PS Trillium
{{Short description|Canadian side wheel ferry built in 1910}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2017}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
}} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Trillium clip wide.jpg | Ship caption = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Canada | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Canada}} | Ship name = Trillium | Ship owner = City of Toronto | Ship operator = Parks, Forestry and Recreation | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = Polson Iron Works, Toronto | Ship yard number = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = | Ship completed = | Ship christened = June 18, 1910 | Ship maiden voyage = | Ship acquired = | Ship nickname = | Ship in service = July 15, 1910 | Ship out of service = 1957 | Ship renamed = | Ship reclassified = | Ship refit = 1974 | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = 1976 | Ship homeport = Toronto, Ontario | Ship identification = | Ship fate = | Ship status = In service | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = | Ship tonnage = Gross:672.82 Net:463.42 | Ship displacement = | Ship length = {{convert|150|ft|m|1}} | Ship beam = {{convert|30|ft|m|1}} | Ship height = | Ship depth = {{convert|8|ft|m|1}} | Ship draft = | Ship ice class = | Ship sail plan = | Ship power = {{ubl|Scotch boiler (original) | Diesel (retrofitted)}} | Ship propulsion = Side wheeler | Ship speed = | Ship capacity = 955 (originally 1,450) | Ship crew = | Ship notes = Polson Iron Works - Ship Builds, 1910 }} |
Trillium is a side wheeler ferry operated by the City of Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Now {{age|1910|6|18}} years old, she is one of several Toronto Island ferries operating between the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal at Bay Street and Queens Quay and three landing points on the Toronto Islands. She is the last sidewheel-propelled vessel on the Great Lakes.
History
The ship was built in 1910 by Polson Iron Works{{cite news |url= http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Chapters/toronto/nautical.htm |title = Nautical History |publisher = Save Ontario Shipwrecks |date = 2003 |access-date = December 21, 2011 |quote= The Iron Works only two existing ships in Toronto are the Trillium (built in 1913, which still ferry's passengers to Centre Island) and the RCYC passenger ferry Kwasind (1913). |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120207162607/http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Chapters/toronto/nautical.htm |archive-date = February 7, 2012 |df = mdy-all}}{{cite web |url = http://www.greatlakesschooner.com/toronto-cruise-ship-trillium.html |title = The Elegant Paddle Steamer |publisher = The Great Lakes Schooner Company |access-date = November 21, 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120223230157/http://www.greatlakesschooner.com/toronto-cruise-ship-trillium.html |archive-date = February 23, 2012 |df = mdy-all}} at a cost of {{CAD|75,000}}. The 1,450-capacity (reduced later to 995) ferry was built for and initially operated by the Toronto Ferry Company. She was launched on June 18, 1910,{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=New Ferry Boat Launched Today |date=June 18, 1920 |page=10}} christened with a bottle of champagne by eight-year-old Phyllis Osler, granddaughter of politician Edmund Boyd Osler. The ferry entered service on July 1, 1910. Trillium's sister ship, Bluebell and other ferries Primrose and Mayflower in the company's fleet were also named after flowers.
In 1926, the City of Toronto acquired Trillium and the other ferries in the Toronto Ferry Company's fleet, and took over all ferry services. Nine boats and half-acre of land on Hanlan's Point was bought for {{CAD|337,500}}. The ferry was remodelled by the Toronto Transit Commission, replacing worn woodwork and the main deck cabin, and removing the side gangways and officer daycabins.
Trillium was retired in 1957 and sold for {{CAD|4,500}} to the Toronto Works Department, which intended to use it to carry sewage sludge from the new Humber Sewage Treatment Plant.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |date=September 17, 1958 |title=Reprieve Bluebell To Become Tanker |page=16}} It was left to sink in a lagoon in the Toronto Islands, along with her sister vessel Bluebell. Unlike Bluebell, which was converted to a garbage scow, Trillium was left to deteriorate, its metal fittings stripped by scavengers and souvenir hunters.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=1910 ferry may yet chug again |first=Ted |last=Sutcliffe |date=March 30, 1973 |page=37}}
In the sixties, there was renewed interest in the Trillium. First, in 1964, it was proposed to display the Trillium along with other historic boats at the Toronto Maritime Museum at the Exhibition grounds but the proposal failed.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=Ship Museum at CNE Sunk In Committee |date=March 6, 1964 |page=3}} In 1965, it was then proposed to return the boat to service. Partly due to the advocacy of historian Mike Filey and Toronto Parks Commissioner Tommy Thompson, Metro Toronto approved her restoration in 1973. The restoration at a cost of {{CAD|950,000}} (${{formatprice|{{Inflation|CA|900000|1976}}}} in {{Inflation-year|CA}} dollars){{inflation-fn|CA}}, was chosen over building a new ferry which would have cost three to four million dollars.
Champion Engineering Ltd. supervised the restoration, which was done in Port Colborne, Ontario at the E. B. Magee drydock in Ramey's Bend. The restoration replaced the superstructure, boiler and deck. Original gauges and other 1910-era accessories were salvaged from Toronto Department of Public Works pumping stations. Other items were salvaged from the boats Imperial Windsor and Texaco Brave which were being scrapped. Several replicas were made of original parts, such as the brass bells and the beavers adorning the sides of the paddle boxes. The boat was rebuilt as close as possible to the original 1910 plans.
The ship returned to Toronto Harbour in November 1975.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=Trillium's Back After $1 Million Refit |date=November 7, 1975 |page=B2}} The ship was rechristened on June 18, 1976, 66 years after her first launch, the ceremony officiated by the same Phyllis Osler Aitken. She was returned to service on July 1, 1976, on runs to Hanlan's Point only, the other island ferry docks having been converted for the other ferries. This caused numerous complaints, notably Johnny Lombardi, who offered to get volunteers to rebuild the Centre Island docks in time for the annual CHIN picnic.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=Transportation to Island is inadequate, Lombardi charges |date=August 3, 1976 |page=B5}}
In 2017, Trillium was refurbished at a cost of {{CAD|450,000}}. The refurbishment will extend its lifespan. The repairs included replacements to sections of the hull and rudder and three new coats of paint.{{cite news |work=Metro Toronto |url=http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2017/07/26/trillium-ferry.html |title=Toronto's oldest ferry set to launch again |first=David |last=Hains |date=July 26, 2017 |access-date=July 27, 2017}}
;Incidents
In 1910, Trillium helped douse a fire on the harbourfront. Toronto Ferry Company owner Lol Solman operated the hose himself from the second level of Trillium to douse the flames at the Niagara dock.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=Trillium: Queen of the Ferries |date=July 5, 2015 |first=Carol |last=Vyhnak |page=A12}}
In 1911, Trillium ran aground while on her return from a lacrosse match.{{cite book | title = Dateline, Toronto: the complete Toronto star dispatches, 1920-1924 | url = https://archive.org/details/datelinetorontoc00hemi | url-access = registration |publisher = Scribners | date = 1985 | quote = In 1911, the ferry boat Trillium ran aground and lay for fifty-eight minutes, stuck fast on her way to the city from the Toronto-Tecumseh lacrosse match at Hanlan's Point. | page = [https://archive.org/details/datelinetorontoc00hemi/page/361 361] | author1 = Hemingway, Ernest |author1-link=Ernest Hemingway |author2=White, William}} The ferry Island Queen took off 600 passengers, then ran aground herself. Launches, sailboats, rowboats and canoes had to come to the rescue of the 2,000 stranded people. That year the water level of Lake Ontario was the lowest it had been since 1874.
On July 15, 1916 at 3pm, the Trillium was docking at Hanlan's Point dock to discharge passengers going to a baseball game. As it was docking, it created a side-wash that overcame and capsized a canoe being paddled by couple Sam Sniderman and Rose Ezrin nearby. By the time people could reach the scene, the couple had disappeared underwater and drowned. Their bodies were found within minutes but could not be revived.{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |date=July 15, 1916 |title=Lovers Drowned In Wake Of Ferryboat |page=5}}
Trillium collided with the former MS Normac in 1981.{{cite web
|url = http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/58727/data
|title = Captain John's boat leaves watery grave
|website = Maritime History of the Great Lakes
|date = June 15, 1986
|access-date = March 22, 2012
|archive-date = March 27, 2015
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150327005448/http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/58727/data
|url-status = bot: unknown
}}{{cite web |url = http://www.heritagetoronto.org/get-involved/forum/captain-johns-restaurant-sinks |title = Captain John's Restaurant sinks |publisher = Heritage Toronto |date = October 6, 2008 |access-date = March 22, 2012 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120415040108/http://www.heritagetoronto.org/get-involved/forum/captain-johns-restaurant-sinks |archive-date = April 15, 2012 |df = mdy-all }} Normac, a former Great Lakes passenger vessel had been converted to Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant, and had been permanently moored in the Yonge Street slip since 1970. A mechanical failure caused Trillium to fail before colliding with the restaurant. The restaurant developed a slow leak, which caused her to sink two weeks later.
A 29-year-old man drowned after jumping off Trillium while attending the 1993 Caribana festival. He jumped off at 11 pm on July 29, telling friends that he would meet them on shore at Ontario Place. Trillium was about {{convert|300|ft|m}} from shore. Police recovered his body on July 30.
{{cite news |title=Body of man, 29, found on bottom of lake |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=July 31, 1993 |location=Toronto ON |page=A04 }} The victim's mother was hurt by speculation about his sobriety.{{cite news | url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/518878441.htmlFMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+01%2C+1993&author=Lisa+Wright+TORONTO+STAR&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=Body+recovered+of+man+who+leapt+from+ferry&pqatl=google |first=Lisa |last=Wright |title=Police find body of man who leapt from ferry boat |access-date=July 31, 2011 |newspaper= Toronto Star |date=August 1, 1993 |location=Toronto ON |page=A5 }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
File:Trillium-dry-dock-2017.jpg|Trillium ferry in drydock in June 2017
File:Bluebell-ferry-1920-toronto.jpg |Bluebell Ferry in Toronto Harbour 1920
See also
References
{{reflist|30em|refs=
{{cite web |work=BlogTo |url=http://www.blogto.com/city/2013/01/the_nautical_adventures_of_the_trillium_ferry_in_toronto/ |title=The nautical adventures of the Trillium ferry in Toronto |first=Chris |last=Bateman |date=January 12, 2013 |access-date=July 27, 2017}}
{{cite web |website=PolsonIronworks.Ca |url=http://trillium.polsonironworks.ca/gchampionarticle.shtml |title=The Rehabilitation of the Trillium |first=Gordon |last=Champion |access-date=July 27, 2017}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.polsonironworks.ca/shipBuilds/1910.shtml |title=Polson Iron Works - Ship Builds, 1910 |website=PolsonIronWorks.ca |access-date=July 27, 2017}}
{{cite book |title=Know Your Ships 2017 |publisher=Marine Publishing Co. Inc. |year=2017 |page=41 |isbn=978-1-891849-22-0}}
{{cite news
|url = https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?ClientSession=78b27342:13652878727:-7e47&TemplateProcessID=null&TemplateProcessID=6002_915_915&PromptID=&ParamID=&CMD_(DetailRequest)[0]=&ProcessID=6002_1023(0)&KeyValues=KEY_1607
|title = Trillium (Ferry) |publisher = City of Toronto government |access-date = March 27, 2012
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170510084905/https://gencat4.eloquent-systems.com/webcat/request/Action?ClientSession=78b27342:13652878727:-7e47&TemplateProcessID=null&TemplateProcessID=6002_915_915&PromptID=&ParamID=&CMD_(DetailRequest)%5b0%5d=&ProcessID=6002_1023(0)&KeyValues=KEY_1607
|archive-date = May 10, 2017 |url-status = dead |df = mdy-all }}
{{cite web |url= http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/ship-registration-index-1787-1966/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=73989&DotsIdNumber=
| title = Trillium |publisher = Library and Archives Canada |access-date = July 27, 2017 }}
{{cite news |work=Toronto Star |title=Trillium: Queen of the Ferries |first=Carola |last=Vyhnak |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/07/03/trillium-queen-of-the-ferries.html |date=July 3, 2015 |access-date=July 27, 2017}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Trillium (ship, 1910)|Trillium}}
{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trillium}}
Category:Paddle steamers of Canada