Plagued with financial difficulties and fearing the impending Civil War in the United States, then owner W.O. Buchanon was forced to sell the Maid at auction. A Montreal firm agreed to purchase the boat, but on one condition - she must be delivered into Lake Ontario. The only way to get there was through the Whirlpool and the Devil's Hole Rapids, three miles of the wildest water in the world. It would require a competent and daring captain to pilot the large, unruly rig through the tangle of the Niagara River, and many answered the call. Upon one look at the course, however, not even the most seasoned sailors were willing to take up the challenge...none but the Maid of the Mist's own captain, Joel B. Robinson. Renowned as a bold and able navigator, Robinson was a Niagara River expert with several audacious upper rapids rescues to his credit. With the promise of $500 and the help of two crew men, machinist James McIntyre and engineer James H. Jones, Robinson scheduled his match against the lower rapids for June 6, 1861. Thousands of spectators crowded the shore. At 3:00, Jones set the steam valve. Robinson took his place at the wheel, McIntyre by his side, and pulled the starting bell. The whistle screamed. The Maid blew a blast of steam, swung out into the water and shot like a cannonball in the rapids below the bridge.
A torrent from each side of the river surged to the center. As the Maid rushed against this boiling ridge, a jet of water crashed into her rudder, wrenching the wheel from the grasp of the two men. A second burst struck her starboard side, heeling her far over and ripping her smokestack clean away. Robinson was thrown to the deck. McIntyre was hurried against the wheelhouse with such force it shattered around him. Down below, Jones fell to his knees in prayer.
The Maid disappeared, swallowed by the great waves. The crowd, hushed, feared she was lost. A moment later, though, the spunky craft broke free, seemed to shake herself, then plunged into the Whirlpool. Robinson sprang up, seized the helm and swung her to the right. Barely missing the vortex of the Whirlpool, he steered directly into the Devil's Hole Rapids.
At tremendous speed, the steamer careened through the violent, rock-strewn waters. Just 17 minutes after her perilous journey began, the Maid arrived at Queenston. It was the first time a boat had ever come to dock at this point of entry...and the last. Robinson's wife said he aged 20 years that day. Not only did he never again venture onto the Niagara River, he even forbade his sons to do so. Two years later, he died. Newspapers across the country heralded Robinson's trip as the most remarkable ever made by man. The Maid's new owners sailed her across Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River and on to Quebec City. There, rechristened the Maid of Orleans, she served for many years as a ferry to the Isle of Orleans.
|
