SAILING CRAFT 71 



They were poor, but capable and energetic, 

 and by the end of the eighteenth century their 

 * Bluenose ' craft began to acquire a recognized 

 place at sea. Quebec and Montreal did an 

 increasing business. Quebec was the great 

 timber-trade and shipbuilding centre ; Montreal 

 the point where furs were collected for ex- 

 port. From Quebec 151 vessels took clearance 

 in 1774. In 1800 there were 21 Quebec-built 

 vessels on the local register. Ten years later 

 there were 54. 



The Great Lakes had no such early develop- 

 ment. Moreover, the days of their small be- 

 ginnings were full of retarding difficulties. 

 Nor were they free from what was then a 

 disaster of the first magnitude; for in 1780 a 

 staggering loss happened to the infant colony. 

 The Ontario foundered with one hundred and 

 seventy-two souls on the lake after which she 

 was named. During the fourteen years between 

 the Conquest and the Revolution only a few 

 small vessels appeared there. On the outbreak 

 of the Revolution the British government 

 impressed crews and vessels alike, and abso- 

 lutely forbade the building of any craft bigger 

 than an open boat except for the government 

 service. Subsequently the strained relations 

 on both sides, lasting till after the War of 



