Boats Built at Toledo, Ohio Including Monroe, Michigan
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Boats Built at Toledo, Ohio Including Monroe, Michigan A Comprehensive Listing of the Vessels Built from Schooners to Steamers from 1810 to the Present Written and Compiled by: Matthew J. Weisman and Paula Shorf National Museum of the Great Lakes 1701 Front Street, Toledo, Ohio 43605 Welcome, The Great Lakes are not only the most important natural resource in the world, they represent thousands of years of history. The lakes have dramatically impacted the social, economic and political history of the North American continent. The National Museum of the Great Lakes tells the incredible story of our Great Lakes through over 300 genuine artifacts, a number of powerful audiovisual displays and 40 hands-on interactive exhibits including the Col. James M. Schoonmaker Museum Ship. The tales told here span hundreds of years, from the fur traders in the 1600s to the Underground Railroad operators in the 1800s, the rum runners in the 1900s, to the sailors on the thousand-footers sailing today. The theme of the Great Lakes as a Powerful Force runs through all of these stories and will create a lifelong interest in all who visit from 5 – 95 years old. Toledo and the surrounding area are full of early American History and great places to visit. The Battle of Fallen Timbers, the War of 1812, Fort Meigs and the early shipbuilding cities of Perrysburg and Maumee promise to please those who have an interest in local history. A visit to the world-class Toledo Art Museum, the fine dining along the river, with brew pubs and the world famous Tony Packo’s restaurant, will make for a great visit. Copyright © 2016 Matthew Weisman / Paula Shorf All Rights Reserved 48 Hour Press, Akron, Ohio Boats Built at Toledo, Ohio Including Monroe, Michigan A Comprehensive Listing of The Vessels Built from Schooners to Steamers, 1810 to the Present Toledo, Ohio, circa 1910. White Star steamer Owana leaving for Detroit. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction - 1 Sailors Alphabet - 137 Ship Builders - 3 Poems - 138 Part I Boats 1810-1855 - 13 Ship Times, Watches & Compass Points - 139 Part II Boats 1856-1880 - 45 Nautical Terms - 140 Part III Boats 1881-1910 - 73 Knots and Hitches - 142 Part IV Boats 1911-1986 - 105 Index - 143 Part V Boats Monroe, MI - 133 Bibliography - 147 Written and Compiled by: Matthew J. Weisman and Paula Shorf About this Ship Building List and Some Background This is now our fourth book covering boats built on Lake Erie from Cleveland to the western end of the Lake. This listing includes many of the areas around Toledo including Monroe, Michigan. You’ll find old newspaper extracts of many of the vessels, mainly from newspapers of the day. There may be inconsistencies, as much of the early vessel data was shy on details and contained mistakes that needed to be double-checked with other supporting information and common sense. In the early vessels, you’ll see Perrysburg, Maumee and other build locations. The great Maumee River, the largest to drain into Lake Erie, is steeped in early history of the country. The city of Toledo grew up to anchor the west end of the Lake and became a prominent city. It is now home to the National Museum of the Great Lakes that is a must visit for all who live on the Great Lakes. Up until the 1890’s, the boats built at these locations were wooden vessels of all types. The locations were the navigable rivers and bays where small towns and villages were formed. It was the first industry that was established in many of these areas, requiring many people to make these vessels, from lumbermen to carpenters. Some of the earliest vessels of the Great Lakes were built at Maumee when the Great Lakes had not yet been fully explored. All of these places boasted of many sailors and Captains that manned these vessels. Warehousing and shipping was also a very large part of the 1800’s economy. Many of these area ship builders were pioneers in vessel construction and innovation. You will find inside interesting biographies of some of the prominent area builders. Many of these boats set firsts on the Great Lakes and have featured prominently in the history of the Great Lakes. As you scan the list, you will also find plenty of tragedies from storms, collisions and other accidents that made sailing on the Great Lakes a most dangerous and deadly profession. Toledo also boasts of many extraordinary ship Captains through all the years. In the first part of the twentieth century, from sail to steam, these Captains were at the forefront in early and important Great Lakes shipping matters and skill. With the Ohio and Miami Canal, Toledo became a very large shipping port on the Great Lakes to this very day. From the 1880’s on, ship building would change dramatically at Toledo and other Lake Erie ports, as lumber to build the vessels began to run out and wooden ship building moved to the Upper Lakes. Iron and steel vessels became the material of choice and drastically changed the ship building scene in the 1890’s. They required very large investments and facilities, forcing the small wooden boat builders eventually out of business. Toledo became the home of Craig Ship Building, which would become Toledo Ship Building and then American Ship Building. Toledo was also home to many pleasure boat builders over the years. We did not list these boats, but have named some of the builders in our ship builder listing. Within this large listing, there may be errors and other information that may be incorrect or incomplete. The authors are always open to new material, data and corrections that one may find in pursuing these vessels further. I would like to thank Paula Shorf, my co-author on our previous books, Lorain - The Real Photo Postcards of Willis Leiter, (Arcadia Press, 2013), The Great Lakes Vessels of Augustus Jones and His Shipbuilding Sons, (Morris Press, 2015), Boats Built on the Black River, Lorain, Ohio, (Morris Press, 2015), Boats Built at Vermilion, Milan, Huron, Sandusky and Port Clinton, Ohio, (48 Hour Press, 2016), and Boats Built at Cleveland, Ohio, (48 Hour Press, 2016), for co-authoring and helping in putting this listing together, reviewing and writing many of the articles within. Also, to Gerald Metzler and his extensive 1800’s Great Lakes Data Base in helping to confirm the information on many of these vessels and to Walter Lewis, Maritime History of the Great Lakes; University of Michigan, Great Lakes Data Base, and Bowling Green University, Historical Collections of the Great Lakes. In the Bibliography, you will find many of our sources. Many of them are online where you can learn much more about many of these boats with a little searching. Pictures of many of the boats are also available. Enjoy. Matthew Weisman and Paula Shorf 1 2 SHIP BUILDER BIOGRAPHIES BY PAULA SHORF AUGUSTUS JONES (1782-1841) Augustus Jones was born on August 28, 1782 in Old Saybrook, Middlesex County, Connecticut. He was a master shipbuilder, building vessels at the mouth of the Connecticut River in Essex (Potipaug). After the yard was burned by the British in 1814, he relocated - ultimately arriving in Black River, Ohio in 1822. In the same year, Jones was contacted by Judge Meeker of Vermilion, to build a vessel for him. The schooner Eclipse was launched that summer. Augustus was her master during her first year on the lakes. He also built the Lady of the Lakes in Vermilion in 1824. Augustus Jones established the earliest yard at Sandusky, Ohio, where between the years 1824-1836, he built the Mariner, Commerce, Constitution, Lapwing, Young Tiger, Marie Antoinette, Ohio, Sandusky and Cincinnati. The Sandusky yard was later sold to Daniel Dibble. After leaving Sandusky, the Jones vessels were built at his yard in Black River. Great-great-great grandson James H. Jones at the grave Captain Jones is also credited with building two vessels stone of Augustus in Cleveland Street Cemetery in the Toledo area. According to Marine historian, Richard Wright, Augustus Jones built the steamer FAIRBANKS CHURCH Commodore Perry in 1834 in Perrysburg, Ohio. This (1791-1843) was the first documented instance of a vessel being built in that city. Jones built the steamer for the Fairbanks Church was born about 1791. His place of Perrysburg Steam Boat Company. birth is unknown. The steamer Chesapeake was built at Maumee, Ohio by Church was a master carpenter for James Day in Black Jones who, according to Wright, was likely assisted by River, Ohio. The yard was located on the west bank of Daniel R. Stebbins. The following is an account of the the Black River. In 1819, he and James Day built the building of the Chesapeake: General Huntington with assistance from Augustus Jones. The schooners Ann (1819) and Young Amaranth The Chesapeake – This is the name of the new (1825) were also built there by Church and Day. He steamship on the stocks at Maumee, finishing under the later relocated to Huron, Ohio where he established a superintendence of that veteran Lake Admiral Capt. shipyard. Jones of Black River. Length 166 feet, breadth of beam 25 feet. The Chesapeake is to be a clipper, and will be The schooner Marengo (1831) appears to be the first propeller by a powerful, low pressure engine vessel built by Church in Huron. The steamer George manufactured in Montreal. Capt. D. Howe, well known Washington was built there in 1833 by Church and on western waters as an accomplished seaman will Captain Augustus Walker. She ran for the Huron Steam command.