“There were twelve vessels loaded and ready to sail lying in the stream at Mount Stewart on Monday night. The tide being very strong, they broke loose, and two — the ‘Maggie Alice’ and ‘D, A. Madder’ —— had their mainbooms broken. The schooner ‘Foam’ had her flying jibbon carried away, another had her mainsail badly torn, and some others were slightly damaged. All the schooners were pretty badly mixed up for a While. . .”

While the article illustrates a hazard of river traffic at points where space was at a premium, it is more significant for us to learn that no fewer than twelve vessels were involved. Others were undoubtedly in the process of loading at the various wharves. And, While shipbuilding was then in decline, the steamer, “Fred M. Batt,” had been launched at David Egan’s yard less than two month’s previously There is little doubt that the Mount Stewart waterfront presented a far different aspect eighty odd years ago than it does today.

During much of the 19th century Mount Stewart lacked a public wharf. Such accommodation had existed for many years prior to 1840; however, in that year, as noted above, the ferry wharf had been incorpor— ated into Mount Stewart bridge. In 1885, fourty—five years later, a replace- ment had not been erected and shippers who did not possess facilities of their own were dependent on the good will of those who did. As James Ross indicated at a meeting called on December 23, 1884 to discuss the Wharf situation, the owners of these wharves, people such as John R. Bourke and David Egan, were large exporters themselves and could ill afford to dis- pense with any of the accommodation thereby afforded. The meeting de- cided that claims were “to be pressed both in the Dominion and local legislatures,” insisting on completion of a public wharf before the follow— ing autumn’s shipping. It was not, however, until June 20, 1899‘, that the House of Commons, meeting in Committee of Supply, engaged in an acrimonious debate over the expenditure of $3,500. for a Government Wharf at Mount Stewart, P.E.I. The Government, Without any authorization from Parliament, had purchased the old Coffin wharf in Mount Stewart South and had equipped it with a spur line from the Georgetown railroad. Sir Louis Davies, an Island member, attempted to appease the Opposition by declaring that the matter was a small one and that the public interest justified the course followed.

During the autumn season for many years thereafter, the Govern- ment Wharf and the area adjacent to it was a vertible hive of activity. Some schooners arrived with cargoes, such as salt, rum and molasses from the West Indies for the local merchants. Others came laden With lime- stone, a useful ballast, but of use also to the farmers who slaked it in kilns and employed it to sweeten the soil. The Mount Stewart Lime 00., pro- moted by Edward, John and Charles Alleyne J. R. Bourke, George Scott, Robert Farquharson, David Smallwood and John Beaton, was incorporated on April 17,1871. Each schooner would carry between two and six thous- and bushels of potatoes, excluding deck load, and, when several were in DOrt, a line of farmers’ carts extended down the road for almost a mile. As the wait could be of considerable duration, Protestant farmers craftily watched for Catholic holy days, knowing they would have complete access to the vessels on those days. On one occasion, a farmer from Savage Har- bour came to Mount Stewart, expecting to unload his cart before night-fall. So great was the line-up, however, that he was forced to unhitch the

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