The Canadian National Museum of Great Lakes Maritime History and Heritage.

This from Jay Bascom, Editor of The Scanner, the monthly news bulletin of the Toronto Marine Historical Society, with permission. In the early morning of Satur...day, November 7, 1885, 135 years ago, the Canadian Pacific Railway steamer ALGOMA, then only in her second year of service, and upbound from Owen Sound for Port Arthur, strayed off course in nasty weather while under both sail and steam, and struck hard on Greenstone Rock, off Isle Royale. The majority of the passengers and crew perished, in the only accident involving loss of passenger life that the C.P.R. lake service ever suffered, and the ship was completely broken apart, with only the after end surviving. ALGOMA's engine was later salvaged and placed in her replacement, MANITOBA, which was built at Owen Sound and lasted until 1950. Here we have a photo by J. F. Cooke, Port Arthur (my collection) showing the wreck and debris on shore. We also have the only known piece of memorabilia from ALGOMA, one of her actual printed menues. It was saved by Henry Beatty, general manager of the C.P.R. lake service, passed down to his son, Sir Edward Beatty, longtime chairman of the C.P.R., and thence to Alan Howard and then to the writer and his father. For the full story of the loss of ALGOMA, including survivor accounts and inquiry details, please see the April 1987 issue of "The Scanner", accessible online. See more