"The Empress of Ireland" was built in 1908
- 9, and was launched that
year on the Souris River, just below the town. There was considerable
difficulty in getting the big craft to the river, and according to
reports, many people were present to see whether the "thing" would
float or go to the bottom. One skeptic was alleged to have said, "You
don't expect that thing to float, do you Rolston"? Captain Large
painted a water line along the hull, and the skeptic was quite
surprised when the boat drew just enŽough water to come up to the line.
He never doubted for one minute that the "Empress" would be seaworthy,
and he was right.
According to the passenger tickets for the year 1910, still in the
possession of Miss Margaret Elliott of Melita, the "Empress" was built
to ply the Souris between Napinka and Scotia, North Dakota. How many
trips were made is not known. One thing howŽever, still in the mind of
Mr. Mallo, is that the boat was built narrow in order to pass between
the piling of the C.P.R. bridge. He recalls too, that he often steered
the boat while Captain Large would sing lively songs and accompany
himself on the banjo, to the delight of the passengers, who had taken
along their picnic baskets full of goodies, to make a day of it.
Large's charming personality did indeed
overshadow anything that may have been left to be desired, as far as
the workmanship of the boat was concerned.
The Melita Progress reported on October 17, 1907 and September 23,
1909, that Captain Large was the proud father of another girl, and that
his friends were looking for cigars.
"The Empress of Ireland" was beached in the fall of 1909. She was used
in the spring of 1910 for a short time, then Rolston decided to move
her to a more lucrative area. Consequently she was loaded on huge truck
wheels and transported to the C.P.R. track, where she was placed on two
flatcars and taken to Brandon in July. She was used as an excursion
boat on the Assiniboine River during the Brandon Fair. How she was
taken from the train to the river is not known, but Large's ingenuity
would soon overcome any problems he may have encountered.
"The Empress" plied the Assiniboine for the balance of 1910, beŽtween
Currie's Landing, east of Brandon, and Curran Park, west of the city.
In the fall of that year she was taken up the Snye River to where Large
had opened a machine shop behind 347-18th Street North. There he
removed her one cylinder engine, and after adding about ten feet to her
mid section, he installed two large steam boilers, parallel to each
other, which were connected to two single Sawyer Massey steam cylinder
engines. The engines were set on quarters to prevent sticking on
centre, and she was operated the same as a railway locomotive. She was
a powerful craft, with two telescopic exhaust stacks to enable her to
pass under the bridges on the route. She had two cabins, and according
to the passenger tickets, she had a piano on board for entertainment.
When Captain Large could get a trusted person to steer the boat, he
would play the piano and sing his favorite songs.
Whether the "Empress" made much money is doubtful, but this was not too
important to her owner. He loved the good life, and getting his boat
full of people on a Sunday afternoon, and telling them that the scenery
on the Assiniboine was unsurpassed, made him just as happy, in all
likelihood, as Onassis’ seven million dollar yacht makes him happy.
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