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U.S. YANTIC

This picture shows the Yantic pretty much as she appeared when she came to the Great Lakes. Only her top-sail yards have been removed. Later her fore, main and mizzen masts, each with its own top-mast, were removed and two pole masts installed instead. Her bowsprit and jib boom were sawdd off, her smoke stack, and ventilators raised, and an ungainly superstructure built to replace a very uncomfortable open navigator's bridge. A spar deck was added, with additional deck houses on top of that, rendering her forever incapable of again setting a single piece of canvas. Beginning on page 3 you may read the life story of this fine old vessel which was known in every port on the Great Lakes fifty or more years ago. R # H. Davison, J.F,. Johnston, (H rlra m p r PUBLISHED BY Editor: Associate Editor G reat L a k es M o d e l S hipbuilders' G uild Membership $3*00 BILL! ISLE DKTHOIT 7, MICHIGAN Subscription $2.^0 Supported in part by the Detroit Historical Society. EDITORIAL LEST WE FORGET Recognition for service to society can only be evaluated in terms of what has We have built a wonderful world. A won­ gone on before. The preservation of what derful push-button world, of ease and com­ has gone on before, we call history, and fort, and wealth beyond the dreams of men history is Society’s memory and the mother of a hundred years ago, or even eighty of Society’s tradition. Without traditions years ago when the first iron-hull bulk no society has prospered. carrier began an era the end of which we While we have been developing a push­ cannot yet see. Out of the economies that button world, what have we been producing stemmed from modern methods of transporta­ in the way of men. Marquette, and Jackson, tion,* and manufacturing technique, b u t hold part of the answer, in Michigan. I principally transportation techniques, ask you: Had those men there, at Marquette since manufactures, without transportation and at Jackson possessed honorable tradi­ are of little value. tions to live up to, would they be where What we, as a community, and as a nation they are today? owe to Great Lakes Shipping men is beyond Our traditions shape our code of ethics, computation. SURE - they have all been and unless we preserve traditions, and paid well for their services. Some of them histories, of the good and the great, we have amassed millions for their contribu­ are in danger of losing goodness and tion to progress. Let us be grateful for greatness. a form of government, and a way of life, Somehow, a very important part o'f our that permits such things. But you know, national history has almost passed un­ as I know, that money alone is poor pay noticed - - the history of the development for a life of service. The greatest remu­ of shipping on the Great Lakes. We have a neration, the most satisfying recompense literature on the winning of the West; on for service is recognition. the California Gold Rush, and that of the There is no man with soul so dead that Klondike. We have a literature on the At­ he is not made a better man for having re­ lantic seaboard colonies, and on the South ceived for his life*s work,the recognition but where is our literature on the Great of his fellow man. Deny him that and he, Lakes Region, and what would our United of necessity, turns to material rewards, States be without this region. Pause a and material rewards only, as a self­ moment and reflect upon this, will you justification. please. See page 16. THE GUI ID ORGANIZED IN 1952 TO LOCATE. ACQUIRE. AND PRESERVE INFORMATION AND OBJECTS RELATED TO THE HISTORY OF SHIPPING ON THE GREAT LAKES AND TO MAKE SAME AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE MUSEUM OF GREAT LAKES HISTORY AND THE COLUMNS OF TELESCOPE. THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHENTIC SCALE MODELS OF GREAT LAKES SHIPS IS ONE OF THE PRIME OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANIZATION. WHICH HAS BROUGHT INTO BEING THE LARGEST EXISTING COLLECTION OF MODELS OF THESE SHIPS. THE MUSEUM OF GREAT LAKES HISTORY. LOCATED ON THE SHORE OF BELLE ISLE. IN DETROIT. IS OFFICIAL HEADQUARTERS FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND THE REPOSITORY OF ALL OF ITS HOLDINGS. THE GUILD IS INCORPORATED AS AN ORGANIZATION FOR NO PROFIT UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN. NO MEMBER RECEIVES ANY COMPENSATION FOR HIS SERVICES. DONATIONS TO THE GUILD ARE DEDUCTIBLE FOR TAX INCOME PURPOSES. ------la . a n w ...aw I fay

OFFICERS

Robert L.Ruhl...... President John K.Helgesen.Sr Vice President Joseph E.Johnston, Secy-Treas.

DIRECTORS

Robert H.Davison...... Ferndale. Walter Massey,...... LaSalle,Ontario. John F.Miller,... Grosse Pointe . Leo M.Flagler, Windsor.Ontario. Carl G.Ammon, Detroit. Frank Slyker,...... East Detroit. The "Yantic" died of old age. sailor made his first obeisance Quietly and painlessly, during to the flag as he stepped over one of the autumn gales, her her side. brave soul fled. Specifically, In her younger days, she was a she sank at her dock, without reigning belle in the Navy. She warning and in five minutes was designed as a yacht for time. Even the august naval President Lincoln and she had board that investigated t h e the lines of a yacht— with a sinking could assign no cause well deck and plenty of sheer. for it. Since boards of inquiry She made her debut as a bark, are not sentimental, this one with towering masts and wide- could not report that she died spreading yards. The day she when her time came just as old slipped down the Delaware River men die. Lieut. Com. Richard T. from her birthplace in Philadel­ Brodhead, commanding the Mich­ phia, with all her kites flying, igan Naval Reserve, holds the old sailors said that she was opinion that one of the large the prettiest thing that had concrete blocks dumped over­ ever been seen in those waters. board, when the city was clear­ That was in 1864. The Navy ing off the land near the Belle needed ships more than President Isle bridge approach, purchased Lincoln needed a yacht when she for park purposes, slid down in­ was ready to be commissioned and to her slip and punctured her her destinies were suddenly side as she weaved and wallowed changed. Instead of serving as in the storm. What difference an occasional refuge for the does it make, since she is gone? tired man in the White House, Even conceding the fact that it she was sent to join the fleet. was a concrete block that punch­ Of course, she wasn’t considered ed the hole through which the a big ship even in those days as river claimed her, the theory she was only 186 feet long with that she died of old age still 32 feet of beam. But she had holds good, since only because pivot guns fore and aft and some her timbers had rotted away from lighter guns on the broadside the inside in her long years of and, as gunboats went, she was a service could this be possible. formidable vessel. For 65 years the "Yantic" had She got her baptism of fire in served the United States Navy the attack on Fort Fisher and faithfully and well. The Seven even the great Admiral David Seas had known her; there was Dixon Porter said that she was a scarcely a port of the world smart ship. She participated in that she had not visited. Born some other minor engagements as in the stirring days of the Civ­ a member of the North Atlantic, il War and built of stout live blockading squadron under Porter African Oak, she had a heritage and though she wasn't built un­ of courage and stamina. She had til the third year of the war, lived through three wars but had she was able to consider herself heard the screech of hostile a real veteran when Lee surrend­ shells in only one of these, for ered. she was sequestered on the Great With the end of the war, she Lakes during the Spanish -Ameri­ settled down to the routine but can War and World War I. But never monotonous duties of a though she did not smell powder naval vessel in time of peace. in these latter wars, she did From time to time she was assign­ her part, for she was used to ed to every station that the train recruits. Many a gallant Navy knows. Now she would be 4

Greely, it will be remembered, tossing in a North Atlantic attained the farthest north point then on record in May, gale; again riding a typhoon in the China Sea. She knew the 1882,when he reached 83 degrees, blistering heat of the equator 24 minutes. His expedition suf­ and the pitiless cold of the fered terrible hardships after arctic circle. Her officers and it had gone closer to the north men were true cosmopolites, for pole than anyone else ever had their lot might be thrown either penetrated, and when rescued in in one of the gay capitals of 1884, the party had lost 18 of Europe or on a coral atoll in 25 men. The "Yantic" did not actually find the survivors, the South Pacific. The "Yantic" always had steam that honor falling to the "Bear" power but in her heyday mostly commanded by William H. Emory, she sailed. In the first place, who later achieved greater fame her funny little athwartships as the commander of the "Yose­ mite" in the Spanish-American horizontal engine, with steam furnished by two tiny boilers, War. didn't give her much speed, and After more than 30 years of in the second place she had bun­ service, the "Yantic" finally ker capacity for but 90 tons of was ordered home from the South coal. They could perhaps manage American station in 1897 with a to stow an extra 20 tons some­ view to being put out of commis­ where about her but even 110 sion. She was still staunch and tons wouldn't carry her very seaworthy but the newer Navy had far. Out on blue water with a need of ships of a different "breeze of wind" however she had type. It so happened that in the a cruising radius of as many summer of that year Theodore miles as the wind would blow Roosevelt, then assistant secre­ her.So her captain was always tary of the navy, made a trip glad when they cleared harbor from Mackinaw to Detroit with and he could shut off the engine the members of t h e Michigan and break out the sails— the Naval Brigade on the U. S. S. courses and the topsails and the "Michigan" (later "Wolverine"), royals and the 'gansails and the the old side-wheeler which was stun*sails and perhaps even the the Navy on the Great Lakes for moonsails when the air was very so many years. light. In those days the Michigan She had a four-foot keel under naval militiamen always made her whole length in the days their annual cruise on this when she was a square-rigger and ship, which was manned by a reg­ she could sail as well as a Yan­ ular Navy crew. There was con­ kee clipper. She could carry siderable crowding when the mil­ canvas until it threatened to itia contingent was taken aboard pull the very sticks out of her and the cruise was not wholly — she could point high and foot satisfactory. So some of the fast. Heeled over to a stiff officers of the "Michigan" sea­ breeze and carrying full sail, faring delegation interested when almost everything else was young Mr. Roosevelt in the idea reefed, she was the kind of a of getting the Navy to assign a ship that a sailor would like to ship to this state. When Mr. have tattoed on his chest. Roosevelt got back to Washington The most exciting service that he made some investigation of the "Yantic" engaged in after the available ships for such a the Civil War was as a member of purpose and he found that the the fleet that went to find "Yantic" was in the Charlestown Adolphus W.Greely in the arctic. (Boston) navy yard all ready to 5

be put out of Commission. He Lewis, Dr. Delos Parker, Strat­ accordingly authorized the loan hearn Hendrie,Divie B. Duffield, of the "Yantic" to the state of John Beaumont, George Baker and Michigan. George Oliver were among the Some of the officers of the other well-known men who com­ Michigan Naval Brigade went to prised the ship's company. In Boston to help in fitting her fact, when the "Yosemite" sailed out for the long voyage to fresh away to fight the Spaniards, she water and in due time she cast carried a goodly percentage of off her hawsers and set sail for men who were destined to become the mouth of the St. Lawrence. famous and to make Detroit fam­ She made that part of the voyage ous. entirely under sail, but once in Since this is the story of the the river furled her canvas and "Yantic" and not of the "Yose­ started her engine. In Montreal mite"— she is gone, too, by the she was put in drydock while her way— we will not go into the de­ 4-foot keel was taken off and 15 tails of the Detroit sailor's feet of her stem removed so that short but distinguished service she would pass through the locks in the Spanish-American war. Let of the canal. it suffice to say that the ’Yose­ The bow was bulkheaded where mite" was very active and suc­ the amputation took place, and cessful and that her crew drew it was a considerable job of prize money as a result of a shipbuilding all the way around, most important capture in which for her African live oak timbers she had to fight several Spanish were so tough that it was almost gunboats. impossible to cut them. The al­ When the Michigan Naval Brig­ terations necessary to get her ade came back home, it once more through the locks took so much established its base on the time that she did not arrive in "Yantic" and from 1899 to 1907 Detroit until late in the fall that sturdy packet made a most just before navigation closed comfortable floating home. In for the season. 1907, a larger ship was request­ Her stem was replaced the next ed and the Navy Department sent spring and she was all shipshape the "Don Juan de Austria". She when, the Spanish-American war was one of the ships sunk by broke out and the Michigan Naval Dewey in Manila Bay,May 1, 1898, Brigade volunteered for duty. and was subsequently rebuilt at This was the famous ’‘million­ Hong Kong and brought t o New aire*' crew that was assigned to York by Captain Ward, an uncle the U.S.S. "Yosemite'* under Com­ of Lieut. Commander Brodhead. mander William H. Emory. The When the "Don Juan de Austria" roster included two men destined arrived, the "Yantic" was assign- later to become secretary of the ed to the Second Battalion of navy. Truman H.Newberry and Ed­ the Naval Brigade, with head­ win Denby. The chief boatswain's quarters at Hancock. Meanwhile, mate was Henry B. Joy, Dr. Burt about 1901, the old ship had R. Shurly was apothecary. The been rebuilt at the Oades ship­ Jewetts, Ned and Harry, J. Walt­ yard at the foot of Dubois er Drake, Dr. Walter Parker, Joe Street. Her wheezy horizontal Stringham, William H. Gage, John engine had been replaced by a S. Newberry, F. T. Brodhead, fore and aft compound vertical William H. H. Hutton, Fred D. power plant and her two small Standish, Muir B. Snow, Harry boilers by one large one. She Russel, Paul Bagley, Cyrus Loth- also hed been made a flush deck rop, Louis Wurzer, J. Farrand ship with two pole masts, which 6

her and for this purpose borrow­ revision didn't improve h e r ed the converted yacht "Hawk" looks but gave additional room. from the Great Lakes station. She remained at Hancock until Both the crippled "Yantic" and the World War, when she was or­ the "Hawk" were greatly under­ dered to Great Lakes,111., where manned but the situation was she rendered excellent service desperate from Lieut. Commander in training the thousands of re­ Brodhead's point of view so he cruits that passed through that decided to shove off and trust station. in the luck of a sailor. The When Lieut. Commander Brodhead "Yantic" had a leaky donkey en­ returned from active service in gine to furnish steam for steer­ the latter part of 1919, he was ing and running her pumps, but delegated t o reorganize the this contrivance was so ineffi­ naval militia i n Michigan, a cient due to the condition of its task that presented among other boiler that it could not do both obstacles, the fact that no man things at once. It was a case of could be put on active duty ex­ steering or pumping and t h e cept afloat. As the D o n Juan de "Yantic" needed both. Austria” had gone to the Atlan­ This strange convoy of the tic during the war and had n o t little "Hawk" towing the help­ been reassigned to Michigan this less "Yantic" ran into a blow state was without a ship and about as soon as it got outside consequently could not comply of the Chicago breakwater. The with the requirements regarding "Yantic" proceeded to leak like duty afloat. In the emergency a colander between wind and the ”Yantic” was offered to the water. Every sea that hit her Detroit tars, if they would take would empty a ton or so of water the responsibility of bringing into her hold through her gaping her back from Chicago. seams. At intervals they would This looked like a simple way have to stop trying to steer her out of the dilemma but it was and pump to keep her from found­ not so simple as it seemed, as ering. The firemen were s o Lieut. Commander Brodhead was anxious to keep a good head of soon to learn. When he arrived steam on the donkey engine that in Chicago in the spring of 1920 they overloaded the firebox and he found that the ”Yantic” had the grate bars gave way entirely been laid up during the previous at one time, so the fire had to winter with her boiler full of be drawn while the grate was re­ water. The water had frozen and paired with bricks. cracked the tubes so badly that The "Yantic*s" luck held with extensive repairs were impera­ her, however, and she rode out tive. Thestate of Michigan was the gale, thanks to the heroic paying the crewthat was assign­ efforts of her crew which nailed ed the the task of bringing back canvas patches over her sides the ship but it was perfectly from small boats as she rolled apparent t o Lieut.Commander in the trough of the gale. In Brodhead that this generosity the Straits of Mackinaw,she ran would notlast as long as the afoul of another blow and this repairs would take. Accordingly time they had to plug up her he decided that the only thing seams with clothing, shoes, bats to do was to get the ship in or anything else that would stop commission so that her men would the Niagara that was coming be on "active duty afloat.” through with every wave.They got Since it was out of the ques­ into St. Ignace somehow a n d tion to raise steam to turn her patched her up well enough to engines, he determined to tow make the rest of the trip. 7

Things went fairly well from gurgle. The water was up level St. Ignace to the ship canal at with the main deck when she St. Clair Flats when the "Hawk" finally came to rest. broke down and, with her tow, There s h e remained until drifted entirely through that ground was filled for the Brod­ congested channel, tieing u p head Naval Armory when her bones about 10 miles of shipping and were covered with many tons of causing much profanity aid earth. They salvaged her ma - whistling on the freighters that chinery and other things that were delayed. They got t h e had value, except for the loot "Hawk" fixed up finally and that the vandals got shortly after some five days of battling after she went down. There is the elements managed to stagger no visible sign of her today. into Detroit. The binnacle for her steering The'Yantic*s" boiler was re­ compass is in the Museum of paired in time for her to do Great Lakes History, and a few some cruising in 1920 and she other items are still in and was ready for a full season of around Detroit in the hands of service in 1921, in which summer private collectors. she made seven cruises, covering Nobody regreted her passing an aggregate of about 11,000 more than Lieut. Com. Brodhead. miles. In 1922 the U.S.S. "Dub­ He was an apprentice seaman when uque,** a gunboat built for South she came out here in 1897 and he American waters, was assigned to rose from that rank to be her Detroit and the "Yantic*sM act­ commander years later. ive service was over forever. Among the interesting relics She was tied up at the foot of taken from the "Yantic" are two Townsend Avenue adjoining the sets of hammock hooks from her Naval Reserve Armory and was captain's cabin. Obviously,one used as a heating plant for that does not ordinarily find hammock building and for the "Dubuque** hooks in such a place as this during the winter months, an and the story of how they got arrangement that was more econ­ there is one of the many inter­ omical than using the "Dubuque's" esting chapters in her history. boilers would have been. Years ago when she was on a For some seven years the old tropical station smallpox broke ship dozed at her dock dreaming out among the crew. It was im­ of the days when all the world possible to get the victims to knew her. Then on the night of a shore hospital so her com­ October 22 she gave up the mander, the late "Fritz" Hyerman, ghost. Three men were sleeping voluntarily gave over his quar­ on her the night she died. Chief ters to be used as a temporary Machinist's Mate Nelson was one sick bay where the patients of these. He awoke to find that might be isolated. The hammock his hand was in cold water and hooks will be presented to his when he got up to see what it son, Fred Hyerman, as a memento was all about, he found that the of a gallant act. water was knee deep on the berth So ends the story of the "Yan­ deck. By the time he had made tic" after 65 years of service his way to the companionway it to her country. She probably had was up to his armpits. He awak­ cruised 2 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 miles in her ened the other men who were time and she had earned her sleeping on the gun deck and all rest. of them were able to make their way to the dock before the "Yan­ tic" settled into the mud with a 8

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U.S.S. YANTIC

This picture shows the Yantic as she appeared after the changes mentioned on the front cover. Further alterations were made later and when she finally settled to the bottom two much smaller masts had been installed in place of the lofty ones shown here, making her only a hulk of the once-proud barque, and able sailer, of nearly a century ago.

BOOK CORNER

MICHIGANIA

"The boats were our carriages— the wind This edition was reprinted in 1954 for our steeds.” the Henry Allen Family and they are to be Such were the thoughts if the young commended for making such a nice item child who many years later was to write available for Michigan history collectors. her memoirs as ELIZABETH WHITNEY WILLIAMS (Ruth Rouse,R.F.D 2,Eaton Rapids) in A CHILD OF THE SEA. Having spent most of her life on Mackinac and Beaver Islands she has added much authentic materials to the history of this region. From the launching ofithe ship"Eliza Caroline", which was built at the Isle of JANUARY MEETING St.Helenaby her father during her childhood to her own experiences in later years as The January meeting of the Guild will be keeper at Little Traverse Light House on held at the Detroit Historical Museum at Harbor Point, we become better acquainted 7 - 3 0 P.M. on Friday the 27th. with many historical characters of this era. She lived on Beaver Island during DUES the rule of King James Strang and his Mor­ mon Colony. At the height of Strangs rule Dues will remain at $ 3 . 0 0 per year, pay­ they were forced to move to the mainland. able January 1st. Prompt payment will Later, after his death, they returned to enable us to shape our budget so we will the Island. She names many of the owners, know early in the year what we can do to captains and crews of various Lake boats. futher our aims. 9

pendent business venture in the East HISTORY OF LEATHFM D. SMITH was manufacture of 90,000 pairs of SHIPBUILDING CO. ice skates. Family records reveal at the out­ By Suzanne Smith break of the Civil War young Smith enlisted with the Federal army and Known throughout marine circles saw action in the battle of Bull Run of the United States as the "Big­ where he was wounded. As a result of gest Little Shipyard on the Great this wound, he received a medical Lakes," the Leathern D. Smith Ship­ building Company's growth and accom­ discharge. Newly released from the service plishments have been often described he sought new adventures in the as outstanding and a remarkable tri­ West, as many men of his time were bute to American organization and doing. He came to Green Bay where he workmanship. secured employment in a machine Its achievements in emergency shop, owned by an uncle, J. L. Whit­ shipbuilding programs have been rec­ ney*. However, young Smith was not ognized offically by the government satisfied with working for someone of the United States. The firm and else. He longed for an independent its nearly 5*000 employees have been fou s ines s• awarded the highest honors of the Lumbering was the chief industry Navy and the Maritime Commission. of that era, and particularly so in They received the Army-Navy "E" on the region of Green Bay, and it was March 10, 19^2, for excellent pro­ only natural that his interests were duction and delivery of PC sub­ in this field. The opportunity pre­ chasers, and on July 10, four months sented itself when by chance he later to the day, they were awarded overheard a mill owner relating his the coveted "M" award by the United troubles to his uncle in 1867. States Maritime Commission for con­ The mill owner was complaining struction and delivery of a fleet of that his machinery was falling apart nine coastal cargo vessels which because of the lack of a capable man were built for Great Britain under with the knowledge to repair it. So the lend-lease act. These awards anxious was the mill owner that he were given to the firm and its empl­ stated if he could find someone with oyees not merely for building ships mechanical ability and a small am­ — -— they were awarded for building ount of money he would consider giv­ ships better and faster than the ing him a half interest in his bus­ average. iness. The Leathern D. Smith Shipbuilding Tom Smith realized he was the man Company did not begin with the Ship­ for the job, despite the fact his building program of World War II---- savings were not very large. He nor with the shipbuilding program of interrupted the conversation and World War I. told the mill owner he was inter­ The story of the firm which has ested in his proposition. Arrange­ contributed greatly to the prestige ments were made to look over the and success of the port of Sturgeon mill, and a few days later he set Bay can be traced back to the days out on the 10-mile hike to New Fran- before the Civil War, when at Nor­ ken. wich, Connecticut, an orphaned lad As he neared New Franken, he was of 1*+ was left with the responsibil­ met by John Leathern, the mill owner, ity of providing for himself and a being pursued by a mob of angry men. younger sister. He was a native of As soon as Leathern recognized Smith, Stowe, Massachusetts, born June 21, he shouted to the men that Smith was lSb2. the man who would pay their long due The youth, Thomas H. Smith, one wages. of the founders of the company, had Although he had not seen the only a common school education, but, mill, the incident led Smith to bel­ possessing unusual mechanical abil­ ieve the company must be very near ities, he successfully supported the bankrupt stage. However, the himself and his sister as a machin­ trap John Leathern had set for him ist's apprentice. His first inde­ 10 convinced Smith that here was a to this city in 1875 because it was clever business partner, so he a location in which the lumber bus­ agreed to pay the men their wages. iness could continue to thrive. Seated on a tree stump, Tom Smith On April 13, 1876, the Door Coun­ wrote checks covering the angry ty Advocate reported that "Scofield workers wages, and although no writ­ & Company's new mill is a hive of ten agreement had been made, it was industry, many busy men reducing in­ on that tree stump in 1867 that the to order the chaos of shafts, pull- firm of Leathern & Smith was estab­ ies, cogs, and timbers. The arch is lished. So began the combination completed and as soon as the stack that was to last 25 years, and dur­ is raised that portion of the mill ing the quarter century was to will be ready for work. A careful branch off into many different inspection of the mill and an ex­ fields. That the partnership was a planation from Mr. Smith of the way success from the very beginning was the different machinery will be arr­ proven by the fact that the mill was anged convinces us that it will be quickly restored to working order one of the most convenient mills in and flourished from the minute the the country for turning out work." firm was established. The necessity of having tugs and But the lumbering business was timber-carrying vessels to supply not a stable industry, and after a the mills and transport the lumber— few years, the timber was exhausted — no railroad came to Sturgeon Bay and the firm was forced to seek a until 189^ led naturally to the new location in which to carry on. firm's investment in marine equip­ Red River near Green Bay, the ment. partners discovered, was a booming Although the Scofieldfamily lumbering district, the princioal later came to Sturgeon Bay, Mr. Sco­ mill being operated by Charles Sco­ field at that time remained at Red field, the father of H. C. Scofield, River. On August 6, 1881, he with­ later owner of the H. C. Scofield drew from the partnership,which then Company hardware store at Sturgeon began advertising as Leathern & Smith. Bay. Through an oversight, the elder Mr. Scofield died October 20, 1891* Scofield had purchased only enough The business prospered, and soon timberland for his immediate needs, had enough capital to invest in and the firm of Leathern & Smith pro­ other enterprises. The partners in ceeded to acquire all available tim­ the next few decades after 1875 were ber land in the surrounding neighbor­ interested in several mercantile, hood. Soon the Scofield land was milling, and marine business. They bare of timber and the mill found it became the owners of lumber boats, advisable to make a deal with Leath­ scows, and tugs built the first ern and Smith. bridge across Sturgeon Bay, operated A three-way partnership was form­ the first telephone line to Death's ed under the name of Scofield A Com­ Door, founded the Hunsader Machine pany and the newfirm continued to Company, and established a quarry flourish at Red River for several business. Various firm names were years. It was at Red River that used from time to time for the dif­ Thomas Smith met Anna Daley, a sch­ ferent activities. ool teacher who was visiting there. In 1886, the Leathern & Smith tug They were married in December 187*+ fleet included the Thomas H. Smith, and became the parents of seven John Leathern, W. C. Tilson, and the children, one of them being Leathern Tornado, the latter having been the Daley Smith, later head of the com­ first acquired. The "personnel" of pany, who was born at Sturgeon Bay the fleet changed from time to time, September 7? 1886. In 1890 it included the Thomas H. Thomas H. Smith came to Sturgeon Smith, George Nelson, John Leathern Bay in 1870 and began the foundation and Leathern D. Smith. of his business career in Door Coun­ Marine news of the period was ty. The firm of Scofield & Company filled with references to these transferred its principal interests and other tugs. On July 26, 1890, 11 for example, the paper carried brief typical items stating: "The tug Lea­ of his life. A new firm name, the thern towed the barge Harry Johnson Leathern & Smith towing and Wrecking to South Chicago on Saturday night. Company, was announced on January 2, The latter was loaded with ice," and 1892, with John Leathern, Thomas H. "The tug L. D. Smith brought in a Smith, and George Nelson listed as raft of logs from the west shore incorporators. Incorporated with Sunday night. They will be converted capital of $100,000, the firm then into shingles." owned two steam barges, four tugs, Leathern & Smith then represented several schooners, barges, and the Hart’s line of steamers and the lighters, and a complete wrecking Goodrich Transportation Company. outfit. That a new era in marine activities The new name was to be used from had begun here was noted by the Adv­ then on, through the first World ocate on September 13, 1890, when it War, for the marine enterprises of reported: the Leathern and Smith families. "Another cargo of coal will be Stationery of the company today brought in from Cleveland for Leath­ gives 1892 as the date of establish­ ern & Smith during the ensuing month. ment. The saw mill period was over Time was, and not so very long ago by that year, but Leathern & Smith either, that not a single ton of had acquired experience and equip­ coal was used by the tugs on this ment and continued to serve the area bay, and now not far from 3,000 tons even though the original reason for are annually sold and consumed by the marine investment had expired. one firm." Thomas Smith continued as the Dealing in coal is one of the active head of the business until company enterprises which has con­ his death in his office on February tinued up to the present, now being 29, 191^, though after his son Leat­ done by the Leathern D. Smith Coal hern graduated from the University of Company with offices near the ship­ Wisconsin in 1909 the son took an yard. increasing share of the responsibil­ Sturgeon Bay's location made it ities. The towing and wrecking com­ a natural center for marine activit­ pany had built scows but never had ies and Leathern & Smith were engaged attempted any self-propelled ves­ in all phases of it except actual sels. At the time Leathern completed shipbuilding, in which others pion­ his engineering course, the firm was eered here. However, they rebuilt planning to build its first tug. and refitted vessels of various In June 1909 the company had only kinds including their own craft, one of its fleet of tugs left, hav­ some of them virtually fromthe keel ing just sold the J.W. Bennett to up. The Advochte ofMarch 1892 the Lake Superior Towing Company. told of one such job: The news account went on to say that "Capt. John Leathern is so busily "There are no tugs regularly stat­ engaged in supervising the repairs ioned at this port and only a couple and alterations on the Pewaukee and of those craft are owned here." so infatuated has he become that he The one tug remaining in the hardly takes time to eat." "Fleet" at that time was the Leathern The telephone line had an obvious D. Smith. value in the business, giving the Eager to show his ability, Leath­ company connections with places from ern asked permission to design and which news of marine disasters, then supervise construction of the new frequent, could be obtained. Located tug. Apparently he seemed a bit too on the site of the shipyard's pres­ certain of his ability in shipbuild­ ent machine shop, the Hunsader com­ ing because his attitude irritated pany did much work on ship parts and his father whose skepticism toward the benefits of a college education engines. Mr. Leathern retired from active was often voiced. participation in the business in the early nineties and went to Calif­ ornia where he spent the last years 12 When he’d ask his father for adv­ to the West Coast. He refused des­ ice, he received such replies as pite the fact that business condit­ "You went to college and should know ions here were exceedingly adverse. all the answers,” and "You’re so The wrecking business was almost ob­ much smarter than your dad who solete, the timber exhausted, and didn’t have a college education, why the stone business was not yet fully ask him?" Thus, with very little developed. direct encouragement Leathern Smith When the United States entered continued to build the John Hunsader the conflict in 1917, the site of named for the head Machinist and the present Smith shipyard had lit­ manager of the Hunsader Machine Com­ tle on it except the already old pany, until the elder Mr. Smith was Hunsader machine shop. Although Mr. forced to admit that a fine job had Smith had constructed the tug John been done. Hunsader here, he never had a real Work on the Hunsader started in shipyard and facilities which he had the summer of 1909 at the foot of were 10 years old. There was a dec­ Liberty street adjoining the Hun­ aying wharf, a retail coal business, sader machine shop. The building and the shop, nothing more. crew was small and equipment limited Yet so great was the need for and progress was intermittent. The ships of all kinds that when Mr. tug was launched in June 1910, only Smith went to Washington in 1918 he the workmen witnessing the event. found it possible to get a contract With a length of 99.7 feet and a for tugs even though he had no ship­ 1,500 horsepower engine recovered yard worthy of the name.An announce­ from the tug Kate Williams wrecked ment published here June 1*+, 1918, at Jackson Harbor, Washington Is­ said: land. "A telegram from Leathern D. Smith The link between this first act­ of the Leathern and Smith Company, ual shipbuilding enterprise of the who has been in Washington, D. C. Smiths and the past was more than for the past week announced that he historical. On August 19, 1909, the had practically closed contracts Advocate reported that "The N. S. with the government for the building Washburn mill this week sawed out of six large tugs. Although Mr. the oak and other logs belonging to Smith wired no particulars, his as­ L. & S. that had been recovered from sistant, Frank Behringer, stated the bottom of the bay where the tim­ that the tugs would be of wood and ber had been boomed many years ago. would probably be of the type used The timber will be used in the con­ to tow barges such as the Universal struction of the hull of the new Shipbuilding Co. intends to build. tug." "The yards of the Leathern and Like many tugs from this area, Smith Co. will have to be greatly the Hunsader ended her career in enlarged in order to build the boats. Lake Superior waters. As soon as Mr. Smith returns from Leathern became more and more act­ Washington preparations will be made ive in the firm and purchased a to enlarge the company’s yards near quarter interest in the company from the John Hunsader machine shop." money he made salvaging the wreck of It was disclosed later that when the steamer Panther in 1911. Until Mr. Smith first met the shipping 191*+ he engaged in breakwater con­ board at Philadelphia they were tracting and small wrecking jobs. without plans for the tugs and did Thomas H. Smith in 1913 bought the not know what they wanted beyond a quarter interest owned by Mrs. John general idea of the size. Mr. Smith Leathern, making him and his son sole knew little about salt water ships, owners of the business. but while at Philadelphia he prepar­ Following the death of the elder ed a set of plans with the assist­ Mr. Smith, other members of the fam­ ance of a naval architect and sub­ ily who were living in California mitted them with an estimate of urged Leathern to forsake the declin­ costs to the board. ing business in Sturgeon Bay and go Sturgeon Bay enjoyed a prosperous period due to the shipbuilding at Smith’s and other yards, but a few LDS hundred employed contrasts so great­ ly with the thousands working here derricks now swing the timbers to now that the following prediction in different parts of the yards, from a 1913 news item is rather amusing: the big piles of timber which are MOur population will be greatly being brought in by rail, and about increased and Sturgeon Bay will 125 men are employed, receiving high surely be 'one big town.'” wages." Before actual construction could On November 29, the news was that begin on the tugs, Mr. Smith had to *+0 skilled carpenters had been plac­ install machinery, hire men, and ed in Sturgeon Bqy shipyards, foll­ owing the partial closing of the was less than a month after receipt of the telegram from Washington that Berger plant at Manitowoc. Mean­ while, of course, the war had ended, it was reported, on July 5, 1918, and the future of all shipbuilding that "Work of laying the three keels of the 100-foot tugs to be built in contracts was in doubt. Preparations the Smith yards was started this for finishing the tugs at Smith's week, and a crew of 70 men are now yard continued. The dock was extend­ employed there, 30 extra men going ed 360 feet to make room for more on the payroll Monday, and the crew keels. Three weeks after the Arm­ will be increased to 150 as soon as istice the first tug was launched. It was the Energy, which went down the men can be secured. MTwo of the tugs will be built on the ways on December 5, 1918. "The first boat to be launched at the solid dock west of the Hunsader the Leathern & Smith shipyard was shops, and will be launched side- slid into her native element Thurs­ wise. The other keel is laid just day forenoon at 11:30 o'clock. There north of the dock and will be an end was no special ceremony for the occ­ launching." asion, she simply being let go as Rush orders were sent for machin­ soon as she was ready." ery including a beveled band saw, When the second tug, the Dilig­ planer, air compressors, a Corliss ent, was launched December 16, the engine, and work was started on a 25 keel for the seventh was laid. The by 75 foot mill on the west end of third launching of the Active, oc­ the blacksmith shop. Cabins taken curred January *f, 1919* from a lightship recently purchased To deal with the ice which thr­ were rebuilt to be used for a draft­ eatened to delay the launchings, an ing room and tool house. exhaust pipe was extended late in In September granting of a supp­ November 1918 from the engine room lementary contract increasing the out to the water. That did not pre­ total number of tugs to be built to vent ice forming, but it weakened an even dozen was disclosed and the and softened it so it could be brok­ Door County Advocate said: en. "The phenomenal growth of the Work continued on the tugs thr­ Smith shipbuilding Company during ough the spring of 1919, though many the past two months has probably other war industries were shutting been equal to any on the Great Lakes down. Numbers of soldiers returning during a like period and has been a from camps and overseas found work factor in making Sturgeon Bay one of in the yard, the total thus hired the recognized cities in the North­ being given as about 60 in later ac­ west. counts. Men who had been soldiers "Where but a few months ago there were retained as long as possible. was only a machine shop, and a small Launching of the first tug had pile of timber where a few men were been without ceremony, but for the employed in rebuilding a tug there fourth, at least, a large crowd now stands one of the most modern gathered, whistles were tooted, and and compact shipbuilding plants to another keel was laid, on April 25, be found. A large sawmill has been 1919. equipped with modern machinery; big By the time the fifth tug was launched, on June 1, the blow had fallen. Headlines reported that the government had issued a sweeping or­ der which forced suspension of work 14 on the last three of the 12 tugs for which a contract had been granted. It was reported November 28, 192b. The keel had been cut out for the The Bear and Burro were then owned 11th tug, but nothing had been done by the Cornell Steamboat Line of on the 12th. Forty laborers were let Kingston, N. Y. out at that tine, and the outlook Although activities at the Smith was dark. The Advocate described it shipyard did not come to an abrupt as ’’what may be the beginning of the stop at the end of World War I, end of the war-time shipbuilding shipbuilding was an overcrowded boom" and said: field and one in which a small com­ "The L. & S. yards have been one pany had difficulty competing in the of the material factors in the pros­ postwar period unless it could find perity of Sturgeon Bay during the an exclusive patent or design. past year. The company has had 200 Some repair jobs were obtainable men on the payroll and hundreds of in the winter months, but ship own­ thousands of dollars have been spent ers preferred to have the work done for labor." on the lower lakes where the vessels The obituary was a little pre­ tied up at the close of navigation. mature, for activities at the yard Leathern & Smith in the early days continued. Much work remained to be had turned to marine investments be­ done on the nine tugs which were to cause their lumbering business made be completed for the government. The it necessary. At the end of World first tug, the Energy, was accepted War I, the Smith company reversed September 8, 1919. the process and kept its shipyard As late as October 17, 1919, it alive by again tying it in with a could be reported that "Extra men local industry which had to ship its are being put on at the Smith ship­ product by water. yard and the company has a force of This time it was the limestone nearly 200 at work now." cliffs rather than the forests which The ninth tug was launched Decem­ provided a basis for the Smith ship­ ber 31, 1919. "It was an end launch­ yards continued existence. A rail­ ing and considerable difficulty had road was available, but stone of the been experienced in getting the type produced here is too cheap and craft started down the ways, it hav­ bulky for rail freight. ing been hung up several days." This Twenty years before, Thomas H. was a great contrast to the usual Smith had opened a quarry and in smoothness with which side launch­ 1905 he built a crushing plant with ing were carried out. the idea of using the waste product Before the close of navigation in from the crib stone, but it operated 1919 the Energy, Active, Diligent, only one year and was closed until and Bison were delivered. The Bull­ 1911. Door county had had a stone ock, Ox, Bear, Burro, and Camel left industry of sorts for many years, in the summer of 1920. They were and a number of Great, Lakes break­ sold by the Emergency Fleet Corpor­ waters are built of material quar­ ation to private owners, and most of ried here and transported by scows them are still working. and barges. The tugs cost from Sl^jOOO to Ordinary lake boats could not $160,000 or about one tenth the cost carry such stone economically and of a PG boat of the type that was Leathern D. Smith knew that if he built in the Smith yard during World were to make anything of the quarry War II. They were not yet out of the he would have to solve the trans­ yard when the company began accept­ portation problem. Necessity as us­ ing repair and rebuilding jobs. The ual was the mother of invention, and boom was over, however,and prospects the Smith self-unloading device 're­ for steady business were not now any sulted. too bright. After futile efforts to finance a "The fleet of nine tugs which 3,000 ton stone carrying vessel of were build by the local company for his own design which would have cost the government are now all owned by about $^-50,000 Mr. Smith considered private companies and are among the remodeling bulk freighters. Many of few war craft that proved satisfact­ them were idle in Great Lakes ports ory for general use, and endurance.” and could be bought for 50 or 60 per 15 cent of their value. The Leathern & Smith Towing and For years the self-unloading dev­ Wrecking Company became the Leathern ice was the principal factor in D. Smith Dock Company in 1920, and keeping the shipyard alive. The a separate firm was established to steamer Andaste was the first, in operate the quarry. Changes in the 1923. As early as 192*+ the seIf-un­ corporate set-up have been made from loader fleet included the Andaste, time to time since. For a period, Bay State, Clifton, and Fontana. Leathern D. Smith, Inc., a holding Whenever possible the inventor and operating company, controlled had the installation done in his own the dock company and steamship own­ yard at Sturgeon Bay, but the demand ing subsidiaries. of the seIf-unloader was inter­ Regardless of this expansion into national, both Canadian and British other fields and investment of out­ yards using the Smith patent. Mr. side canital in the companies, Mr. Smith went to England to supervise Smith1s'primary interest remained in the work on the Valley Camp, a new Sturgeon Bay and the community re­ seIf-unloader built at Newcastle for tained an industry which might a Canadian in 1927. otherwise have moved away. Several of the unloaders were Self-unloading vessels had been kept busy hauling stone produced at built on the Great Lakes in small the quarry near Sturgeon Bay. The numbers since 1908, each being des­ quarry was sold in 1927 and Mr. igned for that equipment when built, Smith's time was again devoted chief­ but no one considered it feasible to ly to the shipyard, which has always convert existing bulk freighters to been first in his thoughts. One of self-unloaders. The cost was gener­ the most unusual banquets ever held ally regarded as likely to excell was served in the Smith shipyard in that of building an entirely new April 1936 aboard the 375-foot John ship, and the installation of the McCartney Kennedy which had just hopper type holds required for the been equipped with an unloading de­ old conveyor tj^pe unloader would re­ vice. duce cargo capacity and raise the Nearly 600 persons were guests of center of gravity, if the system the Leathern D. Smith Dock Company at were put in on top of the bottom the banquet, which was held in the frame of an old vessel. tunnels of the self-unloading sys­ The basic idea of the unloader tem! Sturgeon Bay high school home which Mr. Smith patented is the em­ economics girls served it at nine ployment of a mechanically operated tables which were arranged end to scraper in a tunnel or tunnels run­ end for nearly 250 feet. Several ning the length of the vessel's other tables were set up in the ad­ hold. Material falls into the tun­ joining tunnel, and most of the nel through doorways on both sides places were occupied a second time. and the scraper drags it along the A dance followed the meal. smooth steel tunnel floor to a hop­ While concentrating on seIf- per which feeds a belt conveyor that unloader jobs in the twenties, the in turn delivers the cargo to a boom yard received a number of other con­ conveyor which may be swung to port tracts for repair work and the build­ or starboard to unload the ship. ing of steel derrick scows. Mr. Compared with the other method of Smith made changes from time to time converting old boats, Mr. Smith's in details of the seIf-unloader and device increases the capacity 10 to in 1926 received patents for a mod­ 20 per cent and lowers the center of ification for unloading of sand. He gravity, sometimes as much as two or had observed that sand carrying three feet. From the standpoint of boats had water in their holds with seaworthiness the scraper plan has the sand. His device provided a the advantage of not interfering means of de-watering it and increas­ with the fitting of watertight doors ing the pay load. in the tunnels at the bulkheads of About 570 tons of steel were re­ these are required where the ship is quired to equip a 359-foot freighter unloading. with one of the unloaders and the materials then cost about $1*10,000. 16 During the three years preceding 1929 the payroll averaged a quarter Contracts continued to come to of a million dollars from the first the Smith shipyard for some time of January until the first of May, after the 1929 stock market crash, during which time about 250 men were but in a year or two the company be­ employed (A few years later it* was gan to feel the pinch. Occasional nearly that many every week!) self-loader installations were order­ "One hundred more men were given ed, but business on the Great Lakes employment at the Leathern D. Smith was decreasing and there were more Dock Company's shipyard this morn­ than enough ships available for the ing, completing the crew of 300 men hauling jobs. which will be employed there during One of the few launchings at the the next four months. This is the yard between World Wars was that of largest crew of men that has been the 77-foot motor ship Gilbert built employed in the yard since work was for Alaskan service in the U. S. completed on the late war contracts," Geodetic Survey. It went into the the Door County Advocate reported water August 20, 1930. Another was December 16, 1927. that of the 86-foot lighthouse ten­ "When the riveters start work the der Cherry in 1931. ring of their hammers, heard thr­ In 193m- after the last seIf-un­ oughout the city, will be pleasant loader had been equipped the bus­ music," the newspaper said. Now the iness came to a stop. During a 15 chippers make the noise and actual year period in which American ship­ music can be heard from the shipyard building was at a virtual stand­ ---as the public address system still, Mr. Smith had kept the Stur­ broadcasts during lunch periods! geon Bay yard going more regularly Some of the vessels converted to than many such companies in the Un­ self-unloaders were over *+00 feet ited States. Now he faced an uncer­ long. By the spring of 1929 1*+ of tain future but managed to keep the the Smith self-unloaders had been property, little dreaming that the installed, all but three of them at yard was yet to see its busiest Sturgeon Bay. One of them had been years and employ two thousand men installed in England, one at Mon­ for every hundred who worked here in treal, and one at Lorain, Ohio. the first World War and postwar The fourteenth went into a vessel years. which was designed specifically for service on the Chicago drainage can­ EDITORIAL.(Cont'd.from Page 2) al so that it could go under the bridges. It was the Material Ser­ No Chicago, no Detroit, no Buffalo, no vice, launched March 6, 1929, with Cleveland, no Toledo, and no Mesabi Range. Mrs. Leathern D. Smith as sponsor. The lumber of this region went to house Powered by two 350 horsepower Diesel the world, and built its bridges, and engines operating twin screws, the railroads, and the millions of farm homes new-type boat was 2*f0 feet long, had in the areas where no trees grew. Sure, a beam of ho feet. Its capacity was we would have gotten along somehow, but 1,800 to 2,500 tons and it cost ap­ how long would it have taken us to reach proximately $395,000. our present stage of development,material­ Although it was a remarkable ship ly, without this region, and the men w h o it had the unromantic assignment of turned its raw materials into comforts? hauling gravel between Joliet and America's present dominant position, even Chicago on a 21f-hour schedule. Much its existence, is due to the Great Lakes interest was exhibited in it by Chi­ region, and the shipping industry that has cagoans to whom it brought some re­ grown up here. I ask you: Is this story lief from the delays due to opening worth saving? Do we not need a shrine of the many bridges for the passage wherein we may honor the men who have made of boats. Another advantage was the this industry what it is, both those of fact it was so low that the boom the past, and those of the future, not to conveyor of another seIf-unloader mention those of our own time? could be swung over it and two boats unloaded simultaneously at the same dock.