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 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 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’ 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, 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 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 . The Native Americans, who invented the , 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 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 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. 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 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 . 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 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 ) 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. Regular hours of study were observed, and the men voluntarily submitted to strict school discipline. Spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic were the studies best suited to their needs. The evenings were taken up with blackboard exercises. Out of school hours they had plenty of snowballing in which they sometimes engaged with the delight of genuine school boys.”

Wait’s students went on to long careers on the Lakes. All the Fitzgeralds served many years as Captains, and William and John became prominent in the marine industry of Milwaukee. John Fitzgerald was the grandfather of Edmund Fitzgerald, namesake of the ill fated ore carrier. Bryce was lost to history, but Chambers served for many years a lightkeeper at Whitefish Point on . Wait himself enjoyed a long career as druggist, photographer, and historian in the Grand Traverse area.

In 1856 MADELINE is reported to have carried Mackinac Islanders to Beaver Island when the Mormons were forced out after the assassination of King Strang. MADELINE went to Milwaukee in 1862 where she was owned and captained by Peter Colberg and Charles Nelson. Several years later she was abandoned and probably ended her days settling quietly in the mud of one of the Milwaukee rivers. However, her legacy burns bright as a symbol of ingenuity, perseverance and spirit of our Northwest Michigan pioneers.

D4

SCHOONER MADELINE TOUR SCRIPT

Home port Tours: At home in Traverse City, there will be three Tour Guides on Duty at one time. (This is a Coast Guard regulation.) Visitors usually come in small groups. Each Guide will stay with one group and taken them through all the stations.

On-Tour Visitors: The organization of tours depends on the number of visitors expected or who actually come. If there are a small number, one Tour Guide/Crew Guide is assigned to each Station and repeats the narrative for their station to each group that comes through the boat. You need to know the information for each station because the crew working together will be different on each tour watch and we often rotate stations during a tour watch. When we have a very long line of visitors waiting, we keep them on deck and have one crew person at the stern, and several midship.

Interpretative Brochures: These brochures are to be passed out one to a “family.” We only have a limited number to distribute. This piece is designed to provide very specific information and become a “take home” souvenir of their visit to MADELINE. Become familiar with its contents.

This following script provides facts and outlines the information to be discussed at each station. This way we will offer information in consistent manner without being repetitive. It is intended to be a guide and a source of information for you. Put the facts in your own words. If the visitor wants to know other things about the way we handle the boat or life aboard answer their questions--follow their interests. Some people won’t want to listen to you anyway, and want to poke around on their own- -every visitor may be different. But be factually accurate (you are the interpreter, the “expert”) and have fun! If you have questions, please call Laura Quackenbush: 256-2191 (home).

Station #1: GREETER

Welcome: Welcome to Schooner MADELINE a reconstruction of a mid-19th century Great Lakes schooner and one of the State of Michigan’s official tall . She was built between 1985 and 1990 in Traverse City, Michigan by volunteer members of the non-profit group called the Maritime Heritage Alliance. Her mission is to serve as a floating center for the interpretation of Great Lakes maritime history. She is open to visitors in her home port of Traverse City and travels to other Great Lakes ports under local sponsorship. MADELINE’s financial support comes entirely from people who are interested in preserving Great Lakes history. This includes MHA members and others around the Great Lakes who believe in what we are doing. We do not receive any governmental funds. Our host here in is .

Story of the original MADELINE: There was an original schooner MADELINE that sailed the waters of the Great Lakes about 140 years ago. She was built in 1845 in Fairport, Ohio to carry freight. The story of the original MADELINE is special for the residents of the Grand Traverse area because for one winter, that of 1851-52, MADELINE served as the first non-Indian school in the region. Five young men, the captain and his crew, realized they need some book learning to become successful so they decided to devote the winter months, when the lakes were frozen, to their education. Their plan was to take MADELINE to a secluded harbor so they would not be distracted from their studies. So MADELINE was sailed into Bowers Harbor, north of Traverse City, on the Old Mission Peninsula. Stephen Wait, a 17 year old, was hired as a teacher and the five spent the winter learning reading, writing and arithmetic in the mornings and cutting firewood doing other chores and having snowball fights in the afternoons. The school must have been a success for all the young men went on to successful careers on the Great Lakes. The Captain and his brothers, were named Fitzgerald. One of their grandchildren headed an insurance company which named and owned another famous boat: the Str. EDMUND FITZGERALD. You many go aboard and move to the stern to begin your guided tour of MADELINE.

D5

SCHOONER MADELINE TOUR SCRIPT cont.

Station #2: STERN

Great Lakes Schooners--What, When: Schooners* were the most popular type of sailing boat on the Great Lakes. It is estimated that 120 years ago, there were more than 2,000 on the Great Lakes although few were built after 1870. Great Lakes schooners were different from schooners that sailed the oceans. Their rigs were adapted to sail closer to the wind and were more easily maneuvered. The shape of the hull was boxy to accommodate the maximum amount of cargo and to travel in the canals (the Welland and the Soo). The original MADELINE was very small schooner at about 52’ on deck. The largest Great Lakes schooners were several hundred feet long and had 3-5 masts.

*A Great Lakes schooner is defined as a sailing vessel with two or more masts, with fore and aft sails, the largest sail is flown from the main .

The Stern: This is the steering station for the boat. This cast iron wheel was especially made for MADELINE at the Lunenberg Foundry in Nova Scotia which has been making wheels for schooners for over a century. The wheel is attached to the rudder with gears here in the wheel box. (Wheel box should be open, visitors can see the rudder move by looking over the stern.) The helmsperson stands on the port side where he/she can see over the . The compass, log and engine controls are all on the port side. The helmsman steers by the compass to the set by the Captain or Mate on watch. We have a compass, as did the original MADELINE. In fact a compass, log (to determine speed through the water) a sounding lead, and early charts were the only navigational tools the old schooners carried. Today we have a compass, GPS, radar, depth sounder and an electronic log to help us navigate. We also have other safety gear which would not have been on the original MADELINE: life jackets, inflatable life rafts, EPRB (Emergency Position Radio Beacon) life rings and a man overboard light. The original schooners carried little to help crew members that went overboard or had to abandon ship--probably only a few cork life rings and the small wooden boat that most schooners carried aboard.

Station #3: MAIN CABIN

The Main Cabin: This was the living quarters for the Captain, mate and cook of the original MADELINE. Here they ate and slept. They very likely had a cast iron stove similar to this one to heat the cabin and on which to cook. The crew was smaller than we carry today, probably only 3 or 4 men on a small schooner like MADELINE. The accommodations were more Spartan than what you see today. Schooners were not luxury boats, they were built and fitted-out to make money carrying cargo. On today’s MADELINE, the main cabin is the place where the Captain and his Mates sleep, where we cook for the entire crew and the location of the navigation station. This is where the LORAN and Radar, the chart table, the log books and other important equipment and information are located. On the original MADELINE, everything forward of the bulkhead would have been space for cargo. Today, this next cabin is our engine room and main head*. The engine, which was donated to MHA, is a GM 471 (diesel). Of course, the original MADELINE did not have an engine. Schooners sailed into docks if they could, or waited until they could. Sometimes they had to unload or load offshore using small boats that took the cargo to and from the dock or beach. There were steam tugs after the 1850’s in the larger ports and these were used to maneuver the schooners in and out of ports or in rivers)

(*If you are asked: No, there was not a head on the original MADELINE. “It” was over the side at the lee rail , probably a bucket or chamber pot for women or the fussy.)

D6

SCHOONER MADELINE TOUR SCRIPT cont.

Early Schooners: Before 1840, schooners were the way that most passengers and freight were transported on the Great Lakes. There were no trains and few roads during the time of the big immigration to the new State of Michigan. However the Great Lakes served as a very effective highway. .Most immigrants and migrants came west through the Erie Canal to Buffalo New York, boarded a boat and came on to Milwaukee or Chicago. Much of that early cargo was packed in barrels because they were easy for one man to handle. After 1840, steamers (side-wheelers and propellers) took over carrying passengers. Schooners became bulk cargo carriers transporting grain, bark and lumber, fire wood, potatoes and apples and, iron ore and coal. (Not cherries.) MADELINE’s Cargoes: History tells us that one of the cargoes the original MADELINE carried barrels of fish. Fish were an important resource of Lake Michigan and there were many small fishing camps along the shore. The fishermen cleaned the fish and preserved them by drying and packing them in barrels with salt. Schooners like MADELINE would buy up the barrels of fish and take them to southern Great Lakes ports to sell and return with a hold full salt. They also carried some passengers and a limited number of other goods to trade. MADELINE also carried troops to Beaver Island to drive King Strang and his Mormon followers away. We also know she was the lightship in the Mackinaw Straits for a few months.

Station #4: FORWARD CABIN/FOC’S’LE Forward Cabin & Foc’s’le: This cabin and the one you came through are additional crew quarters on today’s MADELINE. Forward, in the foc’s’le, more berths and storage. Originally the forward cabin space would have been all cargo hold, and in the foc’s’le were berths for the seamen and non-cargo storage. This is a good place to see how MADELINE is built. Essentially she has a strong wooden framework of a keel, keelson, frames and deck beams, like human skeleton, and a thinner layer of wood that covers that frame like skin: the planking. This is the way wooden boats have been made for centuries.

Construction: MADELINE is made of the same kinds of wood that were used in the original Great Lakes schooners. Rot-resistant White oak, common to the forests of the Great Lakes was used for the keel and frames, and planking. The masts and other spars (, booms) are made of White pine which were especially harvested for MADELINE. Red pine was used as planking on MADELINE however it was pressure- treated with preservatives. (like the Wohmanizing(r) process). This would not have been a wood used a century ago. MADELINE was built using both new and old technology. The square nails that hold her planks to the frames are the same type that have been used for centuries (show sample), the builders caulked the hull with cotton using traditional irons and mallets, we make our baggywrinkle out of rope made from natural fibers. The builders also used modern paints, electric tools and bedding compounds.

Design: We do not know very much about the original MADELINE except where she was built and her original dimensions. There are no photographs or drawings of her. The design used to build this boat was based on other schooners of the same size and period. At that time MADELINE was built (1845) there were many schooners were being built all over the Great Lakes, some in commercial shipyards and some right on the beaches. Many schooners were virtually undocumented (few records were made or survived). 19th century schooners did not last very long, the average life was under 10 years. Schooners were lost in storms. Most were not well maintained because there were not any dry docks where they could be hauled out to work on them or good paint and chemicals to protect and preserve the wood. Many times after a schooner past her prime, was made into a barge and pulled behind another schooner or by a steamer.

What happened to MADELINE?: We don’t know what happened to the original MADELINE. There are no records of her loss on the lakes so our best guess is that she was pulled up a river in Milwaukee where people salvaged her for firewood--a common ending for useless hulks.

We hope you enjoyed your visit to MADELINE and we encourage you to join us in helping preserve Great Lakes Maritime History by joining the Maritime Heritage Alliance. We need the interest and help of all who are interested. Please take this Membership brochure and consider becoming a member. Thank you.

LJQ rev 96 D7

TALKING POINTS – DECK TOURS

Points to Cover:

Greeting Station: 1) Welcome to the MADELINE (a reconstruction of a mid 19th century Great Lakes Schooner) 2) What is the MHA? 3) The story of the original MADELINE

Stern Station & Main Cabin 1) What is a Great Lakes schooner? 2) Steering MADELINE: wheel, wheel box, rudder 3) Original function of main cabin 4) Current use of main cabin 5) Schooners as bulk cargo carriers. 6) Engine room and cargo hold

Midship & Forward Cabin 1) Cargo hatch, loading cargo, types of cargo 2) Bilge pump (kids like to pump) 3) : Wooden spars, Baggy wrinkle, 4) Function of forward cabin & foc’s’le 5) Schooner construction 6) What happened to MADELINE?

D8