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5 - Lights on the river

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Friday's excursionists on the new steamer Beatrice E. Waring were treated to a pleasing display of electric light on the way home after dark, and incidentally to a burst of speed, the engines being allowed "out" a few notches for the first time. A radiant half moon rather handicapped the searchlight illumination, but the mile-long shaft of white brilliancy caused quite a commotion along both shores, as the steamer journeyed towards the city. Watters' Landing, Belyea's lighthouse, Woodman's Point, Westfield residences and the wooded fastnesses were seen in "an entirely new light," and here and there boating and canoeing parties, anchored yachts and plodding woodboats appeared in the course of the rays and the surprised people gave vent to their feelings in cheers, many of which were returned by the steamer's whistle. Above Carter's Point several families who are camping on the shore were at the water's edge to see the new boat pass, when suddenly the searchlight was thrown on them. After the children in the party were pacified a big "holler" was accorded the boat. Just before entering Indiantown a small part of the mechanism in connection with the steam engine which supplies power for the dynamo became deranged, and the lights had to be shut off. The moonlight then had its innings.

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Beatrice E. Waring
1903
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada

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In Belleisle the other night when the Waring's searchlight was thrown on, an old resident in the act of wheeling a barrow over a hill half a mile away dropped his burden and fled. He afterwards said he thought he had been struck by lightning. On the way down from Brown's Flat Friday evening the new boat maintained a speed of nearly 15 miles an hour, covering the distance in 1 hour and 31 minutes, while her new boilers foamed and sputtered.

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Beatrice E. Waring
1903
Saint John River, New Brunswick, Canada

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Source: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada newspaper ca. 1903