72 ALL AFLOAT 



1812, and the tendency of the Americans to 

 encroach on the frontier trade and settlements, 

 combined to prevent the government from 

 giving up the power it had thus acquired over 

 shipping. The result was that trade was 

 carried on in naval vessels, some of which 

 had originally been built as merchantmen and 

 others as men-of-war. There were frequent 

 complaints of non-delivery from the business 

 community, both on the spot and in Eng- 

 land. But ' defence was more important 

 than opulence,' and the burden was, on the 

 whole, cheerfully borne by the Loyalists. 

 In 1793 twenty-six vessels cleared from 

 Kingston. Two years later a record trip was 

 made by the sloop Sophia, which sailed from 

 there to Queenston, well over two hundred 

 miles, in eighteen hours. Two years later 

 again a traveller counted sixty wagons carry- 

 ing goods from Queenston, beyond the other 

 end of Lake Ontario, to Chippawa, so as to 

 get them past Niagara Falls. Anywhere west 

 from Montreal the unit of measurement for 

 all freight was a barrel of rum, the transport 

 charge for which was over three dollars as far 

 as Kingston, where it was trans-shipped from the 

 bateau to a schooner. 



There was very little shipping on Lake Erie 



