Baron of Renfrew (ship) was exempt from the high taxes on imported timber. She was built by Charles Wood, Anse du Fort, Quebec, Canada, on his own account. She followed the construction of a similar disposable ship, the barque "Columbus" built the year before. On August 23, 1825 under the command of captain Matthew Walker the ship left Quebec with a crew of 25 men and a cargo of 9000 tons timber (probably ship and cargo weight, both timber) bound for London, England. On October 21 of the same year the ship appeared in the English Channel but stranded the day after on the
English Channel crossed the English Channel aboard the "Élise", ex the Scottish p.s. "Margery" in March 1816, one of the earliest seagoing voyages by steam ship. The paddle steamer "Defiance", Captain William Wager, was the first steamer to cross the Channel to Holland, arriving there on 9 May 1816. On 10 June 1821, English-built paddle steamer "Rob Roy" was the first passenger ferry to cross channel. The steamer was purchased subsequently by the French postal administration and renamed "Henri IV" and put into regular passenger service a year later. It was able to make the journey across the Straits of Dover in