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Random Facts about sending Vessels over Niagara Falls
SENDING VESSELS OVER NIAGARA FALLS
The first was in 1827. Some men got an
old ship--the Michigan--which had been used on lake Erie,
and had been pronounced unseaworthy. For mere wantonness
they put aboard a bear, a fox, a buffalo, a dog and some
geese and sent it over the cataract. The bear jumped from
the vessel before it reached the rapids, swam toward the
shore, and was rescued by some humane persons. The geese
went over the falls, and came to the shore below alive, and,
therefore, became objects of great interest, and were sold
at high prices to visitors at the Falls. The dog, fox, and
buffalo were not heard of or seen again. Another condemned
vessel, the Detroit, that had belonged to Commodore Perry's
victorious fleet, was started over the cataract in the
winter of 1841, but grounded about midway in the rapids, and
lay there till knocked to pieces by the ice. A somewhat more
picturesque instance was the sending over the Canada side of
a ship on fire. This occurred in 1837. The vessel was the
Caroline, which had been run in the interest of the
insurgents in the Canadian rebellion. It was captured by
Colonel McNabb, an officer of the Canada militia, and by his
orders it was set on fire then cut loose from its moorings.
All in flames, it went glaring and hissing down the rapids
and over the precipice, and smothered its ruddy blaze in the
boiling chasm below. Thia was witnessed by large crowds on
both sides of the falls, and was described as a most
magnificent sight. Of course there was no one on board the
vessel.
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