Steamboat Richelieu

Charles Maginley and Bernard Collin; The Ships of Canada's Marine Services,

Vanwell Publishing, 2001

Built in 1845, this 130 ft. iron-hulled steamer was used as a tug, lighthouse supply and buoy tender in the St. Lawrence downriver from Montreal under the control of the Montreal Trinity Houses. After Confederation the responsibility for navigation in the St Lawrence was passed to the Department of Marine and Fisheries and the Richelieu continued working till she was retired and sold in 1883.
Under private ownership she was rebuilt and sold several times over the years and is shown here being used as an excursion boat around the turn of the century. In 1906 she was renamed Beauharnois and was used as a ferry in the Valleyfield area for the next half century. She was broken up in 1958 at the ripe old age of 113 years.