The S. S. Canadiana

The Canadiana came down the ways of the Buffalo Dry-Dock in May of 1910, the last passenger vessel to be built in Buffalo at the end of the maritime era. ~ With the classic lines of all Frank Kirby boats, she is the personification of his palatial steamships which plied the waters of the Great Lakes into the 1950's.

The Canadiana featured stately, Victorian architecture, salons done in rich mahogany, beveled mirrors, brass railings and lighting fixtures, grand stairways with sweeping banisters and stately newels, stained and leaded glass windows and gilded plaster Neptune's heads between each, accenting the walls.

Ceilings were done with three-dimensional plaster formations of grape vines and rose clusters enhancing ovals of mahogany molding that, in turn, framed hand painted scenics and still-lifes. ~ To say she was elegant is an understatement.

The ship is 215 feet long and 54 feet wide amidships. ~ She weighs in at 974 tons and is powered by a triple-expansion steam engine developing 1,446 horsepower. ~ There are three passenger decks with an original capacity of three and a half thousand passengers and it has the largest dance floor of any passenger steamer ever placed on the Great Lakes. ~ She sailed from the Buffalo harbor on lake cruises and to a Canadian amusement park and was one of the area's great attractions through the close of the maritime era and into the late 50's. ~ Millions of people have happy and romantic memories of dancing and sailing under the stars on a sparkling sea. ~ She was affectionately known as "The Crystal Beach Boat".

The Canadiana will be a playhouse, a restaurant, an entertainment center with bar, dance floor and stage, a museum with educational tours telling of "steam and mechanical means" and Buffalo's part in American and Maritime History. ~ She will be a mail ship, a post office and a duty free store as we commune with Canada. ~ It will be a place for movies to be made and to hold conventions and weddings. ~ When gambling is permitted on either side of the lake, the one armed bandits will be back aboard as they were in the past. ~ It is history and future rolled into one amazing package: ~ Economics; Education and of course; Enjoyment. ~ There will again be those three hour moonlight cruises many of us fondly remember. ~ The Canadiana can be whatever it needs to be. ~ She will earn more than sufficient to pay her way; the rest will be given away.