[3][8] Business declined precipitously when World War I began in 1914, bringing some hard times to the tourism industry on Lake Temagami.

[3][5] During this time smaller less costly boats replaced Belle, which had been left in the lakeside landing.

[3] Several new lodges, camps and cottages were built and it was common for 300 people to crowd the train station platform.

During this time the Temagami Boat Company suffered financially and kept Belle out of service for most of the war years.

The T&NO Railway later decided that she did not fit with their ambitious plans to modernize the boating operation on Lake Temagami and was dismantled on the shore of Muddy Water Bay in 1945.

[4] She was replaced in 1946 by Aubrey Cosens VC, a faster diesel-powered boat named after a World War II hero who was awarded the Victoria Cross.

[4] In her peak years she did a regular daily run on Lake Temagami through the summer months, cruising down to the camps and the aboriginal village on Bear Island, stopping at the Hudson's Bay Company post, serving lunch and refreshments on board, leaving at 10:00 a.m. and starting back up at 5:50 p.m., all for a couple of dollars a trip.