1891-92.] NOTE ON OCEAN STEAM NAVIGATION. 169 
with his staff, the military authorities and the band of the 32nd 
Regiment. The event was further honored by the presence of Lady 
Aylmer who in the customary manner gave the vessel the name of the 
“Royal William” after King William IV., then on the throne. 
4. The ship was towed to Montreal to receive her machinery,* and 
on being fitted for sea, her first voyage was to Halifax. Before setting 
out for England, she traded between Quebec, Halifax and Boston. She 
was the first British Steamer to arrive at the latter port. 
5. In the list of owners appear the names of the three brothers 
Joseph, Henry, and Samuel Cunard of Halifax. 
6. Her dimensions were length 160 feet; hold 17 feet 9 inches ; breadth 
outside 44 feet; breadth between paddle boxes 28 feet ; she had three 
masts schooner rigged ; builder’s measurement 1,370 tons ; with accom- 
modation for 60 passengers. 
7. She left Quebec for London August 5th 1833, called at Pictou, 
Nova Scotia, to receive coal and overhaul machinery. She re-started 
from Pictou, August 18th, with seven passengers, 254 chaldrons of coal 
and a light cargo. She encountered a terrific gale on the banks of 
Newfoundland which disabled one of her engines. The passage from 
Pictou to London occupied 25 days. 
8. Ten days after her arrival in London she was chartered by the 
Portuguese government to enter the service of Dom Pedro as a troop 
ship. 
9. In 1834 she was sold to the Spanish government, was converted 
into a war steamer, and under the new name, of “ Isabel Secunda,” was 
employed against Don Carlos. A letter from the well known Alex- 
ander Somerville, who, as he tells us, joined the British Legion and 
became a colour-sergeant, appeared in the Toronto Globe, May 15th, 
1876. This letter describes an incident which came under his own 
observation, May 5th, 1836, off St. Sebastian, Bay of Biscay. Mr. 
Somerville remarks, that the Canadian built ship “Isabel Secunda,” 
(originally the “Royal William,”’) “was the earliest steamer of war in 
the history of nations to deliver a hostile shot.” 
10. After an eventful service for some years she was sent to Jor- 
deaux for repairs, when her timbers were found to be somewhat decayed ; 
*T am informed on excellent authority, that the engine, boiler and machinery were turnished 
by the Montreal works, known as St. Mary’s foundry, Charles Wm. Grant, Baron de Longueiul, 
proprietor. The signature of the Baron, Charles Wm. Grant, is attached to the original list of 
shareholders of the incorporated steamship company, and it is stated by his descendants that he 
sunk of his private means in all about $40,000, in the venture of the ‘‘ Royal William.” S. F. 
