there was a transition from happy recreational activities like boating to the war effort of World War 1 that brought an end to such luxurious folly.

On top of the Great War destroying business, Captain Noonan died in 1914, and with it his glorious steamship business. Like the fate of Rideau King before it, Rideau Queen was sold off to new owners, the Trent Navigation Company in 1916 where she plied the waters of the Bay of Quinte doing contract work. Then in 1922 Rideau Queen was sold to a Mr. C. Leboeuf and Mr. Gobout of Valleyfield, Quebec. In 1924 she was sold to the Valleyfield Transportation Company to be used as a cargo vessel on the St. Lawrence River.

With an illustrious past as a luxury steamship on the Rideau Canal, Rideau Queen sadly saw her last days on the water as a cargo barge before being hauled ashore and demolished somewhere in 1933…location unknown.

FATE OF RIDEAU QUEEN

With the whereabouts of the Rideau Queen not known with any exact certainty, one could speculate that the Queen was laid up somewhere near her last area of service, which was Valleyfield, Quebec. I am not familiar enough with Valleyfield to know where the ships would have been at port, or dismantled, so if anyone knows anything about the Rideau Queen being in Valleyfield, Quebec, please let me know!

CONCLUSION

It seems rather sad that the era of luxury steamship travel on the Rideau system only lasted 20 years, from 1895 to 1915, the glory years of a lavish steamer experience likely never again to be replicated. With their opulent accommodations and slower pace style, these three steamships represent a lost method of traveling between Kingston and Ottawa that was both unique and impressive.

The three main steamships are now lost in time, relics of a forgotten era in steamship transportation that now has no physical connection. Perhaps one day the remains of them will be found, the Rideau Belle somewhere in a bay of Sand Lake, The Rideau King somewhere off Garden Island and the Rideau Queen in pieces somewhere near Valleyfield, Quebec.

Until that time we can only imagine how that journey must have been like under plumes of smoke above your head and wooden hulls gently slicing the waters of the Rideau Canal System over a century ago.

Andrew King, April, 2025

SOURCES

“Steamboating on the Rideau Canal” by Mike Nelles,
Bytown Pamphlet Series No. 71, 2007
http://parkscanadahistory.com/publications/rideau/steamboating.pdf

“Commercial Navigation on the Rideau Canal 1832-1961”, by Edward Forbes Bush, 1981

https://www.thewhig.com/opinion/columnists/local-history-luxurious-steamboats-cruised-rideau-canal

Google Maps

Newspapers.com