lifax was a
garrison town and naval station. There was plenty of fish along the
coast; and the many conveniently wooded harbours naturally invited
lumbering and shipbuilding. Fish and furs were the chief exports up to
the War of 1812; after that, timber. The Loyalists came in small numbers
before 1783; in larger numbers during the five years following. From
twenty to thirty thousand altogether are said to have settled in the
Maritime Provinces. {71} They were poor, but capable and energetic, and
by the end of the eighteenth century their 'Bluenose' craft began to
acquire a recognized place at sea. Quebec and Montreal did an increasing
business. Quebec was the great timber-trade and shipbuilding centre;
Montreal the point where furs were collected for export. From Quebec 151
vessels took clearance in 1774. In 1800 there were 21 Quebec-built
vessels on the local register. Ten years later there were 54.

The Great Lakes had no such early development. Moreover, the days of
their small beginnings were full of retarding difficulties. Nor were
they free from what was then a disaster of the first magnitude; for in
1780 a staggering loss happened to the infant colony. The _Ontario_
foundered with one hundred and seventy-two souls on the lake after which
she was named. During the fourteen years between the Conquest and the
Revolution only a few small vessels appeared there. On the outbreak of
the Revolution the British government impressed crews and vessels alike,
and absolutely forbade the building of any craft bigger than an open boat
except for the government service. Subsequently the strained relations
on both sides, lasting till after the War of {72} 1812, and the tendency
of the Americans to encroach on the frontier trade and settlements,
combined to prevent the government from giving up the power it had thus
acquired over shipping. The result was that trade was carried on in
naval vessels, some of which had originally been built as merchantmen and
others as men-of-war. There were frequent complaints of non-delivery
from the business community, both on the spot and in England. But
'defence was more important than opulence,' and the burden was, on the
whole, cheerfully borne by the Loyalists. In 1793 twenty-six vessels
cleared from Kingston. Two years later a record trip was made by the
sloop _Sophia_, which sailed from there to Queenston, well over two
hundred miles, in eighteen hours. Two years later a