Spinning in the Rapids

Niagara Navigation Co. Steamer "spinning" in the Rapids below Queenston Heights.

"Another manoeuvre introduced by Captain Harbottle is still continued. After making a first call at Queenston the steamer on leaving the dock moves further up the river keeping in the eddy which here runs up along the shore to the foot of the Queenston Heights. When close under the Heights, the steamer turns quickly outward towards the centre of the river and the engines are stopped. Forging slowly ahead the bow enters into the whitened boilings and swirls of the surging currents of the rapids pouring out from the Gorge. The bow is caught by the current and the steamer then rapidly "spun round" by its swiftness, almost as though on a teetotum, the engines meanwhile backing up. Just as soon as the bow heads down the river the engines are at once sent ahead again and the steamer sweeps at an express train rate past the jutting points of the shore, and makes her landing at Lewiston. It is a very pretty manoeuvre and surprising to see the rapidity with which the stern circles round."

From A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River, by Barlow Cumberland