(telescope 2 5 C VOL. 4 DECEMBER 1955 NO.12 THE BARQUE GRIFFON

A story of the Griffon, first ship to sail Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

Reproduction of the Griffon, Sieur de La Salle’s ship, made by Rowley Murphy, A.R.C.A., O.S.A. One of a series of four early Canadian ships reproduced on Wedgwood china. R. H. Davison, J.F.. Johnston, r * p u b l i s h e d BY Associate Editor Ed i to r : G reat Lakes Model S hipbuilders' G uild Membership $3.00 belli isle dethoit7.mcmo/w Subscription $2.50 Supported in part bp the Detroit Historical Society. EDITORIAL

A LETTER TO OUR READERS

To all of our readers, whether members, subscribers, library patrons, or news stand customers we send Christinas Greetings.

During 1955 TELESCOPE has scored some significant gains. Memberships have in­ creased, we have more subscribers, and our counter sales during the summer months, when the Museum of Great Lakes History was open our counter sales of current and back numbers did much to keep us in the black. Vile have published our first booklet, which is selling. Our second publication will be out any day, and already we are putting together material for a third, to come out early next year. We have done a creditable job of making available to model builders additional plans of Great Lakes vessels. Our model show was an un­ qualified success with a net return of $325.00, the largest yet. We participated in the making of several films, two of which were made by the University of Michigan.

The year ahead, from this view, appears less cheerful. There is no hope for a new building on Belle Isle, though the prospects of eventually having one are brighter than ever. We will have to look for a place in which we may hold the Annual Model Exhibition where we may charge admission. Currently we are moving out of the schooner "J.T.Wing", for reasons mentioned previously. The Museum of Great Lakes History will be on the ground floor of the Detroit His­ torical Museum, beginning with January 1956. Admission to this building is free to the public, so we will hardly be permitted to charge admission of any event held there. This will hamper our model show program, and if the exhib­ ition is held there we will have to forego some much-needed income.

Protracted illness has prevented your editor getting the TELESCOPE out on time, and he is working overtime to get back on schedule. We gained a little this month, and hope to gain a little more in January so all of us can enjoy A HAPPY NEW YEAR. THE GUILD ORGANIZED IN 1952 TO LOCATE. ACQUIRE. AND PRESERVE INFORMATION AND OBJECTS RELATED TO THE HISTORY i 1 »THr5 GREAT LAKES AND TO MAKE SAME AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE MUSEUM OF GREAT r COLUMNS OF TELESCOPE. THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHENTIC SCALE MODELS OF GREAT . .iT.-J. 0 0E THE PRIME OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION. WHICH HAS BROUGHT INTO BEING THE tuc if C0LLECT10N 0F MODELS OF THESE SHIPS. THE MUSEUM OF GREAT LAKES HISTORY. LOCATED ON ir *ff ?E LLE ,SLE* IN DETROIT. IS OFFICIAL HEADQUARTERS FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND THE REPOSITORY THF i l ,s INCORpORATED AS AN ORGANIZATION FOR NO PROFIT UNDER THE LAWS OF MICHIGAN. NO MEMBER RECEIVES ANY COMPENSATION FOR HIS SERVICES. DONATIONS TO THE GUILD ARE DEDUCTIBLE FOR TAX INCOME PURPOSES. m i LV OFFICERS

Robert H.Davison,....President. John F.Miller,...Vice President. Joseph E.Johnston,Sec-Treas. DIRECTORS

L.RuhX, Detroit. Walter Massey,..LaSalle,Ontario. s ^ Se“’";r; Eeir°^- £®° M-Flagler,. .WindsorjOntario. Frank Slyker,•....East Detroit. Donn Chown,...... Detroit. 3

THE TOBERMORY "GRIFFON" was mined. This may, or may not be of sig­ nificance since iron was an international At the Autumn Dinner of the Great Lakes trade item for many centuries. Historical Society, at Shaker Heights,Ohio in October, 1955, I had the great pleasure Many of the spikes, and some of the of hearing our good friend Rowley Murphy, nails still retain the pitch with which of Toronto, describe the recent findings they were coated at the time of building a t Tobermorey, Ontario, which appear of the vessel. These are entirely free of to be parts of La Salle’s ship the "Grif­ rust, and there is very little rust on any fon." Mr. Murphy also presented excellent of the fastenings. No threaded bolts were drawings of the recovered wreckage, to found and this too has significance since clarify his comments. His presentation the first screw lathe was invented in the was most convincing, and for the first year 1797. time, I felt that something of the "Grif­ Several pins were recovered,each having fon" had been found. a metal wedge through them near the point On the evening of December 2, 1955, the opposite the head,something like a present finder of the wreckage spoke before the day cotter key, though not split. On each Algonquin Club, at the Hotel Norton Palmer such bolt there was a round washer.Similar in Windsor and presented numerous items to devices are used, to this day, on wooden substantiate his beliefs regarding h i s ships where the installation of the pin findings. This speaker is Mr. Orrie C. is temporary, but the pins found in the Vail, of Tobermory, Ontario. wreck at Tobermory were not temporary in­ Mr. Vail holds no degree in any of the stallations, so it may be assumed that the sciences but throughout his work on the key-and-washer were substitutes for thread­ wreck he has followed strictly scientific ed bolts. The washers appear to have been methods and practiced techniques that are used to spread the pressure of the key and approved by archaeologists of the highest prevent its cutting into the wood under standing. He has shown complete willing­ great strains. ness to submit his findings to rigid tests by scientists. The materials, wood and metal have been analyzed in laboratories with all results indicating their ages to be more than 300 years. These findings, if accurate, certainly point towards their All spikes and nails are square-headed, having come from the "Griffon," since she as if they ted been formed by four blows of was the only vessel on the Great Lakes as a hammer, one on each side of the square long ago as that. stock from which they were made. There are The metal fastenings, including the no round nails. It is said that this pre­ smallest nails, were hand-forged, and have vented likelihood of the spike developing a a peculiar ring when suspended free and split down its center line. One nail had tapped with a hammer - a musical tone like one point and two heads - a kind of closed that of silver. An analysis by the Chicago "V". Whether or not this had any particu­ Spectro Service Laboratory showed the fol­ lar virtue is not known. At least one of lowing results: the driftpins is hammered round, from the square stock generally used throughout the Iron ...... Major content. vessel. Silicon...... 0.1 to 1% Manganese...... 0.05 0.5% C o p p e r ...... 0.03 0.3% Wooden Members Nickel,cromium,aluminum, 0.1 1% each. Cobalt ...... 0.003 0.03% All frames are of white oak, natural Molybdenum, tin. .... 0.005 0.05 ea. bends hewn from limbs of trees. To get a Lead, varadium,magnesium 0.0005 0.005 matched pair of frames these limbs were split, then hewn to shape and size needed. Another laboratory states that it may Each frame was let into the top of the even be able to determine where the iron keel, 39 frames, from bow to stern. 4

The keel was 40 feet long, with a cross The loyalty of Luk, Captain of the section of about 5” x 8". There was no ship, was soon in doubt, but there was rabbet to receive the edge of the garboard nothing La Salle could do about that. He strake of planking and none of the planks was the only experienced seaman available. was nailed to the keel. There was an ex­ It can never be known whether or not he tra timber spiked and pinned to the under­ entered into a plot to defraud La Salle, side of the keel, to reduce leeway when but legend tends to incriminate him, es­ sailing on the wind. About every other pecially if Mr. Vail's find is the fastening was of wood. (Trunnels). "Griffon." The planking, according to Hr. Vail, Hjalmar R.Holand, of Ephriam, Wisconsin was of split timber, hewn down to reason­ in his "Peninsula Days" presents the story able smoothness. One plank 17 feet long of the intrigues as follows: and 10 inches wide was salvaged. It ap­ The Ottawa Indians had long enjoyed a pears to have been about I k " thick, but monopoly of freighting furs down the river much of the thickness is leached away, and which bears their name, by way of what is there is evidence of the ship's having known as the French River route, from been burned. Georgian Bay. The Potowatomis, from the far-off Green Bay Country of what is now Wisconsin, used the same route on their The Time own trading expeditions to the St.Lawrence (1769) River country to exchange furs for the goods of the French, but the volume of The Great Lakes basin was a primeval trade was not too much of a threat to the forest populated by a people yet in the prosperity of the Ottawas. The Ottawas were stone age who derived their food supply the forerunners of our modern public car­ largely from the innumerable wild animals riers. They transported to the St. Law­ around them; supplementing this with wild rence settlements the furs collected at fruits and the products of their meagre the trading posts, and brought back trade gardening efforts. Law and order, as we goods. Little of the fur came out of the think of it, did not exist. The only me­ west relatively speaking. tals they knew how to work was copper, and The coming of ships was another thing. they made little use of that. Trade was They would carry much more, and would by­ extremely limited and manufacture, if it pass the Otttawas, take their cargoes to could be called that, was largely stone the Niagara River, transfer them to other points for their weapons. ships on Lake Ontario which could proceed, Among these primitive people, there without further transhipment to the first moved a comparatively limited number o f rapids on the St.Lawrence. This was defin­ Europeans who were clever in trade, and itely a threat to the Ottawas, and if who could supply them with objects of me­ they did not see it on their own there tal and glass and woven fabrics; knives, were enemies of La Salle who were willing axes, pots, guns and gun powder, blankets, and clothing. to enlighten them. They had sent out messengers to set the other tribes against These white men came into a region La Salle,and some of these messengers were where there was no law, and they resented at Mackinac when the "Griffon" stopped having law follow them, but follow them it there on her trip up the Lakes. In some did, in the person of La Salle, to deprive sheltered cove along the route of the ship them of complete freedom of action in from Green Bay back to Niagara, where the their dealing with the natives, and to re­ captain had put in to avoid a storm, these quire them to obtain licenses to trade and other Indians boarded the vessel as their European goods for furs. Naturally, friends, then murdered the crew and burned La Salle acquired enemies; among the mer­ her. This is Mr. Boland's version of a chants at Quebec and in the forests. Even belief which has persisted in diverse and the Indians resented his rules and regula­ often conflicting forms for nearly three tions and objected to his buildinq the ’’Griffon." centuries. If Mr. Vail has found the real remains of the "Griffon" his discovery may lend credence to the belief, which, I must 5 say is contrary in the one I have held in the 16 years during which I have been in­ The Man terested in the fate of this vessel. It has been my belief that the "Griffon" La Salle, although he carried a high- went down in deep water, with all hands, sounding title, was a tough man. He had to and without a trace. Mr. Vail declares the be to dare what he dared. He was ambitious weight of the cargo would not have over­ to become the ruler of a vast domain,where come the bouyancy of the vessel, and that not one man wanted established rule. They something would have floated ashore. were tough men who had had enough of strict Then, there are those who believe that rule in France, or wild savages who had Luk connived with certain free traders to never known rule at all. The odds against steal the cargo, to be sent down the Otta­ La Salle were enormous, and his greatest wa River, and destroy the ship. Whether failing was his inability to see the whole this be true or not no one knows. picture. This fault was his undoing and in the end led to the collapse of his plan to dominate the scene, and finally to his The Place murder at some forgotten spot along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The factor which does the most to sub­ The "Griffon" became the first of a long stantiate the belief that foul play enter­ list of mystery ships and unless Mr. Vail has her remains her last resting place is ed into the story, is the location of the wreck, if it be that of the "Griffon." still a mystery. It appears that he has. Unless Luk was completely lost he had no reason for being on the east side of Lake Huron, unless he had something in The Ship mind other than getting to Niagara as soon Just what the "Griffon" looked like no as possible, or was sailing under duress. That a derelict could have drifted to one can say. Mr. Vail estimates her length the site of the find is nearly impossible. at around 45 feet, possibly a little more. Here is a map, roughly drawn from memory, Rowley Murphy stated that she may have of Russel Island harbor near Tobermory. been in the neighborhood of 60 feet long. Judge for yourself. From each end of her 40-foot keel there could have been overhang that may have made her length on deck as much as 52 feet or even 54 feet. From the forward end of the keel the stem extended upward at a low angle. Only enough of the stem was found to show the upward turn - not the length. Other details are still obscure. The exact beam is one of these details. About all we can do is assume that the "Griffon" conformed to the general type of boats of her size and nationality, thereby approxi­ mating her beam. Width at the deck line probably was somewhat less than the great­ est width somewhere below that line. There is nothing in the wreckage found to give any idea as to details above the deck. The A more secluded spot could not have high poop deck of the period was very pro­ been found in all the Great Lakes. Is it bably what she had, but did she have any reasonable to suppose that Luk would have raised deck forward to provide sleeping taken his command into such a place just space for the crew and stowage for gear? to have shelter for a few hours? There were two mast-steps let into the The complete destruction points to more keel, indicating two masts. Still, it was than accidental fire, so we must, at last possible that the customary lateen mizzen­ give some credence to the belief that mast of the times was stepped on the main there was foul play. 6

COPY OF AN EARLY MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES:-— EXPLANATION. I."Griffon” built here. 2 Route of "Griffon",up-bound. 3.Route from Detroit Harbor to Russel Island where wreckage was found. 5. Russel Island. 6.Chicago portage. 7.Illinois River. 8.Kankakee River. 9.Saint Joseph River. 10.St.Joseph,Mich. 11.French River. 12. Ottawa River. 13. Portage Route.

deck, or even on the poop. Such a sail would be of little service in running be­ NEW MEMBERS fore the wind, but is is a big help when Eric L.Fromm tacking. In fact it is difficult to see 18508 Greenlawn, Detroit 21.Michigan. how this particular vessel could have been Yankcanuck S.S.Lines. made to come about without such a sail.The Sault Ste.Marie, Ontario. step for the mainmast was 17 feet from the J.B.Kelley, after end of the keel, only three feet aft Roiaulus, Michigan. of the center of its length. Maybe she Robert R.Brovin, would come about, but with more canvas aft 11681 Minock, Detroit 28, Michigan. she would have been far more handy. It was Dr.John M.Hopkins, sometimes the practice to step such small 1157 David Whitney Bldg..Detroit 26. mizzenmasts on the poop deck, with running Dr.Bruce D.Jones, shrouds so they could be unshipped when 16895 Stout St.,Detroit 19, Mich. not needed. Sometimes they were not men­ Rahr Civic Center, tioned as masts in descriptions of the 610 N.8th.St.,Milwaukee,Wis. vessel in official records. This practice Stanley M.Sokolski, dates from the days of piracy when many 24281 Eastwood, Oak Park 37,MichigM ruses were adopted to disguise a vessel in Rouse's Bookhouse, illegal trades. R.R. 2, Eaton Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Orrie Vail does not say that he has F.E.Quale, tiie "Griffon", but he leaves it to others 5 7 7 0 Harvard Road, Detroit 24,Mich. to prove that he does not have her bones. It is very likely that he has them. End. 7

THE PORT OF ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN to realize their potential until the Gra­ ham and Morton Line fleet began operations St. Joseph, Michigan, at the mouth of in 1074, attracted by the vacation crowds the St. Joseph River, lias a long history and the fruit business. as a shipping point. It was on the pre­ Between 1090 and 1930 this company did ferred canoe route between the Great Lakes a tremendous business, but ceased opera­ basin and the vast valley of the Missis­ tions in 1932. During the 30's and 40's sippi, the St. Joseph River-Kankakee there was only one excursion boat between portage route. Chicago and St. Joseph, but a number of In 1679, when La Salle had dispatched lines operated between Milwaukee and St. the "Griffon" from Green Bay to the east­ Joseph at various times. ern end of Lake Erie, laden with furs, he During the past 25 years, coal, crushed set out for the Illinois country, and went rock, and petroleum products have come in­ down the western shore of Lake Michigan, to this port in bulk cargoes and today past the Chicago River-Desplaines River these constitute the only shipping activ­ portage route and on the St. Joseph. Why ity seen locally. There are about six or he did so is not recorded, but it is known eight self-unloaders coming in each year. that he had interests at Fort St. Joseph, The tankers make many more trips and sev­ so may have wanted to look into things eral times recently they have arrived in there before going on. Tiie Chicago route all months of the year. would have saved him about 200 miles, The largest single development in this though it is said to have been a bad port­ port was the digging of the Benton Harbor age under foot because of the marshes. Ship Canal, some 75 years ago, enabling The St. Joseph-Kankakee route offered dry steamers from the Lakes to proceed inland footing between the two rivers. to make Benton Harbor a port as well as Even before La Salle passed that way its older sister city. The canal was a the traders had preferred the route, and mile long, but now over half of it has Fort St. Joseph and/or other points along been filled to make parking space for au­ the river were important centers. tomobiles. Recently there has been a con­ In the 1030’s when the valley of the certed effort to fill in the remaining St. Joseph was beginning to be settled by portion to make still more parking space, Americans the port of St. Joseph, at the but so far this has been prevented by the mouth of the river became increasingly im­ owners of dock property. portant. Supplies for the settlers were The history of Lakes shipping at this landed there from small Lakes schooners, port follows much the same pattern as” that and taken up the rivers and creeks in very of many other small ports around the Great shallow-draft boats. Farm produce found Lakes. Most of the glory and accomplish­ its way to market over the same streams, ments are in the past, and it doesn't ap­ down to the Lakes, to make business for pear as if there will be much activity in the schooners. Lumber, building materials the future. and general cargo were loaded and unloaded at St. Joseph. Gordon Potter The schooners increased in size, then were replaced by steam barges when they came into use. In the 1890's and early REGARDING DUES 1900's there was a small grain elevator, and a salt warehouse, doing good business. Steamers of the Leopold andAustrian fleet, The question of dues for the coming year and brought in grain from as far away as- thereafter will not be decided until ballots Duluth, Minnesota, and it and the salt are counted on December 16th. For this rea­ were distributed over a wide area by rail. son we ask that dues be paid after announce­ Passenger steamers (also carrying pack­ ment is,made in the January 19 5 6 TELESGOPE age freight) began running into this port at which time you will be advised regarding more than 100 years ago but didn't begin officers for the year ahead. 8 9 10

BOOKS SHIP MODELS OF THE 17th TO 19th CEN­ TURIES. Bv August Koester. With 12*f By Ruth Rouse plates. 9ixl2t, NY, 1926. With brief text & description of each plate, The "Young Voyageur" by Dirk Grin- pages vii-xxx. These superb repro­ ghuis, written for youth, should be ductions of photographs show museum- on your gift list. What better time piece models of Hanseatic, Dutch, to capture the interest of future Swedish, Danzig, Danish, Russian, "Shipbuilders" than at the form­ Luebeck, English Ships. $20.00 (683) ative age? Due to the Gringhuis touch the reader becomes the young Voyageur A SHIP MODELIER!S LOG BOOK. By John himself who endures the rigors of N. C. Lewis. Numerous illus., 5x7i, life at Michilimackinac as a"Com- London, (1950). Detailed plans and mis".Taken captive by the Indians instructions on how to build ship he becomes their blood brother and models. $3.00 (685) as such leads a tribal delegation to a peace conference at Niagara.He joins the ranks marching to Fort SHIP MODEL MAKING. By E. Armitage Detroit and a family reunion ensues. McCann. How to Make Worth-While Mod­ Enhanced by the author's illustra els of Decorative Ships. 83 illustr­ tions, this book becomes a treasure ations and 2 large plans. 6x9, NY, to its proud owner. 1926. Details & instructions for WINDJAMMER MODELLING. By Clive Monk. building a Barbary Pirate Felucca 7x10, London, 19^. 128 p. with 32 and a Spanish Galleon. 129 p. $7.50 photo, illust, 73 text drawings and (686) plans for 8 different ships. Al­ though the body of the book is given over to a detailed description of SHIP MODEL MAKING. By E. A. McCann. the building of the four-mast barque Vol. II. How to Make a Model of the "Ross-shire," the text is so written American Clipper Ship Sovereign of as to guide the model maker through the Seas. Simplified or with compl­ the construction of all the other ete details. 86 illust. & 2 large ships whose plans appear In the vol­ plans. 6x9, NY 1926. 150 p. Scarce. ume. $6.^0 (688) $10.00 (687)

A TRIBUTE FROM THE SEA icers were largly foreigners, int­ ernationalists, I should say, for A talk given before a Detroit luncheon your true deepwater seaman prior to club by your editor who has spent almost the First World War knew but two half of his life in merchant vessels upon kinds of people, seamen, and lands­ the oceans of the world. men. I have been shipmates with men In all his travels at home and abroad of every race and almost every nat­ he observed nothing which remotely compar­ ionality, and one of the finest sea­ ed with the efficiency of Great Lakes ore men I ever sailed with had no nat­ carriers, grain ships and self-unloaders. ionality. Prior to W.W.I, that would have been of little consequence, for we Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen* signed on and paid off in any port, in any country, not as Americans, or Many years ago I sailed out of Gulf Englishmen, or as any other nation­ ports, a total, I believe, of about ality. We were classed by the immig­ ten years. Most of each year our ration authorities as SEAMEN. There crews down there were composed of were no government certificates as men of foreign birth. Even our off­ able seamen, because you had to 11 learn your ^rade before you were shipping master it was handed to the promoted to tl '• rating. You had to boatswain, who scanned it for the prove yourseli and your ability to man's name, stuffed it into his poc­ some hardboile late who had a very ket, to later be turned in to the personal intere t in how you per­ mate, then told the newcomer when to formed your duties. If he promoted turn to. you from ordinary seaman to able Along about December we would be­ seaman and you fell down on your job gin to get a different type. These he was in for a raking over the fellows would come aboard, and at coals by the skipper. If you did the top of the ladder would hesitate, happen to get by with that mate then if anyone happened to be near without getting in dutch with him, they would ask where they could find but went aboard another ship and the mate, or, sometimes they would presented another mate with a dis­ ask for the "deck watchman." They charge showing that you had sailed would sit their bags down, look ab­ with Davy Jones, or Swen Swenson, as out in indecision, then ask where an able seaman, but failed to per­ the crew's quarters were, forward or form some duty in a proper seaman­ aft. like manner the mate who promoted Almost invariably they were well- you as an able seaman would be clas­ dressed. They were Great Lakes sea­ sed, and remembered as a poor off­ men. We came to be able to spot one icer, and the word would get around. of them the length of the dock, and Mates were pretty certain of your later on, during the voyage we were ability before they acknowledged it. continually entertained by their There used to be an old saying tales of sailing on the Great Lakes. among seamen of my day, that "The They told us fabulous tales of the best was to do a thing was the easi­ ore ships, their length, their load­ est way". By that they meant: If ing and unloading time, and how they you had really learned your trade never took on pilots, and seldom you performed your duties with the used tugs. They told of life aboard least possible lost motion. There these strange lakes vessels, and was for every task a most efficient frankly, we didn't think much of it. method. That held good in the mer­ When we heard of the pay they rec­ chant fleets of all of the maritime eived we just didn't believe that nations of the world. An able seaman part at all. But we were interested, could step over the rail of any ship and I, for one, promised myself that in the world, and in an hours time some day I would get around to look­ could find his way unerringly among ing into the matter for my own sat­ the countless pieces of running rig­ isfaction. ging, even on a dark night. My first contact with Lakes ship­ As I said, during most of the year ping, as she is, was up on Chequam- the crews we signed on out of Gulf agon Bay. I was at Barksdale, Wis­ ports were men of the sea. When they consin, across from Ashland when one came up the ladder with their bags of these long ships put in at the you didn't have to tell them which Ashland ore dock about breakfast way to turn, when their feet struck time of a Sunday. "Now is my chance," the deck. They had sized up the ship I said. "This afternoon I'll just from the dock, and at a glance had take a run around there and have a determined where the crew's quarters look at her." Right after one o'cl­ were. To that part of the vessel ock I began getting ready to go. they directed their steps, dumped From my cabin window I could see the their bags in the best bunks not oc­ steamer still lying at the dock as I cupied, and went directly to the put on my coat. I locked up the cab­ boatswain, knowing instinctively, by in and took one last look across the the hour, or by the activity about the decks, just about where he would be found. If he had a slip from a 12

precision of clock-work. There was a promptness, with an air of deliber- bay. The ship was backing out from ateness, born of a summer of inten­ the dock, and even at that distance sive drill which those youngsters I could see she was fully loaded. It had thrown themselves into with en­ appeared that there might have been thusiasm. They had been rotated on some truth in those tales told by stations until they knew the duties the Lakes seamen. In the light of my of all of them and could time their present acquaintance with Great moves with the boys on the other Lakes methods I often wonder, "What stations. delayed the loading of that ship," We had been through some pretty She wasn't a large one. bad summer squalls together, and Circumstances did not permit me during one of these squalls we were to look upon the Great Lakes for on what we called the five-day cr­ many years afterwards. During the uise, an annual event of the camp in winter of 1933-31* I was teaching which every boy and most of the creative woodwork at Marietta John­ boats took part. This cruise set out son's School of Organic Education, under what we called sealed orders, at Fairhope, a Single Tax Colony meaning we had no particular destin­ situated on the eastern shore of Mo­ ation in view, but took advantage of bile Bay. That is the parent of all the fair winds, so as to cover the the Progressive Schools in the Unit­ most distance. One of the boats be­ ed States and since its founding in ing a square-sailed Viking ship 1892 has been closely observed by could not work to windward, but with the more progressive educators. her tremendous spread of canvas In the spring of 193*+ one of the could run away from anything when visiting observers, the director of the wind was aft, yet handled like Adventure Island Camp for Boys be­ a rowboat when under oars, and could came impressed with some of my theo­ be beached on a lea shore without ries, as expressed in an illustrated damage. talk on celestial navigation given There were about sixty men and before the class of student teachers, boys on this cruise, and we had pit­ A later conference resulted in my ched camp on the N-B shore of Cham­ "being engaged by Adventure Island bers Island. All hands were ashore * Camp to take command of a schooner, for breakfast on the beach when the (then in the Gulf, but later taken wind freshened from off shore. At to the Lakes by way of the Mississ­ that point the island is only a few ippi River,) to teach a group of hundred feet wide, so we decided to fourteen boys merchant ship routine, leave the boys ashore and run the including sailing, marlinespike sea­ boats around Hanover Shoals, a dis­ manship, and simple problems in nav­ tance of about eight miles, and an­ igation, chor in the lea of Chambers, but I took command of the little ves­ still close to the camp. sel after she reached Green Bay and The Mate and I went out through with the exception of my mate, whom the surf and got up sail. It was a I had trained at sea, I had no one single reef gale by the time we were aboard who had sailed in anything ready, but the anchor had started larger than a fifteen-foot sloop. dragging and we needed everything we Not knowing the waters, I had to could hoist to make her work to sail entirely by chart, but we had a windward, in the short steep sea very successful season, and when we that was running. It was nearly an visited Chicago, at the end of the hour after the anchor was aweigh be­ summer of 1931*-, our little ship cre­ fore we knew for sure that we were ated quite a sensation by the snappy actually clawing off that beach, and way in which we maneuvered. Every­ every minute seemed like the last body had his station and he did no­ for our canvas. Finally we were far thing until the order was given, but enough off to risk trying to reef every order was carried out with the her down, and when we did we took a 13 double tuck in both fore and main, ships unfit for any further use, and and since the big single jib was not in danger of settling to the bottom fitted with reefpoints we took it the owner was ordered to dispose of in. Even under shortened sail we them in a manner that would preclude fairly raced around Hanover Shoal their ever becoming obstructions to and back to a point opposite the navigations or unsightly objects in temporary camp. We dropped anchor in the vicinity of the town. two fathoms and went ashore, little Scrap iron being at that time knowing that we were about to dis­ worth less than the cost of salvag­ cover one of the mystery ships of ing it from the ships, they were the Lakes, towed out into deep water, saturated When we broke camp the anchor with oil and set afire, about half would not come up. After heaving way between Menoninee and Chambers ourselves blue in the face I called Island. Some of them burned rapidly for the best diver in the crew and and went to the bottom close to told him to go down and see what was where they were abandoned. Others the matter. He was down quite a drifted for some time before going while, and when he came up he re­ down. Very likely our mystery ship ported that our anchor was afoul of was one of the slow burners. The another one,— a big one. We put out fact that we found no anchor chain a second anchor to relieve the str­ indicates that she had used a manila ain on the first, and after many cable, which in my mind points to dives by the mate, and several of her having been from the boom days the boys we were free. of the lumber schooners, when chain By that time we were all eager to was scarce and costly. retrieve that anchor, so the cruise That manila cable also points to never got any further. All of the something else. It reminds us that boys were good swimmers, and they shipping upon the Great Lakes has began surveying the surrounding bot­ always been a thing unto itself. tom. In a little while one came up There was a job to be done in this with a handful of charcoal and sail region, far from sources of supply,- he had found a wreck,-evidently of a a big job. It was a job that had to burned ship. be done with the materials at hand, We broke out every piece of line and in a manner that served the we could find in the fleet, made a needs of the moment. Out in the cable of them, and by dark nearly plains of the Dakotas people were fifty men and boys were slowly drag­ living in sod houses while their ging the big anchor ashore by the fabulous crops of grain grew head- light of a huge bon fire. high from the rich virgin soil. On We managed to get the anchor back the Atlantic sea-board other people to Adventure Island, where it has needed bread to sustain them as they served as an ornament on the head of fashioned plows, and chains, and the harbor breakwater for fourteen anchors, nails, spikes, tools and years. Unrelenting search revealed all the things the new west clamored no clue to the identity of the ship for. Across the Atlantic the need until last year, when on my way to for the products of the western Chicago by train I became engaged in lands was even more urgent. conversation with an elderly gentle­ Did the shipping men of the Great man from Menominee. The subject of Lakes wait for the traditional fit­ the mystery ship was brought up, and tings that went into ships. No lum­ he had the most plausible answer ber was needed for those men and wo­ ever submitted in answer to our in­ men in the sod houses of the Dak­ quiry. otas, and ties were needed by the He told of a certain owner of old railroads to build the tracks that sailing ships whose fleet had deter­ would take the lumber west and bring iorated until it became a menace back the grain to the lake ports al­ to navigation in the river. These ong Superior and Michigan, and the 14

cities mushrooming up along the All of these things are but a part Lakes wanted lumber then, not a few of the story of the foresight, the years later. progressiveness, and the daring of So the ships were put together the men of the Lakes. For handling with trenails and a minimum of met­ tfteir ships under all conditions of al. They were rigged with cordage wind and weather Great Lakes masters and went down the ways to battle and officers have long excelled any with the elements a short while then other group in the maritime history. settle to the bottom, to be soon Celestial navigation, of necessity forgotten in the hectic race to get used by seamen when out of sight of the job done. They substituted, im­ land, on the oceans of the world can provised, and devised. Out of the be taught to any bright pupil with a hurley-burley race with time there grade school education, in three came a Lakes tradition. It differed months in a shore school, but pilot­ from salt water tradition in that ing, as practiced by Great Lakes of­ even more emphasis was placed upon ficers between Buffalo and Duluth is getting the job done,— — less upon another matter, and can be learned how it was done. There was less of only by doing it. I do not wish to the caste system, as is usually the imply that there are no good pilots case when there is pioneering to be among salt water men. There are lots done. of them, especially in the coastwise Lets look back over the records. and intercoastal trade where less The portaging of the Julia Palmer frequent visits to a given port make around the Soo rapids. (I8*f6) The the task more difficult, but on the building of the Vandalia at Oswego, Great Lakes every officer must be a N.Y. (18^0) just two years after the good pilot, and he must be good all screw propeller was patented. The the time. Soo locks completed in a wilderness I have not touched upon the daring setting, (1855). 1*875 sailing ships and the bravery of the Great Lakes listed as in operation on the Great seaman, and the continual hazards to Lakes (1868), Schooner Pamlico sail­ which he is exposed. Recent books ed from Chicago for Liverpool with have done justice in that quarter, grain, (1872). The first iron, bulk but I will say that those who have freighter Onoko launched at Cleve­ lost their lives upon the ships of land, (1882). Alexander McDougald our inland seas should have a memor­ whaleback ships invented in 1889. ial more fitting than any that has First Great Lakes car ferries on so far been built. Lake Michigan (1892). In 1896 Lakes I have not dwelt upon the disast­ shipping was making use of the larg­ ers that have befallen so many Lakes est lock in the world. Only 11 years ships of the past. The list is too after the invention of incandescent long and the stories too depressing. lights they were being installed on I have preferred to mention the suc­ Lakes ships. In 1903, the standard­ cessful achievements of the men of ization of ship design, to mesh with the Lakes, and their contributions shore equipment appeared in the to the perfection of modern water- James H. Hoyt. Five years later, bourne transportation in particular, (1908) the self unloader appeared, and to the developement of out coun­ (also a Great Lakes pioneering job). try as a whole. Their daring, their In 1911 separate course for up and courage, their ingenuity, and their down bound vessels adopted for Lake industry have in the past matched Huron, to minimize accidents. The every turn of events and played a safety equipment, aboard Lakes ships major part not only in the develope­ is generally superior to that of oc­ ment of this area, but in that of ean ships. Radar is fast becoming the nation as a whole, and in its standard equipment, and special rad­ defense in time of peril. ar charts have been proposed for the As an example of the American way use of Lakes ships. of life the story of Great Lakes 15

Shipping has few equals* With agri­ Interesting to note are the hund­ culture subsidized by free land, reds who came into our office for Land transportation by land grants information, but refused transpor­ to railroads, and free highways to tation at government cost, prefer­ motor transportation, Industry by ring to pay their own way and so re­ tariffs, Ocean shipping by direct tain freedom of choice as to berths subsidy, or indirect subsidy by mail when they reached the coast. How contracts? to say nothing of public­ many by-passed our office, and went ly supported waterways and harbors, on their own can never be known. the story of Great Lakes shipping We got some triflers, and some stands a thing apart, in that it has draft dodgers, of course, but only more nearly supported itself without the staff of the Detroit office of government aid than any activity of the R.M.O. can ever realize the tra­ its magnitude. gedy and the romance that ebbed and Ever since I began to search for flowed through the door of room V06 the identity of the wreck on Cham­ Customs Building between May 19^3 bers Island, up in Green Bay, I have and V.J. Day. There, we saw the been impressed by the independent Great Lakes seaman in his native el­ attitude of shipping upon the Great ement, so to speak; that is he was Lakes and have believed that here we faced with a job to do. Many of have a segment of the American Mer­ these men were retired Lakes men, chant Marine that has never been living on farms, and in pleasant given its rightful share of credit little towns along the peaceful for the part it has played in what shore of the Lakes. Others were act­ we like to think of as the American ive seamen, following their calling way of life* free from the dangers of submaring, When I came to Detroit in 19^3 as divebombers, and surface warfare, Field Representative for the War but they were coming in to see if Shipping Administration's Recruit­ they could lend a hand in the big ment and Manning Organization I was job. It was the Great Lakes Trad­ amazed at how little the public knew ition. They were answering a chal­ about the shipping industry on the lenge. The challenge of their time. Great Lakes, and its relation to the So it was in the past. Men came rest of our national water transpor­ into the area in answer to a chal­ tation, I was frequently stunned by lenge. Some came and went again to the lack of understanding on the other fields. Others came, and left part of some of our Washington men, their bones in unmarked graves with­ relative to the importance of Lakes in the Lakes or near their shores. Shipping to the war effort. After a Still others remained and grew to while I became accustomed to tele­ great stature, and left their shad­ phone inquiries as to whether Lakes ows lying athwart the lands and seas shipping was or was not a part of which stimulated their growth, and the American Merchant Marine* These these shadows we see today in the calls averaged more than one a day names upon the water.— -the names of for two years and four months, and great men of their time still riding believe it or not more than a few the routes between Duluth, Buffalo, came from men connected with Great Chicago, and Cleveland. Men who Lakes Shipping. fought the good fight the American Well, if they were not before the way, and having died, still live on. war they certainly became a part of These floating, smoke belching it before the war was over* Our off­ monuments are good, but they too ice transferred to coast ports for shall pass, or be replaced from time service in merchant vessels some to time. That they may not pass for­ 2880 experienced seamen. They were ever from the scene of their trials indespensable as stiffening to the and their triumphs, the Museum of thousands of trainees from the train Great Lakes History has been estab­ ing station along the coast. lished. 16

C ity o f A lpena U

City of Cleveland H

ON THE LAKES REGION

A most interesting and educational collection of sketches having to do The most thorough study of Greet Lakes side wheel with the eastern end of the upper peninsula. Local characters of the steeners made in the past one hundred years. past, birds, and animals of the great wilds as well as domestic pets, $1.50 come to life in this outstanding work. $3.00

ALSO COMING SOON

Till, booklet contains o ,ost Interesting occoont ol ho. to. logs, during tho boom do,, of lumbering, .ere .orked b, tbolr o«ner. ,1th distinctive broods, .onogr... or designs, to enoblo the. to be seporoted oecording to ooners ot the end of o log drive. Meorl, 200 of those distinctive .erks ore included In this most Interesting study of a long forgotten practice.

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