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serviceable vessels, commanded by men whose pay was less than that of a good mechanic, were sent out in September for a cargo of timber. A month of dissipation in Quebec sent the crew to sea diminished in numbers by desertion, with weakened physical powers, and insufficient clothing. When, therefore, the cold November blasts in the gulf were encountered, for want of ordinary exertions, strength, and intelligence, the vessel went ashore. Notwithstanding, considering that over half a million of tons of shipping annually enter the St. Lawrence, it will be found that the per-centage of losses has been no greater than that of the British and Irish channels, or the keys of Florida.*

The tonnage inward and outward, by sea, from Quebec and Montreal, for 1851, with the number of disasters within the gulf and river, was as follows.

Port.

INWARD.

OUTWARD.

TOTAL.

Quebec......
Montreal..

1,305 533,821 17,765 1,394 586,093 19,300 2,699 1,119,914 37,065 11 231 55,660 2,181 195 37,568 1,540 426 93,228 3,721... Total..... 1,536 589,481 19,946 1,589 623,661 20,840 3,125 1,213,142 40,786 11

The disasters at Key West, for the same year, were about fifty in number, and on the upper St. Lawrence, between Lake Superior and Montreal, two hundred and sixty-three; where, says the reporter,, "five steamers, three propellers, and thirty-seven sailing vessels went out of existence entirely."

Six hundred and eighty-eight sailing vessels, numbering 125,726, tons, and four steamers, giving 1,462 tons, form the list of wrecks of vessels belonging to the United Kingdom for 1850.

Such an extent of land-locked navigation as the St. Lawrence presents between the pilot-ground (near the Saguenay) and the Atlantic would be, in thick weather, or snow storms, considered hazardous, were it not for the great width of beating-ground, (nowhere less than twenty-five miles, and averaging over fifty,) the absence of all shoals. or reefs in or near the channel, and the admirable soundings displayed by the charts.

The trend of the Atlantic coasts of Newfoundland and Cape Breton converge upon St. Paul's island, a lofty and picturesque rock, for which a vessel may stand bold in a fog. Inside of St. Paul's a bank, with sixty fathoms, leads, by a direct line on its outer edge, clearing Anticosti, into the chops of the St. Lawrence; northward of this line is deep water; southward, regular soundings; so that, in thick or

* See Part X for statements of timber trade, and tonnage employed.

foggy weather, the lead is an unerring guide. On entering the river the south shore gives uniform soundings all the way to the pilot-ground, the water shoaling so regularly that a vessel may at any point determine her distance from the shore within a mile by the lead alone, while at all points she may approach this shore within this distance. The admirable position of Pointe des Monts, (with a light-house one hundred feet above the water,) projecting with a bold shore several miles from the general trend of the north shore, forms, with its anchorage on both sides, a common point of departure for inward and out

ward-bound vessels.

The recent application of steam to ocean commerce greatly enhances the value of this navigation; particularly with reference to communication with Britain, the great centre of European steam navigation and commerce. The two great drawbacks to ocean steam navigation are, the quantity of fuel which must be carried and the resistance which a heavy sea offers to progress whether the wind be fair or foul. On the St. Lawrence route these are reduced to a minimum. The distance from the coast of Ireland to St. John, Newfoundland, or to the straits of Belle-Isle, is under 1,700 miles; and coal is found in abundance, and of excellent steaming qualities, at several points in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The remainder of the voyage to Quebec will be made in comparatively smooth water, as the steamer will run under the shelter of either shore, according to the direction of the win l.

This notice of the position of the port of Quebec with reference to ste im navigation with Europe has been deemed essential at this time, ina much as the government of Canada are now receiving proposals for the establishment of a line of screw-steamers to ply upon this route during the season of navigation, and to communicate with the terminus of the railroads from Canada, at Portland, for the present, and Halifax as soon as the scheme of a grand intercolonial railway from Quebec to Halifax shall have been carried out.

It may now be proper to allude to the inducements which lead to this course-in other words, to the

SEA-TRADE OF CANADA.

The great staple of Quebec is timber, and hitherto her trade has been chiefly confined to this staple, Montreal being the point where the agricultural exports of the upper province are exchanged for the supplies of foreign goods required for the same districts. The timber is chiefly supplied by the Ottawa river, (which, with its numerous and important tributaries, drains an area of over ten thousand square miles of the finest pine-bearing land,) and also from the north shore of Lake Ontario, which is drained by a remarkable chain of lakes emptying through the rivers Otonabee and Trent, into the Bay of Quinte, (thus escaping the open water of Ontario,) from which the rafts are floated to Quebec. Thus, by the simple and inexpensive process of rafting, timber is borne by the current, at a cost of three or four cents per cubic foot, to Quebec, from a distance of six hundred miles-even from the lands drained by Hudson's bay and Lake Huron, The annual supply

varies with the export, but seems capable of almost illimitable extension. In 1846 the supply of square timber exceeded thirty-seven millions of cubic feet; that of sawed deals, sixty millions of feet, board measure; besides some fifty thousand tons of staves, lath-wood, &c.; the whole (at the usual rate of forty cubic feet to the ton) amounting to one million six hundred and fifty thousand tons, and worth, at the ruling prices of that year, between five and six millions of dollars. Reducing the cubic to superficial measure, for the sake of comparison with Albany and Bangor, the supply of square timber and deals (exclusive of staves, lath-wood, &c.) brought to Quebec in that year exceeded five hundred millions of feet. The stock wintered over exceeded twenty-one millions of cubic feet of timber, and the export twenty-four and a quarter millions, loading some thirteen or fourteen hundred vessels, of an aggregate tonnage of over half a million.

The following shows the number and tonnage of vessels inward and outward in Quebec, with the export of white-pine timber, (the leading article,) for the last eight years:

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The greatest number of ships outward in any year previous to 1851 was in 1845, when 1,499 cleared out, with a tonnage of 584,540. In 1851 the number of vessels outward is less, but the tonnage is greater, than that of any former year. It must be remembered that, since 1845, the duty upon Baltic timber in Britain has been reduced.

The value of exports from Quebec depends upon the market price of timber, which ranges nearly one hundred per cent. It was greatest in 1845, when the price of timber was highest, although the tonnage outward, which is the true measure of the commerce, was less than in 1851. The progress of the imports is an index of the prosperity of the port, as the articles are general merchandise, which do not fluctuate as much in value as the exports.

The following is a statement of imports for a series of years at the port of Quebec:

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The progress of exports inland, which for 1851 includes transit goods for United States, is shown as follows:

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The imports of 1851 are exclusive of railway and other iron, imported in transitu, for western States, valued at $750,000.

The imports at Quebec in 1851 greatly exceed those of any former year, and the whole business of the port, import and export, for the past year, probably equalled its best ones when under the protective policy of the mother country.

In order, however, to present the sea-trade of Canada, it becomes necessary to treat Quebec and Montreal as one port. The value of the exports of Quebec is generally more than double those of Montreal, while the imports of the latter are double those of Quebec. This latter difference is sensibly lessening in favor of Quebec, as that city is now becoming the point of transhipment for goods in transit to western States, which will relatively greatly increase the value of her imports; while, as she will always be the timber-mart, no corresponding decline of her exports is to be anticipated. Ships of the largest burden are brought up to Quebec by the tide; but the approach to Montreal is limited by the shallowness of water in Lake St. Peter, giving at low water only thirteen feet, and is burdened with a towage against the current of the river. The work of deepening Lake St. Peter is now in progress, with fair prospects of success, and in another year or two vessels drawing fifteen feet water may come to Montreal.

Vessels loading at Montreal are frequently obliged to lighter a portion of their cargo through the lake, and are, therefore, recleared at Quebec. Again, imports in the large ships which stop at Quebec are lightered up to Montreal; thus rendering it almost impossible to separate the commerce of the two ports.

Again, by means of the ship-canals, the inland lake and river ports of Canada carry on a direct trade by sea; and, although the regulations require their exports to be reported at tide-water, their direct imports are not noticed at Montreal or Quebec, but are passed up under a "frontier bond.” and entered at the port of destination.

In the following statement the imports in transit for the United States and those under frontier bond for Upper Canada ports are included:

Gross trade of ports of Montreal and Quebec.—Imports and exports, 1851.

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which makes the gross value of the export and import-trade of Montreal and Quebec for 1851 amount to $24,545,100.

Ship-building.

There are in Quebec about twenty-five ship-building establishments, and eight or ten floating docks, capable of receiving largest-class vessels. The class of vessels built range from 500 to 1,500 tons and upwards, and there has been lately established a resident "Lloyds surveyor," to inspect and class the ships.

The average cost is as follows:

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The tonnage cleared outward to the lower colonies was:

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