The Trillium
June 14, 2010
The Trillium, Toronto’s legendary ferry, moored in Toronto Harbour and still in operation, celebrates its 100th anniversary on June 18. The historic vessel was built by Polson Iron Works in 1910 and reconstructed in Port Colborne in 1975. It is the last steam side-paddle vessel in regular use in North America. Mike Filey, a Toronto author and broadcaster specializing in the preservation of the city’s history, has provided Canadian Sailings with this historical account of the ‘Queen of the Fleet.’
On a bright, sunny Saturday in June 1910, shortly after noon, the fourth of the steam-powered ‘flower’ boats owned by the Toronto Ferry Company (TFC) was ceremoniously christened by little Phyllis Osler, granddaughter of the company president.
Trillium, as she was to be named, was modelled after Blue Bell, a similar but older double-end side-paddle steam ferry in the TFC fleet. Both were built by Polson Iron Works Co. located at the water’s edge at the foot of Sherbourne St. just south of today’s Esplanade.
Trillium was slightly larger than Blue Bell, having a length of 150 feet, a beam of 45 feet, and weighed in at 673 tons. Her engines were of the inclined compound type, with 17-inch and 34-inch cylinders and a 48-inch stroke giving her a top speed of 10 miles per hour.
The boiler, which was installed after the launching, was of the ‘Scotch’ marine type and operated at a working pressure of 160 pounds of steam. A steam turbine electric generating plant was also fitted and generated sufficient power to illuminate the vessel’s 350 sixteen-candle power lights. A steam steering engine made her responsive to fingertip control from the wheelhouse.
For more than 45 years, Trillium carried millions of people to and from Toronto Island. During that time, the vessel’s main destination was Hanlan’s Point, home for many years of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball club of the International AAA League.
To accommodate the thousands of enthusiastic baseball fans who flocked to the park, Trillium was originally fitted with loading and unloading facilities on both the upper and lower decks. Soon, however, it became obvious that something would have to be done to restrain the crowds that would surge forward as the vessel approached the dock and in doing so caused the stern of the vessel to lift out of the water, thereby making steering of the side-paddle vessel impossible. To remedy the problem, ‘cattle-gates’ that held back the crowds were installed. Eventually, the upper deck loading/unloading facilities were removed all together.
With the decrease in traffic to the Islands after the Second World War and the ability of other ferry boats to handle the dwindling crowds, both Blue Bell and Trillium were retired from service in 1957. Soon the ancient vessels found themselves moored in a lagoon near the Island filtration plant awaiting a degrading conversion into scows. Blue Bell actually suffered this indignity and for a short time carried garbage out into the lake for disposal.
Fortunately, owing to operational problems with the ferry/scow Blue Bell, a similar plan for Trillium was abandoned. Instead, the craft was left to languish in the lagoon where she was buffeted by wind, rain and snow. Frequently, uninvited guests would board the old boat and open the doors through which ash from the burning of coal was disposed of into Toronto Bay. This would result in Trillium settling into the mud only to have staff of the Works Department close the doors and pump out the water.
Several times over the ensuing years ideas were put forward to restore Trillium. In 1965, Canada’s leading marine engineering consultants issued a report that recommended the vessel be scrapped since “the only thing worth preserving (was) the anchor.” This firm was also in the business of designing new ferry boats.
The following year, Guy Landles – who wasn’t a ferry boat designer – suggested that the old vessel could be restored using much of the original equipment.
Despite the suggestion, and perhaps because the time just wasn’t right, nothing further happened and the vessel remained in the Island lagoon. Then in early 1973, at the instigation of the Toronto Historical Board, another feasibility study was requested by the Metro Toronto Parks Department, a request that was subsequently approved by the full Metro Toronto Council.
Marine engineer Gordon Champion was engaged and the first steps towards ultimate restoration began. Tommy Thompson, the then parks commissioner, and Mr. Champion recognized the valuable assets of Trillium hidden behind her weather-beaten exterior.
These two men, along with Alderman Art Eggleton, Alan Howard, curator of the Marine Museum, and I met on numerous occasions to discuss the future of the vessel. These meetings culminated in the release of Mr. Champion’s feasibility study that confirmed restoration was indeed possible. His presentation was subsequently approved by the Metro Parks Committee, the Metro Executive Committee and finally by the Metropolitan Toronto Council.
Mr. Champion’s mandate was to bring Trillium back to her original 1910 condition as authentically as possible while adhering to modern-day safety and operational requirements.
Before any work could be started, it was absolutely necessary that an inspection of Trillium’s 63-year-old hull be undertaken. If it was in reasonable shape, the project could continue. If not, the game was over.
An initial inspection was quickly scheduled and on Dec. 7, 1973, the weather-ravaged ferry was towed to the city’s marine works yard on the mainland from the lagoon on the island where she had languished for 16 years. Here, the results of a quick inspection were positive, but a much more serious assessment was necessary.
Trillium was then taken on a short lake voyage to a dry dock in Whitby where a much more in-depth examination of the hull was undertaken. Interestingly, this inspection revealed that the relatively clean water in the lagoon in which Trillium had rested for all those years had resulted in negligible deterioration of her hull.
Good news indeed. The $950,000 project was immediately given the green light. Another voyage followed and on Oct. 1, 1974, and now stripped of her badly deteriorated wooden superstructure, Trillium was towed through the Welland Canal to Port Colborne where total rehabilitation at the hands – and tools – of the talented staff at Herb Fraser and Associates’ shipyard began.
Over the next 13 months, the ‘grand old lady of Toronto Bay’ was transformed into the ‘Queen of the Fleet.’ Finally, late in the evening of Nov. 6, 1975, Trillium, with a new aluminum superstructure, new wood trim, new boiler, new electrical and hydraulic systems, new running gear and up-to-date safety equipment, but with the original 1910 steam engine working the twin side paddles, was back in the Welland Canal and headed home, reaching the Toronto Island ferry docks early the following morning.
The Toronto Island paddle steamer Trillium returned to service on June 18, 1976, and remains in regular ferry and charter service today.
By Jenny Ono Suttaby
While little known today, Toronto-based Polson Iron Works was renowned for shipbuilding in its time, producing more than 150 vessels, including contracts from the Canadian government to construct minesweepers during the First World War.
The company was formed in Toronto in 1883 by engineer William Polson and his son Franklin Bates Polson, and incorporated in 1886.
In 1888, the company opened a second location, in Owen Sound, in order to build Canada’s first steel ship, the Manitoba, at 2,616 gross tons, on contract for Canadian Pacific Railway.
The Ontario, at 1,615 gross tons, a car ferry for CPR’s run from Windsor to Detroit, was next, followed by many other vessels. A downturn in the economy forced the closing of the Owen Sound yards in 1895 and the reorganization of the company in Toronto, which continued to build tugs, dredges, cargo vessels, fishery boats and lighters, and exhibited a flare for unusual projects such as the Knapp Roller Boat in 1897, and the manufacture of a biplane in 1916.
The company was instrumental in the development of the Canadian North and West. It devised a useful technique for building a ship (or ferry, dredge or the like) that involved taking it to pieces after construction in order to transport it by rail to destinations in the North and West.
During the First World War, the company built 10 minesweepers for the Canadian government, and eight for the British Imperial Munitions Board, which found the steel supply non-existent on its side of the Atlantic.
Unfortunately, the company had become overextended and was unable to recover from the loss of business at the end of the First World War, and bankruptcy followed. The legacy of the firm’s ships, however, didn’t disappear so quickly.
Today, several Polson Iron Works boats are still in use. The Trillium (1910) side-paddle ferry brings visitors to Toronto’s Centre Island, which offers a respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. In addition, the Kwasind (1912) is used by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club; the little tug Batchawana (1912) is still in use; luxury yacht the Rambler (1903) is up for sale; and the Bigwin (1910), originally a yacht, now a ferry, is currently being restored.
Information on Polson Iron Works is available at www.polsonironworks.ca.
An article by Gordon Champion on the Trillium rehabilitation is at http://trillium.polsonironworks.ca/gchampionarticle.shtml.