The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched.

The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The Great Lakes Waterway enables modern travel and shipping by water among the lakes. The lakes connect ultimately to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River as their primary drainage outflow. The lakes are also connected to the Mississippi River basin through the Illinois Waterway.

Frontenac was a steamboat, the first paddle steamer launched on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes, in 1816.