TELESCOPE September 1961 Vol. 10 N o . 9 published by the Great Lakes Maritime Institute 162 Telescope In Umonam Insvpll IE* Intynntnn JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON 1892 1961 Last month, on the day that TELESCOPE went into the mails, the Institute, and this column, lost a dear friend. He was the first member of the Institute, for he founded the old Great Lakes Model Shipbuilder's Guild. He started TELESCOPE as a mimeographed monthly "newsletter", back in 1952. There is no point in trying to tally his contributions, for it can only lead back to the beginning, and he was the beginning. Because Captain Johnston was a dear friend to this column, it would be impossible to untangle sentiment from our think­ ing, and we won't even try. We loved him, and we respected him in much the same way we would a father. We looked upon him with reverence and awe. To most people he was “Cap", but we were among the very few to whom he was Joe. We can call to mind many impressions of this man; spinner of yarns, a teacher, an artist, and of course, a sailor. But most of all he was a gentleman and a gentle man. The accompanying picture says a great deal of what we think when we think of Joe. “Winky, the ship's cat", was a personality in his own right and well known to the old readers of TELESCOPE. That personality was but one facet, in reflection, of the "old man" himself. There are many more of these facets which reflect Joe for what he was, and for what his having been here has meant to us. He was a tireless worker who set a pace hard to emulate or find in this day of the coffee break and the forty hour week for his work was his love, and his love was his work. In the old days on the "WING" the crew would come aboard almost any morning to find Joe in the middle of a job he had begun when they were wakening to the first break of dawn. Retirement meant little to him, if his retirement is to be measured in the lessening of productivity. He formally "Ret­ ired" in April of 1959, and took up life in Niles, Michigan. Here, forgetting that he was supposed to relax, and with the indomitable drive that has always marked him, he built a new shop, a studio, and an out-building. They show the craftsman that he was. Built like a ship, there isn't a doubt that the buildings would float. He enjoyed these last years of his life as much, and very likely a little more, than all the rest of his time. He had new interests in the area he had adopted as his home, and he had, sharing those interests, a devoted and loving wife. The time allowed them together was short, but they shared a kind love that, like so many things about him, will go on for a long, long, time. Yes, Joe, it was a better life because you were with us. And now, Bon Voyage. 164 This Month’s Issue 80MENT8 In Memoriam - Jos. E. Johnston...162 Telescope Curators’ toner PUBLISHED BY by Robert fi. Lee.......... 163 Great Lakes Maritime Institute D o s s in G r e a t Lakes Museum TLe Old "Irorjsides" of tl?e Belle Isle, Detroit 7, Mich. Great Lakes George 0 . Young by A. Michael Woolson... 165-168 Editor TLe Picture Page Otto Strek by Eniory A. Massman,. J r.... 169 Assistant Editor Blue Print-Wi Ilian] A. Irvin William A. Hoey ....170-171 Advisory Editor TI]e Big Splash William M. Worden by Rev. E.J. Dowling, S.J.... 172 Gordon P. Bugbee Fleet List Associate Editors by Rev. E.J. Dowling, S.J..173-175 Rev. Edward J. Dowling, S. J. Vessel List Editor Great Lakes News by Robt. Radunz........ 176-179 TELESCOPE The TELESCOPE magazine is the o f f i c i a l publication of the Great lakes M a r it im e COVER Institute. It was first published i n 1952 as a sheet of announcements a n d meeting notices. Today it is a full- An exceptionally fine view of the size monthly magazine, valued by mem­ bers and non-members alike as a source WILLIAM A. IRVIN, taken by member of Great Lakes data. The TELESCOPE includes articles of interest to a lm o s t Peter B. Worden. Full data and a everyone, including such subjects a s h is to ry , salvage, cu rren t news, and model print of the IRVIN appear in this shipbuilding. There are three monthly features, current news section, vessel month’s center spread. l i s t of a Great Lakes f le e t, and a b lu e­ print of a Great Lakes ship. Subscript io n to TELESCOPE is Included in the member­ sh ip fee. The editors will consider articles of Great Lakes or general marine Interest f o r p u b l i c a t i o n in TELESCOPE. Such material need not be expertly written, but must be of a nature suited to the purposes of the publication. Address any such material to: The E d ito rs, TELESCOPE Great Lakes Maritime Institute Dossin Great Lakes Museum Belle Isle. Detroit 7, Mich. Regular Membership.... $4 annually LO. 7-7441 Address a ll other correspondence to the Contributing Membership..$5 annually Coordinating Director. The e d ito rs w ill assume no re s p o n sib ility Sustaining Membership...$10 annually for statements made by the authors. Supported in part Life Membership....... $100 by the Detroit Historical Society Membership by the Calendar Year Single Copies 35<t Telescope 165 A. Michaelby Woolson of the Great Lakes During the early months of 181*3, the few people living along the raw roads that pushed north through the forests from Pittsburgh were amazed by the sight of oxen teams hauling heavy, curved iron plates, and beams up toward Erie, At the foot of French Street in Erie, the townspeople watched as the beams were set up into a heavy skeleton, and the long curved plates were fitted over them lap- strake fashion. As the weeks went by, the form of a ship’s hull rose on the ways, the sleekness in her lines bespeaking a purpose other than cargo carrying. This was to be the first iron ship in the U.S. Navy, the paddlewheel gunboat U.S.S. MICHIGAN. It seems like the Great Lakes would be a rather remote station for the Navy to build a revolutionary ship like this,but in reality the MICHIGAN was a product of the basic views of that time both about naval construction and international affairs. It was only thirty winters before,in 1813, that Commodore Perry and Noah Brown had built their wooden fleet on Presque Isle, within sight of the French Street ways. In the intervening years, the fresh winds of the advent of steam, the screw propeller, the beginnings of shells and rifled ordnance, and iron construction and armor, had begun to sweep away the fog of Naval Doctrine that had changed little In essence over hundreds of years. The U.S.S. MICHIGAN after she had become the WOLVERINE. She is well remembered by a t great many old timers of the Detroit River area, where this shot was taken. Pesha Photo To be sure, these ideas were all new and generally untested, and viewed with scepticism by all but a few. The use of iron in con­ struction of ships had been attacked for many reasons, from the simple doubt In many minds that it would float at all,being heavier than water, to the more practical difficulties with magnetic com­ passes in an iron hull and the difficulty in keeping the bottom clean, since copper plating could not be applied over iron due to the electrolytic effect in salt water. A particularly important reason for feeling iron was unsuitable for warships was the series of tests conducted by the British Admiralty In l8lj.O. At this time, a small Iron ship was set up as a target on land and the effects of the naval gunnery then in use was studied. The effects even of 166 Telescope conventional round shot were so extensive that iron was felt to be inferior to wood since it splintered on impact and more important, did not tend to close a hole made in it as the more elastic wood did. For several years, until armor was more effectively used and tested, it was felt in informed naval circles that iron, although indestructable under normal usage, was only appropriate in a naval vessel such as a cutter or gunboat whose primary mission did not require absorbing punishment. United States Secretary of State Upshor, who was to die in an explosion during a gunnery demonstration aboard the U.S.S. PRINCE­ TON a year later, was sensitive to these views and naval thought in general. In addition, he was particularly concerned by the con­ struction of three new warships by the British on the Canadian shores of the Great Lakes, jeopardizing the agreements of 1817 con­ cerning limitations of arms on the Great Lakes. The construction of a warship on the Great Lakes was also favor­ ably received by the Secretary of State as an opportunity to spend money on the steel industry west of the Alleghenies. Accordingly, in May 1842, the contract was given to Stackhouse and Tomlinson of Pittsburgh for the engines and the hull, which was designed by Samuel Hartt.