Education & Interpretation
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Schooner MADELINE CREW TRAINING MANUAL SECTION D EDUCATION & INTERPRETATION D1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MARITIME HERITAGE ALLIANCE MHA began with as the simple desire of a small group of wooden boat owners and enthusiasts to bring together all the wooden boats in the Grand Traverse Area. The result was the 1980 Classic Boat Invitational in Suttons Bay, Michigan. This same group went on to meet on a regular basis to explore the unique local and Great Lakes maritime history and develop programs and activities designed to preserve and utilize the knowledge, watercraft and artifacts that are part of that heritage. MHA was recognized as a non-profit organization in 1982. Our mission includes the preservation and interpretation of the maritime heritage of Northwestern Michigan through educational exhibits, classes and activities; establishing an interpretative center for maritime history and boat building workshop; researching and teaching traditional boat building and seamanship skills; creating opportunities to revive and perpetuate those skills through construction, restoration and use of Great Lakes watercraft; developing alliances with similar organizations in the region. In 1982 MHA began its first building project with the construction one of region’s indigenous water craft, a Mackinaw Boat. The 20’ GRACIE L., an active part of the MHA’s in-water fleet, is available to interested communities and organizations as an educational and promotional exhibit. MHA’s work with small boats continued with the restoration of the 33’ WITCHCRAFT. This classic wooden sloop was designed and built by the master craftsman, Bill Livingston of Northport Michigan in 1965. Other projects in the works are the restoration and the maintenance of other small craft in the MHA’s collection. The 52’ Schooner MADELINE, launched in 1990, is a reconstruction of the 1845 schooner that sailed in the upper Great Lakes. During the 5 years of her construction, MADELINE’s builders learned and practiced traditional boat building skills while thousands of visitors eagerly followed their progress. Today, MADELINE serves as a dockside interpretive center in her home port of Traverse City. MHA members, who train as her crew, sail her to ports on the Great Lakes where she is a dockside classroom and good-will ambassador for the Grand Traverse region. HMS Armed Sloop WELCOME, a replica of a 1774 historic sloop first used in fur trade and later purchased by the British Army, was built by the Mackinaw Island State Park Commission to celebrate our Bi- Centennial, but not launched until 1980. In November of 1992 the 56‘ Sloop came by land to Traverse City to be refurbished by the MHA after the State had failed to make yearly repairs during her 10 years in the water. MHA restoration began in 1992 and she was re-launched in 2005. She tells again her unique story of Great Lakes maritime history. See the WELCOME chapter of the manual for details of her history. Two more boats have been added to our fleet in the 21st century. The 28” Herreshoff sloop (H28) ARCTUROS and the Cutter CHAMPION. The H28 is a classic design, Herreshoff a legendary naval architect. The Champion was built for and sailed by another sailing legend of northwest Michigan—Henry Barkhausen of Harbor Springs. In his 90s, he donated the boat to MHA. Now she is the star of MHA’s youth programs providing a sailing classroom and refuge for at-risk youth. MHA is a vital, growing organization with some exciting ventures on the horizon. The resources for all our projects: people, time and money all are volunteered by women and men committed to hands- on preservation of Great Lakes maritime history. Our progress so far has only been possible by the serious commitment of many individuals to the mission of MHA and the thousands of hours members invest in our projects. LJQ rev 2012 D2 GREAT LAKES MARITIME HISTORY - A BRIEF INTRODUCTION cont. Before there were automobiles, trucks and trains, boats were an important mode of transportation in the Great Lakes region. The five Great Lakes were a great highway of water. Boats could travel faster over long distances than people could walk or travel by horse on land. The first boats on the Great Lakes were the canoes. The Native Americans, who invented the canoe, had used them to travel the Great Lakes for thousands of years. Two types of canoes were made: dug-out canoes (made by hollowing out a log) and birch bark canoes (a birch bark skin on cedar frames). Sail boats use the wind to push them along in the water. The first sailing boats were built like European boats. These boats were built of wood and their sails were made of cotton cloth. They had no engines and could not always go where they needed to go. Sail powered boats often were in trouble when there were storms and they were blown into dangerous places. When there was no wind, they did go any place and sometimes waited days for a favorable wind to push them in the right direction. As time went one traditional boat designs were adapted for use on the Great Lakes. The most popular kind of sailing ship on the Great Lakes was the schooner. Most were made of wood and had two or three masts and fore and aft sails. They carried grain, lumber, barrels of fish and other cargoes. Schooners were from 50’ to 300’ long. During the 1880’s there were 2,000 schooners on the Great Lakes. Many men came to Northwest Michigan on boats to find jobs in lumber camps and mills. Some brought their families with them. Other people moved here to fish or start farms. Boats, mostly schooners, also brought the food, clothing, tools and materials these people needed to do their work and survive. The same boats were loaded with lumber cut by the lumbermen and food grown by the farmers, fish caught by fishermen. They took these cargoes back to large cities like Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin to be sold. MADELINE was one of the schooners that went from place to place picking up cargoes from small Northern Michigan towns and taking the grain, lumber and fish to large cities. After 1850, schooners did not often carry passengers. The first boats with engines were built in 1813. These were called steamships because they used engines powered by steam. Some had side wheels and others had engines that turned propellers and were called “propellers.” The early steamers burned wood for fuel and stopped at many Great Lakes ports to purchase wood to burn in their boilers. Steamships overcame many problems of the sailing boats. They could travel against the wind and if there was no wind so they were faster and more reliable. Today most big lake freighters are powered by diesel engines. These boats are called motor vessels. They carry only cargoes, usually taconite (iron ore processed to make steel) and grain. Great Lakes freighters are often called “lakers.” These boats (up to 1,000 feet long) are designed for use only on the Great Lakes. However ocean freighters sail the Great Lakes also. They come up through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal to pick up cargoes and take them all over the world. In Grand Traverse Bay, the large boats we see most often are really tug boats pushing barges. They look like one boat. These tug & barge combinations (several hundred feet long) bring cargoes of gasoline and oil to Traverse City year round. Several times a year a large freighter brings coal to the coal dock in Greilickville. During the warmer weather two large schooners can also be seen regularly on Grand Traverse Bay: the Schooner MADELINE and the Schooner MANITOU. These boats carry passengers. When you see their large white sails against the horizon, it is easier to imagine the days when schooners were a common sight on these waters. LJQ 3/93 D3 THE STORY OF THE MADELINE By Steve Harold The schooner MADELINE led a long and varied career on northern Lake Michigan. For the most part she served her owners as a trading schooner, but she also served briefly as a lightship and later became the first private school in the Grand Traverse area. The MADELINE was built in Fairport, Ohio, in the winter of 1844-45, undoubtedly for owners at Mackinac Island. In her early days she carried a fancy scroll figurehead. The island was her home port for the first seventeen years of her existence, and all her owners include Henry Selby, William Scott, William C. Hubert, George Kirtland, Thomas Chambers and the Fitzgerald brothers. In her early years she probably served the commercial fishing industry carrying barreled fish to the Lower Lakes and salt (for preserving fish) on the return trip. In the summer of 1847, the schooner OCEAN (the government lightship stationed in the Straits of Mackinac) required immediate repairs and the MADELINE was chartered as her replacement for several months for $450. The following September MADELINE went ashore in an early fall storm at Beaver Island. Fortunately, her owners were able to refloat the MADELINE and she returned to service after repairs costing $300. In the winter of 1851-52, MADELINE journeyed to Grand Traverse Bay with William, Michael, and John Fitzgerald, William Bryce and Edward Chambers aboard seeking an education. In the words of S.E. Wait, who became their teacher: “An eager desire to learn was the occasion of their coming. Here in the wilderness, they would be removed from the allurements that might distract their attention in more populous ports.