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DANIEL J. LCNIHAN, Editor
UBMERGTED CULTURAL RESOURCES/UNIT

Iational park service

ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK

SUBMERGED CULTURAL RESOURCES STUDY
ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK

Daniel J. Lenihan, Editor

Principal Investigator

Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

Toni Carrell
Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

Thorn Holden
Canal Park Museum

C. Patrick Labadie
Canal Park Museum

Larry Murphy
Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

Ken Vrana
Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

Illustrations by Jerry Livingston

Southwest Cultural Resources Center Professional Papers

Number 8

Santa Fe, New Mexico
1987

SUBMERGED CULTURAL RESOURCES UNIT
REPORT AND PUBLICATION SERIES

The Submerged Cultural Resources Unit was established in 1980 to conduct
research on submerged cultural resources throughout the National Park System with
an emphasis on historic shipwrecks. One of the unit's primary responsibilities is to
disseminate the results of research to National Park Service managers, as well as
the professional community, in a form that meets resource management needs and
adds to our understanding of the resource base. A report series has been initiated
in order to fulfill this responsibility. The following are the categories of reports that
comprise this series.

Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment

First line document that consists of a brief literature search, an overview of the
maritime history and the known or potential underwater sites in the area,, and
preliminary recommendations for long-term management. It is designed to have
application to General Management Plans and Development Concept Plans and to
become a source document for a park's Submerged Cultural Resources Management
Plan.

Submerged Cultural Resources Survey

Comprehensive examination of blocks of park lands for the purpose of locating and
identifying as much of the submerged cultural resources base as possible. A
comprehensive literature search would most likely be a part of the Phase I report
but, in some cases, may be postponed until Phase II.

Phase I - Reconnaissance of target areas with remote sensing and visual survey
techniques to establish location of any archeological sites or anomalous features
that may suggest the presence of archeological sites.

Phase II - Evaluation of archeological sites or anomalous features derived from
remote sensing instruments to confirm their nature, and if possible, their
significance. This may involve exploratory removal of overburden.

Submerged Cultural Resources Study

A document that discusses, in detail, all known underwater archeological sites in a
given area. This may involve test excavations. The intended audience is managerial
and professional, not the general public.

Submerged Cultural Resources Site Report

Comprehensive documentation of one archeological site which may involve a partial
or complete site excavation. The intended audience is primarily professional and
incidentally managerial. Although the document may be useful to a park's

interpretive specialists because of its information content, it would probably not be
suitable for general distribution to park visitors.

Submerged Cultural Resources Special Report Series

These may be in published or photocopy format. Included are special
commentaries, papers on methodological or technical issues pertinent to underwater
archeology, or any miscellaneous report that does not appropriately fit into one of
the other categories.

Daniel J. Lenihan

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES ix

LIST OF TABLES xii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xix

I. INTRODUCTION 1
Daniel Lenihan

Underwater Archeology and the Age of Steam 2

Research Design 3

General Problem Statement 5

Specific Field Objectives 7

Methodology 10

This Report 16

II. LAKE SUPERIOR MARITIME TRADITION: SOCIOECONOMIC CONTEXT 19
Larry Murphy, Daniel Lenihan

Introduction 19

Socioeconomic Processes Affecting Lakes Navigation 21

Growth of Great Lakes Navigation 26

Growth of Lake Superior Navigation 29

Growth of Shipping and Navigation Improvements 38

III. MAJOR VESSEL TYPES ON LAKE SUPERIOR: SAIL TO STEAM 43
C. Patrick Labadie, Larry Murphy

Schooner Development 46

Development of Structural Support Systems 49

Developments in Form and Technology 49

Steam Vessels 50

IV. SHIPWRECKS OF ISLE ROYALE: THE HISTORICAL RECORD 63
Larry Murphy, Thorn Holden

Introduction 63

CUMBERLAND 65

CHISHOLM 72

ALGOMA 80

MONARCH 104

GLENLYON 119

AMERICA 127

COX 153

CONGDON 169

EMPEROR 175

KAMLOOPS 187

DUNELM 210

vii

V. SHIPWRECKS OF ISLE ROYALE: THE ARCHEOLOGICAL RECORD 215
Larry Murphy, Daniel Lenihan, C. Patrick Labadie

Introduction 215

CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM 220

ALGOMA 254

MONARCH 259

GLENLYON 276

AMERICA 285

COX 295

CONGDON 306

EMPEROR/DUNELM 312

KAMLOOPS 326

VI. UNDERWATER COMPONENTS OF LAND-BASED SITES AND OTHER
SUBMERGED CULTURAL RESOURCES 335
Toni Carrell with contributions from Ken Vrana, Larry Nordby

Introduction 335

Historical Overview 336

Site Specific Investigations 355

Cemetery Island Site 357

American Fur Company Fishery at Checker Point 365

Wright Island Fishery 372

Star Island Fishery 382

Minong Mine Town Site and Docks 398

Island Mine Town Site, Powder House and Wharf 409

Ghyllbank Mining/Lumbering Wharf 418

Tobin Harbor Resort 423

Belle Isle Resort 430

Passage Island Lighthouse 438

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Siskiwit at Senter Point 446

Other Known or Suspected Sites 453

Siskowit Mine 453

Additional Research Locations 456

Vernacular Watercraft 457

VII. MANAGING SHIPWRECKS IN A NATIONAL PARK:

THE ISLE ROYALE EXPERIENCE 475

Ken Vrana with contributions from Jay Wells

Introduction 475

Administrative History 476

Present Day Management 493

VIM. CONCLUSION 525
Daniel Lenihan

Introduction 525

Retrospective 525

Management Recommendations 527

Future Research 530

BIBLIOGRAPHY 537

VIII

LIST OF FIGURES

1.1. Isle Royale 4

1.2. Isle Royale shipwrecks 4

1.3. Generation of line drawings 11

1.4. Jerry Livingston shows results 11

1.5. Video documentation 12

1.6. Diver propulsion unit 12

1.7. Remote operated vehicles 13

1.8. ROV Sea-Rover 13

1.9. RV SEWARD JOHNSON 14

1.10. CORD ROV aboard SEWARD JOHNSON 14

2.1. Freight through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal 41

2.2. U.S. Documented Merchant Vessels Sail/Steam 41

4.1. Side-wheel steamer CUMBERLAND 71

4.2. Side-wheel steamer WESTERN WORLD 71

4.3. Artist's rendition of. HENRY CHISHOLM 79

4.4. Construction yard photograph 79

4.5. Canadian Pacific Railway passenger vessel ALGOMA 103

4.6. ALGOMA at the dock 103

4.7. Passenger/package freight vessel MONARCH 117

4.8. MONARCH after alterations 117

4.9. Bow of MONARCH on the rocks at Isle Royale 118

4.10. Bow of MONARCH, offshore view 118

4.11. Later view of package freighter GLENLYON 126

4.12. Stern of GLENLYON 126

4.13. Passenger/package freighter AMERICA 151

4.14. AMERICA after the 1911 alterations 151

4.15. Birth of AMERICA 152

4.16. Demise of AMERICA 152

4.17. GEORGE M. COX after the 1933 refit 166

4.18. GEORGE M. COX as PURITAN in March 1920 167

4.19. PURITAN with temporary bulkhead in place 167

4.20. GEORGE M. COX hard aground at Rock of Ages 168

4.21. Stern view of COX aground at Rock of Ages 168

4.22. Bulk freighter CHESTER A. CONGDON 173

4.23. CHESTER A. CONGDON aground at Canoe Rocks 173

4.24. CHESTER A. CONGDON aground— view from the bow 174

4.25. CHESTER A. CONGDON —View from the deck 174

4.26. Bulk freighter EMPEROR 186

4.27. Port side view of EMPEROR 186

4.28. KAMLOOPS as it appeared at the time of loss 209

4.29. Package freighter DUNELM aground at Canoe Rocks 213

4.30. DUNELM under tow after release from stranding 213

5.1. CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site map 237

5.2. Environmental cross section CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM 238

5.3. Environmental cross section CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM 239

5.4. CUMBERLAND general arrangement plans 240

5.5. CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM midship cross sections 241

5.6. Structural elements, stern of CUMBERLAND 242

5.7. Segment of CUMBERLAND paddle wheel 242

5.8. Firebox boiler of CUMBERLAND 243

5.9. Hull structure of CUMBERLAND 243

5.10. Top of A-frame of CUMBERLAND 244

5.11. Port bow of CUMBERLAND 245
5.12-13. Two views of CHISHOLM side 246

5.14. Steam water pump on CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM 247

5.15. Rudder of HENRY CHISHOLM 247

5.16. Firebox boiler 248

5.17. Single-ended "Scotch" boiler 248

5.18. CHISHOLM engine at depth of 140' 249

5.19. Propeller of HENRY CHISHOLM 250

5.20. MASSACHUSETTS plans of 1881 251

5.21. MASSACHUSETTS rudder arrangement 252

5.22. CHISHOLM hull bottom 253

5.23. Draft markings on stern of CHISHOLM 253

5.24. Sample area of ALGOMA site 258

5.25. MONARCH site map 267

5.26. MONARCH general arrangement plans 268

5.27. Palisades Cliff and side-scan sonar of MONARCH 269
5.28-29. Two views of MONARCH engine mount 270

5.30. Jerry Livingston on thrust-bearing mount 271

5.31. Forward end of starboard stern section of MONARCH 271

5.32. Scattered wreckage of MONARCH 272

5.33. Artifact scatter off the port side of MONARCH 272

5.34. Overboard discharge pipe for condenser 273

5.35. Manually operated water pump 273

5.36. Metal sheeting from boiler room of MONARCH 274

5.37. Rudder skeg of MONARCH 274

5.38. Bottles in cargo concentration area of MONARCH 275

5.39. Hull structure and fixtures of MONARCH, 130' deep 275

5.40. GLENLYON site map 281

5.41. Anchor pocket of GLENLYON 282

5.42. Triple-expansion engine of GLENLYON 283

5.43. Detail photo of the thrust bearing of GLENLYON 283
5.44-45. Views of GLENLYON steam engine and main shaft 284

5.46. AMERICA in the North Gap of Washington Harbor 291

5.47. AMERICA site map 292

5.48. The fine-lined bow of AMERICA 293

5.49. View up the main stair case 294

5.50. View of the purser's cabin 294

5.51. GEORGE M. COX site map 301

5.52. Forepeak and chain locker of GEORGE M. COX 302

5.53. Examining the main shaft 302

5.54. Dropping through the starboard stern gangway 303

5.55. Steam drums atop Scotch boilers of COX 303

5.56. Interior of COX aft of engine spaces 304

5.57. COX boilers with nylon base line 304

5.58. Field drawing of stern of GEORGE M. COX 305

5.59. Ship knee located in a deep water ravine 305

5.60. Artist's perspective of CONGDON bow 310

5.61. Drawing of relationship of bow and stern of CONGDON 311

5.62. Artist's perspective of EMPEROR 318

5.63. Cargo of EMPEROR 319

5.64. Windlass of EMPEROR 319

5.65. Stern mast of EMPEROR 320

5.66. View into the firemen's cabin 321

5.67. Stern cabin of EMPEROR 321

5.68. Video operations operations on EMPEROR 322

5.69. Spare prop blades on the stern of EMPEROR 322

5.70. Starboard stern cabins of EMPEROR 323

5.71. Bunks inside the starboard stern cabin of EMPEROR 323

5.72. Auxiliary controls of EMPEROR in engine room 324

5.73. DUNELM stranding site 325

5.74. Artist's perspective of KAMLOOPS 332

5.75. Engine room skylights of KAMLOOPS 333

5.76. Stern wheel of KAMLOOPS 333

6.1. Historic Sites With Underwater Remains Location Map 356

6.2. Cemetery Island Site Map 360

6.3. Graveyard on Cemetery Island 360

6.4. Historic bottles 362

6.5. Historic ceramics and bottles 362

6.6. Reproduction of Ives' Survey Plat 367

6.7. Sketch map of American Fur Company Fishery Site 367

6.8. Probable American Fur Company Fishery landing site 370

6.9. View to the south at American Fur Company Site 370

6.10. Overview of Wright Island 375

6.11. The Johnson/Holte Fishery 375

6.12. Wright Island Fishery Base Map 377

6.13. Original Mike Johnson dwelling 378

6.14. The present Holte residence 378

6.15. View of the Holte net house 380

6.16. Artifact scatter off shore 380

6.17. Star Island Fishery, early 1930s 385

6.18. Rear of Johnson fish house 385

6.19. Net house construction, saddle-notched logs 386

6.20. Arnold and Olga Johnson residence 386

6.21. Milford and Myrtle Johnson residence 387

6.22. Star Island Fishery, 1952 387

6.23. Star Island Fishery Base Map 390

6.24. Key to features identified at Star Island 391

6.25. Spatial distribution of activity areas 396

6.26. Minong Mine generalized site map 403

6.27. The cog railroad bed at Minong Mine 404

6.28. Location of historic wharf and warehouse 404

6.29. Freighter hatch covers used in wharf 406

6.30. Cribs associated with Minong Mine wharf 406

6.31. McCargoe Cove town site and dock sketch map 407

6.32. Island Mine features 414

6.33. Remains of the powder house on Senter Point 414

6.34. Island Mine wharf base map 416

6.35. Rock-filled cribs, Island Mine 417

6.36. Buoys mark the outline of the extant cribs 417

6.37. Ghyllbank, Washington Harbor, 1889 420

6.38. Ghyllbank Copper Company headquarters building 420

6.39. Remains of the Ghyllbank wharf 422

6.40. Ghyllbank wharf sketch map 422

6.41. Minong Lodge as it appeared in 1938 425

6.42. Minong Lodge main dock looking west 425

6.43. Louis Mattson and August Anderson fishery 427

6.44. Remains of Minong Lodge and main dock in 1951 427

6.45. Minong Island and Scoville Point sketch map 429

6.46. Remains at the Mattson/Anderson site 429

6.47. The main lodge and dock at Belle Isle Resort 433

6.48. Belle Isle Resort golf course 433

6.49. Lodge and other service buildings, 1937 435

6.50. Belle Isle base map 435

6.51. Remains found off shore of Belle Isle dock 437

6.52. Resort buildings being burned in 1963 437

6.53. Typical US Lifesaving Service dinghy, circa 1930s 441

6.54. U.S. Coast Guard cabin motor launch, 1941-1947 441

6.55. Passage Island Lighthouse and radio tower 443

6.56. Passage Island sketch map 443

6.57. CCC Camp Siskiwit crib dock 449

6.58. CCC occupied Mead Lumber Co. buildings 449

6.59. Mead Lumber Company wharf 450

6.60. Location map of Camp Siskiwit, Camp Isle Royale,

and Mead Lumber Company. 450

6.61. Remains of Senter Point crib dock underwater. 452

6.62. Shoreline evidence of former CCC crib dock 452

6.63. Prehistoric pot found in Rock Harbor Channel 455

6.64. Mackinaw sailboat 459

6.65. Commercial fishing skiff 459

6.66. Recreational rowboat/rowing skiff 462

6.67. SKIPPER SAM, a double-ended gas boat, circa 1930s 462

6.68. Typical modern gas boat circa 1950s 464

6.69. Double-ended launch at the turn of the century 464

6.70. Typical post-1900 resort-era launch 466

6.71. Typical launch circa 1900 466

6.72. Stern detail on gas boats and launches 467

6.73. Stripped down NORLAND being towed by NELLS J. 467

6.74. Fish tugs outfitting for the fishing season 470

6.75. STANLEY, a typical 1930s-era fish tug 470

7.1. Sport diver on AMERICA 519

7.2. Mooring buoy warning notice 520
7.3-6. Preparation for buoy placement on dive site 521

7.7. Buoy weight lift-apparatus 522

7.8. Mitigation of anchor damage 523

7.9. Placement of trail marker on a shipwreck 523

7.10. Recent response to "May Day" from ISLE ROYALE 524

XII

LIST OF TABLES

2.1 Critical Navigation Improvements 38

4.1 Comparison of Ten Steam Vessels at Isle Royale 64

5.1 CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM Comparison 221

8.1 Listing of Isle Royale Shipwrecks 533

XIII

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing the acknowledgments for this report was not an easy task. The project was,
by nature, a complex joint research and management venture and the list of people
who provided substantial assistance to its successful completion is lengthy. First, it
should be understood that Isle Royale National Park is a wilderness area in northern
Lake Superior, and that cost-effective research in this Park is not feasible without
the active support of the Park staff. Jack Morehead was Superintendent of Isle
Royale when the project was conceived, and his expression of management concern,
as well as his personal interest in seeing state of the art research take place on
submerged sites, was the primary reason for it happening. Doug Scovill, Chief
Anthropologist of the National Park Service and Cal Cummings, Senior Service
Archeologist, provided the impetus from the cultural resources management sector
of the agency necessary to generate the funding and support for the program. Stu
Croll was Chief Ranger at Isle Royale during the entire period in which field
activities were conducted, and his support of logistics, planning, and as a sounding
board for what would and wouldn't work "on the ground" at Isle Royale was
invaluable. Superintendent Don Brown, was not only supportive of the program, but
raised some new issues emphasizing interpretation of shipwrecks to the non-diving
public that have become a significant area of endeavor with the Submerged Cultural
Resources Unit. Thomas Hobbs became Superintendent in 1985, and though
confronted with a host of issues far different from those he experienced in
Yellowstone National Park, he immediately adapted to the situation and gave us his
complete support.

Others at Isle Royale who lent us continued support over the years were Ann
Belleman, Carol Maass, Elen Maurer, Bruce Reed, Bruce Weber, Chuck Dale, and Larry
Wiese. In addition to the field assistance they rendered, Park Ranger Ken Vrana and
District Ranger Jay Wells' level of commitment is best symbolized by their
contributions to the writing of this report. Dave Snyder spent many hours
reproducing files from the Park's office in Houghton and reviewing this report in
draft. Robert Oil i and Dennis Mielock of the Park maintenance staff rendered
assistance in the most basic sense of the term. They scrambled to our rescue in
the wee hours of the morning in 1980 to prevent our University of Wisconsin
research tug from being added to the Isle Royale shipwreck population. Cliff
Hannula kept our motors humming and, in association with Jay Wells, built the first
"underwater mule" for use by divers in placing shipwreck mooring buoys. Lee
Jameson dived with us and gave us access to maintenance division assets for our
survey work whenever he could possibly justify it.

From the Midwest Regional Office, Andy Ketterson was our primary contact point; he
made life easy for us in an administrative sense and found small pots of money at
critical times to help us take advantage of research opportunities, such as the visit
of RV SEWARD JOHNSON to Isle Royale. Cal Calabrese, Chief of the National Park
Service Midwest Archeological Center, was supportive of the project and delegated
Archeologist Mark Lynott to coordinate directly with us. Mark reviewed our
preliminary and interim reports and this report in draft form and contributed on site

as an instructor in a training course on "Submerged Cultural Resources, Skills and
Issues" held at Isle Royale National Park.

From my own office in Santa Fe, Regional Director Bob Kerr provided his support to
this and all endeavors of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit. Bob believed in
the principle of knowing your resources, whether they were dry or wet, and he
provided a roof for the team and administrative support, because he felt it was "for
the good of the Service." John Cook took over the Regional helm during our last
year of work at Isle Royale and has continued the high level of nurture at home that
allowed us to keep our energies focused on the field. Dick Sellars, Chief of our
Center, not only supported us unfailingly during the five years that we devoted
partial time to Isle Royale, but also visited us in the field and stoically subjected his
landlubber's belly to the tortures of bouncing boats, cold and Dramamine. Larry
Nordby and Jim Bradford lent their considerable archeological field talents to our
project; Larry also contributed to the writing of one section of this report. Jerry
Livingston, who has rendered almost all of the graphics for this report,
demonstrated again and again at Isle Royale the great utility of having a diving
scientific illustrator in the field. Ron Ice permitted the denuding of his archeological
staff for several three-week periods during his own field season, because he
believed in the importance of the Isle Royale Project, and we thank him for his
forbearance.

We also benefited greatly from the input of a number of folks from the Great Lakes
Region. Patrick Labadie, Director of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Museum in Duluth, was a magnificent find for us because of his great knowledge of
regional history and maritime material culture. Thorn Holden, also of the Canal Park
Museum, provided us with access to his personal files on Isle Royale shipwrecks
and the benefit of his knowledge of Lake Superior maritime disasters all through the
project. Ric Wright from Bowling Green State University performed an extremely
helpful records search for us in the files of the Institute for Great Lakes Research.
Ric has since passed away, his contributions to Great Lakes navigation research will
be missed. Gerrie Noble of the Thunder Bay Historical Museum has provided useful
historical information to the Park for many years. James Marshall gave freely of his
first-hand experience regarding the salvage of the steamship AMERICA.

Other assistance with archival materials came from the following: Jim Delgado,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area; David Hull and John Maounis of the J. Porter
Shaw Library, National Maritime Museum, San Francisco; Penny C. Grigsby, New
Mexico State Library; Ken Hall and John Vandereedt of the Judicial, Fiscal and Social
Branch of the National Archives, Washington D.C.

Larry Sand, Captain of SUPERIOR DIVER, was the charter contractor for most of our
intensive field sessions. His skill and competence not only helped keep us alive, but
aided measurably in the effectiveness of our operations. Scott McWilliam from
Thunder Bay, Ontario, Gerry Buchanan, Duluth, Minnesota, and the late Monty
Florentz are sport divers who somewhat obscure the distinction between
professional and amateur maritime archeologist. They demonstrated great
commitment to seeing the shipwrecks of Isle Royale inventoried and devoted many
long hours of volunteer time to helping us carry out this task. We never had the
opportunity to dive with Ken Merryman or Ken Engelbrecht due to scheduling
conflicts, but in several long conversations they freely communicated much useful
information from their extensive experience at Isle Royale wreck diving. Joe
Strykowski donated his considerable photographic skills to the Isle Royale project

XVI

during the 1985 field session. Mitch Kezar donated a series of slides that he
obtained while working with us under contract to the National Geographic Society.

The National Geographic Society assigned a team of technicians under the able
leadership of Emory Kristof to help in the documentation of KAMLOOPS using
Remote Operated Vehicles. Donald Shomette also contributed to this phase of the
project. John Brooks spent three weeks with our team in 34-degree water,
contributing his talents in underwater photography. This was a fair commitment
from someone who lives and works off a boat in the Bahamas. The Harbor Branch
Research Vessel SEWARD JOHNSON was made available to us through a NOAA Sea
Grant project conducted by Michigan State University. We thank Bill Cooper, Ken
Pott and Patrick Labadie for their roles in making this possible.

For information and assistance in understanding the commercial fishing, resort, and
mining sites at Isle Royale and the vernacular small craft we would like to thank the
late Myrtle Johnson, Tim Cochrane, Ingeborg Holte, Milford Johnson Jr., Reuben Hill,
Stanley Sivertson, Roy Oberg, Marge McPherren, Elvis Moe, Donald Anderson, Donald
Wobrink, Phil Gale, and Jim Woodward. Isle Royale concession personnel who went
out of their way to help us include manager Ron Sanders. Last, but definitely not
least, were the many seasonal employees at Isle Royale that gave up their lieu days
to help with boating operations, participate in the diving research activities and
stoke the sauna.

Barbara Stanislawski has taken, the brunt of the secretarial duties involved in the
typing and arrangement of this report in a finished format. In addition to the
authors and contributors, various sections of this report were reviewed in draft form
by the following people: Jim Bradford, James Delgado, Kevin Foster, Allen Saltus,
David Snyder, Bob Krumenaker, Stu Croll, Bruce Weber, Thomas Hobbs, Jack
Morehead, Don Brown, Dick Gould, Ron Ice, Cal Cummings, Mark Lynott, Patrick
Martin, Joy Waldron Murphy, and National Park Service Chief Historian Ed Bearss.
Alice Benfer did a helpful review of the entire final draft, and Ernesto Martinez did
final inking of all of the sketch maps in Chapter VI.

Daniel J. Lenihan

XVII

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With the formation of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit in 1980, a decision
was made by the National Park Service to use Isle Royale National Park as the focus
of a prototype research program to inventory maritime archeological sites. The
phase of management-oriented archeological research, which emphasizes
documentation and evaluation of known sites, was considered the priority for a park
with a known significant resource base and established sport diver use patterns.
Other national parks in California and Texas were chosen as test cases for the
survey or discovery phase of submerged cultural resources management.

Little in the way of guidelines existed for conducting submerged sites inventories,
so much communication between managers and researchers was critical to the
program's successful completion. This report is the result of the Isle Royale
underwater research effort and it includes a series of recommendations for future
protection and interpretation of underwater archeological sites that should have
application to many other areas of the National Park System. It is designed to
provide information for line managers on specific submerged cultural resource
issues (as in Chapter VII and VIII) with substantial backup information to satisfy
interpretive needs at the park (as in Chapters IV, V and VI). The obligation to
maintain strict professional standards in reporting on National Park Service cultural
research activities was also recognized, and some chapters such as II and III may be
of primary interest to maritime archeologists or historians.

The fieldwork at Isle Royale was composed of short, intense sessions lasting 2-3
weeks each year for 5 years. Total time spent in the park by the research team was
16 weeks with an average of five individuals working at any one time. Background
research and report writing was usually conducted during the winter and scheduled
around other commitments of the unit. The occurrence of unexpected major
research opportunities during the summers of 1985 and 1986 encouraged extension
of the final report completion date from fall of 1984 to winter of 1986.

The intention was to develop a methodology that was as cost efficient as possible
and that allowed a strong interface between area personnel and the research team.
Much of the philosophy for approaching submerged cultural resources management
identified in this report is a product of many hours of discussion with park
managers and field staff. Experiments in underwater site interpretation were also
put into effect and assessed during the 5 years since the inception of the project.

In addition to this report, a considerable quantity of videotape footage and
photographs have been organized into a format that permits easy accessibility to
interested managers or researchers. One copy of all material is to be kept at the
park and the originals are archived at the headquarters of the Submerged Cultural
Resources Unit.

XIX

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

Isle Royale National Park was certainly not originally established for the purpose of
preserving shipwrecks. It is tempting, however, to ascribe some grand scheme to
the existence of such a dramatic assortment of wrecked vessels within the
protected waters of a national park. The island is literally surrounded by an array of
ship remains that represent many types and stages of development of maritime
steam technology from the 1870s to the mid-1900s. This assortment includes
passenger/package freighters, bulk freighters, a side-wheeler, wooden-hulled ships
and steel behemoths more than 500 feet in length, one of which went down as
recently as 1947. If one were given the opportunity of designing an underwater
museum of Great Lakes marine architecture, it is likely that it would differ only
slightly from what is presently within the waters of Isle Royale. Perhaps the
remains of a wooden schooner to complement the steam vessels would be the
most welcome addition. Even some of the local fishing craft of unique vernacular
design have found their way to the bottom of the Lake and have assumed the roles
of diving exhibits. For the professional archeologist, the non-shipwreck underwater
sites also offer an excellent opportunity for studying subsistence patterns in a
lacustrine, sub-arctic environment; where better than a clear lake surrounding an
island where the cold water conveniently preserves even the organic residues of
past human behavior?

This last factor, the nature of the underwater environment around Isle Royale,
contributes much to the Park's aura of being an underwater museum. The sights
greeting a diver are stirring to even the most experienced and hard-to-please
members of that fraternity. The more modern, intact wrecks such as AMERICA,
EMPEROR and CONGDON attract most of the first-timers, because they comprise a
superlative underwater experience. Very few places in the world offer shipwrecks
with such a "presence" in conditions that highlight the other-worldliness of the
diving experience. It is possible to swim down companionways, through stateroom
doors, up stairs and over engines that appear as if it would take only a head of
steam to bring them back to life. Old-fashioned shoes amid the confusion of
crushed bulkheads bring home the poignant personal tragedy that was experienced
by so many crew and passengers and their surviving families. There is something
about being there and feeling the cold water starting to creep through one's
protective suit and sensing the pressure and dominance of the Lake that permits an
empathy with an event in history that is hard to imagine from a dry, warm
perspective on land.

This unique experience is as much a part of the quality of life that should be
preserved in national parks as is the beautiful, natural scenery that characterizes the
island. In order to leave the historic scenes as undisturbed as possible, a totally
nondestructive approach was employed in the study and recording of these
remarkable underwater sites.

Underwater Archeology and the Age of Steam

Although the management concerns that prompted our inventory of submerged sites
at Isle Royale are clear to most, not so the archeological import of studying steam
age technology. Often, those who can relate well to underwater archeological
studies of ancient sailing ships cannot understand the attention paid by
archeologists to late Nineteenth Century and early Twentieth Century steam vessel
wrecks, such as the ones at Isle Royale. The questions posed in this regard are
reasonable ones: aren't there plans in existence for many of those vessels, and
aren't there representatives of this type of vessel still afloat? The answer to both
questions is "no." In fact, there are not plans available for many of the vessels that
sank at Isle Royale, and when plans do exist, they rarely deal with hull features
above the waterline and/or superstructure and the modifications that were endorsed
over time, which are of great importance to the archeologist studying behavioral
adaptations. Likewise, only the two steel-hulled bulk freighters that are wrecked at
Isle Royale have any representatives of their vessel type still afloat.

Archeologists are interested in using the material record to determine what people
did, not what they think they did or said they did. Additionally, much of what we
need to know about past human behavior is best represented in the archeology of
the mundane — the things that contemporary writers thought too obvious or
insignificant to record. Thus is evidenced the complementary nature of the historic
record and the archeological record, which is so exciting to those who feel that
historical archeology will eventually serve as the proving ground for all
anthropologically-oriented archeological theory.

There is another issue regarding the documentation of steam technology that
should be mentioned: the problem of myopia in the study of the recent past.
Because we are closer to something in time does not necessarily mean we
understand it better. This is particularly true of the last two centuries in
Euroamerican affairs. Although steam engines in the most literal sense have been
in existence for thousands of years in such novel forms as door closing
mechanisms on ancient tombs, they were more appropriately termed "devices." It
was not until the late 1700s that steam engines were used on land for doing work,
and the 1800s before they saw effective utilization as a source of motive power on
ships. Although historians will argue over the issue of whether Fitch or Rumsey or
somebody else may have been the real "inventor" of the steamboat, it matters not a
whit to the social scientist. The popular belief that Fulton invented the steamboat in
1807 serves quite well, because the steamboat NORTH RIVER of CLERMONT
effectively ushered in the new age of maritime steam technology by succeeding in
capturing the imagination of the general public.

CLERMONT was important because it worked, and because the fact that it worked
was well marketed. Social dynamics are less keyed to historical facts than they are
to a society's notion of what those facts are. Fulton's boat had good press, and
Fulton had good biographers, so steam came alive in the imagination of people who
had the money to build boats.

The enormous impact of steam technology on man is worth contemplating. It may
put into perspective why it is such an important and difficult period of human
endeavor to document in the historical and material records. It would not be an
unbalanced assessment to state that man evolved from a common heritage shared
by several other extant primates, learned complex manipulation of tools and

symbolic thought over several million years, and in the Eighteenth Century invented
the steam engine, which was followed shortly thereafter by nuclear power.

The thermodynamic forces involved in the steam engine dwarfed anything seen
before and presented an unparalleled potential to the species to manipulate
phenomena. The strength of thousands of beasts of burden could be harnessed in
one machine that need only be fed various sorts of combustibles that were easily
available. Mines could be cleared of water, tunnels dug under rivers and canals built
at speeds and in places never conceived before steam use. Most important for our
purpose is the fact that steam also meant cargoes of magnitudes greater in size
could be moved against the wind over water.

In short order, the only limits to shipbuilding were dictated by the composition of
building material of the vessels; i.e. it is difficult to make wooden ships much over
300' in length that don't sag unacceptably in the middle or droop (hog) at the ends,
regardless of how many engineering tricks are employed. It wasn't all quite that
simple, of course. The atmospheric engine couldn't drive boats, and it took the
development of adequate pressure cylinders, separate condensers and efficient
boilers before steam power could be fully utilized for fast rotary motion and the full
implications for steam at sea began to be realized.

The competition from sail was fierce at first, for it must be remembered that much
of the creative surge of energy that typified the explosive development of steam
technology was not absent from the lofts of sailmakers and shipwrights. The
culmination of several thousand years of wind-ship technology was evident in the
latter part of the Nineteenth Century. The most refined, most efficient and perhaps
the most elegant sailing ships ever constructed were competing with steam ships
into the Twentieth Century. Mixing fire and water is an unbeatable combination,
however, and man's preference for his Promethean heritage prevailed.

Research Design

There has been a considerable degree of stress generated over the issue of "proper"
scientific method in the social sciences. Although there has been somewhat of a
fixation on research designs in terrestrial archeology, this has not been the case in
maritime archeology, where a negative reaction regarding their use is sometimes
evident (e.g. Bass 1983).

There is no doubt that useful, professional research has been carried out on
underwater sites without benefit of explicit designs, but that does not excuse
maritime archeologists in the public sector from meeting this basic requirement of
scientific reporting. A research design is presented in this report so that the reader
may know the rationale behind our field and archival activities, and better
understand why certain methods and techniques were selected, and others rejected.
This research was paid for with public funds and it concentrated on publicly-owned
resources — added reason for discussing our rationale and methods.

The research design was largely mechanistic in nature. Straightforward questions
about the material record were asked and much energy was devoted to purely
descriptive documentation of the sites. Our analysis and interpretation was geared
toward integrating the hard data from the material record with the data from the
archives. This results in a product of putty-like consistency, which hopefully
represents the best qualities of historical archeology, i.e., it should be flexible
enough to stretch but holds together under considerable scrutiny.

Fig. 1.1. Isle Royale in the context of the Great Lakes Region.

4 5

Cumberland
V Chlsholm
Cox

2 America

3 Kamloops

4 Congdon

5 Emperor /Dunelm

6 Monarch

7 Algoma

8 Glenlyon

Fig. 1.2. Isle Royale shipwrecks

Since American archeologists have their roots entwined more in anthropology than
in history, we have consistently examined our subject matter from a social scientific
perspective. In those cases in which we felt Isle Royale shipwrecks and other
submerged sites were most productively viewed against a backdrop of regional or
extra-regional behavioral patterns, we strived to present them in just that way. In
most cases this occurred during the data evaluation process between field
seasons. Cerebrating about the anthropological implications of information gleaned
from the archives or from the lake bottom resulted in conclusions that are offered
in the text, particularly in Chapters II and III. There is no presentation of hypotheses
and test implications because it was felt that a hypothetico-deductive approach was
not appropriate to this inventory. The research design formulated is a problem
oriented one, however, and it represents an attempt to accommodate the best from
history and social science in a cultural resources management framework. We will
endeavor to make that thought process explicit for the benefit of those investigators
who may follow at Isle Royale or those who have interest in similar research
problems.

General Problem Statement

The objective of the field research was to obtain as much descriptive data on the
underwater archeological residues as possible with given equipment, time, and
personnel resources. This was to be accomplished using non-destructive
methodology emphasizing mapping of exposed wreckage, photography, artistic
perspective drawings and videotape footage. Archival work was also initiated to
obtain primary source references on each vessel being investigated in the field. The
literature base of the social sciences, particularly anthropology, was utilized to
identify a range of broad behaviorial issues that would be addressed in both the
field and library components of the research activity. Following are the social,
economic, and technological questions that were addressed as thematic issues
throughout the field research and writing of this report:

I. What are the major environmental, social and economic attributes of the Great
Lakes region that would affect the material record at Isle Royale, i.e., nature and
distribution of shipwreck remains?

A. Natural Factors: Does operation in small water bodies with the potential
for severe weather influence maritime adaptive behavior? Do short wave
periods, lack of sea room for maneuvering in storms, inland fog conditions
and icing-over create situations that demand significantly different responses
than do seaboard environments in North America? What role does Isle
Royale play as a natural obstacle to shipping in Lake Superior?

B. Cultural Factors: What effects in Great Lakes maritime activity devolve
from the demands to operate in a small, highly-contained shipping universe?
Was the shipping activity in the Lakes notably more intensive than in the rest
of the Nation during the steam age, and how did the demands for moving
large amounts of bulk cargo, e.g., iron and grain affect developments in ship
architecture and motive technology? How do the shipwrecks of Isle Royale
and associated submerged historic sites reflect any of these influences?

II. What elements of Great Lakes maritime culture represent an extension of ocean
going traditions?

A. Do technological responses to economic pressures on the Great Lakes
replicate developments on the Atlantic seaboard, western rivers or post
gold-rush shipbuilding activity on the west coast?

B. Is there a cross-fertilization of ideas, traits, and behavior that can be
identified between the Great Lakes, western rivers, and the Atlantic seaboard?

C. Can the technological attributes of the Isle Royale shipwreck population
be used as an indicator to gauge diversity, borrowing or independent
invention when compared to other ship and shipwreck studies?

III. Are there any unique characteristics to the subculture of seamen on the Great
Lakes?

A. Did the seamen on Great Lakes vessels derive from local populations that
had no prior seafaring traditions, or did they tend to be imports from the
coast who were specifically emigrating west for jobs on the Lakes? How did
these trends vary over time?

B. What effects, if any, did short voyages and frequent turnarounds have on
Great Lakes crews? Did the development of technological advances, such as
faster loading and unloading systems for bulk cargos, have any bearing on
the life of the common seaman?

C. How did Great Lakes seamen perceive the environment in which they
were working? Was it considered more desirable, less dangerous, or more
lucrative than working on the coast or rivers? Did Lake Superior or Isle
Royale hold any special significance to these people?

IV. Did the dynamics of social adjustment to the Industrial Age differ on the Great
Lakes?

A. Was it a more intense industrial environment in terms of greater capital
investment for high-yield returns and did technological advances create a
more or less stressful milieu for developing lifeways in the region?

B. Was there a tendency to push limits on Lakes navigation in response to
heavier capital investment? Was there really a "one-last-voyage syndrome"
as identified by Murphy (1984), which resulted in a greater frequency of
late-season disasters on Lake Superior? Does the shipwreck population at
Isle Royale support this contention?

A separate research strategy statement was developed for each phase of the
multi-year project before entering the field. These statements of objectives and
proposed methodology were discussed in interim reports on the Isle Royale
research that were distributed to park managers and to the profession for peer

review.

There were also specific questions about vessel construction, architectural elements,
etc., that were formulated after analysis of each season's field work that were
targeted as research problems for both the archives and the field. It quickly became
apparent that there were many questions more effectively answered in the field in
some instances and the archives in others. Combining the archeologist's method

with the historian's resulted in a final product which, it is hoped, adds up to more
than the sum of the parts.

Specific Field Objectives

I. CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM Wreck Site

A. Develop a planimetric map of the wreckage field of CUMBERLAND and
HENRY CHISHOLM and determine what percentage of each vessel's hull and
superstructure is represented on the site.

B. Identify diagnostic architectural features of both vessels that would permit
distinguishing the intermingled remains and assigning major structural
elements to the correct ship.

C. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage so that
conclusions could be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes on the site.

D. Develop an artist's perspective drawing of the CHISHOLM engine in place
on the bottom. This is a museum quality piece of Nineteenth Century
technology which needed documenting in detail.

E. Determine means of longitudinal and transverse structural support in both
vessel's remains.

F. Obtain sufficient data to create a cross section view of the vessel's hull
construction.

G. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

II. MONARCH Wreck Site

A. Develop a planimetric map of the wreckage field of MONARCH and
determine what percentage of the original ship is represented in the material
record.

B. Identify means of structural support for the deck, since no hanging or
lodging knees are evident on the site.

C. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage so that
conclusions could be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes.

D. Obtain sufficient data for a cross section view of the vessel's hull
construction.

E. Obtain photograph and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

F. Identify the location of the remainder of the ship. (After the project was
underway, it became apparent that a significant portion of the original ship
was not represented in the known wreckage field; consequently, another
objective was targeted.)

III. GEORGE M. COX Wreck Site

A. Develop a planimetric map of the wreckage field and determine what
percentage of the vessel's hull and superstructure is represented within the
known confines of the site area.

B. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage field so that
conclusions could be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes on the site.

C. Develop an artist's drawing of the relatively intact stern section of
wreckage from an oblique perspective.

D. Obtain sufficient data to create a cross section view of the vessel's hull
construction.

E. Determine if there was additional significant wreckage scatter heading aft
from the shallow bow section material. A deep drop-off was noted by the
team in 1982, and examination of this area became a field objective for 1983.

IV. Rock of Ages Area

A. Determine the interrelationship of the three major shipwrecks in this area
and how they relate to their environmental context; i.e., reef lines, drop-offs,
etc.

V. ALGOMA Wreck Site

A. Develop rough planimetric sketch map of known wreckage field of
ALGOMA.

B. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage so that
conclusions could be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes on the site.

C. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

VI. GLENLYON Wreck Site

A. Develop a planimetric map of the wreckage field of the vessel and
determine what major elements of the vessel's hull and superstructure are
represented.

B. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage so that
conclusions could be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes on the site.

C. Obtain sufficient data to create a cross section view of the vessel's hull
construction.

D. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

VII. KAMLOOPS Wreck Site

A. Generate artist's perspective drawing of vessel in environmental context
from on-site observations.

B. After consulting all that is known from historic record, make series of
on-site observations designed to answer specific questions about wreck
event and post-wreck site formation processes. Very little is known from
historic record regarding what happened to this particular vessel because
there were no survivors.

C. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

VIII. AMERICA Wreck Site

A. Generate data for artist's perspective drawing of America in its resting
place.

B. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage so that
conclusions can be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes.

C. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

IX. CONGDON Wreck Site

A. Generate data for artist's perspective drawing of CONGDON in its resting
place.

B. Collect data on the environmental context of the wreckage so that
conclusions can be drawn regarding the wreck event and post-depositional
processes.

C. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

X. EMPEROR and DUNELM

A. Generate artist's perspective drawing of EMPEROR in environmental
context.

B. Obtain information about environmental context to allow conclusions to
be drawn regarding post-depositional processes.

C. Photograph anchors lying next to EMPEROR, which likely belong to
DUNELM.

D. Obtain photographic and videotape coverage of the site for general site
documentation purposes and for use in interpreting the site to the general
public.

XI. Non-shipwreck Sites (submerged components of terrestrial sites and small

craft remains).

A. Examine a representative sample of the full range of archeological sites
on the island which comprise residues of past maritime oriented behavior.
Concentrate on lighthouses, fish camps and other shore facilities in which a
full understanding of the site could only result from using a combination of
terrestrial and underwater archeological techniques.

B. Obtain information on vernacular marine architecture as evidenced in
small craft remains which are found both on the lake bottom and shoreline of
Isle Royale.

Methodology

Logistic considerations significantly influenced the overall research approach. Isle
Royale is remote by any standard; has difficult access for heavy equipment, and the
underwater environment of the sites is cold and usually deep. Water temperatures
rarely exceeded 39 degrees Farenheit on any of the sites, and air temperatures in
June were often below freezing. Visibility was usually quite good, 20-50 feet, but
low light-levels and a high concentration of coarse particulate matter suspended in
the water made certain photographic tasks more difficult than might be expected.

The research approach emphasized short, intense field sessions each year (usually
lasting about 3 weeks) that were carefully planned and oriented toward maximum
data recovery for every moment in the field. Researchers (usually 5 or 6 in number)
lived on a 38-foot boat and dived in shifts during a twelve-hour day, every day, for
the 3-week hitch. This proved very cost-effective, but by 1984 the procedure was
modified to include a couple of rest days because of possible safety problems
developing from diver exhaustion and a growing concern that residual nitrogen
factors were stretching the recommended limits of the U.S. Navy decompression
tables after weeks of repetitive diving.

Mapping methodology, in most instances, consisted of laying a small-gauge nylon
baseline through major wreckage fields and building a map using the baseline as a
backbone. In those cases where limited detail could be rendered due to the size of
the site, team archeologists selected features most crucial to a useful interpretation
of the remains. These were marked with survey clips made of clothespins and
flagging tape. Angles were turned with a large protractor whenever the baseline
touched or went over an object. Large pieces of hull, superstructure or machinery
were labeled as specific site components and trilaterated from the baseline with
measuring tapes after they had been drawn in detail by a mapping team.

Fig. 1.3. Generation of line drawings was a major documentation method used on
the shipwreck sites. Photo by Mitch Kezar.

Fig. 1.4. NPS scientific illustrator Jerry Livingston shows sketch to be incorporated
into GLENLYON site documentation. Photo by Mitch Kezar

Fig. 1.5. Video documentation was used extensively during the project. This
self-contained color unit took the place of tethered black and white units used at
the beginning of the project. NPS photo by Joe Strykowski.

Fig. 1.6. Diver propulsion vehicles were used to survey the area surrounding the
more scattered sites. NPS photo by Joe Strykowski.

Fig. 1.7. Two remote operated vehicles (ROV) deployed from NPS patrol boat proved
very effective in studying the KAMLOOPS site. ROV photo by Emory Kristof courtesy
of National Geographic Society.

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ROV photo and electronic image by Emory Kristof courtesy of National Geographic
Society.

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Fig. 1.9. RV SEWARD JOHNSON was available to project investigators for a brief
period in 1985 as a part of a NOAA-sponsored data collection project on the Great
Lakes. NPS Photo by Joe Strykowski.

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Fig. 1.10. CORD ROV aboard SEWARD JOHNSON used to search deep areas for
additional wreckage near ALGOMA. NPS photo by Joe Strykowski.

The level of detail and accuracy of the maps and other graphic representations of
the shipwrecks in this report varies somewhat from site to site. The major wrecks
at the Park derive from the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, and for
some of them partial construction plans were extant. It would obviously not be
necessary or desirable to map them to the degree of detail necessary in
documenting, for instance, a classical period vessel in the Mediterranean. Other
factors that influenced decisions on the level of detail were: extent of scatter
material at individual sites; nature of construction (wood or metal); and logistical
considerations such as ease of access, depth of water, and water temperature. To
convey a general idea of the nature of these problems, consider that just the major
concentrations of wreckage at Isle Royale, if gathered together, would cover an area
more than 1 million square feet. That is approximately 100 to 1,000 times the site
area of most early wooden vessels that are being investigated by our colleagues.
On several sites at Isle Royale, baselines of marked string were laid over continuous
wreckage for 1/3 mile. Water depths over the sites ranged from 3 feet to 270 feet.

Consequently, the following general guidelines were adopted. Wooden wrecks
(CUMBERLAND, CHISHOLM and MONARCH), which incidentally, were also the earliest
built vessels in this shipwreck population, were mapped to the highest degree of
accuracy. In most cases, each individual timber was counted and measured, e.g.,
the number and size of the limber boards on the section of CHISHOLM's hull bottom
depicted in Figure 5.1 is not an approximation; it is a precise drawing. In other
places some license has been taken to sketch or omit detail, e.g., on large sections
of metal hull in the case of GLENLYON or COX. The pieces are where they should
be, but specific details of construction such as fittings, rivets, etc., may be
approximated or omitted. Since metal curves and twists as a result of underwater
dynamics, its exact replication on paper does not convey enough information to
warrant time expenditure past identifying its basic nature, i.e., hull pieces,
superstructure, etc. Wood, on the other hand, breaks in discrete units, whether
large or small, and it is useful to document in detail where possible. A decision
was also made to limit any serious recording activities by divers to depths less than
150 feet for reasons of safety and cost efficiency. Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs)
were used in 1985 and 1986 to obtain additional information on the ALGOMA and
KAMLOOPS wreck sites, which had components well beyond 150 feet in depth.

This was the general philosophy that conditioned the level of detail and accuracy
that was strived for on the scattered wreckage fields. In the case of the intact
vessels (AMERICA, CONGDON, EMPEROR, KAMLOOPS), the approach used was that of
developing a perspective drawing in association with photography to convey an
impressionist view of the site.

The artist's perspective drawings are just that, but they are drawn by illustrators
who have spent many years doing precise mapping work underwater, and accuracy
has been emphasized in all cases when it conflicted with artistic preference.
Drawings of this sort in association with photographs were determined to be the
best method for portraying the present condition of a large intact vessel in deep
water. It is a dramatic example of a situation in which graphic recording skills still
serve a purpose that cannot be effectively duplicated by technology.

The question might be asked: Why not photogrammetry? The answer is that given
problems of limited visibility and light penetration and the very high relief of both
the topography and the sites themselves, this technique could not be effectively
employed, using any technology available to the researchers.

The highest level of technology used in what was, for the most part, a very "low
tech" operation was the aforementioned ROVs. An ROV was deployed in 1985 from
RV SEWARD JOHNSON to search in deep water for bow structure of ALGOMA. The
research vessel and submersible operators had made a decision not to attempt
dives on KAMLOOPS or the stern of CONGDON because of proximity of reefs and
fear of entanglement in wreckage. Using two miniaturized units from a 32-foot Park
patrol boat in 1986 seemed by ar the most effective approach. These units were
provided by the National Geographic Society, and their skilled operators were able
even to penetrate the engine room of KAMLOOPS using two ROVs in a "buddy
system."

Shipwrecks vs. Submerged Components of Land Sites

The majority of time and energy spent during this inventory effort was on
shipwrecks, rather than underwater components of terrestrial sites, e.g., fish camps,
mines, historic landings, etc. This is not due to a value judgment regarding relative
significance of the shipwrecks, but for two unrelated reasons. First, the shipwrecks
are, by far, receiving the greatest visitor pressure at Isle Royale, and second,
shipwrecks are the type of resource that is most effectively dealt with by nautical
specialists. Terrestrial archeologists familiar with the local prehistory and history
are better qualified to direct work on land-based activity areas with the Submerged
Cultural Resources Unit playing a supportive, rather than lead role. We have
included a representative sample of land-based sites in this report (see Chapter VI),
but it is not meant to be as comprehensive as the work done on the shipwrecks.
Because the inland waterways of Isle Royale tend to be siltier, and much of the
midden material and other cultural manifestations are covered by overburden,
investigation of land-based sites demands a more high-impact archeological
methodology. Consequently, in those areas investigated that involved any bottom
disturbance, the NPS Midwest Regional Archeologist or his designate was in
attendance.

This Report

As the title states, this is a report on the submerged cultural resources, i.e.,
underwater archeological record, of Isle Royale National Park. As such, the "fabric"
(submerged archeological sites) has determined the "form" (manner of research and
presentation) in this publication. History, in this context, serves in a support role to
archeology.

The historical document research for Chapters IV and VI included extensive
examination of primary sources. Searches were conducted in the archives of the
Institute for Great Lakes Research at Bowling Green University, U.S. National
Archives in Washington DC, Canadian Archives in Ottawa, J. Porter Shaw Library,
National Maritime Museum, San Francisco, privately developed collections, and at the
Canal Park Museum in Duluth.

Chapter III on vessel typology of Lake Superior develops a technological context for
understanding the significance and relevance of the shipwreck component of the
submerged archeological resources at Isle Royale. The cross section of vessel
types in the Park is used as a springboard for a discussion of processual trends in
maritime architecture in the Great Lakes Region. A contemporary backdrop of
vessel design and socioeconomic dynamics is interwoven in the chapter to enhance
the social scientific perspective from which we have chosen to view the Park's
shipwreck population.

Chapter II attempts to move one more step away from the particular toward the
general. In this case, the intent has been to identify patterns in the maritime
behavior of the region that have relevance to the shipwrecks at Isle Royale. This is
not intended to be another history of the Lake Superior region, but a discussion of
the broader social processes that in combination comprise the maritime interactive
sphere of shipping activity on the Great Lakes.

Chapter VII is an experiment in cultural resources management reporting. The intent
is to document the complex decision-making processes that took place in order to
achieve the present management philosophy at Isle Royale. The present-day
approach is then discussed in detail so that other marine park managers can have
one comprehensive real-world model to consider as they address similar issues.
Chapter VII also serves as a form of institutional memory.

Chapter VIII, the conclusion of this report, is composed of a series of afterthoughts,
management recommendations and a statement of future research potential. The
Management Recommendations section is what it purports to be with the following
qualifier. In most cases, according to National Park Service policy, the cultural
resources management specialists are expected to make a series of
recommendations to the line managers who have responsibility for running the Park
and the Region. There has been so much interchange of ideas and cross
fertilization between the researchers and management in this particular case that
this final statement of "recommendations" is largely an expression of a joint
conceptual effort. As always, however, recommendations are to be viewed as
suggestions and are not binding on future managers in any sense.

Finally, this report is the product of a labor of love. It is offered to those who

manage, those who protect, and to those who look and enjoy, by a team of

researchers who feel fortunate to have been involved in some small way with the
future of this Park.

CHAPTER II. LAKE SUPERIOR
MARITIME TRADITION, SOCIOECONOMIC CONTEXT

Introduction

It is noteworthy that writers and historians are comfortable using the terms
"maritime" and "marine" when discussing the Great Lakes. The "of and pertaining to
the sea" connotations of those terms seem appropriate. The reason is that most
people regard those bodies of water, located hundreds of miles from any ocean, as
seas and not lakes. Although due consideration will be given in this study to the
differences between ocean and Great Lakes, it is significant that the commonalities
in their nature have had the greatest effects on common linguistic usage. A
regional periodical popular with many nautical buffs is entitled Inland Seas, and a
book dealing with the history of the Coast Guard on the Great Lakes is entitled
Guardians of the Eighth Sea (O'Brien 1976). There are no such marine metaphors
evident upon examining the equally rich and technologically developed riverine
traditions. Riverboats are not ships, and they are not run by sailors; riverboats are
riverboats, and they are operated by rivermen. They have traditionally stopped at
river landings, not at ports of call.

To a lesser degree, Long Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay share some of the same
attributes associated with large semi-contained bodies of navigable water. Puget
Sound is also occasionally referred to as an "Inland Sea," and there are, in fact,
some interesting aspects of ship design in that region that parallel vessel
architectural adaptations in the Lakes.

There is a danger, however, in trying to look at any of these confined maritime
spheres (lakes, sounds, or rivers) in a vacuum. None of them were really closed
systems, especially after the building of networks of canals in the Nineteenth
Century. Maritime innovation on the western rivers, for example, did not go long
unnoticed by Lakes seamen and traders, and Atlantic coast trade had a particularly
strong influence on the Lakes.

Although the Lakes have their own unique maritime heritage, it is clear that the
traditions of those sailors that plied the Lakes are closely tied to the blue water
sailor. The major difference is the size of the respective spheres of maritime
interaction. Most sailors on Lake Superior never interact with populations other
than those found in a handful of ports in the heartland of the United States of
America. Their saltwater brethren have rubbed shoulders with every race and
nationality on the planet and engage in journeys of much greater duration.

The collective self image, which is perpetuated in stories and songs of Great Lakes
navigation, is one that combines respect and fear of the Lakes' moods with an
interesting combination of grim determination and fatalism. The sense of
community among Lakes sailors was reinforced by their comparative ease of
maintaining family ties in their smaller interactive spheres, a fact that additionally

helped them develop greater networks of community support and empathy in time
of conflict.

Some of the earliest inroads of trade unionism were made among the more stable
Great Lakes seamen community. The Lakes' Seamen's Union was organized in 1878,
although it had antecedents as far back as 1863 (Standard 1979:25). Associations
of owners such as Lakes Carriers' Association and Cleveland Vessel Owners
Association became the nemesis of the unions, and the level of bitterness never
lessened as the pendulum of success swung between labor and management
through the turn of the century. A heavy concentration of capital in fewer hands in
the iron and steel industry, subsequent economic depressions and booms and wars
all influenced the lot of the Great Lakes seamen in this volatile industrial
environment.

As navigational entities, the bodies of water on which Lakes seamen work comprise
one of the most dangerous shipping environments in the world. The diminutive size
of the Lakes compared to that of the oceans offers little in the way of comfort to
the captains or crews of Great Lakes vessels. With little warning, all five Lakes can
change their demeanor from flat calm and peaceful to ominous and violent. The
shallowest, Lake Erie, is the most susceptible to these volatile shifts in
temperament. Lake Superior, the largest and deepest, can generate waves that
compare in height to those found in major ocean storms. The smaller wave lengths
and periods associated with Lakes storms also offer no solace because the stress
factor they place on ship hulls is sometimes a magnitude greater than those
inflicted by ocean swells.

An additional curse of the comparatively small size of the Great Lakes' environment
is the lack of sea room available for maneuvering, which offers a slim margin of
grace for navigational errors. The option of heading out to open sea to ride out a
storm is not a viable one, and in the days preceding the development of
sophisticated electronic positioning equipment, lack of sea room was a critical issue
for Lake skippers. These inland water bodies are also subject to pervasive heavy
fogs, which cause aggravated difficulties in narrow waterways. Many of the vessels
lying at the bottom of the Great Lakes came to grief on quiet water, victims of
shoals or collisions with other vessels in thick fog.

Additionally, air temperature variations are extreme. Portions of the upper Lakes
straits and waterways have frozen solid occasionally trapping entire fleets of vessels
for the remainder of winter.

It is understandable, therefore, the impulse of Great Lakes historians to focus on the
violence of the Lakes environment, if for no other reason than to ensure that the
uninitiated reader will grasp the fact that an inland body of water can hold the awe
and menace of an ocean.

A factor of equal importance in identifying the Lakes as a major maritime entity is
sheer socioeconomic intensity. By the end of the Nineteenth Century the Great
Lakes had more tonnage being moved from place to place and more vessels plying
each square mile of water area than all the rest of the United States, Atlantic and
Pacific seaboards combined. The Lakes vessels were, at their peak, also the most
prosperous ship tonnage in the world. Bulk freighters, for example, loaded and
unloaded quicker and moved a ton of cargo a mile for less cost than any other
vessels on earth (Ashburn 1925:81). It should also be noted that these superlatives
occurred in a season duration of 8 or 9 months a year.

Waves of immigrants filled the passenger vessels heading west. Ore from the
Misabi and other iron ranges surrounding Duluth comprised some of the largest bulk
freight shipments ever moved by man. Coal destined for the upper Lakes passed
the downbound shipments of iron. Grain flourished, faltered, and restarted at other
points in the Great Lakes region during the 50 years following the Civil War.

This small but environmentally severe and socioeconomically intense maritime
environment provided all the ingredients necessary for a high occurrence of
shipwrecks. Capital investment in the movement of these vessels was heavy, as
was the promise of high profits; factors that encouraged attempts at one more
voyage well after seasonal changes would indicate the rational decision to winter
in.

Demographic changes during the period of development of Lakes navigation
reflected the economic dynamics and what were to become the most densely
populated cities in the Nation began their almost exponential rate of growth in the
Nineteenth Century. The remainder of this chapter will be focused on the various
socioeconomic processes that influenced the development of shipping on the Great
Lakes. It will begin with general trends and narrow to the particulars of Great Lakes
maritime activity. Where appropriate, comparisons to western rivers, Atlantic, and
Pacific trades will be made to establish a meaningful context for understanding the
Great Lakes.

One may ask why such a discussion of socioeconomic context is relevant. The
collection of ships at Isle Royale was part of a complex cultural system. An
understanding of these shipwrecks could only be realized from a consideration of
the behavioral patterns and processes that were responsible for their existence, the
physical form, cargo and location of their demise. It is clear that the wrecks are not
totally random, although their specific loss resulted from an accident. These vessels
were parts of the large national economic, political, demographic structure
influenced by technological and ecological constraints. This chapter describes the
patterned behavior that surrounded and resulted in the collection of shipwrecks at
Isle Royale National Park. We see this discussion as a necessary step to the
eventual understanding and explanation of the collection of Great Lakes shipwrecks
and the cultural processes they represent.

Socioeconomic Processes Affecting Lakes Navigation

The American Revolution ended British mercantilism and unleashed the economic
potential of a new nation. The restrictive policies of mercantilism had been
designed to increase the wealth of Great Britain by controlling the market economy
of the colonies. The newly independent colonies could now enact policies that
would further their own interests.

Population and trade, both internal and foreign, grew rapidly, and transportation
needs expanded along with them. The interaction of watercraft with railroads,
canals and roads combined to form a national transportation system. Watercraft
offered the cheapest and, in many cases, the only means of transportation of raw
materials, goods and people. The changes in the number of commercial watercraft,
and in their form and function, reflected the trends of economic development.

Sectional differences in production and consumption appeared early in the
Nineteenth Century. The Northeast rapidly industrialized, forming a manufacturing

belt centering on New York that ultimately reached the Great Lakes and contained
65 percent of the manufacturing capacity for the country (Pred 1970:274).

The South developed a dependence on a few staple crops, and the West produced
the majority of agricultural products, transported down the Mississippi, for the other
regions. The Middle Atlantic and New England states developed financial structure
and marketing for foreign trade, as well as the shipping and ports.

The early south-northeast trade was primarily coastal, due to the Appalachian
Mountains, a formidable obstacle to the trade between the East Coast and the
interior. After penetration of the mountains, first by canals and later by railroads,
inter-regional trade shifted. Goods could go more directly between the West and
East. Regional specialization became more entrenched. The rise of East-West trade
was implemented by the Great Lakes and the canals connecting the East with the
Mississippi River system (North 1961:105).

The main early port cities were New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. After
the War of 1812, New York became the principal port and controlled both coastal
and European trade. Charleston and New Orleans became the primary southern
ports, as a result of the increasing focus on cotton production. Southern cotton
was the main export and foreign exchange after 1815 and into the 1830s and
1840s. Later, Western grain would supersede cotton in importance, a change
reflected in the shift of predominate vessel traffic from the western rivers to the
Great Lakes.

During the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, population growth in the U.S. was
primarily the result of the fecundity of the inhabitants. Immigration did not become
a significant contributor until about 1825, the year that the total immigrants passed
the 10,000 mark. The 20,000 mark was reached in 1828. Regular passenger service
was established on Lake Erie in 1830 (Havighurst 1944:124).

By 1832 there were 60,000 new immigrants, and in the decade of the 1840s, yearly
totals sometimes exceeded 100,000 even 200,000, with 369,000 immigrants entering
the country in 1850 (US Dept. of Commerce 1960:57). Before the Civil War, the
majority of the immigrants came from the countries of Ireland, Great Britain,
Germany and Scandinavia.

The shift in population distribution clearly represents a westward movement. In
1810, 54 percent of the population lived in the Northeast and 13 percent were in the
West. By 1860 the relative population in the Northeast was 36.5 percent, the West,
37.8 percent (North 1961:257).

Many immigrants stayed in the East, but the majority composed the great westward
expansion, at first into the contemporary Midwest areas surrounding the Lakes. The
United States population grew nearly eight-fold before the Civil War. Although
laborers comprised the largest single occupational category of immigrants, farmers,
skilled workers and merchants together formed the majority (US Dept. of Commerce
1960:60-61).

The immigrants brought capital, and agricultural and industrial skills, as well as an
economic and technological orientation, particularly newcomers from Great Britain,
which led the world in technology. The skilled and technologically sophisticated
immigrant was in large measure responsible for the predisposition of the United
States to accept, revise and rapidly transfer new technologies, whether of foreign or

national origin. In general, immigrants seeking American opportunities for
advancement were highly motivated and economically oriented.

There was sufficient land available for the new population influx. The land area of
the country had been nearly doubled by the Louisiana Purchase, which also gave the
U.S. control of the mouth of the Mississippi. The Florida territory was added in
1821, providing virtually complete control of the Mississippi. The acquisition of
Texas, the Oregon Territory, California and the Gadsden Purchase soon followed.
The continental U.S. land acquisition was completed during the 1850s.

The Midwest, particularly around the Great Lakes, was extremely productive under
European agricultural practices. New resources and raw materials became available
with the opening of each new territory. The demand of the swelling Western
populations fueled the industries of the manufacturing and capitalizing East, and
strengthened the developing market economy.

Eastern investment capital spread west. Economic growth was predicated on the
system of transportation and attracted eastern investments (see Neu 1953). The
economic potential of the rich farmlands and mineral deposits of the Midwest could
not be fully realized until it was possible to transport the products to market. The
canal system, begun with the opening of the Erie in 1825, was necessary for
exploitation of agricultural and mineral resources of the new country, along with the
growth of vessel transport and the development of the rail system.

The growing economy and the influx of immigrants quickly taxed the obsolete
transportation system. The War of 1812, with its naval blockade, prompted the
development of inland roads and private turnpikes in the absence of a federal road
system. However, the cost of moving materials over roads was very high. Water
transportation remained the primary mode of inland travel until the expansion of the
railroads and development of the automobile. This period is often referred to as the
Canal Age by historians.

Exploration usually followed river systems, and the first settlements and first
population centers were invariably near rivers and other bodies of water.
Agricultural expansion occurred in areas with access to waterways. This pattern is
still reflected today: of the 150 U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 or more, more
than 130 are directly served by the inland waterway system.

The Nineteenth Century can be characterized by rapid industrial growth and
expansion. By the end of the century, annual iron production exceeded 15 million
tons (US Dept. of Commerce 1960:365-6). Prior to the Civil War, the new acquired
territory and its settlement gave agriculture the major role in economic
development. After the war, industry came to be of greater importance to economic
growth. In 1860 more than 60 percent of the workers were engaged in agriculture,
but by 1910, it was reduced to 30 percent (Fite and Reese 1965:310).

The growth of the U.S. economy was not a steady incline, but a series of
fluctuations punctuated by booms and economic recessions, aptly termed "panics."
The principal panics, those of 1819, 1837, and particularly 1857, 1873 and 1893,
affected industrial production and population movements. Lakes navigation, like that
of the western rivers, coast and oceans, was altered significantly by each panic, as
well as by the general trends of economic growth.

Development of Inland Transportation

The Mississippi River system and Great Lakes became the primary inland routes of
commerce. The chain of Lakes formed a natural east-west route, and the
Mississippi River provided a north-to-south route. Because of the natural barrier of
the Appalachians, prior to mid-century agricultural products were shipped downriver
and transferred to coastal craft for delivery to the busy northeast ports. Agricultural
and raw materials moved eastward through the Great Lakes for distribution to the
North and East, and south through the Mississippi River system. Manufactured
goods moved west and south on these waterways from the populous manufacturing
centers of the East.

America led the world in the development of inland steam navigation, a
phenomenon largely a result of geographical conditions. Great Britain and Europe,
which lacked the extensive inland waterways but had accessible coastlines, lagged
behind in the application of steam to inland navigation, although they led in ocean
steam. Conversely, Great Britain utilized many more stationary steam engines for
motive power in manufacturing. America had the benefit of many flowing streams
and rivers appropriate for water-powered machinery.

River Steamboats: Prior to the advent of steam, there was only wind, current and
muscle to move the vessels of commerce. Smaller sailing vessels could enter the
mouths of the larger rivers and could meet the early post-Revolution transportation
needs. As the population moved across the Appalachian Mountains and into the
Ohio Valley, western river navigation became more important.

Boats could easily float down the inland rivers, taking advantage of the current, and
flatboats were one type specifically designed to do so. The downriver advantage
was offset by the necessity of relying on muscle power to ascend the great rivers
in keel boats.

The need and profit potential for vessels capable of upbound navigation on the
western rivers was realized early in the experimental stages of applying steam to
ships. Although the early experiments of steam navigation were carried out on the
eastern rivers near the more populated cities, they were directed toward developing
boats for western river navigation. The experiments of James Rumsey, John Fitch,
John Stevens, Oliver Evans and Robert Fulton were focused on western river
navigation.

As early as 1785 Rumsey wrote to George Washington regarding the feasibility of
upstream western river navigation. Evans recognized the potential of high-pressure
steam engines for western rivers, and worked on their refinement. The early steam
pioneers attempted to monopolize steam on the western rivers, but in 1817 all
monopoly claims to western river navigation were nullified.

Fulton reportedly designed CLERMONT for navigation on the Mississippi (from
contemporary newspaper account of the maiden voyage quoted in Hunter 1949:8).
The concept may have originated with his partner and financial supporter,
Chancellor Robert Livingston, who had been instrumental in the negotiation of the
Louisiana Purchase and had floated down the Mississippi. Fulton had written to
Livingston: "Whatever may be the fate of steamboats for the Hudson, everything is
completely proved for the Mississippi, and the object is immense" (Ibid.)

Western river steam navigation was initiated in 1811 with the maiden voyage of the
371-ton NEW ORLEANS from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. In the first year of
operation, the owners realized a $20,000 profit on an investment of $40,000 (Fite and
Reese 1965:190). The ascendency of the steamboat was rapid on the western rivers,
and by 1830 the steamboat was the dominant mode of transportation, a status that
remained unthreatened until the growth of railroads in the late 1850s.

The western river steamboat soon became a unique craft particularly well-adapted
to the seasonal environment of the rivers. Flat-bottomed, shallow draft and
powered by high-pressure steam, it soon lost any resemblance to eastern river
steamboats. The critical factors in the design of western river vessels were the
necessity for shallow draft, sediment and mineral-loaded feed water, maximum
reliability and quick handling, minimum machinery space, low fuel costs and low
first-cost because of short average use-life (Bryan 1896:387-8).

In 1842, total western river steam tonnage was 126,278 tons, a figure that would
double by 1846 (Abert 1848:12). The number of steamboats would increase to 557
in 1845 and 727 in 1855, the latter year representing a tonnage of 173,000 (Hunter
1949:33).

Unlike the western river vessels, which were equally adapted to both passengers
and freight, the eastern river steamboats were primarily passenger vessels, and
more closely reflected their heritage from CLERMONT. They retained a deep-draft
hull similar to sailing vessels, and the often palatial craft were invariably
low-pressure side-wheelers. Because of competition among steamboat lines, the
eastern vessels emphasized luxury and speed.

Many eastern steamboats were organized into more capitalized shipping lines that
maintained regular schedules of sailing, quite unlike the western river steamboats
that were mostly tramps, picking up passengers and cargo wherever possible, and
keeping quite irregular schedules, if any at all. Most western river vessels were
owned by individuals or small partnerships.

The development of steam navigation on the Great Lakes was not nearly as rapid as
on western rivers. The use of sail was much more advantageous on the Lakes, a
factor that retarded the adoption of steam navigation in the region.

Canals: The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 was the initiation of the American
canal building effort. The construction of the 363-mile Erie Canal from Albany to
Buffalo was begun in 1818. The original canal measured 4 feet deep and 28 feet
wide at the bottom.

The canal was an immediate economic success. The cost for transporting a ton of
freight from Buffalo to Albany dropped from $90.00 to less than $8.00, including toll
charges. In the first year of operation, $750,000 in tolls were collected (Fite and
Reese 1965:193).

The western terminus of the canal was Buffalo, which was victorious over the
village of Black Rock for the honor (Hatcher 1945). Soon other canals were dug in
Pennsylvania and through Ohio to link Lake Erie with the Ohio River. Toledo,
Cleveland and Detroit became important port cities and grew rapidly as a result of
the increased commerce from the canal. Along with the commerce, capital moved
west. New York businessmen sent representatives to the western cities, particularly

Detroit. The cooperative association between the growing western markets and
New York City secured its the status as the primary eastern port in North America.

The Erie Canal shifted the principal routes of the immigrants northward from the
western rivers. More than half of the arriving immigrants traveled through the
newly completed Erie Canal on their way west (Mansfield:1:1899:183-4). By 1836
there were 3,000 canal boats operating on the Erie Canal in the lucrative immigrant
passenger business (Havighurst 1944:127).

There were 4,027 miles of canals built in the United States by 1840, almost half in
New York and Pennsylvania, (computed from Tanner 1840:223-234). Most canals
were built in the 1830s, but their total mileage (reached in 1851) was eclipsed by
the construction of railroads, which reached 5,132 miles by 1840 (Ibid).

Railroads: From a historical perspective, the growth of railroads in America was not
systematic, but a seemingly haphazard linkage of towns and production centers with
waterways. At first, the railroads were welcomed by those with vested interests in
shipping, but as the rail system grew, the competitive transportation threat was
realized. Rail transportation was not competitive in cost, but had the advantages of
speed, reliable schedules, direct routes and, especially, year-round operation. These
attributes, coupled with trans-shipment between lines, specialization of freight and
passenger express lines, government subsidies and the formation of large
corporations, cut deeply into the canal and river commerce.

Railroad mileage expanded rapidly after 1840. By 1860 there were more than 30,000
miles of tracks operational; that amount tripled by 1880; ten years later there were
more than 200,000 miles of track in operation (US Bureau of the Census 1960:427).

The mid-century railroads came into direct competition with the western river
steamboat. Rail lines extending south from Lake Erie ports shifted passenger and
freight from the western river-coastal route. Soon the railroads connected the
major riverport cities of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and the competition
became direct with the mainline steamboat.

The western river steamboats lost in the competition with the railroads, and was

only able to temporarily maintain or increase business in the far West and

northwest territories. The situation was somewhat different in the East and on the
Great Lakes.

In some areas (for example, Long Island Sound), steamboats were able to increase
business when they managed to connect with major railroads. Steamboat
passenger lines, especially those owned by railroad companies, continued to grow
until the advent of private transportation in the form of the automobile. On the
Lakes, the ability to move bulk freight at a cost far below the railroads has allowed
the continued existence of waterborne transportation to the present.

Growth of Great Lakes Navigation

Early Lakes navigation can be divided into stages marked by the completion of two
important canals: the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the opening of the St.
Marys Falls Canal at Sault Ste. Marie in 1855. Both had tremendous impact on Great
Lakes navigation and initiated new stages of regional growth.

The Erie Canal opened the western lands for migration, and marked the end of the
exploration and fur trade that was characteristic of the earliest period. Populations
and development spread west, and followed a similar pattern for each Lake. The
Sault Ste. Marie Canal gave ready access to the area around Lake Superior and
opened the entire Great Lakes system to navigation.

The early period of the eastern Lakes was devoted to the fur trade. Trade with the
Indians and shipment of supplies to the remote military posts on the frontier
became important elements of commerce after the War of 1812.

The opening of the Erie Canal brought large numbers of immigrants and additional
commercial trade to support the westward expansion. The new canal had the effect
of shifting the main transportation route north from the Ohio River. Detroit and
Buffalo became principal ports; Chicago was a developing outpost. In 1830 the
articles of shipment to Buffalo were corn, fish, furs, whiskey, lumber and shingles
with return cargos of merchandise and passengers. Small cargos of flour, whiskey,
beef and merchandise were transported to the far Western port of Chicago
(Mansfield 1899:1:182-3).

Michigan's development did not begin until after the opening of the Erie Canal. By
1836 there were about 3,000 canal boats in operation carrying the growing numbers
of immigrants. The Black Hawk War of 1832 ended the Indian threat and brought
knowledge of the rich soil of northern Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Speculation
fueled the land boom in progress. Chicago became a growing commercial port
serving the new territories; its population grew from 150 to 2,000 in 1832. Twenty
thousand passed through town the same year on their way into Illinois. In 1835,
255 sailing ships arrived in Chicago; a thousand schooners and 990 steamer arrivals
were recorded for Cleveland the next year. Chicago and Toledo were incorporated
in 1837; Chicago had a population of 8,000 and Detroit had 10,000 (Hatcher
1944:207).

The vessels prior to 1816 were all sail craft, locally built on the shores of Ontario
and Erie. The number of sailing vessels grew yearly to meet demands of the
growing trade. Steamboats had proven reliable on the western rivers and the
Hudson, and in both cases the cost of passage and shipping had been reduced. The
advantages of steam were realized, and both Canadians and Americans began the
construction of steamboats for service on Lake Ontario.

Steam navigation on the Lakes was initiated in 1816 by the Canadians, closely
followed by the Americans. In 1820 there were only four steamers on the Lakes
compared with 71 on the western rivers and 52 on the Atlantic. By 1830 there were
296 western river steamboats, 183 eastern river steamers and only 11 Lake
steamboats in operation (Purdy 1880:5). In the summer of 1833, those 11 Lake
steamboats carried 61,000 passengers west (Mansfield 1899:1:185,394).

The first two steamboats were built by groups of merchants in partnership. The
third vessel, WALK-IN-THE-WATER, was built by the newly formed Lake Erie
Steamboat Company of Buffalo in n818 (Hatcher 1944:178).

The formation of a company with the capital and means for steamboat construction
and operation represents the organizational form that steam navigation would take
on the Lakes. Most sailing vessels, considerably cheaper to build and operate, were
owned by single owners or a very few partners The eastern river steamboats were
owned by corporations, and were organized early into transportation lines,

supported by the investment of eastern capital. This is in contrast to vessel
operation on the western rivers, where ownership patterns resembled the ownership
of sail vessel on the Lakes — single owners or limited partnerships.

The concentration of capital and the power it represented markedly affected the
development of Lakes navigation, particularly in obtaining government subsidies for
navigation improvement. The American canal-building era resulted directly from
corporate interests obtaining government support for continued navigation and
harbor improvements, on a scale that would be impossible by any other means.
Continued navigation improvements reduced risk and allowed the use of ever larger
vessels that could benefit from the economies of scale, reducing transportation
costs and boosting profits.

The Canadians were similarly organized in business corporations. They observed
that the Erie Canal would draw trade from their St. Lawrence River ports, particularly
Montreal, to New York. Before the completion of the Erie Canal, the Welland Canal
Company was formed, and construction was begun on the canal around Niagara
Falls. The completion of the Welland Canal in 1829 brought about the development
of the first vessels specifically designed for the limitations of the Great Lakes: the
canallers -- sailing ships built to pass through the canal locks.

The first Great Lakes steam vessels were influenced in a more direct way by Eastern
steamship developments. The early Lake steamers were constructed by Eastern
builders; again, the result of capital and expertise being centered in New York. For
example, Noah Brown of New York was responsible for the design and construction
of WALK-IN-THE-WATER (Walker 1902:315; Hatcher 1944:178). FRONTENAC, the first
steamer on the Lakes, was built by two ship carpenters from Long Island
(Cuthbertson 1931:215). A number of the early steamboats for the Lakes were built
at Sacketts Harbor, New York; for example, ONTARIO 1817, SOPHIA 1818, and QUEEN
CHARLOTTE 1818 (Croil 1898:248-9).

The success of the Erie and Welland Canals and the explosive growth of trade
prompted the construction of other canals. By 1848 there were seven major outlets
available to the Great Lakes, six of which tapped into Lake Erie (Hatcher 1944:190).
The port cities of Lake Erie became centers of commerce tying the expanding west
to the industrial east.

In mid-century the railroads came into importance. Buffalo became a rail center
greatly augmenting its position as a prime port. Fourteen freight and 300 passenger
trains entered and left the lake port every 24 hours; Buffalo's population grew from
42,000 to 74,000 between 1850 and 1855 (Hatcher 1944:231). At first, most railroads
were not in direct competition with vessels and served as connecting lines for
passenger steamers. However, some railroads went into the steamship business to
capitalize on the growing demand for passenger vessels. Package freight commerce
on the Lakes was taken over by the rail companies, who ultimately owned almost all
the package freighters (Ericson 1962:15).

The 1850s represented a high-point in passenger steamboat development on the
Lakes. The growing demand supported 3 lines of steamboats between Buffalo and
Chicago operating 16 steamboats (side-wheelers) and 20 propellers (Mills
1910:123,145). The completion of east-west trunk line railroads cut deeply into the
passenger trade, and the appearance of screw freighters, which were cheaper to
operate and build, cut into the freight business (Mansfield:1:190-191).

Later, the railroads, unhampered by the seasonality of the Lakes, cut deeper yet into
the freight trade and precipitated a general decline in Lakes navigation that was only
relieved by the opening of the Sault canal. Railroad tonnage carried was about
equal to that carried eastward on the Erie Canal in the late 1850s, but it was much
more valuable. The railroads tended to carry the more valuable commerce leaving
the heavier and bulkier products for the Lake and canal carriers.

An example of the tendency for rails to cut disproportionately into the more
valuable cargos is Chicago, which had both railroads and Lakers available for
transportation. The 1859 Chicago data indicate that corn, wheat, and lead moved
predominantly by water, whereas hides, livestock, and general merchandise moved
by rail (Taylor 1951:167).

The exploration and, soon, the population pushed farther westward. The canal
system had opened the whole of the Great Lakes to navigation, except for Lake
Superior. The falls in the Saint Mary's River blocked vessel access.

Growth of Lake Superior Navigation

Resource extraction was a prime motivating factor in European incursion into the
Lake Superior area, as it was into the Great Lakes region in general. The economic
development and exploitation of the Lake Superior region lagged behind the other
Lakes, retarded primarily by the St. Marys Falls at Sault Ste. Marie, which impeded
navigation into the lake. There were only two options for operating a vessel on
Lake Superior: portage around the falls or construction on the lake.

Earliest commerce revolved around the fur trade. The panic of 1837 brought about
a contraction in economic activity that seriously debilitated the fur and fishing
trades. The American Fur Company failed in 1842 (Nute 1944:180), ending the early
period of commerce of the region.

The discovery of copper in 1843, 1844 and 1845 generated increased interest in the
Lake Superior region. Most navigation on the lake prior to this time, except for six
schooners, was conducted in birch bark canoes, bateaux, or Mackinaw boats.

Prior to the start of construction on the locks around the St. Mary's River Falls at
Sault Ste. Marie, 15 vessels had been laboriously hauled across the overland
portage. Their total displacement was 3,000 tons, and apparently all were eventually
wrecked (Havighurst 1944:165).

Although side-wheel steamers began plying the lower Lakes in 1816 with the launch
of FRONTENAC, it was not until 1845 that the first steamer appeared on Lake
Superior (Mansfield 1899:1:197; Barry 1973:38). The propeller INDEPENDENCE, rigged
as a fore-and-aft schooner, was hauled over the portage at Sault Ste. Marie to meet
the increasing demand for passenger service resulting from the mineral discoveries.
In 1846 the side-wheeler JULIA PALMER was also brought over the portage, and
became the first steamer to ply the North Shore (Croil 1898:257).

The question of a canal at Sault Ste. Marie was raised even before the time of the
copper discoveries. The financial success of the Erie and Welland Canals, and the
growing canal system in the East piqued the interest of the commercial firms of the
new state of Michigan. The opening of the Sault Canal in 1855 initiated large scale
navigation and exploitation of the Lake Superior region.

As originally proposed in 1837, the lock of the canal would be 100 feet long, 32 feet
wide by 10 feet deep (Williams 1907:118). Much discussion surrounded the ideal
size for the system. In April 1855, when the work on the canal and locks was
completed, the final measurements were: 100 feet wide at the water surface, 64 feet
wide at the bottom, with a depth of 13 feet. The locks were 70 feet wide, 12 feet
deep, and 350 feet long (Mansfield 1899:1:243; Williams 1907:133). The canal was
deepened in 1870 to 16 feet. In 1881, the sides were straightened and a single lock
installed measuring 515 x 80 feet. Further growth in commerce demanded more
improvements, and in August 1886 the new canal was opened with 21 feet of depth
and a lock 800 feet by 100 feet (Mansfield 1899:1:244).

By 1887, it was apparent that the Sault Canal, even with its many improvements,
was not sufficient for shipping demands. Vessels often had to wait 12 to 36 hours
to pass through. In 1895, the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie Canal, with a lock size of
900 feet by 60 feet and 22 feet deep, was opened. The first vessels through were
American (Mansfield 1899:1:244). The U.S. canal and lock alterations and
introduction of the Canadian canal are indications of the rapid growth of commerce
and shipping in the Lake Superior region.

The establishment and improvements of Lake Superior ports also reflect the rapid
development of regional commerce. The nature and extent of the trades of each
harbor affect the establishment of routes and the characteristics of vessels engaged
in those trades in certain areas of the lake. Analysis of data such as these can lead
to the understanding of the socioeconomic factors that influence specific wreck
depositions over time, leading to the development of a predictive model for
shipwreck location (see Hulse 1981).

Pattern of Harbor Establishment and Develppment: Some of the principal harbors of
Lake Superior and their development as noted by Mansfield (1899:1:354-364) and
others follow. The pattern of development and the increasing scale of growth and
decline closely reflect the trends of Lake Superior commerce and demographic
shifts. The dates the harbors formed and entered into the transportation network of
Lake Superior and the nature and extent of shipping are key factors for the
generation of a predictive model of the nature and locations of shipwrecks.

Marquette: Primarily involved with iron ore since the 1840s, the port was
developed to transport ore from the Marquette Range, the oldest on Lake Superior.
Iron Mountain Railroad was completed from the mines to the harbor in 1856. In the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1872, there were 390 arrivals of vessels at the port with
a tonnage of 185,000; by 1896 more than 1,032 vessels arrived with a tonnage of
793,092, which generally indicates imported coal. There were 2,292,556 tons of iron
ore exported from this port in 1897, with the total shipped consistently above 3
million tons well into the 1940s. Marquette is the third largest city on Lake Superior
(Skillings Mining Review, Duluth Aug. 20, 1949).

Ashland: Established 1854, little activity occurred until the 1870s. Increased
from 898 arrivals with 1,400,000 tons of cargo in 1887 to 5,164 arrivals with a cargo
tonnage of 2.4 million in 1896. Ashland exported 1.5 million tons of iron ore that
year. Very little activity since World War II.

Duluth: A main port of Lake Superior settled in 1854, it became a port of
entry in 1871. Prior to completion of the Lake Superior Railroad, the population was
100. Four years after completion of the railroad, the population reached 4,000. The
principal exports were grain and iron ore. The first ore docks were completed in

1893. In 1897 the harbor received 885,623 tons (more than half was coal), and
shipped out 2.3 million tons of ore, 1 million tons of flour and grain, and 454,000
tons of lumber. By the turn of the twentieth century, Duluth would rank as one of
the major ports of the world in terms of tonnage handled. By 1913 it ranked second
only to New York, a position it would hold for decades (Hall 1976:99). The
combined ports of Duluth-Superior are included in the top ten in the US in terms of
tonnage handled.

Superior: Settled in 1853; its first ore docks were completed in 1892.
Unified with Duluth in 1896. Had traffic of 8.4 million aggregate tons in 1897.

Two Harbors: One of the largest ore ports on Lake Superior, and the first in
Minnesota. Opened in 1864, natural harbor dredged in 1886. Growth from 174
vessels arriving with aggregate tonnage of 295,800 in 1885 to the 1897 total of
2,064 vessels with 6.2 million tons. First steel ore dock on the Lakes built in 1909
with a storage capacity of 44,000 tons. Peak ore record was 1953 when more than
21 million tons of ore were shipped. The harbor declined after that period.
Three-quarters of a billion tons of ore shipped through this harbor from the Mesabi
Range in its 100 years of operation (King 1984:1-4). Considerable forest products
shipped between 1904-1931. Depletion of high grade ore shut down port in 1963
(US Army Corps of Engineers 1975:11).

Port Arthur: Most important Canadian port on Superior, and known as the
Canadian Lakehead. Terminal for Canadian Pacific Railroad. Exporter of lumber,
grain, and later, iron ore. The first grain was shipped in 1883. Combined with Fort
William in 1906. The port now contains the largest water shipping grain elevator in
the world. Canadian Pacific has one of the largest coal docks in the world. In the
early 1970s and average of 3 million tons of cargo handled a month, making it the
largest of all Canadian ports (Hatcher and Walter 1963:154).

Iron ore shipping began at Port Arthur after the discovery of the Steep Rock Mine.
Mining operations began in 1942 (Nute 1944:155-6).

As the ports of Lake Superior developed, they influenced the routes of the various
types of vessels carrying certain cargos. The main commerce on Lake Superior was
the transportation of passengers, grain, iron ore, coal, package freight and lumber.
As each of the trades expanded, larger vessels were produced to accommodate that
growth commensurate with physical navigation limitations.

At the turn of the century, there was more freight being carried on the Great Lakes
in an 8-month season than all other nations combined using the Suez canal in 12
months (Curwood 1909:13). The development of the trades that made up the bulk
of Great Lakes freight will be briefly discussed, before presenting a general view of
the growth of navigation.

Principal Products in Lake Superior Navigation: Lake Superior experienced a
tremendous growth of commerce beginning with the opening of the Sault Canal.
One of the most remarkable aspects of overall Great Lakes navigation is the
increasing percentage of the total commerce that Lake Superior navigation
represented. In 1870 Lake Superior shipping tonnage was about 6 percent of the
total for the Great Lakes; by 1911 it was more than 55 percent (Williamson
1977:179). The majority of Lake Superior's tonnage is represented by iron ore,
always making up two-thirds of the total tonnage, and sometimes 90 percent.

Iron Ore: The first major shipments began in 1856 from Marquette to Ohio
(Mansfield 1899:1:584). By 1899 iron ore comprised 1/3 of all the trade on the Great
Lakes. By 1911 iron ore shipments comprised more than 50 percent of the
commerce on the Great Lakes (Williamson 1977:175). This tremendous growth of
percentage took place as the overall trade on the Lakes swelled from 6 million tons
in 1870 to more than 80 million in 1911 — a growth of 1300 percent.

Experiments in producing pig iron in the Superior region were unsuccessful.
Companies attempting to manufacture iron failed to produce the expected profits.
The rapidly disappearing hardwoods necessary for the production of charcoal iron
were a major factor in the failure. Coke, a coal product, became the fuel for iron
production, making it cheaper to move the ore to the blast furnaces and
manufacturing centers in the East, rather than build furnaces in the iron ore regions
and transfer the coke to them (Hatcher 1950:96-105).

Four major ranges were opened up in the Superior region from 1854 to 1884. The
demand for the ore was from the iron and steel mills in the East, and the cheapest
transportation was over water. From the opening of the Sault Canal to 1930, more
than 150 billion tons of ore were sent down the Lakes from the Superior ranges.

The increased volumes resulting from improvements in mining techniques and the
refinement of shore facilities around 1880 put mounting pressure on shipping
capabilities. These pressures, coupled with the progress of ship design, materials,
and building techniques led to the launch of the iron, lake-built ONOKO in 1882.
This vessel incorporated some of the attributes of the wooden R.J. HACKETT, which
had been built in 1869 for the ore trade and dimensioned to the contemporary Sault
locks, as well as to the ore docks at Marquette.

The basic characteristics of the Lake bulk-freighter were full body (high
block-coefficient), high ratio of length to breadth, clear decks with hatches spaced
to align with loading docks, and deck structures only on the bow and stern. The
bulk carrier continued to increase in size as the demand for ore grew, the navigation
channels deepened, the locks enlarged, and the shore facilities were refined to
handle the immense quantities of ore pouring down the Lakes from Superior.

Ownership and utilization of the ore carriers is best characterized as that of
increasing concentration of capital, particularly involving eastern financiers.
Beginning in the 1880s, mergers consolidated interests into large corporate
organizations that absorbed smaller firms, or simply put them out of business. The
Panic of 1893 helped to eliminate the smaller corporations. Ore, pig iron, coal and
limestone transportation and production became interlinked.

Political power was wielded from both a corporate and personal position by
company executive officers. Company officials were active in government on a
national and state level. Ultimately, the varied interests of Carnegie and Rockefeller,
including the fleets of ships used for ore transport, consolidated under U.S. Steel in
1901, which directly controlled over half of the known iron or-e resources in the
United States (Hatcher 1950:181).

The formation of company-owned fleets of freighters, begun by the
Rockefeller-owned Bessemer fleet in 1895, altered the social organization aboard the
ships. The captain, once master of the ship in every way, became a company
employee answerable to managers for all details of operation from strict schedules
to fuel consumption. The old tradition of hiring crews for each voyage was

replaced with inducements to motivate and maintain a permanent crew. Captains
were shuffled from boat to boat, and all the crew was hired by the company
(Hoagland 1917:24-26, 40). The days of owner-operator shipmasters and vagabond
crews on the Lakes was over in the bulk freighter business in the last decade of the
Nineteenth Century.

The contribution to the total U.S. production of iron ore from the Great Lakes grew
from 5 percent in 1860 (Mansfield 1899:1:566) to almost twice as much as all the
other parts of the country combined in less than 15 years (Tunell 1898:63). 3

The rapid increases of the iron ore and grain commerce of the Lake Superior region
created the need to handle both cargo types quickly. In the early period the cargo
was loaded and unloaded by hand with buckets. The advent of grain elevators
speeded the process for grain, and special loading docks and unloading equipment
did the same for ore.

Ore docks developed unprecedented loading and unloading capabilities in the Great
Lakes region. Elevated tramways that took advantage of the cliffs on the south
shore of Superior were used for loading ore at Marquette in 1858. The size of the
"pocket" docks continued to grow until the Northern Docks at Superior in the
twentieth century had 1,352 pockets capable of loading 16 600-foot vessels
simultaneously.

Prior to the application of steam, all unloading of ore was done by hand, a process
that took a week for a cargo of 300 tons. Unloading technology development began
with the use of steam winches in 1867. In 1880 the first improvements appeared.
A movable tram was put in operation by Brown that allowed the unloader to move
along the dock to work above the hatches without moving the ore boat. Self-filling
grab buckets soon appeared and design modifications quickly followed until 1899
when the first Hulett unloaders were installed on the Conneaut docks by Carnegie
Steel Company. The Hulett unloaders were rigid affairs that significantly reduced
the interior hull damage of the earlier cable operated grab buckets.

The rigid Hulett design became the standard, and they soon began to grow in size,
influencing bulk ore carrier hull design. The first Huletts were steam operated and
carried 5-ton buckets. These would grow to the contemporary 50-ton unloaders.
Soon after the Huletts were adopted the 540-foot, 30-hatch ore boats appeared.
These vessels had no interior stanchions or bulkheads, and hatches on 12-foot
centers to match the ore dock spouts (Burke 1975:275). The result was that a
vessel of these dimensions could discharge 10,000 tons of ore in 4 1/2 hours, or
less. An ore unloading record was established in 1930 when WM. G. McCONAGLE
discharged 11,445 gross tons of ore at the Pittsburgh and Conneaut Dock in 2 hours
and 20 minutes (U.S. Board of Engineers 1930:30).

Ore loading capabilities of the Superior ports developed similar capabilities as the
unloading docks of the lower Lakes. The Lake steamer D.G. KERR on September 7,
1921 loaded 12,508 tons of ore in 16 1/2 minutes at the Duluth and Iron Range
Railroad ore dock at Two Harbors. This was a rate of 758 tons a minute (U.S. Board
of Engineers 1930:29).

Coal Trade: Coal was an upbound cargo imported into the Superior region.
The mineral was brought into the major ports by vessels that received grain or iron
ore for the downbound journey. Duluth and Superior were primary ports for the
regional distribution of coal for the West and Northwest in the late 1890s (Mansfield

1899:1:551). The first shipments of coal arrived in Duluth in 1871 (Hutchinson
1914:282). Most of the coal, approximately 80 percent, was shipped out of Lake Erie
Ports, with Toledo the major exporter. Coal as the upbound cargo contributed
significantly to the early financial success of the large bulk freighter system on the
Lakes.

There was a demand for coal in any of the population centers or ports for use as
fuel for homes, industry and steam vessels by the early 1850s (Buffalo Morning
Express March 2, 1852). Wood was the chief fuel in the early period of development
for the region. Movement of coal through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal in 1855 was
1414 tons; in 1875 100,000 tons; 1,000,000 in 1886; 10 million in 1898 (Mansfield
1899:1:547) to more than 20 million tons by 1911 (Williamson 1977:178).

Coal, like iron ore, was handled in quantities that soon demanded automation.
Bituminous coal is easily broken and must be loaded more carefully than ore. Hulett
railroad dumpers appeared in 1892. These and later revisions such as telescoping
chutes were used to keep breakage at a minimum.

Prior to 1876 coal was unloaded by horse operated bucket lifts. A vessel carrying
500 tons or so took about a week to unload. Tramways and, later, clamshells were
introduced in the late 1890s, and electric power was introduced in 1901 at the
Lakehead. The electric clamshell system could unload a 5,000-ton boat in 10 hours
in 1902 (Hutchinson 1914:297-303). By 1928, the coal unloading record had halved:
The ELBERT H. GRAY discharged 9,336 tons of bituminous coal at the Duluth,
Missabe and Northern Dock in 6 hours and 5 minutes (U.S. Board of Engineers
1930:30).

Grain: The opening of the Erie Canal made grain transportation practical.
The earliest traffic in grain on the Great Lakes was westward. The demand resulted
from a rapidly increasing population and a growing foreign export market. Soon
after the opening of the Erie Canal, principal grain movement shifted as Western
agriculture developed. By 1835 all the grain arriving at Buffalo was from Ohio, and
amounted to 112,000 bushels (Mansfield 1899:1:526).

After the development of grain cultivation in the new territories, the eastward flow
of grain increased to meet the demand from the rapidly growing and industrializing
East. The production of wheat began in the Superior region as the grain belt of the
country moved toward the Northwest (Tunell 1898:41). After 1848 corn became
more important. By 1860, Chicago export of grain totaled about 3/4 of the output of
the top seven ports of Europe (Mansfield 1899:1:530). By 1871, the 10 states
bordering the Great Lakes produced more than half of the grain crop of the U.S.
(Andrews 1910:11).

The principal grain ports were Buffalo, Chicago, and Duluth-Superior. In both
receipts and shipping, Chicago was far in advance of the others. Duluth-Superior
was ranked second in amount shipped, and third in amount received (Andrews
1910:15).

The initiation of grain commerce occurred on Lake Superior about 1870. The total
shipped eastward from the Lakehead that year was 49,700 bushels (Andrews
1910:34). Duluth became a grain depot, with its first elevator constructed in 1870,
the second in 1872.

The Northern Pacific Railway reached 150 miles west of Duluth, and in 1878 the
prairie market began delivering grain for eastward shipment from Duluth-Superior.
By 1881, the grain trade of Duluth compared favorably to the long-established
market of Chicago, which at the time had a population of a half-million more people
(Hall 1976:67-68).

Grain shipments from the Superior ports reached 124 million bushels by 1905. From
1905-1909, shipments through the Sault Canal increased from 176 million to 192
million bushels (Andrews 1910:35). Two million bushels of grain, if all wheat, would
produce about 12 billion 1-pound loaves of bread (Curwood 1909:50).

Canadian grain production grew as a result of westward expansion. After railroad
connections were established, Canada shipped its grain through the Duluth-Superior
Harbor; there was not an important port on the Canadian side until the Canadian
railroad connection between Winnipeg and Port Arthur resulted in the creation of a
harbor. From 1883 to 1920 Port Arthur and Ft. Williams were the main grain- and
flour-shipping cities for the Canadian trade.

Grain commerce through St. Mary's Falls Canal at Sault Ste. Marie expanded from
353,777 bushels in 1870 to 88,418,380 bushels in 1898 (Mansfield 1899:1:193). By
1911 grain had declined from 25 percent of the total tonnage on the Lakes in 1870,
to about 10 percent. The value of the shipped grain and flour amounted to 25-37
percent of the total value during 1901-1910 (Williamson 1977:175; Andrews 1910:35).

Lumber: The lumber trades moved westward in a similar manner to grain
production. The exploitable forests of the eastern Lakes territory were cleared in
the 1870s, and commerce soon became reliant on those of the Superior region. The
Duluth area became a mainstay in the 1890s, at the same time Canadian exports
were rising.

The Chicago receipts of lumber moved by lake carrier indicate about one billion
board feet a year from 1868 to 1897. During this period, rail receipts were rarely
half the Lake total (Mansfield 1899:1:521).

The lumber trade entered a general decline in the 1880s as a result of the depletion
of forests. The railroads became more competitive as the exhaustion of desirable
timber close to the lake shores and logging streams progressed, and it became
necessary to push farther into the interior to reach exploitable stands of timber. In
1891 rail and lake shipments out of Michigan were about equal for the first time
(Mansfield 1899:1:519). The same general pattern of development continued to
move west. Many people involved in the Lakes' lumber trade moved to the Pacific
Northwest and continued much as they had done in the Lakes region.

The unique practice of towing vessels developed in Lakes navigation as a result of
the lumber trade. Small vessels predominated in the trade because they could
navigate farther up the rivers than the larger craft. The move to towing barges was
influenced by the falling freight rates after the 1873 panic. A Chicago city ordinance
of 1875 requiring noncombustible materials for building, a result of the disastrous
fire of 1871, further reduced lumber demand and freight rates. Railway competition
was also instrumental in reducing freight rates (Gjerset 1928:88-93).

The falling freight rates made the general competitive disadvantages of sail apparent
and heralded the demise of sail on the Lakes. Small schooners operating singly

were not profitable, but three or four vessels towed by a steamer were. Many older
schooners were transformed into barges by cutting down the masts and removing
the bowsprit. They were taken into the lumber trade.

These barges were towed by a side-wheel tug, replaced in the later 1870s by a
propeller, called a steam barge, which also carried a cargo (see Tuttle 1873). The
towed barge system, which came to be known as the "consort system," was
developed by John S. Noyes, of Buffalo, in 1861 (Mansfield 1899:1:520) and was
common in the bulk and lumber trades on the Lakes in the 1870s and 1880s. The
practice of multiple barges powered by a single steamer appeared in the coal trade
on the Mississippi River about the same time (Hunter 1949:210). They were called
tows, but were actually pushed.

Towing vanished on the Lakes when navigation, progressive shipbuilding technology,
and advanced loading and unloading machinery in the bulk trades made larger
vessels more profitable. A large cargo could produce a profit even with low rates,
since a larger freighter could be unloaded or loaded and underway while a smaller
propeller waited for its consorts to be handled.

The south shore of Superior was logged principally between 1880 and 1900, the
north shore in the 1890s, with the last major shipments leaving in 1924. Shipments
out of Duluth fell from 174 million board feet in 1894 to 11 million in 1924, when
only one mill was operating (Nute 1944:195, 201). Between the years of 1870 and
1911, the annual percentage of the total commerce moved on the Great Lakes
represented by lumber fell from over 50 percent to 3 percent (Williamson 1977:175).

A perspective of the immense quantity of lumber that was removed from the Great
Lakes region can be gained from a consideration of the 1.5 billion board feet that
was carried by lake ships in the 1909 season. Assuming it takes about 20,000 board
feet of lumber to make an eight-room house, the total 1909 cargo could have built
75,000 houses, enough for a city of about 400,000 people, roughly the population of
Detroit at that time (Curwood 1909:48).

Passenger Service and Package Freight: The rapid migration west to the Superior
region began soon after the mineral discoveries of 1843 and 1844. The population
of Michigan increased from 31,639 to 212,269 between 1830 and 1840, then nearly
doubled by 1850. The population growth of Wisconsin paralleled that of Michigan a
decade later (Havighurst 1944:129), and created a keen demand for freight and
passenger service.

The introduction of packet line systems in the trans-Atlantic trade was an
innovation that affected most American vessel organizations. There had previously
been ships that sailed a specific route but followed no set schedule. The operation
of ships on definite routes and preset schedules was initiated in the Atlantic trade
soon after the War of 1812, closely followed by the Hudson River and Long Island
Sound steamboats. The dependable schedules were a boon to shippers and
passengers alike (see Albion 1938).

Increasing demand for passage instigated the steady increase in size and numbers
of side-wheel passenger steamers. After the initial surge of immigrants, the
demand for first-class accommodations grew. The 1840s and 1850s were
particularly good for the passenger trade, and Great Lakes passenger traffic in 1845
was about 250,000 (Mansfield 1899:1:188-189).

In the 1850s, railroad construction grew competitive with steamers, as railroad
companies began to buy vessels and enter into the steamship business. The
railroad steamers were palatial, representing a new era in passenger service; some
vessels reached 2,000 tons. The era was short-lived, however. The Panic of 1857
and the depression following it curtailed luxury travel, and many of the larger
side-wheelers were permanently docked (Havighurst 1944:232).

The high point of passenger travel of the 1840s and 1850s was not approached
again until the 1870s and 1880s. Buffalo was a pioneer in the reintroduction of the
short-run passenger vessel, while the Canadians led in the recovery of the long-run
trade.

As in the early era, railroad companies were the capital formation under which the
luxury steamship prospered. Northern Steamship Company, Canada Steamship Lines,
and the Canadian Pacific Railway were particularly notable in their introduction of
ocean-going type vessels in the long distance runs. The newer vessels were not
side-wheelers, but propellers of iron and steel, although there were a few large
side-wheelers built after the turn of the century. As the railroad and automobile,
and later the airplane, siphoned off passengers from the longer distance passenger
service, the trade was reduced to short-run excursions. Lake Erie was the last Lake
to have significant passenger traffic.

Package freight, a term that may be peculiar to the Great Lakes, is used to
differentiate general merchandise from bulk cargos. In the early periods vessels
carried both package freight and passengers, and those specializing in either were
often owned by the same companies. Later, the passenger trade was secondary to
the package freight business.

The primary flow of freight traffic was east-west. The primary eastern ports were
Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit; the western termini were Chicago, Milwaukee and
Duluth-Superior. The majority of the freight was eastbound, consisting primarily of
agricultural products, particularly flour.

Railroad companies usually dominated the package freight business. The
Pennsylvania Railroad led the way by acquiring the control of the Anchor Line, the
largest package freight line on the Lakes. By World War I, railroads controlled all
major lines. The Interstate Commerce Commission forced a reorganization of the
package freight lines in 1916, and made the rail companies divest their holdings of
Great Lakes vessels. A new company was formed, the Great Lakes Transit
Corporation, which controlled 85 percent of the passenger and package freight on
the Great Lakes (Ibid. 1960:9-13).

1934, a depression year, was the first year the package freight lines suffered a
deficit. The start of World War II marks the end of the package freight fleet on the
Great Lakes (Fletcher 1960:30-31). The National Park Service vessel RANGER III is
the last package freighter operating on the Lakes.

Basic Trends: There are two basic trends that are apparent in Great Lakes
navigation. Although there was a wide range of commodities carried by Great Lakes
ships over time, the general tendency was an overall decrease in the number of
commodities being shipped by the end of the century. The second general trend
was the growth in importance of bulk products.

The ranking of relative importance of bulk products shifted over time. Prior to the
1880s, lumber comprised the largest bulk cargo on the Lakes, with grain a close
second. By the 1890s, iron ore had assumed primacy over all other bulk products.
As iron ore became the dominant cargo, a shift in the northern trade terminus from
Lake Michigan to Lake Superior was evident.

Growth of Shipping and Navigation Improvements

At the close of the eighteenth century there were fewer than 20 sailing vessels on
the Great Lakes, with only one on Lake Superior (Mansfield 1899:1:132). Throughout
the nineteenth century the vessels grew in number and size commensurate with
the rapidly growing transportation requirements of regional commerce. New vessel
types were developed to fit specific regional needs. As commerce grew, the
demand for improved navigation increased.

Navigation improvements have been critical to the expansion of Great Lakes
waterborne commerce. Harbor improvements were necessary at most major ports
on the Lakes before vessels could approach the docks. Typically, the ports were on
rivers that had formed offshore bars at the mouth. It was necessary to dredge a
channel through the bars to overcome the costly inconvenience of lightering vessels
offshore (Walker 1902:291).

Dredging and harbor improvements began in Buffalo as early as 1819. Buffalo came
to be a major port as a result of the Erie Canal commerce. As Chicago became a
major port, the trade between the two cities increased, until a regular route was
established by the 1840s.

The four main obstacles to Great Lakes navigation were: the St. Clair Flats in Lake
St. Clair; the Lime Kiln Shoals in the Detroit River; Niagara Falls (Welland Canal); and
the St. Mary's Falls at the Sault, which have been discussed. Canals were
constructed around the falls, and channels were dredged through the flats and
shoals. Each, at different times, became a critical factor in lake navigation. The
Sault Canal governed the Superior trade, the St. Clair Flats and the Lime Kiln Shoals
together restricted the trade between the upper Lakes and the lower. These
channels were essential to all east-west commerce on the Great Lakes.

Various changes in critical depths as represented by the four principal navigation
impediments are listed below. Harbor improvements had to keep up with channel
improvements to benefit from the larger ships and cargoes. Other improvements,
such as the placement of lighthouses and channel markers, were constructed
concurrently to reduce shipping risks.

Table 2.1 Critical Navigation Improvements

1855- Sault Locks- 350x70x11.5

1860- St. Clair Flats 10 ft

1869- 10.5 feet over sill at the Sault. 60 ft width at bottom.

1872- St. Clair Flats 13 ft.

1881- Weitzel Lock at Soo. 515x80x17

1884- St. Marys channel deepened to 16 ft.

1892- Lime Kiln 20 ft.

1895- Canadian Lock at Sault 900x60x22.

1896- Poe Lock at Sault 800x100x21.

1898- St. Clair Flats 20 ft.

1903- St. Mary's Canal deepened to 25 ft.

1908- West Neebish Channel in St. Mary's River 300x21

1912- Livingstone Channel in Detroit River 300x22

1914- Davis Lock at Sault 1350x80x24.5.

1919- Sabin Lock at Sault 1350x80x24.5

1936- Livingstone Channel 450x26 downbound

The dimensions of the locks and the depth of the channel have imposed limits on
the size and depth of vessels that could be employed in interlake shipping. The
controlling depth for maximum vessel drafts were 12 feet to 1871; 13-16 feet to
1891; 18 feet to 1897; 20-21 feet until 1911, when a 23-foot channel was
maintained (Mansfield 1899:1:253-4), and 27 feet since 1958

Major channel and lock dimension changes were directly reflected in shipbuilding
and operation practices. Vessel types and sizes came and went as the restrictions
changed. Vessel types often represented compromises between the imposed size
restrictions and maximum cargo-carrying requirements. As a result of increased
carrying capacity and efficiency, transportation costs on the Lakes fell from .23
cents per ton mile to .13 cents between 1887 and 1890. Railroad costs were .974
and .941 per ton per mile for the same years (Pankhurst 1893:256). It was noted in
1907 that a 10 percent increase in freight capacity was gained (with no additional
operation cost) with each additional foot of draft (Annual Report of the Chief of
Engineers 1907:846). In 1930, each inch of draft lost below 20 feet represented a
loss of 90 to 100 tons of cargo capacity (U.S. Engineer Dept. 1930:32).

Evidence from the last half of the Nineteenth Century indicates that the largest
vessels in use could load to deeper drafts than could be accommodated by the
contemporary harbor and channel depths (Tunell 1898:38). For example, the largest
vessels of 1876 loaded only to a depth of 15 feet because of the channels and
harbor depths, but could safely load to a depth of 17 feet (Laurent 1983:11).
Apparently, vessel designers and builders anticipated deeper channels and did not
just respond to their increases, whereas vessels built to exploit changes in critical
lock size appeared only after the locks were constructed.

Technological and operational developments also influenced vessel attributes. For
example, the appearance of the steam tug in the 1860s allowed vessels to be towed
through the channels and in harbors, particularly through the Detroit River and
across the St. Clair Flats. The towing business flourished mid-century at Detroit,
when there were more than 50 tugs employed (Mansfield 1899:1:503; Hatcher
1945:144).

The steam tug was at least indirectly responsible for the increase in size of the
sailing ships in the 1860s and early 1870s, the peak years of sail on the Lakes. In
this period the barks (actually barkentines, a term that was shortened on the Lakes
to "bark") and schooners, by then dominated the freight trades and reached a length
of 200 feet with a displacement of 700 or 800 tons (Barkhausen 1947:1). The
growing numbers of propellers that increased in size to exceed each navigation
improvement and the short-lived consort system put the steam tugs out of
business by the end of the century.

One of the best indicators of the intensity of navigation on Lake Superior is the data
from the canals at Sault Ste. Marie. Comprehensive data have been collected for
both the American and Canadian canals since the initial opening in 1855 and are
presented in Figure 2.1 (computed from U.S. Board of Engineers 1930:60-61).

The growth of shipbuilding kept pace with the burgeoning demand for lake
transportation. In 1908 it was estimated that 3/5 of the total ship tonnage in the
U.S. was constructed on the Lakes. The graph in Figure 2.2 depicts a comparison of
the yearly tonnage of documented U.S. merchant sail and steam vessels in the
country as a whole and on the Great Lakes. The graph shows that Lakes vessels
were the largest category of merchant vessels documented in the U.S. Also shown
is the date that documented steam tonnage superseded sailing tonnage. Steam
tonnage superseded sail on the Lakes almost a decade earlier than in the rest of the
U.S., an indication of the advanced technological development of Lakes vessels. The
number of steam vessels passing through the Canadian and U.S. locks to Lake
Superior exceeded the number of sailing vessels in 1874 (U.S. Board of Engineers
1930:60), a reflection of the heavy, early capitalization of the Lake Superior trades.

The collection of commercial steam vessels currently known within the waters of
Isle Royale comprise a remarkable cross section of the trades and vessel types of
Lake Superior navigation as reflected by the socioeconomic context. The
archeological analysis and interpretation of the Isle Royale shipwrecks in Chapter V
of this report was heavily influenced by the context as discussed above. This brief
study has reinforced the necessity of interpreting and understanding shipwrecks
from a regional perspective within a cultural cultural context, rather than as discrete,
disparate elements.

55,000

50,000

45,000

40,000

z
o

»-

35,000
30,000

o
o

25,000
20,000

15,000

10,000

5000

o O o o o o o

ift <0 N 00 0> O •"

co eo co oo oo o» <*

YEAR

Fig. 2.1. Freight Through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal (from U.S. Engineer Dept.
1930:60).

6000
5500
5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500

ill—'

O O o o o o

O t- n « * m
eo eo oo a> oo oo

O O O o o o
<o r* oo o> o *-
oo eo eo co e» •

Sail, Unltad States

Sfam, Unlfd Statas

— — Sail, Graat Lakat

--— Staam, Graat Lakat

YEAR

Fig. 2.2. U.S. Documented Merchant Vessels, Sail/Steam (U.S. Bureau of the Census
1960:444-446).

CHAPTER III. MAJOR VESSEL TYPES ON LAKE SUPERIOR:

SAIL TO STEAM

The first vessels constructed on the Great Lakes were built and rigged with the
environmental peculiarities and sailing conditions of Great Lakes navigation in mind,
and such has been the case with thousands of vessels that followed. Shallow water
combined with twisting channels and limited maneuvering room, imposed special
considerations on vessel designers and builders. The builders and designers of
Lakes vessels have been forced to experiment, adapt, refine, and develop particular
answers to the problems posed by the unique environment of the Inland Seas.

GRIFFON, one of the first ships to be built on the Great Lakes, was constructed in
1679 and modelled on the lines of a Dutch galliot. The galliot was capable of
carrying large cargoes in a beamy shallow-draft hull, which was useful for the
shallow open-sea conditions found in the Netherlands and surrounding North Sea.
GRIFFON'S hull, about 70 feet long, probably carried a high stern. The vessel,
sometimes referred to as a "barque," probably carried three masts typical of the
ship-rig of that period, with two masts square-rigged and the mizzen lateen-rigged
(Barry 1973:15).

The first decked-vessel built on Lake Superior was the 25-ton ship built by the
Frenchman Sieur de la Ronde, who is considered to be the first practical miner on
Lake Superior (Nute 1944:161-162). This little craft was built at Sault Ste. Marie in
1735 to remove copper from the mines of the Superior region. This enterprise can
be considered the forerunner to the tremendous extractive industry that would
cause the generation of a huge fleet of ships of Lake Superior to carry the ores.

In 1755 there were four French ships on Lake Ontario. War between France and
Great Britain prompted the construction of British vessels. A shipyard was
established at Oswego on Lake Ontario. The first British vessel, a schooner named
OSWEGO, was built, soon followed by the sloop-rigged ONTARIO. Both ships were
about 43 feet in length and measured about 100 tons (Barry 1973:17).

By 1762, when the British had two vessels on Lake Erie, a schooner and a sloop,
they had already reached the conclusion that fore-and-aft rigged vessels were the
most suitable for all classes of naval and commercial vessels on the Lakes
(Cuthbertson 1931:227). Most ships built and used were fore-and-aft rigged and
were operated by the British Provincial Marine; there would be no privately owned
commercial vessels on the Great Lakes for another 20 years.

The first commercial vessel built on the Great Lakes was constructed in 1785 by the
large Montreal trading concern, the North West Company. The company sent a
group of men to the head of the Sault Ste. Marie to build a vessel. The 75-ton
sloop OTTER was the result. The same company soon constructed another ship,
also a sloop, in Detroit (Barry 1973:24).

In 1810, the trade on Lake Ontario exceeded that of the four upper Lakes. There
were many vessels employed in the Indian and fur trade, in supplying military posts
and Western settlements, and providing fish, lumber, and salt for the Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania market. This growing Lakes trade produced a demand for new ships to
be built (Mansfield 1899:1:128). The first regular commercial transport line on the
American side of the Great Lakes was formed in 1806 to portage and forward freight
around Niagara Falls.

Although the U.S. government built a 100-ton brig in 1802 (ADAMS), it primarily
purchased and built schooners or sloops. The Provincial government of Canada
built the 86-ton brig CALEDONIA in 1807, and an armed brig, QUEEN CHARLOTTE, in
1809. The 97-ton brig LADY PREVOST was built in 1810.

The War of 1812 provided impetus for the design and construction of sailing vessels
on the Lakes. Competition between Britain and the U.S. in the Lakes region
prompted a vigorous shipbuilding program by both sides (Barry 1973:33). During the
winter of 1812-13 the American government decided that a fleet of at least six
ships was needed for naval operations on Lake Erie. These ships were to be
constructed near Erie in a virtual wilderness. Captain Dobbins, the officer who had
been put in charge of the project, brought in a naval architect and a master builder
from New York (Mansfield 1899:1:155). The vessels that resulted included two
20-gun brigs, three gunboats, and a "clipper" schooner which was apparently the
first of its type on the Great Lakes.

The principal fighting ships of the war were square riggers. The main reason for
the military preference of the square rig over the fore-and-aft rig was that the
square rig was simply more difficult to put out of commission during sea battles.
The more numerous square sails offered smaller targets to the enemy's cannon and
when a shot did strike true, it did less damage to the square sail's rigging than to
the fore-and-aft. During the exchange of broadsides the fore-and-aft sails set
parallel to the keel offered large, vulnerable targets compared to the square sails,
which were set at right angles to the centerline. The military advantage becomes a
liability when considering the square rig for merchant service. The square rig vessel
required large crews to handle the many sails, a serious concern to merchants
seeking the lowest cost when transporting cargoes.

Some sailing characteristics of the square rig, however, were desirable in
commercial transport. Square rigs sail fast before the wind. The prevailing westerly
winds of the Lakes allowed for fast downbound passages for these ships. The
geographic constraints of the Lakes require frequent course changes, especially in
the rivers and narrow channels. Fore-and-aft rigs allow quicker course changes
with only a fraction of the crew required for effecting the same maneuver on a
square rigged vessel. It was probably realized early that combination rigs were the
most desirable for commercial uses on the Great Lakes, because they contained
advantages of both rigs.

Many of the vessels that survived the naval battles of the War of 1812 were bought
or salvaged for use in commercial transportation (Mansfield 1899:1:172).
Agreements entered into by both the British and American governments in 1817
stipulating that only one warship of not more than 100 tons and armed with one
18-pounder gun would be allowed on the Lakes contributed to the availability of the
naval vessels. An act passed in 1824 required that all public vessels be sold
(Mansfield 1899:1:181).

Many lessons were learned during the War of 1812. It was noted that a two-decked
frigate could carry more guns than a comparable ship in salt water service. The
Lakes craft did not have to carry fresh water or provisions for a long voyage as did
the ocean going warship. British Lakes vessels were also more narrow of beam and
had less displacement than comparable ocean ships, making them faster and more
able to beat to windward — two desirable qualities for Lakes vessels (Barry
1973:35). One of the most important lessons was that the larger ships sailed well,
in spite of their shallow draft. In fact, the vessels used during the war were the
shallowest draft square-riggers in the history of naval architecture (Cuthbertson
1931:229).

Barkentines and brigantines became popular on the Lakes with their combination of
square and fore-and-aft sails, deriving some of the benefits of both arrangements.
Often these vessels were simply (and inaccurately) called "barks" or sometimes
"barques" or "brigs" in historical accounts of the Lakes.

The word "brig" originally was an abbreviation for "brigantine." The origins of this
rig are to be found in the Mediterranean where it referred to a small lateen-rigged
vessel meant for rowing. In Northern Europe during the Sixteenth Century, the rig
developed into the familiar two-masted rig with square sails on the foremast and a
gaff-sail with a boom on the main mast. Ocean sailors would probably consider the
Lakes brigs "hermaphrodite brigs," technically a combination of the brig and the
schooner. Lakes brigs carried staysails and jibs on their foremasts in addition to the
square sails and staysails on the mainmast with the gaff-top spanker. On the Lakes
the brigantines ranged in size from 80 or 90 tons to 500 tons (Cuthbertson
1931:230).

The barkentine is a more modern development in sailing rigs. The bark rig, which
preceded the barkentine, is a three-masted vessel with square sails on the foremast
and mainmast and fore-and-aft sails on the mizzen. This can be considered the
ship rig of the Sixteenth Century brought up to date. In somewhat the same way
the barkentine rig, with square sails only on the foremast and gaff sails on the other
masts, can be considered the modern revival of the Sixteenth Century caravel rig
with its square-rigged foremast and lateen-rigged main- and mizzenmasts
(Anderson and Anderson 1963:192-193). Apparently, there were very few true barks
ever operating on the Lakes.

Basically, the barkentine is a brigantine with additional fore-and-aft rigged masts.
The sails carried on the foremasts of both these rigs were: square foresail, topsail,
topgallantsail, and one royal, with rarely a small skysail (Cuthbertson 1931:231-232).
There are some records of studding sails. Fore-and-aft canvas consisted of a
staysail and two jibs set forward on the bowsprit and jibboom, fore-and-aft sails set
aft and two, or sometimes three, staysails set between the fore- and mainmasts.
After 1820, nearly all vessels lowered their gaffs when furling sails instead of taking
them up to the gaff by hand (brailing). The custom of brailing was, however, still
evident on some steam vessels much later, such as ALGOMA, which wrecked at Isle
Royale in 1885.

Some writers have asserted that the barkentine rig was a Lakes innovation. This is
a doubtful contention and difficult to substantiate. It is clear, however, that there
were few appearances of either the barkentine or brigantine rig on salt water until
after 1835, some years after they appeared on the Great Lakes (Cuthbertson
1931:231).

Merchants and sailors determined very quickly the most profitable rigs for
navigation of the Great Lakes. Although there were some variations, primarily in
small craft, the sailing vessels of the Lakes are notable for their similarity. All were
combination rigs designed for quick voyages carrying heavy cargoes in favorable
winds (characteristics of square rigs) and maneuverability with only small crews
necessary to change sails, coupled with the ability to sail close to windward to
make quick passages upbound (characteristics of fore-and-aft rigs). The rig of
choice on the Lakes early became the schooner, at first with topsails and later,
when competition with steamers made minimum operating costs important for
survival, without. Because of the numerical superiority of schooners and their role
in Great Lakes navigation, they will be considered separately.

Schooner Development

Schooner development can be reasonably traced to old northern European two-mast
shallop traditions. There may have been two separate sources of development: one
for schooners with square topsails on the foremast, and another for those without
(Greenhill 1980:19). Schooners with square topsails may have developed from small
square rig vessels that continued to add ever larger fore-and-aft sails as
technological developments progressed until they became the main part of the sail
area. The other line of development may have been from the two-masted shallops
carrying only sprit sails, gaff sails, or triangular sails. The sprit sail apparently grew
larger first, becoming quite large in Classical times, and from it developed the
standing gaff with brailing sail. The brailing sail is taken up or let out from the yard
from which it is suspended on square-rigged vessels or the mast in fore-and-aft
rigs. From this rig the lowering gaff developed. The origin of the gaff sail is
obscure, but it was common in northern Europe in the 1600s (Greenhill 1980:18-19).

The gaff schooner without topsails began to appear in illustrations in the early
1600s and was probably in existence in the late 1500s (Greenhill 1980:19). Both
types of schooner, with and without topsails, appeared in Colonial America in the
early 1700s. There were generally 7 types of vessels classified in Colonial records:
ships, sloops, pinks, brigantines, shallops, ketches, and barks. Schooners were listed
for the first time around 1717 (Chapelle 1935:11). During this period, vessels were
classed more by the hull than by the particular rig carried. For example, "bark" was
used generically, much like "ship" is today.

The first schooner appeared on the Great Lakes in 1804 and the rig was the most
seen on the Lakes until the end of the days of sail. The 25-ton SURPRISE was built
at Buffalo that year and was soon followed by MARY, built at Erie. The 45-ton
ZEPHYR, one of the first ships launched at Cleveland, was hauled down the ways in
1808 by oxen and was of the size found to be the best suited to the Lakes trade
during the first decades of the Nineteenth Century (Hatcher 1945:138).

The 132-ton schooner MICHIGAN was the largest American merchant vessel on the
Lakes in 1817. The ship was built by a shipwright from the East and was rigged as
a double-topsail schooner, "resembling in most particulars the down-easters that
ply upon the Atlantic coast" (Walker 1902:293). This vessel represents one of the
major lines of influence in the development of Great Lakes schooners — that of the
Atlantic coastal trade in the east. As stated above, the first "clipper" schooner on
the Lakes was built for naval service on Lake Erie in the winter of 1812-13, also by
an eastern builder. It is clear that eastern builders and their designs were present
at an early date in the Lakes area. This line of development led to the sharp-model
schooner on the Lakes. There can be little question as to the flow of information

from the East. Before 1820 not only shipwrights, but most of the commanders and
seamen were from the seaboard (Walker 1902:296).

The "clipper"-model hull, with its fine lines and great speed, was a development of
southern builders that grew out of the demands of the Atlantic smuggling trade of
the first half of the Eighteenth Century. It is not possible to establish the exact date
for the beginning of the evolution that produced the well known "Baltimore Clipper,"
but it was probably around 1730 (Chapelle 1935:31). In these early days, the
schooner rig demonstrated its superiority over the sloop rig. The schooner was
very weatherly and could be handled by a smaller crew. It was also learned that the
schooner rig could be used in a longer and narrower hull than a sloop. This was an
advantage for the design of hulls, because it became known during this period that
when two vessels had the same capacity or displacement, the one with the
narrower hull would be the faster (Chapelle 1935:32).

Large American schooners developed a remarkable degree of sharpness before the
War of 1812 and the fore-topsail schooner rig was very popular in the first half the
the Nineteenth Century for ocean vessels (Chapelle 1935:234). The addition of the
square topsails on the fore, and sometimes on both masts gave excellent speed
when running before the wind. This characteristic was desired by Lakes mariners
when taking advantage of the prevailing westerly winds of the Lakes on their
downbound travels.

The second line of influence for Lakes schooner development can be found in the
establishment of packet lines in the East soon after 1800. It was in the packet trade
where vessels began to carry freight for hire rather than only the cargo of the
owner. Regularly scheduled departures were set up between certain ports. The first
vessels employed in this innovative trade were large sloops capable of carrying
cargo and passengers. Leeboards were in use as early as 1812 on the Hudson River
where shallow draft hulls were necessary, and centerboards were common by 1825
at the latest. (Chapelle 1967:164). In the areas where the distance between ports
was not great, schooners and brigs were employed. The requirements for vessels in
the packet trade were speed, capacity, seaworthiness, and the ability to sail on
schedule year-round with any available cargo. To meet these requirements, sturdy
vessels were designed on a rather full model with flat floors for maximum capacity
(lbid:271). The results of this influence on the Lakes schooners were in the full
hull-models that were to become the common carrier of the Great Lakes.

The available depth in the rivers and harbors has imposed limitations on the
practical draft of Great Lakes vessels to the present day. The early vessels were
often abominable sailors. The flat-bottomed vessels in operation before 1820 were
characterized by a contemporary captain as "dull sailors, some of them could hardly
claw offshore under canvas" (Walker 1902:291). This was a particular disadvantage
because ships had to be lightered of cargo and passengers by small craft due to the
shallow conditions of most harbors and an onshore breeze could result in disaster.
Structural features were incorporated into these early vessels to overcome the
limitations of extremely shallow draft. Before the adoption of Dutch leeboards, slip
keels, drop keels, or centerboards, it was almost impossible to design shoal-draft
vessels that could take advantage of the schooner rig and sail close to windward.

RED JACKET, a 53-ton schooner, was apparently one of the first on the Lakes to be
fitted with leeboards, although they had been successfully used earlier in the east.
One leeboard would be in the water at a time to aid in sailing by preventing leeway,
much the same way as the keel of a deep-hulled sailing ship. The board could be

raised in shallow water (Walker 1902:301). Leeboards never became popular devices
on the Lakes, although they were occasionally used. One reason for their
unpopularity may have been that the leeboards were easily damaged by the Lakes
waves.

The centerboard was the method of choice to meet the limitations of shallow draft
and the poor sailing qualities of flat-bottomed hulls. The centerboard protruded
through the bottom of the hull within a watertight case to prevent leeway. The
centerboard could be raised or lowered from inside the hull.

The invention of the centerboard is usually attributed to a British naval officer, Capt.
Shank. Like many "inventions," it is more accurately an adaptation. The sliding keel
as originally proposed by Shank was a board about three-quarters of the length of
the keel that was lowered by tackles through a case. He later tried three smaller
separate boards that proved easier to handle and took up less room in the hold.
There was a 65-foot cutter built to his specifications in 1790 in Plymouth, England,
and a few other vessels were also built with drop keels. They did not prove
satisfactory due to the tendency of the cases to leak. Shank found it difficult to
convince the Admiralty that his idea was practical, and the idea was dropped by the
British (Chapelle 1935:169).

The interest in centerboards shifted to the United States. In 1810, there were a
large number of leeboards in use in the Hudson River, but a less cumbersome
arrangement was sought. A number of patents were granted for types of
centerboards. The centerboard differed from the drop or sliding keels by being
attached on the forward edge by a pivot, with the lifting tackle on the after end of
the board. After the War of 1812, a number of large sloops were built with
centerboards and they were used in schooners on the Chesapeake Bay by 1821, and
perhaps in the Great Lakes by 1828, though this early date may be doubtful (Ibid.
1935:169, 268.) Slip or sliding keels may have been in use on the Lakes before
1820. Capt. Augustus Walker, a contemporary, recorded in his observations that
vessels varied between 18 and 65 tons burden, and for the most part were built
with slip keeps between 1817 and 1820 (Walker 1902:300). Centerboards were to
become the rule for Great Lakes sailing ships and were placed in brigs and barks as
well as schooners.

Two man-made canals affected early Nineteenth Century Lakes schooner
development. The opening of the Erie Canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie in
1825 created a rapidly expanding market for the transportation of passengers and
cargo (for a more detailed discussion, see Chapter II). Prior to its opening, most sail
craft were put out of commission for two months or more during the summer due
to the lack of upbound freight (Walker 1902:304). The Welland Canal, constructed at
the Niagara Falls portage, was opened by the Canadians in 1829 and allowed trade
between Lake Ontario and the upper Lakes. Four of the five Lakes were then
opened to trade. The locks of the Welland Canal could accommodate a vessel no
larger than 100 feet long, 26 1/2 feet of beam, and a draft of 11 feet (Barry
1973:123). Any merchant who wished to trade directly with the ports of Lake
Ontario had to use vessels that could pass through the canal locks. The limitations
of the locks produced a vessel unique to the Great Lakes — the "canaler."

In the 1840s, canalers that were built as large as possible to take optimum
advantage of the economies of scale in the growing demand for transportation and
intended for Lake Ontario trade, became noticeably similar in hull shape. Typical
characteristics were a plumb bow, relatively narrow beam for the vessel length, and

flat sides as far fore and aft as possible to allow for the largest cargo capacity
(Barry 1973:124). The hull form was described as "heavy, stubby, and square
Hollander-type" (Hatcher 1944:210). The stern was square with little overhang aft.
The canalers also had their moveable bowsprits tilted upward almost to vertical
when clearing the locks. As their size grew beyond 100 feet in length, it may be
assumed that some sort of longitudinal reinforcing was used. The canaler was the
first distinctly Lakes vessel type, a product of the environmental and economic
conditions of the Lakes and developed from revised technology specially adapted
from the eastern shipbuilders.

Development of Structural Support Systems

Intense competition in the eastern packet trades fueled the design of larger ships on
the Lakes. These ships were required to carry heavy cargoes, often in bulk, and sail
well in any weather to meet their schedules. There is a structural problem,
however, when wooden ships that are required to carry heavy loads are lengthened.
The ends of the hull tend to droop and cause the keel to arch. This condition,
known as hogging, compresses the bottom planks and puts the deck planks in
tension, weakening and changing the hull form enough to open up serious leaks.
This problem especially plagues vessels with narrow beams and fine bows and
sterns due to the relative decrease in buoyancy in these areas when compared to
the midsection.

The French were probably the first to attempt the prevention of hogging by the
addition of longitudinal members and stanchions set on the keelson. In 1746, they
built a vessel with diagonally-planked ceiling (Chapelle 1967:207, 269). The British
studied the problem in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century, and again after the
War of 1812. A series of reforms in vessel construction was carried out by Sir
Robert Seppings. These reforms became known as the "Seppings System" and
included the addition of internal diagonal bracing and filling in the spaces between
the floor frames in the ships of the Admiralty (Lavery 1984:43). During the British
investigations into the problem it was discovered that the more flat sided ships
tended not to hog because the hull planks provided additional longitudinal support, a
condition that may have benefited the early canalers.

Hogging frames and trusses of wood were used in the eastern river steamboats as
early as 1820, and by 1837 experiments were being made with diagonal wood
planking placed inside the frames with no additional ceiling in order to save weight.
Diagonal iron strapping was begun by the British who first placed iron straps across
the inside of the frames and partially covered them by ceiling planks (Chapelle
1967:270).

Other methods to increase longitudinal strength were tried. Improved scarphs, edge
fastened hull and ceiling planks, and the caulking of the ceiling planks all met with
some success.

Developments in Form and Technology

Between 1817 and 1820 sail vessels grew in number, but not in size. These vessels
varied from 18 to 65 tons burden and most contained a slip keel (Walker (1902:300).
The shallow draft hull had a lot of deadrise and during this period rarely exceeded 5
feet; that was the depth of water on the St. Clair Flats in the Detroit River. The
53-ton RED JACKET was built in 1820 and was the first merchant vessel on the
Lakes with bulwarks; all previous vessels were built with rails and stanchions and

were wet sailors. Solid bulwarks were necessary because RED JACKET had little
freeboard when loaded (Walker 1902:295, 301-302).

The typical sail arrangement for schooners was with one or two square sails on the
foremast and gaff topsail on the main. The square sails would be placed above the
crosstrees. Another arrangement was to hang a large square sail from a yard
placed at the hounds (just below the crosstrees). This sail hung down almost to the
deck and was called a runner (Cuthbertson 1931:233).

After 1820, most vessels furled their sails by lowering the gaff rather than by
brailing. The loosely woven flax sailcloth began to be replaced by the tighter and
more uniform loom-woven cotton-duck cloth. This hard and durable sailcloth was
developed in Massachusetts and became standard after the War of 1812 (Chapelle
1967:211).

There were many technical developments in addition to those of sails. In 1823, the
first chains were employed as anchor cables. They were introduced on the
schooners MICHIGAN, RED JACKET and ERIE (Walker 1902:302). Between the years
1820 and 1845 many new innovations appeared. Rod rigging and turnbuckles came
into general use in the 1820s and 1830s. Geared capstans and windlasses,
iron-strapped blocks, geared steering, hold ventilators, geared winches, new mast
and spar ironwork, improved marine stoves, and water closets appeared during this
period (Chapelle 1967:279).

The demand for transportation on the Lakes was limited before the completion of
the Erie Canal. There was little advantage to larger vessels before 1825-1830. An
1810 96-ton schooner CHARLES AND ANN built in Oswego attracted much attention
because of its large size (Mansfield 1899:129). The economic pressures for the
increase of navigation continued into the mid-Twentieth century. Ever larger
vessels would be required to meet the huge demand that was initiated with the
opening of the Erie Canal.

By 1846, the registered U.S. Lake tonnage had reached 106,836 tons. This was a
remarkable growth from the 56,252 tons registered in 1841. The number of mariners
also increased accordingly from 3,750 in 1841 to 6,972 in 1846. There were 59
barks and brigs with an average tonnage of 230. The number of schooners in the
same year was 319 with an average tonnage of 152. Sloops and scows averaged 46
tons (compiled from Abert 1848:8,24). The growth of tonnage of both sail and
steam vessels on the Lakes and in the US is depicted in Figure 2.2 in Chapter II.

Steam Vessels

In 1840 there were more than 100 side-wheel steamers operating on the Lakes,
most of them built within eight years of that date. (There are no records of
experimentation with stern-wheels on the Lakes.) About 40 of them served as
ferries or ran short, local routes out of the larger ports, while the remainder, mostly
the larger boats, ran from Buffalo to Upper Lakes ports or from Niagara and Toronto
to Lower Lakes destinations. Most of the boats ran independently, although
"combinations" and "opposition lines" resulted in some cooperative scheduling by
various owners and tended to stabilize rates (Mansfield 1899:1 :185ff). A decade
later, several lines dominated the steamboat business and managed most of the
steamers then in service. Immigration had begun its boom with the opening of the
Erie Canal in 1825, and by 1840 it brought tens of thousands of settlers to Buffalo
each year, seeking passage to the American West. The total population of cities

bordering the Upper Lakes was said to have quadrupled in the eight years previous
to 1840 (Mansfield 1899:1:634) as a result of that influx. The Lakes steamers ranged
from about 85 feet (150 tons) to nearly 185 feet (800 tons). The steamers ILLINOIS
(1837) and GREAT WESTERN (1838) were the largest and finest of the steamboat
fleet. ("Steamboat" on the Lakes invariably meant side-wheelers.)

While steamboats demonstrated many advantages over their sailing contemporaries,
they could not navigate between the Upper Lakes and the Lower because of the
bottleneck effect of the Welland Canal. Any steamer that was large enough to
battle the elements and capacious enough to make a profit in the competition for
cargoes was much too large for the 100-foot locks (Hatcher 1945:121). Even after
the canal was enlarged in 1845, it would only accommodate vessels 145 feet long
and 26 feet wide. As a result of this impediment, all of the freight bound for
Oswego, Toronto, or Montreal was necessarily carried in schooners. It was in this
setting that several Lake Ontario vessel owners began to experiment in 1840 and
1841 with a brand new steamboat technology that might enable them to compete
more effectively with Buffalo for the trade of the West. They built the first "steam
schooners," adopting the efficient new machinery recently developed by Swedish
inventor John Ericsson (Barry 1973:52) with screw propellers. The first
screw-powered commercial craft in the United States was the 63-foot towboat
ROBERT F. STOCKTON, built in England in 1838 and sailed across the Atlantic in 1839
to serve on the Delaware and Raritan Canal (Baker and Tryckare 1965:42). Although
a small screw steamer called ERICSON (Registry of Merchant Shipping, Montreal
District, Book 175:102) was built at Brockville, Canada, in 1840, the 138-ton
VANDALIA is usually credited with being the Lakes' first "propeller," as that class
came to be known. It was built at Oswego, New York in 1841, and was the first
such craft in the Lakes above Niagara. Three other "propellers" were built that year
in Canada, and two more on each side of Lake Ontario in 1842.

Contemporary newspaper accounts describe VANDALIA as a sloop, and several other
of the first propellers as "steam schooners." It is clear that they were all built as
sailing craft, with boilers, engines, and screw-propellers introduced after their
completion, sometimes at ports quite distant from the shipyards where they were
constructed (Cobourg Star May,4 1842). It appears that the Ericsson wheels were
intended to be the primary means of propulsion even in the first of these vessels,
rather than an alternative to sail power or for use as auxiliaries. In the case of
STOCKTON, the ship was sailed across the ocean without its propellers, and then
fitted out to operate under steam only after arriving in the sheltered waters of the
American canals. In spite of the owners' evident confidence in the new technology,
all of the early, propellers carried sail rig, and indeed most of them were capable of
sailing faster than the five to eight miles an hour they ran under steam (Finn
1979:100), though at no predictable or consistent rate, because of their dependence
on wind conditions.

VANDALIA and its contemporaries on the Great Lakes were all built to carry
passengers and freight, while the pioneer screw-powered craft built in England
were, almost without exception, towing steamers (Baker 1965:41ff). VANDALIA was
designed to trade through the Welland Ship Canal and to divert some of the
lucrative Lake Michigan trade from Buffalo to Lake Ontario ports (Finn 1976:96) It
demonstrated that propellers could pass easily through the narrow locks, while
side-wheelers could not. Thus the advent of the propellers was a turning point in
the economic history of Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River ports. The propellers
helped diminish the Buffalo trade monopoly. When the St. Lawrence Canals were
completed all the way to tidewater in 1847 and 1848, propellers could run all the

way from Chicago to Montreal. Schooners could navigate the same route, of
course, but they had to be towed upstream at great expense.

When the first propellers were built, the maritime industry of the Lakes was
guardedly optimistic. The ships' owners and investors, on the other hand, expressed
boundless confidence. The Kingston Gazette & Chronicle said of the propeller
LONDON in June 1842, "these vessels fitted with the Ericsson propellers ... will form
a new era in the history of navigation." The Oswego Palladium (Dec. 1, 1841) said
of VANDALIA, "We are firmly persuaded that this enterprise marks an epoch in the
progress of the Western trade!" In fact, the propellers seem to have performed
admirably, and the whole industry was quick to acknowledge their advantages over
both sailing craft and side-wheel steamers.

The sailing craft of the Lakes fleet were all functionally general-cargo carriers.
Whether they were sloops, schooners, brigs, or barkentines, all carried whatever
commodities were offered for trade. Their cargoes included passengers, livestock,
bulk and package cargoes, or even such specialized payloads as small buildings,
locomotives, and rolling stock. Few of the ships were adapted for specific cargoes,
although that would change to some small degree in the last days of the Age of
Sail, when every effort would be made to compete for cargoes with the
mushrooming numbers of steam freighters.

When side-wheelers were introduced to the commercial trades, they functioned
largely as cargo carriers, although their particular suitability as passenger
conveyances soon became obvious. Fast, comfortable and dependable
transportation were prerequisites for the passenger trade, and it was also desirable
for livestock and the more valuable package cargoes such as perishable foods,
liquors, furniture, mail, and precious metals like copper and silver ore. For this
reason, side-wheel steamers tended to carry certain cargoes more than others.
With the exception of passengers, it was not so much because they were designed
to accommodate those cargoes, but simply because they could move them
expeditiously. The cargo spaces were generic, just as they were in schooners of
the time. The advantages offered by a steamboat operator was fast, efficient and
predictable delivery, but it was at considerable cost, because steamers were much
more expensive to build and to operate than sailing ships.

Steamers usually cost several times as much as sailing ships, both in initial
investment and operation. Propulsion machinery, in particular, was expensive. The
steamer CLEVELAND, for instance, was built in 1837 for $22,500, but its machinery
cost another $50,000 (Detroit Daily Advertiser Sept. 21, 1840). Because the engines
and boilers were so costly, they were often used in more than one ship before they
were discarded as scrap, sometimes serving in three or more different hulls before
they were worn out and useless. A classic example was the engine of the steamer
CANADA, built in 1846, which was used afterward in the side-wheelers CASPIAN
(1851), E. K. COLLINS (1853), and NORTH WEST (1867). The engine was finally junked
in 1876 after surviving several wrecks and fires (Heyl 1969:106). Steamers also
required cordwood for fuel, usually consuming two or three cords per hour at the
cost of $80 to $125 per day (Mills 1910:130). They employed larger crews than
schooners did, as well. A large steamer required up to forty in the crew, while the
largest Great Lakes sailing craft, even with square rig, carried only twelve. Because
of the difference in resulting freight rates, steamers came to dominate the
passenger trades and to carry selected cargoes, but other less valuable commodities
were transported in the more numerous sailing craft, and predictably they took two
or three times as long to reach their destinations, albeit at more modest costs.

Screw steamers or "propellers" served exactly the same purposes as did
side-wheelers. They were built with the same general configuration as their paddle
wheel predecessors, most frequently being double-deckers with main and spar deck
and a passenger cabin on top. They carried their cargo between decks and in the
hold beneath the main deck. Their 'tween-decks cargo space was served by a
series of freight openings or gangways in the side of the ship, usually several to
each side. The freight was carried in packages such as barrels, boxes, bags, or
bales, and it was referred to as "package freight." It was loaded by gangs of
longshoremen using hand-trucks or dollies, brought aboard through the gangways,
and either stowed on deck or lowered into the hold through deck hatches, using
overhead tackles or winches. "Bulk freight" like coal or grain was simply poured
into the holds and removed by buckets. Loading was a very labor-intensive
process, often involving dozens of dock workers under the supervision of the ship's
officers. The process was similar in both side-wheelers and propellers.

Propellers were soon found to be very economical ships. They were much cheaper
to build and outfit than side-wheelers. Their machinery was simpler and far less
expensive. They also proved to be more economical to operate. They burned about
one-fourth the fuel of steamboats (Mills 1910:130), and required about half the
crew. Moreover, a propeller could carry far more freight than a side-wheeler of
comparable tonnage, because its machinery was so much more compact. The
engines and boilers in a side-wheel steamer had to be located nearly amidships,
where they often occupied a major portion of the hull. Propeller engines and boilers
were placed far in the stern where they displaced little cargo and occupied much
less space (Mills 1910:129). All of these factors made it possible for propellers to
offer freight rates somewhere between those of sailing craft and side-wheelers, and
this meant that propellers could compete for much of the less valuable cargo that
had previously been carried economically only in sailing ships. Not long after their
introduction, propellers began to gather contracts for larger and larger proportions
of the flour, grain, and provisions shipped down the Lakes.

The number of propellers on the Lakes grew rapidly as the vessels demonstrated
their strengths as efficient, economical carriers. Several companies organized
around 1850 to carry freight in connection with the Erie Canal or with the various
railroads running to the eastern end of the Lakes from the coast. Among the new
firms were the American, Lake, Western, and Northern Transportation Companies, the
New York and Erie Railroad Line, and others. Each of these companies built fleets
of screw steamers. Between 1840 and 1849, 81 propellers were built at Lakes
shipyards; during the next ten years 133 more were added; and during the 1860s
another 88 were built, not including screw tugs (Labadie 1981). The journalists in
1841 and 1842 had correctly predicted that propellers would revolutionize the
carrying trades.

Screw towboats or "tugs" appeared on the Lakes shortly after the first propellers. In
fact, the first screw steamer in the nation was built for towing and not for cargo at
all, and it is not surprising that the type was readily adopted on the Inland Seas as
well. The first screw steamer on the Lakes known to have been built for towing
was the 111-ton CLIFTON, built at Dexter, New York in 1847.

Several suspiciously small screw steamers were registered at St. Lawrence River
ports in 1843 and 1844, and as side-wheel tugs were known to be employed in the
same district, there was a demonstrated need for towing craft. Buffalo newspapers
indicate that several side-wheelers were in use as towboats on the Niagara River

and the Erie Canal by the mid-forties, too. There can be little doubt that there was
a tremendous demand for towing vessels, and literally hundreds of them were built
during the next decades. At least two screw tugs were built before 1850, more than
a hundred during the fifties, and nearly 400 in the sixties (Labadie 1981). They were
the first diversions from the passenger and freight style of screw steamer on the
Lakes. In later years, other types of tugs were also introduced for specialized uses.
When the trade in lumber grew after the Civil War, log rafts were often floated long
distances to lumber mills; rafting or "outside" tugs were developed at that time.
Unlike the common "inside" (harbor) tugs, the raft tugs were large double-deckers
with very powerful engines. Their bows were enclosed or "housed-in" so that they
could operate safely on the open Lakes. Some of these rugged craft measured 160
feet in length, although 120 feet was average. "Inside" tugs were usually 60 to 80
feet long.

Within a few years of the introduction of the propellers, the first all-freight screw
steamer was built. It was the 250-ton SAMPSON, built in 1843, a 135-foot craft
with the capacity for 300 tons of cargo. It carried package freight or livestock and
was the forerunner of the "package freighters." Package freighters were screw
steamers with double decks and gangways just like propellers, but without
passenger cabins on the spar decks. Because there was so little difference between
the two types, many ships were changed from package boats to propellers or vice
versa by the addition or removal of cabins. Changes of this nature were common
during the days of wooden ships, when cabins could be added or dismantled at
modest cost as changes in the market required, or deterioration of the ship
dictated. This was most common during the 1860s and 1870s. As the tide of
immigration and settlement slowed in the region, the proportion of
passenger-carrying propellers dwindled and more of the propeller-type vessels were
simply built without cabins. During the 1840s there were 79 propellers built and
only two package freighters. In the sixties there were 72 propellers and 16 package
freighters. In the seventies there were 56 propellers and 31 package-boats built.
After I880, few passenger and freight propellers were built, although more package
freighters were added until after the turn of the century. The propellers were
largely supplanted by cruise ships and excursion boats.

Screw steamers in general, including package freighters, propellers, and later
variants, tended to grow in size much like sailing craft. All were influenced by the
same factors. The largest ships would carry their cargo at the cheapest rates, but
their growth was limited by canal systems, shallow connecting channels, and
shipbuilding technology, all of which improved as time passed. VANDALIA and its
running mates were less than 100 feet long, having been built for the first Welland
Canal. After 1845, virtually no propellers were built less than 140 feet in length,
because the Welland had been enlarged and improved with 150-foot locks. Most of
the propellers built during and after the 1850s were not required to pass through
the Welland at all, and so many of them were built larger than 150 feet. In spite of
the canals, the average size of new propellers grew from 141 feet (337 tons) in 1845
to 182 feet (641 tons) in 1862, and to 220 feet (1,300 tons) in 1877 (Labadie 1981).
Because the Welland system was not enlarged again until 1884, it can be inferred
that this progression reflects the fact that most of the latter day propellers and
package freighters were "Upper Lakes" craft that operated above Lake Ontario; i.e.
from Buffalo to Lake Michigan or Lake Superior ports. Relatively few ran through
the Welland to ports farther east. When the locks were enlarged in 1884, the typical
220-footers could navigate all the way through the St. Lawrence River to Montreal
and the seaboard.

Wooden screw steamers, like side-wheelers, required extraordinary means of
strengthening their hulls as their dimensions grew beyond 150 feet; when their
lengths surpassed that figure it was necessary to add to the hull structure some
form of a truss to provide longitudinal strength and rigidity. The technology was
borrowed from the side-wheelers of the Hudson River, and arches, trusses, or
hogging chains were built into the fabric of the propellers. The most common form
of strengthening propellers became the "Bishop arch" or crown arch, a simple
curved arch extending from the deadwood at the stern to a point high over the rail
amidships and then back down to the deadwood at the bow (for an example see Fig.
4.2, Chapter IV). The chord or arch was supported by a series of parallel, vertical
stanchions that were tied into the vertical frames of the ships on each side. These
powerful structural elements towered over the cabins in many propellers and
package boats, and they were the hallmark of Lakes craft for many years. Such
structures were not necessary in ocean vessels because of their deeper, more rigid
hulls. The few wooden propellers which were built on the Lakes after 1880 often
employed internal arches of iron in their construction, so that they were able to
eliminate the distinctive external arches, and many earlier propellers that were fitted
with arches eventually had them cut down or truncated by using iron or steel straps
along the sheer strake or rail to replace the arch. An example of various types of
structural support systems see the discussion of CUMBERLAND, CHISHOLM and
MONARCH in Chapter V.

With the Civil War years came the beginning of a shift in the commerce of the
Great Lakes. Railroads had penetrated into the West, cutting into the lucrative
package-freight business. There were still enormous quantities of foodstuffs and
manufactured goods to be transported by ships, but less and less was the profitable
package cargo, and more and more each decade was bulk material such as salt,
grain, coal, or lumber, all of which generated smaller profits for vessel operators.
The Civil War years were "flush times." They marked the slow, steady recovery from
the terrible effects of the 1857 Panic, but they went far beyond recovery to a real
boom like that of the late 1840s. Immigrants and pensioned-off Union veterans
swarmed into Minnesota and the Dakotas and began tilling the rich Red River Valley
soil. Immense quantities of grain began to flow from the West across the Lakes and
into the East. Enormous markets for building materials were generated by
Reconstruction in the South. Coal was delivered to Lake Michigan and Lake Superior
docks for distribution by rail to a great Western hinterland. Demands for lumber
could scarcely be met in spite of prodigious output from the Saginaw Valley in
Michigan, and hundreds of Lakes craft turned to that trade. For several seasons, not
enough ships could be found to meet the demand. The Detroit Free Press (March
31, 1864) observed,

The class of vessels most earnestly sought are those
best adapted for the lumber trade. Nearly all our spare
vessels in this locality have been disposed of, and ... a
dozen more would meet with ready sale."

Because of the weakening traffic in package goods, many propellers and package
freighters were idle, and so they turned to the bulky unremunerative lumber
cargoes, but their profits were small because few of the ships were really suited for
that commodity.

One prominent vessel owner found a practical solution for the scarcity of lumber
carriers. He purchased two of the great passenger side-wheelers which had been
retired at the time of the 1857 Panic a few years earlier. Several of the craft were

idle and rotting in Buffalo and Cleveland, and they were offered for sale at a fraction
of their original value. He dismantled them and made barges of them, employing
powerful tugs to tow the mammoth barges to the Saginaw River to load pine
lumber. Each of the craft was found to have enormous capacity: up to five times
that of contemporary propellers. By towing two or more of the barges, the operator
found a cheap means to move the bulky cargo to market, and make the lumber
trade profitable for the first time (Mansfield 1899:1:414). This was the start of what
was known as the "consort system," which revolutionized the carriage of bulk cargo
on the Lakes. The system was employed in all of the bulk trades until the turn of
the century, and it resulted in sharp decreases in shipping costs not only for lumber,
but for every other bulk commodity as well.

Between 1861 and 1870, dozens of superannuated passenger craft were made into
lumber barges, and other ships were built from the keel up as barges. In addition, a
new class of steamers appeared. These new vessels were screw steamers with
schooner-built wooden hulls. They were built without enclosed freight decks, but
rather were single-decked with small, compact cabins at the stern. This pattern
was said to have been introduced in 1848 in a little screw steamer called PETREL,
which was built to haul lumber (Detroit Free Press (May 13, 1873), but there was too
little demand for lumber then, and the ship was not profitable. "Steambarges" were
introduced again in 1865 with the construction of the 115-foot TRADER in Marine
City on the St. Clair River, and they were an immediate success this time, partly
because of the newly adopted consort system. The Detroit Free Press (June 26,
1866) commented:

A new arrangement is being inaugurated for the
transportation of lumber, consisting of the use of
propellers especially adapted for the purpose. They
have no upper works forward of the engine room, which
gives space for additional cargo. Several are now
running.

These efficient little ships were designed to tow barges, but also to carry lumber
themselves. Every effort was made to maximize the capacity for lumber, and
because the vessels were patterned after their consort barges, they were known as
"steambarges."

A handful of small side-wheel-powered lumber steamers were built in the
mid-sixties to carry cordwood and lumber in shallow rivers tributary to the Lakes.
At least fifteen or twenty were built around Toledo and Sandusky, or at Detroit, Port
Huron, or Saginaw. It was not until the first screw-powered steambarges were
constructed, however, that lumber steamers were really adapted to towing barges
and to operating on the exposed waters of the open Lakes. These vessels moved
very slowly when towing a string of loaded barges, often no more than five or six
miles an hour, and they were susceptible to heavy weather damage. Side-wheel
steambarges, as a result, proved impractical except for the sheltered waters of
rivers and bays.

The typical steambarge measured 145 feet in length and carried about 350,000 feet
of lumber, although ships of that class ranged from 80 or 90 feet to fully 200, and
some hauledmore than a million board feet. All steambarges were single-decked
craft like their schooner forebears. Most had raised poopdecks. The earliest
steambarges had their pilothouses aft, but after 1880 most carried them on a raised
forecastle with a well-deck between bow and stern. Most steambarges were fitted
with a tall mast near the bow where they usually spread a single gaff-rigged sail

and a jib. The larger boats built after 1880 often had two or even three masts, and
because they carried working sails, most had centerboards (another link to their
schooner-rigged cousins). A prominent structural feature of the early steambarges
was the hogging arch, that same bridge-like truss used in larger Lakes propellers
that towered high above the rails at either side. Because the steambarges were
smaller vessels with a lower silhouette, the arches appeared larger than they did on
the passenger and freight propellers, looking all out of proportion to the small
steamers. Some builders substituted hogging-chains or iron rods with a single
Sampson-post near the after end, but it was not until internal bracing was perfected
around 1880 that the steambarges could dispense with some sort of very visible
external reinforcing. In the older steambarges the arches so complicated the
loading of lumber that dock gangs were paid a premium to load them.

Steambarges, some of which were called "lumber hookers" or "rabbits," carried their
lumber cargoes in the hold and stacked high on deck. Some carried square timber
or logs as well as "deals" (cut lumber), shingles, cedar posts, or railroad ties. The
cargo was usually piled on deck to heights of twelve or fourteen feet, and the
consort barges carried similar loads. Most tows consisted of three or four barges,
but some of the more powerful steambarges were known to tow up to eight or nine
at a time. ANTELOPE, a former passenger and freight propeller, regularly towed
eight loaded barges extending more than a mile from the steamer to the last of its
consorts (Mansfield 1899:1:517). Like most of its contemporaries, ANTELOPE traded
from Saginaw Valley ports all the way to Buffalo and Tonawanda, New York. The
huge lumber cargoes were all loaded and unloaded entirely by hand.

The consort system and the steambarges caught on very quickly. Forty-five were
built before 1870, and a number of passenger and freight propellers were also
converted for the same use when their cabins were removed and their spar decks
cut down to accommodate lumber. More than 20 were rebuilt in this way by 1870,
and dozens more were made lumber steamers in the next decade. Nearly 600
steambarges are estimated to have been built during the thirty years between 1870
and 1900 (Labadie 1982). The lumber business moved to the Pacific Coast around
1905, and the use of steambarges on the Lakes declined sharply after that. Some
were employed carrying salt, coal, sand, iron ore, and some lumber for a few years
more.

The practicality of the consort system was not strictly limited to the lumber trade.
Some of the first steambarges were occasionally used to haul grain and ore cargoes
when the rates were right. The little steamers and their barges were not entirely
suited for these cargoes, but what they lacked in capacity they made up for in
efficiency. They ordinarily had too little capacity below deck and were usually fitted
with rather small deck hatches. Iron ore and grain had to be kept dry during
transportation, and so had to be carried below deck where the cargo could be
entirely enclosed and protected from the elements. Both ore and grain were loaded
by the gravity system, and in vessels with small hatches it was necessary to do a
great deal of costly trimming of the cargo, redistributing it in the hold so that the
ship rode on an even keel. Small hatches also made unloading difficult.

Capt. Elihu M. Peck of Cleveland devised a ship in 1869 that would meet all of the
demands of the ore and grain trades. It was to be double-decked, with plenty of
space below decks for dry bulk cargo, fitted with wide hatches evenly spaced to
match the 24-foot spacing of the loading chutes at Marquette's ore docks. It would
have the capacity for 1,200 tons of ore and be provided with engines powerful
enough to tow one or two barges as large as the steamer. The result was the

210-foot bulk freighter R. J. HACKETT (True 1956:3). Bulk freighters had their
pilothouses far forward to improve visibility, and their machinery, like that of
steambarges, was placed in the stern. They usually had three or four tall masts
with sails to steady them and help power them. This practice of carrying sails was
abandoned around 1890 because of improvements in steam engines, and the
construction of bridges in many of the Lake Erie harbors made tall spars impractical.

Bulk freighters were profitable because they carried large quantities of bulk
commodities economically. For this reason, few bulk freighters measured less than
200 feet in length, even when the type was first introduced. They were only
competitive if they were large, and so they have always been built as large as
technology and sailing conditions would allow. The construction of these long,
narrow shoal-draft steamers was characterized by very heavy longitudinal framing.
Huge oak keelsons, parallel to the ships' centerline keels, were laid on top of the
floor timbers, which were the lower portion of the transverse frames in the ships'
bottoms. These keelsons, termed side or floor keelsons, usually measured from 12
to 18 inches square and ran the length of the bottoms of the vessels, spaced at
intervals of about three feet. No other Lakes vessel type used these long, heavy
members (True 1956:30). In addition to the rugged keelsons, the wooden bulk
freighters were reinforced with iron straps that criss-crossed the frames every four
feet, and a heavy band of 3/4-inch iron ran the length of the ship just under the rail
as well (see discussion of CHISHOLM in Chapter V for an example of this reinforcing
system). Little of this strengthening would have been required in a deeper
ocean-going hull, but Lakes channels have always kept hull depth to a minimum.
Ocean ships of the same era seldom required extraordinary reinforcing because their
hulls were much deeper in proportion to their lengths.

From the time R. J. HACKETT was christened in 1869 until shipbuilding was
suspended in the 1873 Panic, 47 bulk freighters were constructed averaging just
over 1,000 gross tons. V. H. KETCHUM, built in 1874, was 1,661 gross tons and the
largest in the fleet. When vessel construction resumed again in 1880, still larger
bulk freighters were launched: 170 of them were built during the 1880s alone, and
almost without exception, each had at least one consort barge built to run with it,
usually of similar tonnage and dimension. The typical bulk freighter built in 1890
was 2,200 gross tons and averaged 260 feet in length. The growth in vessel size
was made possible in this case not so much because of shipbuilding technique as
improvements in connecting channels such as the St. Marys River, the St. Clair Flats,
and the Detroit River. Greater depths made it possible to build longer, larger ships.

The next significant event in the evolution of the bulk freighters was the
introduction of iron and steel to shipbuilding. Iron ships had been built in Scotland
and England since before 1800 (Morrison 1945:2). Several iron vessels were built in
the United Kingdom during the 1850s and 1860s for Canadian owners on the St.
Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. The iron steamers ABERT and MICHIGAN were built
for the American government on the Lakes in 1843, and the 200-foot iron propeller
MERCHANT was built at Buffalo in 1862, the first commercial craft of iron built
entirely on the Great Lakes. After the Civil War, some iron-hulled blockade runners,
for example SOUTHERN BELLE (ROTHESAY CASTLE) and CHICORA, both
side-wheelers of over 200-feet in length, were brought into the Lakes. During the
1870s, several propellers and package freighters of iron were built at Buffalo, and all
were highly successful craft, most with long, profitable careers (Barry 1973:110).

The first bulk freighter built of iron was the "monster" steamer ONOKO, a 287-foot
giant, almost 30 feet longer than the largest wooden craft then afloat. It was built

by the Globe Iron Works at Cleveland, and was a sensation. It had double bottoms
with water-ballast tanks, and was designed to carry 3,000 tons of ore on a 14-foot
draft. It was said that ONOKO made money when few other craft in the industry
could generate profits, averaging from $25,000 to $40,000 annually (Detroit Free
Press Nov. 23, 1898). For nearly ten years, ONOKO carried the biggest cargoes on
the Lakes.

The principal advantage in the use of metals for shipbuilding is their very high ratio
of strength to weight. A 200-foot wooden ship required an oaken hull more than 18
inches thick, while a similar craft of iron had shell-plating no more than I/2 inch
thick and roughly one-tenth as heavy. Iron ships drew so little water that they had
to carry ballast to keep their propellers below the surface when they were without
cargo. Double bottoms and water ballast systems were developed to satisfy that
need and to provide for safety in case the outer shell was punctured. Indications
are that water ballast systems were developed on English colliers. Iron and later,
steel ships had much greater longitudinal strength than their wooden counterparts,
and that made it possible to build larger hulls. Although iron and steel shipbuilding
plants required specialized equipment, it was also cheaper to build hulls of metal
than of wood, and repairs were far simpler. Some shipbuilders persisted in the use
of wood until the turn of the century. The famous Davidson and Wheeler yards at
West Bay City, Michigan, built several wooden bulk freighters more than 300 feet
long before they finally succumbed to progress and abandoned wood in 1902.

Several iron freighters were built in the 1880s, but steel was introduced in 1886 with
the construction of the steamer SPOKANE, and it was almost universally adopted
thereafter. Steel proved stronger and more flexible than iron, although not as
resistant to oxidation. Some of the iron ships built on the Lakes were still in service
a century after their construction. The famous gunboat USS MICHIGAN lasted for
104 years, and then was broken up for scrap, the hull still in sound shape.

Between 1869 and 1902 when the last were built, the largest wooden bulk freighters
went from 210 to 310 feet. Steel freighters grew much more quickly, from the
287-foot ONOKO in 1882 to the 400-foot VICTORY in 1894, the 500-foot JOHN W.
GATES in 1900 and to 600-footers by 1906 (True 1956:27). In steel freighters, the
growth in size was not simply a process of enlarging the component parts of the
ship, but resulted from several improvements in technology and changes in the
arrangement of the vessels' framing. The earliest iron and steel ships had
transverse frames patterned after wooden ships, but spaced at wider intervals. The
arrangement of longitudinal keelsons was also similar to wooden bulk freighters in
that the latter members were laid on top of the crosswise frames in the ships'
bottoms (True 1956:31). Later steel hulls had combinations of transverse and
longitudinal framing, and the standard after about 1920 has become a system of
longitudinal framing on the deck and bottom, with transverse framing on the sides
and ballast tanks extending well up the sides. This system, with its particular
emphasis on longitudinal strength, has made possible recent construction of 800
and 1,000 foot superfreighters.

The consort system was largely abandoned after 1900, because the ships grew too
large to tow barges safely, and they could carry sufficient cargo to dispense with
the added capacity of a barge. The last barges still in service were not used after
1950. The consort system lasted for almost 100 years.

While bulk freighters became more numerous in the 1880s and 1890s, several other
vessel types dwindled in numbers and eventually disappeared. Sailing craft were

entirely displaced by steamers, except in the lumber trade where they found a niche
in later years as tow barges, with their tophampers cut away and their graceful
bowsprits cut short. There were 1,699 sailing craft on the Lakes in 1870 (Mansfield
1899:1:439). After that date, sail craft began a slow decline, and relatively few were
built to sustain their numbers after 1880 (see Fig. 2.2 Chapter II). In 1900 there were
still 1,068 left (Blue Book of American Shipping 1900), many in the form of unrigged
consort barges, and still others that had been idle for years. The last full-rigged
schooner ended its career in 1933 with the burning of the 60-year-old LYMAN M.
DAVIS in Toronto Harbor. The last schooner-barges were laid up and abandoned at
the time of the Great Depression.

Steambarges lasted only as long as the lumber trade on the Lakes. When the
forests had been stripped away in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota and the
supply of lumber was gone, the industry moved to Washington and Oregon. Some
of the lumber steamers also went to the West Coast to serve the industry there, but
most were simply abandoned and dismantled. Their design was too specialized and
their capacity too limited to make them suitable for any use but the lumber trade.
By 1930 only a handful of steambarges remained, carrying coal or sand and gravel,
or converted for dredging. Virtually none survived the Depression years except as
moldering curiosities in a score of ship boneyards.

The development of side-wheel steamers was largely stemmed by the rapid
ascendancy of screw steamers in the various Lakes trades, and although they
remained popular in the passenger business, for many decades, there would never
again be the great numbers of side-wheelers built that there were in the 1830s and
1840s. Side-wheelers reached their zenith with the construction of the 300-foot
"palace steamers" between 1848 and 1856. Twenty-two of the elegant craft were
built, but their heyday was short-lived because of the 1853 Panic. Side-wheelers
made something of a comeback following the Civil War, after which time the
greatest concentrations of their numbers centered on Lake Erie and Lake Michigan,
where the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, the Goodrich, and
Graham and Morton fleets employed many of their finest examples. A few paddle
wheel giants were constructed on the Lakes after 1900, including the largest
side-wheelers ever built; SEEANDBEE in 1913 was 485 feet long, and the twin
steamers GREATER DETROIT and GREATER BUFFALO in 1924 were 520-footers. The
latter vessels were the last of their type. At the time they entered service, only 37
other side-wheelers were still left (International Shipmasters Association Directory
1925:170-181). After 1950, none were still in use.

Passenger and freight propellers, like their package-freight stepdaughters, were
most successful when they were coupled with the railroad systems stretching to the
East and West from the Lakes states. After 1880, relatively few large propellers
were built, and those were principally for local routes rather than the system-wide
Buffalo-to-Chicago or Buffalo-to-Duluth services typical in earlier days. Some of
the new propellers constructed after 1890 were exclusively passenger craft, with
diminished freight capacity or no cargo space at all. A large proportion of the last
propellers were "day boats," excursion steamers with neither overnight
accommodations nor cargo space. Excursion vessels and ferries are very old types,
and in the end, they outlasted all of the other passenger vessel types. A dozen
passenger propellers survived the opening of America's highway networks in the
1930s, but the last of them succumbed to the economic pressures and regulatory
requirements to lay up in the mid-sixties. The Georgian Bay Line steamer SOUTH
AMERICAN was the last active representative of its type. She retired at the end of

the 1967 season. Many consider the IMPS vessel RANGER III, which regularly runs
between Houghton and Isle Royale, the package freighter on the Lakes.

Package freighters numbered 116 in 1890, which was probably their peak; much
package cargo was also carried in passenger and freight propellers, of course. The
tonnage of package freight carried in Lakes craft, however, was reduced as the
nation's railroads were extended, and the number of package boats and propellers
shrunk in direct proportion. In 1900 there were 90 package freighters (Inland Lloyds
Vessel Register 1890). In 1915, anti-trust legislation forced the disposal of most of
the package freighters by the railroads, which were their operators; many of them
never saw service on the Lakes again. Most of those which were left in service
were requisitioned for coastal service during World War II, so that virtually no U.S.
package freighters remained on the Lakes after 1940. A couple of Canadian fleets
ran package boats until 1980 in specialty trades such as rolled newsprint or
barrelled chemicals. Finally, in 1982, Canada Steamship Lines announced that it
would discontinue service with its last five package freighters (Log Chips 10 #18). It
was the end of a colorful era. At this writing, only the bulk freighters have survived
in service on the Lakes. The only representatives of the many vessels that once
plied the Great Lakes are the shipwrecks that lie beneath their surfaces.

CHAPTER IV. SHIPWRECKS OF ISLE ROYALE:
THE HISTORICAL RECORD

Introduction

This chapter is a presentation of the results of a search of primary archival and
secondary sources into the background history of the shipwrecks of Isle Royale.
The site locations have become common knowledge to the diving public, and they
are the focus of the Park's submerged cultural resources management activities.

Ten total vessel losses, in addition to the DUNELM stranding incident, have all left
material residues in the archeological record that are discussed in detail in Chapter
V of this report. Following are the contemporary notions of what transpired before
and after the wreck event; a historical backdrop intended to complement the
archeological investigations. The order of presentation is chronological according to
year of construction.

History written for archeological purposes is somewhat different than normally
encountered in popular periodicals or historical monographs. The attempt here is to
use the historical record as one of several major links in an evidence chain that
leads to an understanding of why certain material residues appear as they do in the
archeological record. The most appropriate analogy would be to a medical examiner
at a crime scene. That person may ask questions of witnesses or read their
depositions, but always with the end in mind of understanding why there is a body
on the living room floor. The authors of this section were instructed to seek facts
relevant to the birth (construction), life (operational history), and death (wreck event)
of the victims (shipwrecks) at Isle Royale. The degree to which this could be done
through direct quotes from the contemporary accounts was encouraged. Although
no particular effort was made to be entertaining, much in the way of new
information on the ships has been included that might help establish vessel
significance, historical context or eventually be of use for park interpreters. The
"post-mortem," or archeological record section of the report, benefited much from
this sort of approach, but the reader should be prepared for what may be viewed as
a comparatively dry approach, rather than an attempt at telling a lively historical
tale.

The amount of text devoted to each wreck is widely variable. This is somewhat a
function of the disparity in what was available in the archives, but also reflects a
conscious decision-making process. Ships that bore a special relationship to Isle
Royale, such as AMERICA, or ships whose wreck events left many questions to be
answered, such as KAMLOOPS, were discussed in greater detail than others. In
addition, aspects of a wreck event or its aftermath that had implications for the
general socioeconomic processes of the region were also stressed.

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CUMBERLAND: HISTORY

Construction

The side-wheeler CUMBERLAND was built in 1871 at Port Robinson, Ontario, by
Melanchthon Simpson for Charles Perry and Co. It was launched Wednesday August
9, 1871 (Detroit Telegram Aug. 15, 1871). The vessel was named for Fred W.
Cumberland, general manager of the Northern Railway, parent company of the
Toronto and Lake Superior Navigation Company, which had the ship designed and
built to run the Duluth and Collingwood or Owen Sound route.

The railroad men who formed the navigation company were pioneers in the Lake
Superior trade prior to the construction of the railroads in the area. The towns of
Collingwood, and later Owen Sound and Midland, were the main points of rail
connection between train and Lake boat. The Superior ports were all served by
Lakes vessels at the time of formation of the new navigation company.
CUMBERLAND, along with ALGOMA (previously named CITY OF TORONTO and
RACINE) were the core of the new enterprise, which incorporated connections
between the railroad and steamship line. Later, CHICORA would join the line
(Williams 1909:43-47).

CUMBERLAND was a typical example of the Great Lakes sidewheel steamers built
from the late 1840s through the 1880s. The first of the 200-foot steamers appeared
on the Lakes in the early 1840s, and by the next decade had assumed the classic
configuration as represented by CUMBERLAND and the dozens of other steamers
produced for the passenger and package trade on the Lakes.

Ships of CUMBERLAND'S type had overhanging guards the full length of the hull and
freight space on the main deck. Usually, there were one or two cabin decks above
the main deck. The number and size of accommodations are, as other details of
construction, uncertain for CUMBERLAND. A steamer of comparable size would
likely have about sixty cabins, plus parlors. The ladies' cabin would normally be aft,
steerage and crew accommodations below (Labadie personal communication).

The ship was powered by a vertical "walking-beam" engine with one boiler and a
single stack. No description of the boiler has been located in the historical material
reviewed. The engines for the new ship had been in service before. Originally the
44-inch diameter engine, with a 132-inch (11-foot) stroke, was placed aboard
CATARACT (Detroit Free Press May 11, 1871). U.S. CATARACT became the Canadian
steamer COLUMBIA before it was broken up, and the engine transferred to
CUMBERLAND. Information contained in the Lytle-Holdcamper List (Mitchell and Hall
1975:31) states CATARACT was 577 gross tons, built in Ogdensburg, New York in
1846 and sold foreign (Canadian) in 1867. The list also erroneously indicates
CATARACT was a screw steamer.

CUMBERLAND was reported to be 208 feet on the keel and 214 feet overall with a
beam of 28 feet, 43 feet 8 inches overall. The draft was 10 feet 6 in., and it was
229 tons burden, 750 tons gross measurement. The engine was rated at 400
horsepower (Detroit Free Press Oct. 1, 1871). The ship had a round fantail stern,
and its cabins were warmed by steam. The steamer had paddle wheels 30 feet in
diameter (Ibid. Oct. 4, 1871).

Operational History

The Collingwood Bulletin (May 9, 1872) reported that:

the splendid new steamer CUMBERLAND will leave on her first trip to
Fort William next Friday. She has been fitted up in the most elegant
style and under the command of Captain Orr will meet the highest
expectations of the travelling public.

CUMBERLAND'S first full season of navigation was 1872, a year that initiated a series
of incidents that were to afflict the steamer throughout its relatively short history of
operation. CUMBERLAND carried about 600 passengers and a heavy load of freight,
horses and cattle on its first 1872 trip (Toronto Mail May 11, 1872; Meaford Monitor
May 16, 1872).

CUMBERLAND provided assistance to the steamer MANITOBA in July. The two
steamers had been built at the same time in Port Robinson for competing owners
(Detroit Free Press March 21, 1871). MANITOBA had run aground on Michipicoten
Island in heavy fog. The ship had been in that position for nearly 24 hours when it
was spotted by the crew of CUMBERLAND. It took nearly 30 hours more before the
grounded steamer was again afloat (Meaford Monitor July 25, 1872).

September 1872 was a stormy month, and some vessels were lost. The schooner
MAPLE LEAF was swamped near Isle Royale and eventually capsized in rough
weather. The captain and crew were able to abandon ship and were taken to Silver
Islet. During the wreck, the captain reported he had sighted CUMBERLAND, but it
was not able to render assistance due to the heavy seas (Meaford Monitor Oct. 17,
1872).

In November of 1872, CUMBERLAND was frozen in the ice in Bear Lake in the St.
Mary's River. Captain Orr, the chief engineer and four of the crew arrived on foot in
Collingwood on December 27. Several days after them, 18 of the crew arrived after
making the 20-day trek down the north shore of Georgian Bay. According to their
reports, they suffered terrible weather and privation on their journey; all were
frostbitten. Captain Orr had left CUMBERLAND in the charge of the first mate, with
the steward, stewardess and two waiters left on board (Toronto Mail Dec. 27, 28,
1872; Marquette Daily Mining Journal January 4, 1873). There were also 50
passengers aboard (Toronto Mail Dec. 11, 1872).

The details of how CUMBERLAND was extracted from the ice, or how those
remaining onboard were rescued have not been located. This suggests it apparently
wintered in the ice. It is known CUMBERLAND was the first boat of the 1873 season
to arrive in Collingwood, although there was still much ice present (Meaford Monitor
May 8, 1873). The 1873 season was apparently without serious incident.

In early November 1874, nearly on the anniversary of being frozen in the ice,
CUMBERLAND was caught in a storm between Sault Ste. Marie and Prince Arthur's
Landing (renamed Port Arthur in 1884) and very nearly wrecked. CUMBERLAND may
have been near Passage Island when it was caught (Meaford Monitor Nov. 10, 1874).

The caulking came out of the hold planks in several places and the ship began
leaking badly. To keep from sinking, either 75 (Duluth Minnesotian Nov. 7, 1874) or
150 (Ashland Press Nov. 14, 1874) head of cattle and some freight were thrown
overboard. It was reported that $3,000 worth of cattle, sheep and hogs belonging to
Brown Bros, and all the deck cargo were dumped overboard (Meaford Monitor Nov.

10, 1874). CUMBERLAND arrived at Prince Arthur's Landing with 6 feet of water in
the hold, and promptly sank (Duluth Minnesotian Nov. 7, 1874; Ashland Press Nov.
14, 1874).

The November 1875 newspapers reported CUMBERLAND was ashore and scuttled.
The vessel was again caught in a late season storm and went ashore three miles
from Silver Islet at Lee or T Harbor in a blinding snowstorm, with gale-force winds
from the east (The Daily Globe Nov. 3, 1875; Cleveland Herald Nov. 5, 1875). There
was little damage, and the steamer, with passengers and freight intact, arrived in
Thunder Bay November 4, after being pulled free by tugs (Cleveland Herald Nov. 8,
1875; The Daily Globe Nov. 5, 1875). The freight carried by CUMBERLAND included
"copper ore, fish, and fourteen span of horses, and about 100 passengers" (Chicago
Inter Ocean Nov. 8, 1875).

On Sept. 15, 1876 CUMBERLAND ran aground at Owen Sound. While trying to get
the vessel off by using a line wrapped on the shaft of the wheel, Capt. Orr was
injured. The line snapped and broke both of the captain's legs. Captain Parsons
took the command for the trip (Duluth Minnesotian Sept. 23, 1876).

Some of the marine notes of the Duluth Minnesotian of 1876 give insight into the
nature of the cargo and passengers carried by CUMBERLAND this season.

June 27, 1876: Arrived Duluth with 231 Mennonite emigrants and 10

other passengers.

June 27: Cleared Duluth, cargo for Collingwood: 4 boxes of personal

effects, 1 mower, 22 boxes of merchandise.

July 10: Arrived Duluth. Cargo: 25 passengers, 17 packages

household goods.

July 10: Cleared Duluth Light.

Aug. 7: Arrived Duluth. Cargo: 2 cabin passengers, 400 Icelandic

emigrants and baggage, 2 cases furniture, all in transit to Manitoba.

Aug. 7: Cleared Duluth. Cargo: 1 case hardware, 1 bale robes.

Wreck Event

CUMBERLAND was delayed for three days while enroute to Prince Arthur's Landing.
The vessel had been grounded on a bar in Nipigon Harbor (Thunder Bay Sentinal
July 26, 1877), arriving in Prince Arthur's on Tuesday (July 24). The ship probably
cleared port the same day, as was its practice.

CUMBERLAND started taking on water, and its passengers were transferred to an
upbound American boat she met. Later, on the 25th, CUMBERLAND struck Rock of
Ages reef (Thunder Bay Sentinal July 26, 1877). The day was mild when
CUMBERLAND struck. The weather was dry and clear, with a light southwest to
south-southwest breeze blowing (Menagerie Isle Light Station Log July 23, 24, 1877).

CUMBERLAND struck the reef going at a speed sufficient to push its bow solidly
aground. It was reported that all the forward half of the vessel was on the reef.
Several tugs and steamers unsuccessfully attempted to pull it off. (It was also
reported that had CUMBERLAND run 100 feet to either side, it would have missed
the reef (Duluth Minnesotian Aug. 4, 1877). The steamers QUEBEC and FRANCIS
SMITH worked on the stranded ship. These steamers parted all their lines in the
unsuccessful attempt to remove the sidewheeler. CUMBERLAND was reported in
bad shape, "lying 18 inches out amidships (Chicago Inter Ocean July 30, 1877).

Some of the freight was loaded onto FRANCIS SMITH, a ship owned by the same
line (Chicago Inter Ocean Aug. 1, 1877).

JENNIE OLIVER was another vessel on hand to render aid along with insurance tugs
from Prince Arthur's (Thunder Bay Sentinel Aug. 2, 1877). Wrecking tugs and
apparatus were sent for from as far away as Detroit (Duluth Minnesotian Herald
Aug. 4, 1877). The propellors ASIA and CITY OF OWEN SOUND may have also tried
to pull CUMBERLAND off the reef (Chicago Inter Ocean Aug. 1, 1877).

The newspapers ran frequent reports on the progress of the attempts to save
CUMBERLAND, and it was clear from the stories that the people of both Duluth and
Prince Arthur's hoped she would be saved. The Duluth Tribune (Aug. 3, 1877), for
instance, printed the comments: "We hope the fears entertained that she will go
down before she reaches Collingwood will not be realized, for she is a trim, staunch
and fast sailing craft, and would be greatly missed from our commerce."

A telegram sent on August 4 gave the condition of CUMBERLAND (Chicago Inter

Ocean Aug. 8, 1877).

Got to steamer CUMBERLAND this morning; find her shear
planks broken, hull twisted, mast and a great part of upper works
carried away. The captain of the tug will try to pull her off today if he
can get her pumped out. They are afraid she will be a total loss if
more bad weather sets in. Tug arrived twelve hours too late. Storm
on Wednesday did all the damage.

Unfortunately the worst fears were realized. The wreck was abandoned August 12
(Chicago Inter Ocean Aug. 13, 1877). By August 18, it was rapidly going to pieces,
and had broken entirely in two (The Marquette Mining Journal Aug. 18, 1877). The
same newspaper reported it a total loss by August 25. The owners were already
negotiating for the purchase of the Union Steamboat Company vessel ATLANTIC as
a replacement. The loss of CUMBERLAND was put at $50,000. It had been insured
for $34,000 (Duluth Minnesotian Herald Aug. 11, 1877).

Soon after the wreck, a rumor circulated in Canada that the master of the vessel
(Capt. Parsons) had been relying on the charts of Lake Superior produced by the
United States, and that the reef CUMBERLAND struck was not marked. The rumor
reached H.M. Adams, Captain of Engineers, who wrote a letter to the Detroit Daily
News in response (Portage Lake Mining Gazette Aug. 16, 1877). Enclosed with the
letter was a copy of the U.S. chart that indicated 6 feet of depth and a rock bottom
at the point CUMBERLAND hit the reef. It was the Canadian charts that were at
fault.

CUMBERLAND remained visible until the end of August. The steamer FRANCIS
SMITH, down bound from Duluth, reported the wreck was in the same position as
when it was abandoned (Toronto Globe Aug. 31, 1877).

CUMBERLAND was entirely submerged by early September. The Duluth Minnesotian
(Sept. 8, 1877) reported that "She is now quietly laying on the bed of Lake Superior.
Some wreckers went to look for her lately, but could not find her."

Speculations as to the cause of the accidents must rely on the scant information
appearing in contemporary newspapers, because records of any official inquiries
have not been located. The captain of CUMBERLAND may have taken a short cut in
an attempt to make up the time lost while aground at Nipigon Bay. The captain of

the steamer ST. PAUL reported that CUMBERLAND'S captain had hailed and
transferred the passengers aboard his vessel because he did not want to be delayed
by proceeding further on to Duluth. "After the transfer of passengers the
CUMBERLAND started on her return, and taking a short cut ran hard on to the
southwest part of Isle Royale (Chicago Inter Ocean Aug. 1, 1877).

Another possibility was raised — CUMBERLAND may have been allowed to break up
because of the insurance.

The CUMBERLAND was insured for $35,000 or $40,000, and it is

generally understood that although she was a fine boat, she is well

sold, considering the depressed condition of the vessel interests.

Whether this fact had anything to do with the "circumlocution office"

way the affair was managed of course cannot be told, but people

knowing the circumstances will talk, and such is the burden of the

conclusions drawn (Cleveland Herald Aug. 25, 1877).

Apparently, some felt that the vessel could have been saved if those involved had

dispatched wrecking tugs to the site earlier. A professional insurance agent had

waited until he reached Collingwood to send out a hawser, rather than dispatch the

wrecking tugs. The delay was fatal to CUMBERLAND, because of the storm that

broke it up (Chicago Inter Ocean ran the above under the title "How Not To Do It"

Aug. 24, 1877. The original appeared in the Cheboygan Tribune.)

Salvage

There was some salvage done on CUMBERLAND. The initial efforts were completed
prior to September 1877. The following announcement of the sale of materials from
the wreck appeared September 1, 1877 (Toronto Globe):

Salvage Auction Sale of Effects
Saved from the Wreck of the Steamer Cumberland
on View Today at 56 Yonge Street

The subscribers have received instructions to sell on behalf of the
underwriter by public auction, at the warehouse, No. 56 Yonge St. the
whole of the effects saved from the wreck of the Steamer
CUMBERLAND, consisting of two metal lifeboats, two wooden yawl
boats, two anchors and cable chains, about two tons Manilla rope,
blocks, tackle, capstans, 130 life preservers, zinc pails, wheel and
wheel stand, wire rope and rigging in large quantities, deck pumps,
hoisting machinery, steam gauges, engine gong, pony engine, steam
heater, tools etc., also the whole of the furniture saved, which is in
excellent condition, consisting of 100 cane seat dining chairs and
stools, 125 spring and mixed mattresses, 100 sponge and feather
pillows, card and extension dining tables, gilt mirrors, 20 pieces velvet
carpet, a large number of crimson and gold armchairs, sofas, and
setees, superb rosewood Pianoforte, and many more articles, as well
as the hull, engines and boilers of the steamer as she now lies off Isle
Royale Island.
The sale took place September 5, and realized about $3,000 (Toronto Globe Sept. 6,
1877). The sale notice is a good indication of the extent of salvage that occurred
on the vessel. Most of the material, except the machinery, was salvaged, to some
extent.

There is, as yet, no record of hull or machinery salvage after the unsuccessful
attempt by wreckers to locate the vessel in September 1877. Apparently, the

machinery and boilers were not salvaged. There are, however, reports of additional
wreckage attributed to CUMBERLAND being washed ashore on Isle Royale; the
westernmost portion of Isle Royale has become locally known as Cumberland Point.
Another point of land just inside Grace Harbor has also become locally known as
"Inner Cumberland Point," another site of wreckage. There may also be some
portions of the old Grace Harbor Lumber Company dock, located in the vicinity of
CUMBERLAND. Bow wreckage was found and photographically documented by
members of SCRU in 1984. Patrick Labadie and Monty Florentz returned in 1985 to
map the area (see Chapter V, Fig. 5.11).

CUMBERLAND wreckage was reported in 1909 to be distributed along the entire
south shore (Adams 1909:49), but that wreckage most likely belongs to CHISHOLM,
lost in 1898. Arthur Veierthaler of Madison, Wisconsin reported ribs (frames) and
planking in the waters off Cumberland Point in the mid-1960s (personal
communication to Holden).

Fig. 4.1. Side-wheel steamer CUMBERLAND, built for the elegant passenger and
package trade. The lack of visible hull support structures is evident in this
photograph. U.S. Army Corps, of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.2. Side-wheel steamer WESTERN WORLD, a larger vessel than CUMBERLAND
built in 1854, shows a typical arched truss hull-support system to give longitudial
strength to the hull. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum
Collection.

HENRY CHISHOLM: HISTORY

Construction

HENRY CHISHOLM was built in Cleveland by the firm Thomas Quayle's Sons, under
the direction of master carpenter John Drackett (ship documents). The new bulk
freighter, the largest steambarge on the Lakes, slipped down the ways August 28,
1880 (Chicago Inter Ocean Aug. 30, 1880).

The builder was an old, established firm well known for the high quality vessels they
produced. The ship building company was founded by Thomas Quayle, whom some
acknowledged as the father of Cleveland shipbuilders (Mansfield 1899:1:427).

Quayle was born in England and came to the United States at the age of 16 in 1827
and began work as a shipbuilder apprentice. After his apprenticeship was
completed he started business in partnership with James Cody. The partnership
lasted 3 years during which it built barks, brigs and schooners that were considered
large craft for the time.

Soon after the partnership with Cody was dissolved, Quayle formed a partnership
with Luther Moses, the new firm called Moses and Quayle under which the first
Quayle steamers were built. The next partnership was with John Mart It lasted 20
years and together they constructed a large number of sailing vessels and steamers,
reputed to be some of the finest on the Lakes. In one year, 13 vessels were built,
including the bark WILLIAM T. GRAVES (1867), then the largest carrier on the Lakes
(Mansfield 1899:2:692).

After John Martin's death in 1873, Quayle took his sons into the business and
formed Thomas Quayle and Sons. During this company's operations it again
produced the largest freshwater vessel of its time, COMMODORE, built in 1875 and
of 2,082 gross tons (Mansfield 1879:2:692).

Thomas Quayle retired in 1879 (Mansfield 1899:2:692), and upon the entry of a third
son his firm became Thomas Quayle's Sons. The sons of Thomas Quayle reaffirmed
the company's reputation for building large, staunch, Great Lakes vessels; when
HENRY CHISHOLM was launched it was the largest bulk freighter on the Lakes
(Mansfield 1899:1:735).

HENRY CHISHOLM's Master Carpenter John Drackett, who was an English emigrant
to Cleveland in 1851, had built many Lakes vessels. During most of his career he
worked under contract for well-known Lakes shipbuilders' on both sailing craft and
steamers. Drackett moved to Detroit in 1874 and in 1876 was employed for 4 years
by Alva Bradley during which time he built HENRY CHISHOLM. In 1881 he moved to
Toledo and built DAVID DOWS, the only five-masted schooner on the Lakes
(Mansfield 1899:2:686). CHISHOLM's construction reflected the expertise of this
master carpenter and was generally recognized as one of the finest steam barges
on the Lakes. Captain George Stone was the superintendent of construction.

HENRY CHISHOLM was built for Alva Bradley and launched on August, 1880. The
ship received its first inspection on September 16. It was painted the Bradley colors
with a green hull and red stack. The vessel originally carried three masts.
CHISHOLM was given U.S. Registry number 95610.

CHISHOLM was built as a wooden bulk freighter with a single screw. These vessels
were commonly termed "steam barges." It was powered by a fore-and-aft
compound steam engine, which produced 1,707 horsepower, fed by twin boilers.
The compound engine, built by the Globe Iron Works of Cleveland, was reportedly of
the "Randolph and Elder pattern, cylinders 30x56 inches, four feet stroke" (Chicago
Inter Ocean Sept. 23, 1880). The speed of the loaded ship was about 9 knots.

CHISHOLM, considered a "leviathan" at the time of construction, was 270 feet of
overall length and registered length of 256 5/10 feet, 39 3/10 feet in breadth and 20
3/10 feet in depth. The capacity under the tonnage deck was 1692 27/100 and the
capacity of enclosures on the upper deck (poop) was 83 10/100 for a total of 1775
37/100 gross tons. Deductions allowed by the Act of August 5, 1882 totaled 443
19/100 for a total net tonnage of 1332 18/100. Permanent enrollment was dated at
Cleveland, Ohio, September 18, 1880.

CHISHOLM was built just as shipbuilding was approaching the maximum sizes
possible with wood as the principal material. Quayle's company had been
experimenting with the construction of the largest of wooden hulls and their
experience was incorporated into CHISHOLM. Iron, a recently introduced competitor,
and later steel, would supersede wood for the construction of large hulls. The latter
were more expensive when CHISHOLM was launched, which may account for the
owners decision to build their hull with traditional materials. CHISHOLM cost
$125,000. This may be compared with LEHIGH, an iron vessel of the dimensions of
240x35x17, which cost $140,000 (Chicago Inter Ocean Sept. 23, 1880).

CHISHOLM was a powerful towing vessel and was built with the intention of pulling
one, and sometimes more, barges, as was the typical practice of the time. The
barges were generally older schooners converted for towing, although some
schooner barges were constructed specifically for the purpose.

The building of HENRY CHISHOLM was a matter of much interest and the

contemporary press carried details of its construction:

The Henry Chisholm, the largest steambarge ever built in Cleveland
was launched yesterday in the presence of 2,000 people .... Fully
800,090 feet of lumber were consumed in her construction ... (Chicago
Inter Ocean Aug. 30, 1880).

Her strength is all that can be got with wood and iron. She
has 150 tons of iron in her construction besides the engines and
boilers. She has a wide, heavy band of iron running from bow to
stern, her whole length, at the head of the frames, from which double
diagonal heavy iron straps run down the sides and under the turn of
the bilge, and fasten to the long frames under the bottom and bolt
through the bands when they cross and outside of the frames under
the planking. This is called iron strapping, and it entitles her to a
rating of A 1* for ten years to A 1 1/2 for three years more, and A 2
for three years more, making sixteen years before she classes below A
2. She is expected to carry 2,000 gross tons of iron ore from
Escanaba and also tow as many vessels as can get tow lines to hold
them; 75,000 bushels of wheat, or 80,000 bushels of corn to Buffalo ...
She came out of Cleveland without having tried her engines, and ran
eight and a half miles an hour to Detroit with everything new and
rough ... She is all right in every way. She steers well in rough
weather, doesn't bend, or work, or give, or creak, or leak. She is as

strong as though she was all in one piece, and has power to steam
almost any gale of wind ....

The iron beams under the boilers, and the iron house over and
around the boiler, with the iron coal bunkers, are sure protection
against fire. Her outfit includes all the new improvements and tried
inventions of the steamboats of today. Her cabins and rooms are
large, and are heated with steam, and she is well furnished. Without
the least exaggeration it may be said that the Henry Chisholm is the
peer of any craft afloat on salt water or fresh (Chicago Inter Ocean
Sept. 24, 1880).

Operational History

During HENRY CHISHOLM's operational life it was involved in many accidents, some
minor, some serious, which was not unusual for bulk freighters of the period. The
high number of accidents was often a reflection of the operation of vessels built to
the maximum dimensions of practical navigation. The long series of incidents began
the day the ship was launched. Soon after the launch a sailor fell through the open
hatchway and was severely injured (Chicago Inter Ocean Aug. 30, 1880).

Even the maiden voyage was not without incident. The new vessel ran aground
twice. The first cargo CHISHOLM carried was 1800 tons of coal (Cleveland Herald
Sept. 9, 27, 1880). The ship grounded in the west draw of the Chicago Avenue
Bridge, blocking it overnight. The ship was wedged between the banks of the
narrow channel. Six Union Tug Line tugs were unable to budge the freighter until
250 tons of coal were removed (Ibid. 27, 1880).

CHISHOLM was freed only to run aground again in the Ogden Canal "within a stone's
throw" of the North Side Gas Company's dock (Cleveland Herald Sept. 28, 1880).
Lightering operations were again carried out and the vessel finally made it to the
dock. The reason for the grounding was a strong south wind that unexpectedly
reduced the water in the Ogden Canal to 12 feet; CHISHOLM was drawing more than
13 feet (Ibid.Sept. 29, 1880).

During the maiden voyage the steam chest of CHISHOLM's engines needed
adjustment. This was done in Detroit. During the adjustments many people visited
the new steambarge (Cleveland Herald Sept. 22, 1880).

The operational history of HENRY CHISHOLM gives insight to the bulk freighter trade
as it was carried out on the Great Lakes in the 1880s and '90s. This was a period
of rapid change in navigation on the Lakes and it is informative to briefly present
some of the highlights of CHISHOLM's history in this context.

- CHISHOLM chartered to carry corn at 4 1/2 cents a bushel from Chicago to Buffalo
(Cleveland Herald Oct. 2, 1880).

- While carrying 79,600 bushels CHISHOLM drew but 14 feet 4 1/2 inches (Ibid. Oct.
6, 1880).

- CHISHOLM again ran aground, this time at the head of Bois Blanc Island on the
Canadian side of the Detroit River. The vessel had to be lightered of 8,000 bushels
of corn to get free (Ibid. Oct. 8, 9, 1880).

-CHISHOLM, near the end of its first trip had to again lighter 4500 bushels of grain
before being able to enter Buffalo Harbor (Cleveland Herald Oct. 14, 1880).

- 1700 tons of coal were carried in November 1880 (Cleveland Herald Nov. 22, 23,
1880).

- HENRY CHISHOLM recovered the anchors of NEGAUNEE November 1880 (Ibid. Nov.
25, 1880). The steam barge wintered in Cleveland (Ibid. Dec. 4, 1880.

At the opening of the 1881 season, CHISHOLM ran aground at the head of Lime Kiln
Crossing. "The accident was caused by the valve motion cutting the steam off and
rendering the vessel helpless" (Cleveland Herald May 9, 1881).

The operational history of CHISHOLM continues on in much the same manner.
CHISHOLM was primarily involved in the coal, iron ore and grain trades. CHISHOLM
frequently set records for carrying capacity on the Lakes:

In May, 1881 CHISHOLM carried 1800 tons of iron ore from Escanaba. "This is the
largest load any vessel has yet brought down" (Cleveland Herald May 24, 1881). The
load brought down was actually 1911 tons (Ibid. May 30, 1881). CHISHOLM made
the run from Cleveland to Escanaba in 62 hours with the schooner NEGAUNEE in
tow. The ship had made the round trip with the record load of ore in six days (Ibid.
June 7, 1881). In June CHISHOLM brought down 2,061 tons of ore, "the largest load
ever carried in fresh water (Ibid. June 22, 1881).

The appearance of the iron ONOKO forever surpassed the records of CHISHOLM and
the other wooden ships. The new iron vessel could carry 115-120,000 bushels of
wheat to the 82,000 bushels of corn of CHISHOLM (Ibid. April 28, 1882).

CHISHOLM would, however, still claim records of local note, and these seem to
reflect a competition between vessels of large size. In May 1882, the freighter
brought down 2,100 tons of ore from Escanaba, the biggest load to date (Ibid. May
13, 1882). This record did not last until the end of the month when CITY OF ROME,
another Quayle ship, but a bit larger, brought down 2,180 tons of ore (Ibid. May 30,
1882). In June CHISHOLM loaded 2,184 tons of ore at Escanaba, reclaiming its
record (Ibid. June 2, 1882).

"CHISHOLM brought in the largest cargo of ore of the season into Milwaukee July 5,
1884. It was 2,163 tons" (Cleveland Herald July 6, 1884).

CHISHOLM frequently towed schooners. For example, it had the schooners THOMAS
QUAYLE, J.C. HARRISON and GODFREY in tow on a trip (Cleveland Herald Sept. 29,
1881). The schooners did not always accompany the steam barge for the entire
trip, rather they were often picked up and delivered to different ports. In April 1882,
CHISHOLM left Cleveland with the schooners THOMAS QUAYLE, and J.F. CARD in
tow. S.J. TILDEN was picked up at Black River. CARD was left off at St. Clair while
the others proceeded to Milwaukee with their loads of coal (Ibid. April 19, 1882). In
1885 CHISHOLM started the season with three schooners in tow loaded with coal, all
four vessels had different destinations (Ibid. May 10, 1885).

An idea of the carrying capacity of steambarges and their tows is gained from
August 1883 when CHISHOLM had CITY OF CLEVELAND, AHIRA COBB, and SCOTIA in
tow. CITY OF CLEVELAND alone was loaded with 2,500 tons of ore (Ibid. Aug. 16,
1883).

Vessels unfortunate enough to come too close to HENRY CHISHOLM did not fare
well. The canal boat TOM WOOD was struck by CHISHOLM and sank. There was no
damage to CHISHOLM (Cleveland Herald June 8, 1881). The tug IDA M. SIMS had its
whistle carried away during a close encounter with the huge steam barge (Ibid. Aug
15, 1881).

CHISHOLM and its tow AHIRA COBB both hit NORTH CAPE, a schooner down bound
with a load of grain, in fog and nearly sank it. The stricken schooner was towed to
Cleveland by CHISHOLM (Cleveland Herald June 25; July 3, 1884).

The only alteration noted in the first year of CHISHOLM's operation was the change
of steering gear from wire to chain (Cleveland Herald June 11, 1881). In 1882
CHISHOLM ran aground in the river at Chicago and broke its wheel. It took five tugs
and a locomotive to pull the ship through the Harrison Street Bridge (Ibid. Nov 4,
1882).

Repairs include a bent key connecting the piston with the crosshead in 1884 (Ibid.
Aug 24, 1884). The stern bearings were repaired in 1886 (Detroit Free Press July 2,
1886).

In 1883 CHISHOLM towed the Bradley owned barges AHIRA COBB and CITY OF
CLEVELAND. It was then rated A1* in the Inland Lloyd's Vessel Register 1890).

In 1883 CHISHOLM ran aground at the Willow Street bridge in Cleveland and had to
lighter some ore to get off. The vessel was damaged and entered the Globe dry
dock for repairs (Cleveland Herald Oct. 13, 16, 1883).

CHISHOLM had been recaulked in 1890 and received a Lloyd's rating of A2 with a
value of $75,000. The rating and value were both raised in 1896 when the ship was
rebo'lered with two new Scotch boilers.

Wreck Event

The last voyage of HENRY CHISHOLM began in Duluth on Sunday, October 16, 1898.
CHISHOLM was loaded with 92,000 bushels of barley. The ship was downbound for
Buffalo with the 220-foot schooner JOHN MARTIN in tow, carrying 1.2 million board
feet of lumber. Captain P.H. Smith was master of HENRY CHISHOLM and the captain
of JOHN MARTIN was James Lawless, second master of CHISHOLM. Both vessels
were majority owned by M.A. Bradley of Cleveland (Wisconsin State Journal Oct. 21,
1898).

A gale arose and the weather was heavy by the time the two vessels neared Copper
Harbor on the Keweenaw Point. MARTIN, with fore and main sails set, cast off the
tow line about 5:30 p.m. Monday (Oct. 17) and was soon lost to view. There was a
heavy southeast wind and CHISHOLM's captain headed up the Lake across the wind
(Ft. William Daily Journal, Oct. 21, 1898). CHISHOLM cruised about until Tuesday
morning in an effort to locate the missing schooner (Superior Evening Telegram Oct.
21, 1898).

CHISHOLM headed for the Apostle Island group and refueled at Ashland. The search
for JOHN MARTIN was resumed at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday. The search route ran to the
north shore with a call at Grand Marais, and from there to search the Isle Royale
area (Ft. William Daily Journal Oct. 21, 1898).

The wreck occurred on Thursday, October 20 at either 5:00 a.m. (The Daily Journal
Oct. 21, 1898) or at 8:00 a.m. while the ship was trying to enter Washington Harbor
(Wisconsin State Journal Oct. 21, 1898). CHISHOLM was doing about 9 knots, full
speed, when it struck the Rock of Ages reef. The ship carried a crew of 16 (Duluth
Evening Herald Oct. 21, 1898).

Soon after striking the reef, Capt. Smith and First Mate Whitsman (or Whitman), who
had been consulting in the ship's cabin, rushed to the deck and saw many
fragments of heavy oak hull planking floating in the water. The captain decided
there was no hope of pulling it off and launched the 18-foot lifeboat or yawl boat
(Detroit Free Press Oct. 22, 1898) under the command of the first mate. Along with
Whitsman in the lifeboat were Second Mate Gilbert Wide (Wilde), Wheelsmen James
Agger and Angus MacDonald, and Seaman Harry G. Carrow. These men set out
rowing for Victoria Harbor 14.5 miles away. They arrived there about 11:00 a.m. and
were picked up by the steamer DIXON (Ft.William Daily Journal Oct. 21, 1898).

DIXON (probably HIRAM R. DIXON, a 329 gross-ton propeller built in 1883 at Mystic,
Connecticut) arrived in Duluth with the shipwrecked crew aboard (Wisconsin State
Journal Oct. 21, 1898). This same account said the crew had gone to Isle Royale
before Whitsman was dispatched to report the vessel's loss. CHISHOLM was
reported rapidly breaking up and feared a total loss. A wrecking expedition sent by
the Inman Tug Line had been dispatched.

Soon after the lifeboat under command of the first mate left CHISHOLM, the captain
and remainder of the crew rowed the 4 miles to Washington Harbor. The vessel
was reported in 12 feet of water at the bow and 40 feet at the stern, listing 4 feet
(Ft. William Daily Journal Oct. 21, 1898).

JOHN MARTIN, although feared water logged and lost (lumber had been spotted on
the south shore), survived the ordeal in good shape. The steamer NESHOTO, a 2,255
gross ton propeller commissioned that year and built at CHISHOLM's home port of
Cleveland, arrived in Duluth on October 21 with a reported sighting of the missing
JOHN MARTIN off Eagle Harbor. MARTIN was sailing east. MARTIN was reported at
Sault Ste. Marie the evening of the 21st under tow of the Canada-Atlantic liner
ROMAN. ROMAN was a 2,348 gross ton package freighter built in 1891 in
Cleveland. It was reported ROMAN picked up MARTIN off Copper Harbor, near where
it was originally separated from HENRY CHISHOLM (Detroit Free Press Oct. 22, 1898;
Duluth Evening Herald Oct. 22, 1898).

Salvage

Soon after the steamer DIXON arrived in Duluth with the shipwrecked sailors and
news of HENRY CHISHOLM's stranding, Capt. Byron B. Inman sent a wrecking crew
to the site.

Inman was the most prominent tug owner of Duluth. He had, at one time under his
command, 22 vessels of all types engaged principally in towing and wrecking. He
had built a reputation of note many years before for towing the largest tow on
record through the Detroit River: seven vessels with an aggregate tonnage of 4,323
(Mansfield 1899:2:44-46).

Capt. W.H. Singer of the Singer Tug Company, a rival of Inman, arrived at the wreck
site on Friday, October 21, aboard the tug ZENITH from Duluth. Singer returned to

Duluth on Tuesday, October 25, with a message of dire prospects for CHISHOLM's
being freed (Marquette Daily Mining Journal Oct. 23, 1898). Other reports were
more optimistic. In Cleveland MA. Bradley received a dispatch from Duluth that the
steamer McGREGOR had reached the wreck and reported that it was "out two feet
forward, but is in good shape and the weather is favorable" (Detroit Free Press Oct.
23 1898).

Apparently, Inman abandoned operations on October 24. He sent a telegram to
owner M.A. Bradley stating that two steam water pumps had been unable to lower
the water in CHISHOLM's hold an inch. He predicted the steamer would go
completely to pieces in 6 hours should there be any bad weather (Detroit Free Press
Oct. 25, 1898).

The bad weather did appear. On October 24, a northwest gale arose blowing 27
miles an hour. It blew that night, and heavy snow squalls began on the 25th
(Detroit Free Press Oct. 26, 1898). The newspaper reported all vessels were held in
port due to this storm. CHISHOLM was mentioned: "... is believed she went to
pieces in last night's gale" (Detroit Free Press Oct. 27, 1898).

In November, salvor James Reid visited the site aboard tug PROTECTOR. He
reported the ship had gone to pieces, but "the machinery can be saved" (Detroit
Free Press Nov. 11, 1898).

The people around Lake Superior have a long memory for shipwrecks. It was noted
that CHISHOLM was "wrecked at the same spot as the handsome Canadian
passenger steamer CUMBERLAND was broken in two a few years (21 years) ago.
The CUMBERLAND was commanded by Capt. Parsons, now mate of the MANITOU"
(Marquette Daily Mining Journal Oct. 27, 1898).

If the storm of October 25 and 26 did not break up CHISHOLM, the next one surely
did. Another storm struck Saturday and Sunday, October 29 and 30. It exceeded
the fury of the earlier storm. The wind blew 34 miles an hour and whipped up a
great sea. It was estimated that the velocity was nearer 50 miles an hour on the
Lake.

No salvage reports have been located for the time Inman and Singer spent on the
site in October 1898. In August 1901, salvage efforts resumed on the wreck of
CHISHOLM. Captain England, aboard the 198 gross ton steambarge H.A. ROOT,
arrived in Duluth August 1 with one of the scotch boilers recovered from HENRY
CHISHOLM. The JOSEPH C. SUIT, a 152 gross ton steambarge, had been salvaging
the site. Both boilers were recovered and towed to Washington Harbor.

The worth of the boilers was estimated to be $3,500, since they had only been in
use for 2 years when CHISHOLM wrecked. The 1901 prices for a new Scotch boiler
was between $6,000 and $7,000. The engine was reported to have rolled down off
the reef in more than 100 feet of water (Duluth News Tribune Aug. 2, 1901). No
records of other visits to the site are known until rediscovery of the site by sport
divers in the 1960s.

Fig. 4.3. Artist's rendition of HENRY CHISHOLM, the largest steambarge built at
Cleveland at the time of launch. (Painting by Huntington) Great Lakes Historical
Society.

Fig. 4.4. Construction yard photograph during the building of a contemporary
steambarge similar to HENRY CHISHOLM. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Marine Museum Collection.

ALGOMA: HISTORY

Construction

ALGOMA was one of the first steel-hulled vessels on the Great Lakes (Scanner
1976:6 from The British Whig Oct. 18,1883). Like many of the early iron and steel
vessels of the Lakes, it was built in British shipyards. Britain led the world in the
development of iron and steel shipbuilding, and Great Lakes owners were frequent
customers. Fleet orders from the Lakes were not uncommon, particularly from
Canada, for vessels constructed on the Clyde. Kelvinhaugh was a leading producer
of iron and steel vessels, and some Scottish companies (particularly in the 1920s)
specialized in the manufacture of Lakers (Walker 1984:58; Carvel 1950:46).

The one problem faced by the foreign shipbuilders and Great Lakes owners was that
the vessels had to pass through the canal system from the ocean to the Lakes. A
vessel that was built small enough to pass was too small to benefit from the
economies of scale enjoyed by larger vessels constructed on the Lakes. The
solution was to design vessels to pass through the St. Lawrence Canals in pieces, to
be reassembled once in the Lakes. This was accomplished in two ways: by either
producing the vessels in sections and transporting to the Lakes on other ships
(Carvel 1950:46), or designing the vessels to sail under their own power to the Lakes
and then be severed in two and bulkheaded for the passage through the canals.

ALGOMA was built by Aitken and Mansel of Glasgow, Scotland for Canadian Pacific
Railway (CPR). The ship, with its two sisters ALBERTA and ATHABASCA (the earliest
spelling was ATHABASKA), were the first steamers to be purchased by the new line
and were used in the Owen Sound-Port Arthur run that connected the railway
across Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The three vessels were similarly built, with
steel hulls of 263.5 feet in length, 38.2 feet in beam and 23.3 feet in depth (Scanner
1974:8), giving a gross tonnage of about 1750 as originally built. The completed
vessels would be able to accommodate about 240 first-class passengers and 600
steerage passengers.

The first of the sisters to be launched was ATHABASCA on July 3, 1883. The
Scottish press carried the story (Scanner 1974:6-8 from Glasgow Herald July 4,
1883):

Yesterday about noon, Messrs. Aitken and Mansel launched from their
shipbuilding yard at Whiteinch the steel screw-steamer ATHABASKA,
the vessel being the .first of three presently building to the order of
the Canadian Pacific Railway Co .... Miss Govan of 2 Athole Place,
Glasgow, performed the usual ceremony of naming the vessel .... As
the completion of these vessels will not be carried out until they
reach the Lakes, it is estimated that their actual tonnage will be about
2400 when a contemplated extensive range of houses built in the
American system has been erected on the upper deck.

The contract for these vessels was placed in the hands of Mr.
David Rowan, engineer, Elliot Street, and they will be fitted by him
® with compound direct-acting screw engines, capable of working to
about 1700 indicated horses, the cylinders being 35 in. and 70 by 4
feet stroke, supplied with steam by two steel boilers with a working
pressure of 125 lb. per square inch. To obtain strength as well as
lightness of draught the hulls are constructed of Siemens-Martin steel
supplied by the Steel Company of Scotland, and the bulkheads are
arranged to allow the vessels being divided into two parts to permit

their passage through the limited dimensions of the locks of the
Welland and other canals leading to the level of the upper Lakes.

ALBERTA was launched July 12, 1883 and ALGOMA on July 31. Miss Shaw of
Glasgow performed the ceremony of naming the latter vessel (Glasgow Herald July
13, Aug. 1, 1883 in Scanner 1974:7).

ATHABASCA was the first to sail for Montreal, leaving on August 24. The boilers
were found to be leaking and the vessel returned to port on August 29. The
repaired ship sailed from Glasgow three days later with a load of coal. ALBERTA
and ALGOMA followed on September 25, also loaded with coal (Glasgow Herald
Sept. 27, 1883). The two sisters arrived 13 days later in Montreal, making better
time than the trouble-plagued ATHABASKA (Glasgow Herald Oct. 12, 1883).

The arrival of the new Clyde steamers generated much interest, and the Cleveland
Herald (Nov. 30, 1883) carried a description of ATHABASCA that is informative of the
procedures and details of the sister ships:

Buffalo, Nov. 27. The ATHABASKA ... has arrived in this port. She
came in two sections, which will be joined into a complete hull at the
lower dry-dock of the Union Ship-yard. The arrival of a Clyde-built
boat has naturally occasioned considerable interest in marine circles.
The ATHABASKA is one of five steamships that will form a line from
Algoma Mills, Georgian Bay, to Port Arthur, Lake Superior, a distance
of 350 miles .... The ATHABASKA is of steel throughout and measures
8 feet between decks. She is quite sharp forward, and has a clean cut
stern though having barely half the overhang of the average Lake
steamer. The hull is divided into seven compartments. Her carrying
capacity is about two thousand tons. The steamer is provided with no
less than twelve engines, including two for working the rudder. One
of the most remarkable of her appliances is what is called a repeating
telegraph. By means of this the pilot gives the signals to the
engineer, who receives them on a dial in the engine room, and sends
them back to the pilot on the bridge. The latter can thus tell whether
his orders have been understood. Another indicator on the bridge
shows the direction of the rudder at all times.

The ATHABASKA left Glasgow about September 1st for
Montreal, with a cargo of soft coal and pig iron .... She arrived at that
port after a tedious trip of twenty-one days, her air pumps giving out
fully eight times on the trip. It was necessary to cut the hull in two in
order to take it through the shallow canals of the lower St. Lawrence.
As she was built with this object in view, the work was readily
accomplished. The sections were placed on pontoons to go through
the canals. Arriving at the foot of Lake Ontario the pontoons were
removed, and the parts rested on their own bottoms. Two more ships
are now in the Welland Canal, and are expected daily.

Buffalo, Nov. 29. The tugs WILLIAMS and ALPHA this morning
brought in the two sections of the Clyde-built steamer ALBERTA from
Port Colborne. They were placed in the Union ship-yard's upper
dock. The ALBERTA is the duplicate of the ATHABASKA.

The two sections of ALGOMA were brought to the docks the next day, but the job of
towing the sections of the three sisters was difficult because of bad weather. The
newspapers commended Maytham's tugs for succeeding (Cleveland Herald Dec. 1,
1883). There had been some problems encountered while towing.

The CPR ships were not the first vessels too long to pass through the Beauharnois
and Cornwall canals to be cut in two at Montreal. Some iron gunboats had
previously been cut apart, as had the passenger steamer ROTHESAY CASTLE, a
former blockade runner. One of the earliest vessels to be severed in Montreal for
canal passage was CAMPANA (Scanner 1976:7 from The British Whig Oct. 18, 1883).
The cutting and transportation for these earlier vessels was long and difficult.
However, the CPR vessels were constructed to ease the operation:

... the vesselfs] having been constructed with the knowledge of the
required operation. In consequence, the sheets of iron [steel] were
made to fit and to end at the place where she was cut, and iron
bulkheads 5 feet apart erected on each side of the connection.
Accordingly all that was necessary was to knock off the heads of the
rivets at the joint and float the two pieces to their destination
(Scanner 1976:7 from The British Whig Oct. 18, 1883).

The task of joining the sections of the new steamers was not as easy as first
surmised. Reassembling ATHABASCA (for the first time appearing with a "C") took
about a week — "a delicate job to get the rivet holes exactly in place" (Cleveland
Herald Dec. 2, 1883). It was an expensive operation to move the steamers from Port
Colborne to Buffalo, where they would winter. It cost more than $18,000 to move
the vessels (Thunder Bay Sentinel Dec. 1, 1883).

The cabins may have been fabricated in Montreal (Cleveland Herald Dec. 5, 1883).
There has been some uncertainty as to whether they were installed in Port Colborne
or Buffalo. The Sarnia Observer May 16, 1884 reports the cabins were installed at
Port Colborne. However, it was probably Buffalo where the cabins were added
while the ship was wintering. The configuration of the cabins was a long structure
of wood on the upper deck. There was a lengthy gallery with staterooms flanking
the sides. Accommodations were superior to those found on earlier steamers.
There was no dining salon, so tables were set in the old-fashioned manner in the
main lounge between the rows of staterooms. The galley had a clerestory deckhead
that protruded above the boat deck to form an observation deck (Scanner 1974:8
from Glasgow Herald Oct. 12, 1883). The cabinwork was done through the winter of
1883-84; the ship was ready to begin its Lake career in early spring.

When the vessels appeared in Lakes service each ship was painted black with a
narrow white stripe below the deck level. Cabins were painted white and the funnel
was black with a wide red band, also carrying a very narrow white band (Scanner
1974:9).

Newspapers reported many details of ALGOMA. One of the most extensive
descriptions was printed shortly after ALGOMA made its first run to Port Arthur
(Thunder Bay Sentinel May 16, 1884):

The model is admirable, not a hollow line about the bows, and without
the tendency to sit down by the stern so noticeable in many of the
old style. The graceful adaptability for space, even to the eye
unlearned in the science of ship building. The hulls are built of steel
plates of varying thickness .... The Plimsoll mark, white circle with a
black band through it, is a novelty on the Lakes, but every sailor
knows that it points out the line beyond which no vessel shall be
loaded, thus preventing overloading. The Plimsoll marks on the CPR
vessels will allow them to load to 15 feet of water on which they
could carry 2,000 tons dead weight of freight, but as a rule they will

only be loaded to 13 feet. The hold is divided into compartments by
six watertight steel bulkheads.

The motive power is supplied by compound engines driving a
screw 13 feet, 6 inches in diameter and having a pitch of 21 feet ....
The boilers, two in number, are each 12 feet, 3 inches long, and are
made of Seimens-Martin steel, 15/16 inch thick and tested to a cold
water pressure of 210 psi. The furnaces are of the latest
improvements, being built of corrugated iron. The screws are not cast
all in one piece, but the blades are bolted to the center-piece so that
an injury to one piece does not necessitate the renewal of the whole
screw. She carries two steel masts, with such a spread of fore and
aft canvas as to be quite easily handled in case of a breakdown of the
steam power. Besides the main engine she has auxiliary donkey and
hoisting engines, steam pumps, and siphons. The anchors, windlasses,
and capstans are handled bv steam and all freight is taken in or out
by a hoisting engine on the main deck running the four hatches.

The equipment is in keeping with the superior hull and motive
power. She is steered by steam, and large as she is her course could
be directed by a child. There is no top heavy texas [deck] as is
usually seen on Lake boats, but instead there is a spacious bridge
above the wheelhouse and extending the whole beam of the vessel.
In the wheel house a small wheel, not 3 feet in diameter, stands
before a regulated compass. Under the feet of the wheelsman is a
small but exceedingly beautiful steam engine, controlling the wire
cables, which serve as tiller chains. On the bridge is another similar
wheel facing one of Sir William Thompson's patent compasses .... The
Thompson compass is the result of the highest scientific research in
navigation, and a product of human knowledge as [is] the great steel
ship itself. The steering apparatus is not completed by the two
wheels we have mentioned. There is another aft, to be used in case
of accident to the others. It is a large hand wheel, on the shaft of
which are right and left hand screws, with a binnacle compass in front
of it.

... She carries six large life boats and about 600 life preservers,
with a liberal allowance of life buoys about the decks. Of chain and
steel wire cables and patent anchors handled by steam there is also a
good supply. She was built and equipped according to the English
Board of Trade regulations.

Large as the ALGOMA is she is without an oil lamp. She is
lighted throughout by the Canadian Edison Electric Light Company, of
Hamilton, in a style never before seen on the Lakes. She has a 6 1/2
by 8 Armington and Sime engine of 330 revolutions, driving an Edison
Dynamo, supplying 110 lights of sixteen candle power each, and
having all the regular attachments and details as used by the Edison
Company in steamships. The lamps can be controlled by the engineer
of the dynamo, or each single lamp can be turned on or off by a key
attached to its socket .... A novel and useful feature of lighting is an
electric lamp with a long, flexible conductor. It can be taken from the
boat and carried up dark decks or can be used in the examination of
the screw, rudder, or any submerged part of the hull .... Matches are
not used on board, not even for lighting pipes or cigars, electric cigar
lighters being provided for that purpose. The CPR boats are the first
on the Lakes to be lighted by any system of electric appliances.

Her passenger accommodation is of the highest class. Single
berths are provided for 180 first class passengers, and steerage bunks
for 200, with room to increase steerage accommodations for 1,000
persons. The steerage is on the main deck and is roomy and well
lighted. All the bunks are single, and the steerage is supplied with
hot and cold water. Closets are numerous, and the steerage
passengers are well provided for in every way. The furniture of the
main saloon is first class and accords with the general equipment of
the vessel. Bath rooms and smoking rooms are provided; and the
steward's room is on the upper deck instead of on the main deck.
The engineer's, porter's, purser's, and express messenger's quarters
are on the main deck, which is well lighted by deadlights. The crew
have a very comfortable forecastle.

The protection against fire is the most ample that human
ingenuity can devise. In the first place the vessel itself is of steel, and
the hull, of course, cannot burn. The main and upper decks are of
steel, though they have an extra flooring of wood. Only the cabins or
the cargo can burn. The cabins, and in fact all parts of the boat, are
furnished with cold water pipes, for fire purposes, the water being
supplied by a donkey engine. The hold being divided by fireproof
bulkheads, fire cannot spread beyond the compartment in which it
may originate, and there it can be controlled, by the steam pipes in
each hold, through which steam can be blown to extinguish it. The
cooks quarters and the oil room are encased in steel, and a steel
casing is about the boilers and runs clear to the crown deck. The
engine works, which is seen in the main saloon, is encased in teak.

Some additional details are provided by the descriptions of the new sisters from the
Sarnia Observer (May 16, 1884), which appeared soon after their introduction:
Her hull is divided into watertight compartments by six steel
bulkheads ... There is no communication whatever between these
compartments, so that in a collision there will be no doors to shut to
prevent the water running from one to another. The main and
promenade decks are of steel .... The main saloon is nearly as large
as a sidewheel steamer but it is made so at the expense of the
staterooms which are somewhat small and cramped.

The kitchen and oil room are encased in steel. The fire
protection of the steamer is arranged somewhat after the manner of
the Holly system and there is at all times a pressure of 50 p. si. on all
the hydrants and the hose is at all times screwed on ready for use.

The boilers are built of steel plate one inch in thickness and
each one has 220 three and one-half inch tubes .... She has in all
fourteen engines on board, used for hoisting anchors and freight,
working steam pumps, steering and everything else that requires
power. Her steam steering gear which is the most perfect made, can
be worked in the pilothouse or on the bridge, and she has an' auxiliary
wheel aft to be used in case of accident to the steam gear .... She
has two steel masts rigged with fore-and-aft canvas. These masts,
together with her short thick smokestack, rake aft in a style that gives
a decidedly business-like appearance to the ship. She carries six yawl
boats, each of which is provided with a compass, sailing gear, water
bucket, etc., and each is arranged so that when it is lowered and the
proper number of people in it, it will unhook itself from the ropes by

which it is lowered. Besides the boats, she carries a large number of
life preservers and rafts.

There have been published reports that ALGOMA carried the first Plimsoll mark on
the Great Lakes, an assertion that appears unsupportable (e.g. one of the earliest,
and the probable source for later authors, is Young 1957:90). The first of the three
sister ships on the Lakes was not ALGOMA, but ATHABASCA. If all three ships
carried the mark, and they were the first on the Lakes, the originating honor would
go to ATHABASCA.

The lengthy contemporary descriptions above are the only two that were located
mentioning the Plimsoll mark. One refers to its appearance as a "novelty on the
Lakes," but recognized by any sailor (Thunder Bay Sentinel May 16, 1884). The other
reference only states: "she (ALBERTA as representing all three) carries the Plimsoll
loading mark" (Scanner 1976:10 from The Sarnia Observer May 16, 1884). The CPR
sisters may have been some of the first to carry the familiar circle and line of the
Plimsoll mark, but if they were the first, it was apparently not noted in the press
reports of the time. It would be surprising if the three ships indeed had carried the
first Lake Plimsoll marks and the press failed to highlight that fact, especially since
the newspapers made much of the other remarkable attributes of the vessels, such
as all steel construction, employing an engine telegraph, Thompson compass and
electric lights, etc.

There can be little doubt that some of the first electric lights on the Lakes were on
these vessels. The first ship to carry electric lights anywhere in the world was the
Fall River Line passenger liner PILGRIM, built in 1882. PILGRIM plied Long Island
Sound with lights installed by Thomas Edison (Johnston 1983:44). There is little
possibility of another Lakes vessel having been fitted with this innovation before
ALGOMA and its sisters. (GARLAND, built in 1880, had electric lights, but these were
probably a retrofit.) Further historical research will undoubtedly produce more detail
on the construction details of the remarkable CPR vessels, and perhaps clarify which
attributes of Lake craft originally appeared on these ships. Until then, the influence
of ALGOMA and its sisters remains only partially documented.

Operational History

ALGOMA, completed in March (Thunder Bay Sentinel March 14, 1884), was ready to
begin operations in May, 1884. The ports of call on the first voyage were to be
Cleveland, Detroit, Windsor, and Sarnia, with a public gathering planned for the
arrival at Owen Sound. Before its departure from Port Colborne, some concern was
expressed that the new CPR ships had such a deep draft that, even when light, they
would be able to enter few of the Lake harbors (Cleveland Herald May 2, 1884). The
ships drew a little over 7 feet when light and could carry 1,000 tons on 12 feet of
draft (Cleveland Herald May 24, 1884).

On May 16, ALGOMA was the first of the new steamers to arrive at the Lakehead
port. The ship had left Owen Sound at 3 am on Sunday and arrived at the Sault
River that evening and made Sault Ste. Marie by 9:30 p.m. Along the way ice was
encountered. An indication of the speed capability of the new ship was
demonstrated when ALGOMA overtook the steamer NYACK, quickly passing it and in
a run of 17 miles, gained four miles on the older vessel. ALGOMA had 250 tons of
pig iron aboard and 16 carloads of baggage (Thunder Bay Sentinel May 16, 1884).

Eight hundred to 1,000 people were waiting on the wharves when ALGOMA pulled

into the Marks' Dock at 8:30 a.m.

The appearance of the vessel as she neared the dock was striking.
Every available piece of bunting was spread to the wind, and she rode
in as stately as any ocean steamer ever entered harbor. The scene
which presented itself upon the main deck can only be likened to the
appearance of an ocean emigrant ship upon her arrival at an American
seaport. Over a thousand steerage passengers were crowding round
the gangways ready to land as soon as an opportunity offered.

Of the general excellence of the boat herself too much cannot
be said in her favor. She is certainly the finest boat that has ever
sailed upon these great inland seas, and her superiority over all other
Lake craft in every particular is at once apparent. She has a crew of
35 all told, Captain Moore commands her, and her first and second
mates are M.S. Hastings and R. McLeod, respectively. George
Pettigrew is the chief engineer and his assistant is A. McDermid. R.
McKenzie is purser, and G. Taylor is steward (Thunder Bay Sentinel
May 16, 1884). See also Owen Sound Advertiser Nov. 12, 1885).

The CPR steamers demonstrated their success "for the purpose for which they were
intended" by entering all the harbors; they also demonstrated their success in fast
runs and quick deliveries (Cleveland Herald May 24, 1884). Goods ordered from
Toronto were delivered to Thunder Bay in record time. They had travelled nearly
700 miles, most of which was over water aboard ALGOMA. During this run,
ALGOMA set the record for the fastest run between Owen Sound and Port Arthur.
The distance was 545 statute miles and the run was made in 39 hours and 42
minutes. The run across Lake Superior was made in the extraordinary time of 20
hours. Passengers aboard this run made the journey from Toronto to Port Arthur, a
distance of 670 miles of which 545 was over water, in the "unprecedented short
time of 47 hours" (Thunder Bay Sentinel May 23, 1884).

All fellow mariners were not happy with the fast new CPR ships. The masters of
the sisters, seeking to enhance the reputation of their new vessels, pushed the
limits for speed as they made their passages.

There is a good deal of complaint among vessel men about the speed
at which the Canadian Pacific steamers are rushed through the Saulte
Ste. Marie River. It is said they never slow up even when passing
vessels where the channel is bad, and the wonder is that more
accidents have not happened through vessels sheering or being
crowded ashore (Cleveland Herald July 22, 1884).

The accident feared by the vessel men occurred between ALBERTA and the wooden
steamer OSBORNE 3 1/2 miles off Whitefish Point near the mouth of St. Mary's River
on July 27, 1884. The two ships, neither of which reduced speed, collided in heavy
fog. J.M. OSBORNE, with two barges - GEORGE W. DAVIS and THOMAS GAWN - in
tow, sank with a loss of three lives (Mansfield 1899:1:742; Scanner 1974:9). The
collision caused $12,000 in damage to the bow of ALBERTA (Duluth Tribune Aug. 8,
1884).

Local people were outraged by the disaster. The Meaford Monitor (Aug. 1, 1884)
wrote: "Any boat which comes against one of the CPR steel steamers stands a poor
chance .... The ALBERTA received some damage to one of its plates in the bow, but
it did not prevent proceeding on its trip as if nothing had happened. There is a
screw loose somewhere in the management of these steamers and the railroad

company had best find out where it is before their boats are all smashed to pieces"
(Duluth Tribune Aug. 8, 1884).

ALGOMA was involved in an accident in August, apparently through no fault of the
crew. The steamer SOVEREIGN collided with ALGOMA while the steel ship was lying
at the Government dock. SOVEREIGN, under command of the first mate, reportedly
struck the starboard side of ALGOMA. The stem of SOVEREIGN was carried away
from the collision, and ALGOMA had one of its plates stove in near the main guard
(Thunder Bay Sentinel Aug. 7, 1884).

The remainder of the season was uneventful for the CPR sisters.

Wreck Event

As the 1885 season drew to a close, it was clear it would be a poor one for Lake
transportation. Severe competition, low rates, and smallpox were listed as the
principal causes of the worst season on the Lakes in years. Several lines of
steamers were laid up during the season. The only company to report a decided
improvement was the Canadian Pacific Company, owners of the three new steel
sisters ATHABASCA, ALBERTA and ALGOMA (Cleveland Leader Oct. 18, 1885). The
season was not over for the successful company, however. Before the 1885 season
closed, CPR would suffer the worst human life disaster in Lake Superior history.

ALGOMA left Owen Sound for Port Arthur Thursday, Oct. 5, 1885, loaded with cargo
and the fewest passengers it had ever carried. There were seven cabin and six
steerage passengers (or five cabin and 6 steerage, Owen Sound Times Nov. 12)
aboard; the cargo consisted of 134 tons of general merchandise, and 297 tons of
railway supplies (Duluth Tribune (Weekly) Nov. 13; New York Times Nov. 11, 1885).
The light passenger list could be attributed to the lateness of the season and to the
general decline of passenger traffic as a result of the opening of the "all rail" route
around Lake Superior (Owen Sound Advertiser Nov. 12, 1885) earlier in 1885.

According to Capt. Moore, ALGOMA passed through the Sault Ste. Marie canal on
Friday Nov. 6, about noon. The steel steamer ran into a heavy gale and blinding
snow storm at the halfway point of crossing Lake Superior. The storm increased in
intensity until it quickly reached hurricane proportions. The storm of Friday night
and Saturday morning was "beyond a doubt one of the greatest hurricanes that have
occurred during the last 5 years. The dreadful storms of 1881-2-3, which did so
much damage, were exceeded in violence by the terrible tempest of the 6th and 7th,
in the opinion of many old seamen" (Port Arthur Sentinel Nov. 13, 1885).

The storm racked ship was rolling so severely that the first mate ordered the sails
set to steady it. Under sail and steam combined, ALGOMA made 15 miles an hour
or better, but was drifting to leeward off the set course. A lookout was posted
about 3 a.m. to sight the Passage Island light. The steamer maintained its speed
until about 4 a.m. when the captain ordered the sails down and a change of course.
The engines were stopped while the sails were lowered and the new course set. At
4:40 a.m., less than five minutes after the engine telegraph bells sounded to go
ahead, there was a crash (Port Arthur Herald Nov. 14, 1885). ALGOMA was aground
on Isle Royale.

An early newspaper report recounted the wreck event (Port Arthur Herald Nov. 14,
1885):

"A tremor shook the steamer from stem to stem, and a moment
afterwards she parted, just forward of the engine [actually, just
forward of the boilers-LM.], while the waves rushed in at the vents
and over the forward decks. Panic immediately ensued, and all was
chaos and confusion. Passengers, who were calmly reposing in their
berths ... were rudely awakened by the grinding of the hull on the
rocks and the roar of the storm. There was no time, however, to
consider the situation. The water poured in through the broken
timbers and over the deck, putting out the fires, which soon had the
effect of stopping the engines and shutting off the electric light. All
was darkness, storm and snow. Daylight was just breaking, but did
not afford sufficient light to enable the crew to see where they were
.... The steamer had shifted around after striking and was resting with
her stern upon the rocks, while the forward cabin and the bow of the
boat were fast crumbling to pieces so furious was she being beaten
upon the reef. The purser, second mate and steward who were all
forward, made an attempt to reach the after part of the vessel, which
was now the only place of safety. In doing so they were struck by a
large wave, carried overboard and disappeared beneath the surface.

Some fishermen sighted them and went to their rescue. After
taking in the dreadful situation the fishermen went out and intercepted
the ATHABASKA which was then coming up the Lake.

The first news of the disaster arrived late on Nov. 9th in Port Arthur with the
survivors aboard ATHABASCA. (It would be two decades before wireless appeared
on the Lakes.) The first reports of the wreck were in the press the next day. The
early reports indicated about eight passengers and twenty-five crew were lost
(Wisconsin State Journal Nov. 10, 1885). Other accounts reported various numbers
for those lost in the wreck (e.g., Cleveland Leader Nov. 10, 1885 reported 37 lost;
Wisconsin State Journal Nov. 11, reported 47 drowned, and in another article of the
same issue stated: "Other officials freely say that fully 100 have gone down with the
vessel"). The lack of company records accounts for the confusion regarding the
number aboard — the only passenger list was apparently aboard the lost vessel.

As is usual in the aftermath of a shipwreck, much speculation was generated to
account for the disaster. The Wisconsin State Journal (Nov. 11, 1885) stated that
the official dispatches "intimated" that ALGOMA was making for shelter in Rock
Harbor when the wreck occurred.

A lengthy article titled: "The Captain's Statement" appeared in some of the regional
newspapers. The statement, evidently fabricated by someone other than the
captain, describes panic aboard the vessel during the storm. The captain had
unsuccessfully attempted to quiet the fears of those on board. The wreck of
ALGOMA, according to this account occurred as the captain was seeking refuge in
Rock Harbor (Owen Sound Advertiser Nov. 12, 1885. This account also appeared in
the Nov. 11, 1885 issue of New York Times).

This report, which had circulated as an Associated Press dispatch, was discounted
by the captain and others. Captain Moore, still suffering from injuries received
during the wreck, said the statement was wholly untrue, and must have been simply
manufactured by the reporter (Port Arthur Weekly Sentinel Nov. 20, 1885). The same
newspaper labeled the report "shameful."

An accurate statement of the captain was printed in the newspaper (Owen Sound

Times Nov. 19, 1885):

The steel steamer ALGOMA cleared from Owen Sound at 4:20 pm,
Thursday, the 5th inst, bound for Port Arthur, having on board a
general cargo of merchandise of about 400 tons. We had a good run
to Sault Ste. Marie, which port we cleared at 1 o'clock on the
afternoon of Friday, (6th) and passed Whitefish Point at 3:50 the same
day. It was blowing a strong breeze from the east and north west.
The wind was increasing. We made sail at Whitefish Point at 7 p.m.
The weather was the same, but the wind was slightly increased, with
occasional squalls attended with rain. At midnight the wind had
increased to a moderate gale with frequent squalls, accompanied with
rain and sleet, and a sea getting up. At 4 am [7th] the wind shifted
north east with violent snow squalls and a heavy sea running, when
we checked down and commenced taking in sail. At 4:30 am all sail
was in except the fore trisail [probably fore staysail, cf. notarized
statement of Capt. Moore DuJuth Tribune Nov. 13, 1885 ed.], which was
partly in, and we put the wheel hard to starboard, and the ship was
coming around to head out on the Lake again on account of the
snow. After leaving Whitefish Point, our proper course was northwest
by west, but the wind being from the northwest, we steered northwest
by west quarter west until 10 p.m. to allow for leeway, when the
course was changed to northwest until 4 a.m. We then steered west
by south for the purpose of taking sail in. While the ship was coming
around as mentioned above she struck aft about 4:20 and continued to
forge ahead, driven in by the heavy sea. About 4:40 she settled, the
seas making a clean breach over her all the time and smashing the
ship up. A blinding snow storm continued. On account of the seas
that were running and the surf, it was impossible to make any effort
to save the ship or cargo, and about 6 am she parted at the fore side
of the boiler, and the freight got washed out and some of it was
driven ashore.

There were 14 survivors (New York Times Nov. 13, 1885), two passengers and 12
crew including Capt. Moore. Forty-five or 47 persons were lost. This shipwreck
claimed more lives than any other in Lake Superior history.

One widely circulated account had all the survivors coming ashore in a single
lifeboat (New York Times Nov. 10, 1885). This is not an accurate account of the
wreck events, and led to the press raising the question as to why there were but 2
passengers saved with the 12 crew. The later appearance of accurate statements of
survivors cleared the insinuations (Port Arthur Herald Nov. 21, 1885).

The accounts of the survivors add much detail to the events of the wreck. Mr.

William R. McCarter, a journalist and one of the two surviving passengers gave the

following account (Owen Sound Times Nov. 19, 1885):

After leaving White Fish Point the wind increased, but the vessel was
a staunch one and no fears were entertained, as she stood the storm
splendidly. About 9 o'clock on Friday evening, I was on deck, and
although there was a heavy wind, the steamer was making splendid
progress. The passengers all went to bed, and about twenty minutes
to five I felt a slight shock, which alarmed me, and I jumped up. I
found a general alarm, and several deck hands rushing aft excitedly. I
followed them and asked what was wrong, but they did not seem to

know. One of them said, "This is a terrible affair, but I hope it will
come out all right." As soon as the hull became fast on the rocks, the
force of the waves dashing in fury against it soon broke up the
saloon, and it was swept away. I think the women and children never
got outside, but were probably drowned or disabled by the waves
rushing in, and were carried off with the cabin when it was swept
away. The sea was terrible, the waves rushing in great mountains
over the deck, and every few minutes the despairing shriek of some
poor fellow would be heard as he was carried off and lost. One thing
followed another with such rapidity that there was not time to do
anything with the boats, and they were swept off with the cabin. The
electric lights went out, and it was intensely dark, so that I could only
see what went on immediately around me. A great many jumped
overboard, and tried to get to shore with life preservers, but only
three of them succeeded, the others being dashed against the rocks.
The men from below had crowded up on the upper deck, near the
stern, although some had rushed forward and were lost. Amidst the
terrible excitement and confusion, Capt. Moore was brave and cool.

At great risk to himself he seized a rope, and ran it along as a
life line, telling us to hold on to that, and had it not been for it, more
of us would have shared the fate of those who were lost. The
forward part of the saloon had all gone, but a little piece was standing
near the stern, and we were under the projecting roof outside of that.
Timbers were crashing in every direction, and we were afraid that the
protecting roof would fall on us. The Captain went aft to get a post
to prop it up, and as he was coming back, there was crash, and I
heard him cry out, "I'm done for — what will become of these poor
people?" But he stuck to the post and dragged it along, wounded as
he was, though it did not prove of much service after all. When the
captain was struck, another man called out, "I'm crushed, I'm gone!"
Though I could not see him, those who were next to him said he was
carried off by the next wave. Twice when the waves had carried me
off my feet and I was nearly gone, Capt. Moore, who was next to me,
caught me and helped me up again, saying, "I will save you, old man,
if I can." Two of the men had got down by the fender and were
holding on there. I asked them how they were doing, when they said
it was terribly cold there, I did not attempt to go. One of them gave
up and was lost soon after. When it became daylight,we could see
the rocks towering up in front of us, close at hand, but with the
terrible sea it was impossible to get to shore. We managed afterward
to get down to the lower deck, where we all lay, cold and wet,
listening to the terrible storm raging, and not knowing but we might
share the fate of the poor follows who had already gone. We spent
the whole of Saturday night in that position. On Sunday morning the
storm had abated, and we descried a fishing tug, which we hoped
would see us, but it went away. Near noon, when the sea had calmed,
the three who had escaped to shore took a line from us — it was
only about 40 or 50 feet — and pulled us to shore on a raft, The
captain was sent first, with a man to hold him, as he was unable to
stand, from his injuries. The land proved to be Green Stone Island, a
small rocky islet off Isle Royale. Shortly after, some fishermen saw
us, and took us to their shanty, where we spent Sunday night. On
Monday they intercepted the ATHABASKA, which took us to Port
Arthur.

Joseph Hastings, the first mate, gave the following description of the wreck (Owen

Sound Advertiser Nov. 19, 1885):

"Nothing of any account occurred during the voyage to Sault Ste.
Marie, the ALGOMA passed Whitefish Point about 1 o'clock on the
afternoon of Friday. The wind was at that time blowing a stiff breeze
from the east and north east. At Whitefish Point sail was made, and
the steamer proceeded on her way under a full head of steam. The
wind kept increasing in violence, and was accompanied with snow and
sleet. At 4 o'clock Saturday morning the wind shifted to the northeast
and a violent snow storm raged. The sea was running mountains
high, and the boat was tossed about like a cork. Fifteen minutes past
4 o'clock the order was given to take in all sail and put the wheel
hard a starboard, to bring the ship about and head out on the Lake
again, on account of the snow and darkness. While the ship was
coming about she struck Greenstone Point, on Isle Royale about fifty
miles from Port Arthur and one mile from Passage Island Lighthouse,
which has been abandoned since the first of the month. After striking
the first time the boat forged ahead, being driven by the wind. A
second shock occurred shortly after the first. The vessel struck the
reef violently, and she immediately began to break up.

Most of the passengers and a number of the crew were in bed
at the time, but were awakened by the shock, and the scene that
followed beggars description. Water poured in through the broken
vessel and over the bulwarks, putting out the fires in the furnace, and
extinguishing the electric lights. Screams of women and children
were heard above the fury of the storm. The crew hurried hither and
thither, doing what they could in the darkness to render assistance;
but their efforts were of little avail, for in twenty minutes after the
vessel struck the entire forward part of the boat was carried away,
together with her cargo of human freight. Several clung to the
rigging and lifeline the captain had stretched along the decks, but
were soon swept away and swallowed up by the angry waves. The
stern of the boat was steadily pushed along the rock, and those who
were not too much exhausted with fatigue and benumbed by the cold,
crept to the after steerage and sought its shelter. Less than an hour
after striking all was over, and but fifteen out of over sixty were
saved."

When the shock was felt he ran down to the purser's room. He
then pushed forward amid the stifling steam and aroused the steward
and other employees as well as the steerage passengers. Finding the
escaping steam almost suffocating, he again rushed up to the cabin,
aroused all the passengers whom he had not awakened on the way
down, and conducted them to the forward end. A lady passenger and
her sister were wildly crying in a saloon clothed in only a thin
nightdress. The mate urged quiet and obeying orders. While he was
advancing forward with one of the lady's hands in his and holding the
little girl with his other hand a great wave dashed through the cabin,
caught the woman and child and swept them out into the Lake. Some
of the men lost their reason completely, and rushed into the stormy
depths. About seventeen persons followed the men and climbed into
the rigging. The terrible sea swept the boat and the masts were
washed clean under the waves. Every time they came up there were
two or three forms missing. Once the mast made a dip with ten men,

and when it came up right again only two persons were seen on it.
The next swept all the brave strugglers away. One man fought nobly
for his life. He was washed off the boat and clung to some rope.
Slowly, inch by inch he struggled along the ropes, hand over hand,
back to the vessel. Every few seconds a wave would hurl him around
like a feather, dash him up, and then bury him under a mountain of icy
cold water, but he struggled on until just a few feet from the boat,
when his strength gave out and he passed away with a wild, wailing
appeal for aid, Many of the passengers could be seen on their knees,
loudly calling for mercy and succor. The waves spared none. They
dashed in and around each shrinking form and bore away as their prey
with each returning visit dozens of human beings.

John McLean was one of the two waiters who survived the wreck. His account
appeared with the others (Owen Sound Advertiser Nov. 19, 1885):

McLean felt the shock when the boat struck and jumped out of bed.
He saw the engine had stopped, and the electric lights were out, while
the boat was full of steam. He ran up the hurricane deck and saw the
captain blowing off steam, which he continued until all was
exhausted, "The captain told us there was no great danger and the
safest place was down on the lower decks. We started to run there ,
when the waves carried away the hurricane deck, and we grasped the
rigging. The captain passed us a life line along, and we hung on to it
for over eight hours, believing that every minute would be our last. It
was dark and freezing cold, with a terrible sea. There were two ladies
and three little girls that I noticed. They were swept away with the
cabins. We could hear the ladies and girls calling piteously, but no
one could help them. After a while their voices ceased, and we all
knew they were out in the Lake. The cabin went to pieces in ten
minutes after the boat struck, and only the stern part of the boat was
left when we came away. All our clothing was lost. We all owe our
lives to the exertions made by the captain. If it had not been for his
coolness and prompt action we could not have gone through the first
night. I have been on the Lakes for five rough seasons, but this is the
roughest I ever saw."

Particulars of the wreck can be gleaned from many sources. Most reports indicate
there were two shocks. The initial one, according to the captain, was near the stern
(captain's account above). The boat moved forward and struck a second time. "A
second shock occurred shortly after the first. The vessel then struck the reef
violently at the fore side of the boiler, and she immediately commenced to break
up" (Cleveland Leader Nov. 11, 1885).

The hull was immediately opened and water poured through the fractured plates.
The wooden deck houses were quickly washed overboard, and the forward portion
of the hull apparently broke up very shortly after. (Other accounts indicate the bow
went to pieces an hour and a half after striking.) "The water poured in through the
broken vessel and over the bulwarks, putting out the fires in the furnaces and
extinguishing the electric lights .... In less than twenty minutes the entire forward
part of the boat was carried away" (Cleveland Leader Nov. 11, 1885).

A letter from Joseph Buckley Hastings, First Officer of ALGOMA to Miss MacKenzie,
sister of Alec MacKenzie, Purser, lost when the ship sank, gives some details of the

ship's shifting position as it broke up (Michigan Technological University Archives
Collection; Isle Royale National Park Underwater Cultural Resources File)

It being at this time so pitchy dark one could not recognize another
standing three yards away and it was snowing hard at the time. This
part of the cabin where Alec was standing [near the kitchen smoke
stack stays] was washed away very quickly as the ship had swung
around from the time I left the deck until I returned, in all not five
minutes. Those of us who were saved had left the forward end and
gone aft as the stern had by this time swung inshore and was now
sheltered by the bow which on my going below was the sheltered
end, the bow now acting as a breakwater for the after end, but she
stood for but a short time the heavy seas completely breaking and
sweeping over her and each sea washing away portions of the
forward end till she was completely demolished forward of the
engines and all the cabins gone fore and aft.

First Mate Hastings returned to the wreck site at the earliest opportunity and led the
first extensive search of the area. Hastings had arrived at Port Arthur, frostbitten
and bruised, with the other survivors aboard ATHABASCA on Monday, Nov. 9. The
next morning he left aboard SISKIWIT with the search party bound for the wreck
site.

They searched 20 miles of coast line. The only articles they found were two
passenger trunks and three bags of mail. There had been four bags of mail on the
boat. One of the mail bags had been found buried five-feet deep in the sand.
There was little wreckage reported near the boat, most was found four miles down
the shore (Port Arthur Daily News Nov. 16, 1885; Port Arthur Sentinel Nov. 20, 1885).

Officers of the company visited the site to check the progress of the search
operations. H.M. Kersey, chief clerk of the CPR lines, chartered BUTCHER BOY with
two captains aboard. Kersey ascertained the search had been thoroughly performed,
and considered it useless to keep the men out any longer. He instructed 4
Norwegian fishermen to continue the investigation whenever possible and to bury
any bodies they found on the island for identification in the spring.

The company officers and search party returned to Port Arthur with the SISKIWIT
and scow, reporting little of value found. They planned to leave for the east aboard
ATHABASCA on the 17th. (Port Arthur Sentinel Nov. 20, 1885).

The tug HATTIE VINTON, with about 15 citizens aboard, started out for the wreck
site on November 10. The weather was marginal for the crossing, and the captain
decided to lay up in the lee of Green Island overnight. The sight of the wreck was
described in detail (Port Arthur Herald Nov. 14, 1885):

The whole of the after portion of the vessel, from the engine
cylinders, with the exception of the upper cabin work, lies about forty
feet from shore, listed well over to the port side; and a more dismal
looking sight could hardly be imagined. In consequence of quite a
heavy swell breaking over the wreck, no attempt was made to board
the remains of the once staunch craft, but the whole party at once
proceeded to search the shore for the corpses of the unfortunate
people who were drowned. The first body was found by Mr. Harry
Micholson about seventy-five yards south-west of the wreck, well up
on shore, among the debris. A large piece of the upper cabin partially
covered the body, which proved to be the corpse of poor Hanson, the

wheelsman, who was at his post at the time the vessel struck ....
About three hours after the above discovery, one of the surviving
waiters, who was with the party, noticed a body lying amongst a lot
of wreckage, wedged in the crevice of a rock about forty yards from
the stern of the boat .... No other bodies were found, although the
search was continued all day.

HATTIE VINTON returned to Port Arthur with its grim cargo. The bodies were
crushed and battered. The searchers reported that the bodies had been robbed.
Hanson was known to have had a gold watch and $12.00 in his pockets. When he
was found his pockets were turned inside out. Several fishing boats had been
spotted loaded with carpets and other goods near the wrecksite and fishermen were
suspected of robbing the bodies. The bodies were placed aboard ATHBASCA bound
for Owen Sound (Port Arthur Sentinel Nov. 20, 1885; Cleveland Leader Nov. 14,
1885).

A party of fishermen returned to Hancock Nov. 23, from the North Shore of Lake
Superior after visiting the ALGOMA wreck site. They had picked up 4 floating bodies
from the shore of Rock Harbor. The fishermen reported over 300 tons of freight
strewn on the shore. "Portions of the pilot house cabin wheel, and a number of life
preservers were picked up .... The steamer can be plainly seen on the sandy bottom
of Rock Harbor" (Cleveland Leader Nov. 24, 1885).

An indication of. the force of the storm that sank ALGOMA can be obtained from
some of the accounts of scattered wreckage. "The piano belonging to the wrecked
steamer ALGOMA, was washed high and dry upon the rocks of Isle Royale, some
fifteen feet above the water's edge" (Port Arthur Herald and Lake Superior Mining
Journal Nov. 14, 1885).

The wreckage was badly broken up and widely scattered. The only intact items
were "one barrel of brandy, one of beer, a box of axe handles, candles, etc., lying
along the beach. No doubt a large quantity will be found some five or six miles up
along the beach and among the islands, where it is expected" (Port Arthur Daily
Herald Nov. 14, 1885). "There was not a piece of wood left longer than a foot in
length. Every piece of furniture was broken in small portions (Port
Arthur Sentinel Nov. 20, 1885). The Menagerie Islet

Lighthouse Station Journal reported sighting material from ALGOMA on November 9,
1885. A uniform coat was picked up at the edge of the water 17 miles from the
wreck. The coat had 14 first class tickets in the pocket.

There were other grim indications of the force of the storm. Pieces of bodies were
found along with the battered wreckage. "Portions of other bodies were found,
showing that the waves were tremendous having dashed them to pieces against the
rocks, breaking bones and crushing bodies like egg shells (Portage Lake Mining
Gazette Nov. 26, 1885).

The hull of ALGOMA was reported all "washed away" but the after part, up to the
main mast. "The rest of the boat is completely flattened out, the iron sides being
laid out even with the shores. The wreck is piled all along the the coast for two
miles" (Port Arthur Sentinel Nov. 20, 1885).

A remarkable correspondence from the archives of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Company indicates the company investigated the circumstances of the wreck of
ALGOMA. A letter, dated Nov. 24, 1885, from Henry Beatty, Manager of Lake Traffic,

and W.C. Van Home, Vice President contains the results of the company's
investigation (Corporate archives, Canadian Pacific, Montreal; Portions of this
correspondence appeared in Lavelle 1974:234):
Dear Sir:

I returned from Owen Sound last night where I have been for
some time taking the evidence of the survivors of the "Algoma", for
the purpose of ascertaining the cause of the loss of that ship.

The Steamer left Sault Ste. Marie at one o'clock p.m. on Friday,
Sixth of Nov., and passed Whitefish Point about four, wind blowing a
strong breeze from E.N.E. After passing Whitefish Point, they made
sail and steered N.W. by W. 1/4 W., her proper course being N.W. by
W. 1/2 W., but the wind being from the northward they allowed one
quarter of a point for leeway.

At 7 p.m. the wind slightly increased with occasional rain. At
10 p.m. wind increased to moderate gale with rain and sleet, the
course was changed to N.W. by W. At 4 a.m. Saturday, the wind
shifted N.E. with violent snow squalls and blowing a gale.

The engines were then slowed down and shortly after, the
ship's course was changed to W. by S. for the purpose of taking in
sail and running back into the Lake. She immediately after struck a
reef, aft, she continued to forge ahead, being driven in among the
rocks by the heavy sea.

At 5 o'clock she settled down forward and her stern swung on
shore, the sea making a clear break over her all the time from when
she first struck.

Owing to the gale of wind, the heavy sea running and the surf,
nothing could be done to save either ship or cargo. At 6 o'clock, she
parted forward of the boilers.

Before the ship was turned to run back into the Lake, the
Captain, First Officer, and Chief Engineer, consulted, and all were of
the opinion that they were 15 miles off Isle Royale, but as a matter of
fact they were much farther up the Lake. The only one of the
engineer's crew saved, a fireman, says they were running under easy
steam all that night, for the purpose of saving fuel, and on account of
the wind, but notwithstanding this the ship must have been going very
much faster than they calculated, carried along by the wind, which
was far stronger than they had any conception of, owing to its being
nearly after them.

The distance from Whitefish Point to where she turned is about
190 miles so that the ship was going nearly 16 miles per hour.

I have carefully looked for the cause of this deplorable
accident. I learned that the captain did not leave the bridge the whole
night except for 5 minutes at midnight. The first officer was also on
the bridge from midnight. Both Engineers were on watch, every
precaution seems to have been used and everything done that was
necessary except putting out their log. This was not done, for the
reason, which they give, that they had the ship's time so accurate,
that they could, in ordinary weather tell from the revolutions of the
wheel, exactly where they were. They also claim that there is always
a strong current in the Lake during the continuance of a stiff breeze,
and therefore the log would be of no use, but would rather tend to
deceive.

I may say that logs are not used on the Lakes, I do not think
any Steamers but ours are furnished with them. Lake Captains depend
on their compasses, revolutions of the wheels, and land marks to
guide them.

The cause of the accident was, in my opinion, entirely due to
the wind being much stronger than they thought, and the ship was
therefore going along much faster than they calculated. When they
supposed that they were 15 miles from Isle Royale, they were actually
running up along it, and in turning the ship to run back into the Lake,
the stern struck a reef running out from Green Stone Island.

The ship was exactly on her course before she turned, and had
the Captain been reckless enough to have gone on, there is no doubt
he would have passed Passage Island all right, but this, of course, he
did not know at the time, and to avoid one danger, he runs straight
into a greater, the effect of which was the loss of our fine ship and a
number of valuable lives.

Capt. Moore is badly injured and the chances are about even,
whether he will recover. I have therefore been unable to get his
testimony.

Yours truly,
/s/ Henry Beatty,

Manager Lake Traffic

An official inquiry was held regarding the loss of ALGOMA. A tribunal was
appointed by the Canadian government consisting of Lt. A.R. Gordon, R.N. and Capt.
Thomas Harbottle of Toronto (Cleveland Leader Nov. 17, 1885; Owen Sound
Advertiser Nov. 26, 1885). The men were instructed to "inquire into the cause of the
wreck and place blame where it belongs."

Principal concerns of the inquiry focused on the actions of the managers of the

company as well as the captain and crew.

It is hoped they will spare no pains in placing blame, if any exists,
where it belongs. If it is found that the managers of the line
compelled their captains to navigate the boats without regard to wind
or weather, the fact should be made known to the public. If
passenger boats are run without regard for those who ride on them,
the public is entitled to know it .... It is not improbable that a
considerable share of the blame will be found to rest with the
managers of the connecting line of the Canadian Pacific. From the
very first an undue pressure has been brought to bear by the
management on the masters sailing these vessels, as evidenced by
the frequent disasters from the ALBERTA in the summer of 1884. A
prominent vessel man who had been interviewed recently in Buffalo
says, "I was up at Owen Sound last summer and saw those three
great steamers coming and going just on the minute, and all the while
making such high speed, and I was astonished. I went on board of
the ATHABASKA, and I believe one of the others, and I asked some of
the officers how they could make such time. Were they not obliged
to run fast in thick weather to do it? They replied that their orders
were to make their time anyhow. I told them their iron hulls were
ill-suited for going on the rocks. They have succeeded in about
running the smaller Canadian craft off Lake Superior, and that is how
they have done it. Now, with the ALGOMA gone, and so many

passengers with her, their success is not anything to be proud of"
(Cleveland Leader Nov. 22, 1885; cf. Owen Sound Advertiser Nov. 26,
1885).

Other sources also focused some of the blame for the wreck on the management of
the company and their push for quick voyages and tight schedules. An example of
this sentiment appeared soon after the wreck:

... Over all this terrible affair hangs the appalling fact that the result
was largely due to carelessness or blind obedience to orders, the
captain saying his orders were to "Push Through" and he did push on
to death, carrying, while the storm was at its height, a full spread of
canvas. At the time of the wreck the boat was 40 miles farther along
than the captain had supposed her to be, showing that from the time
of starting she had sailed over 16 miles and hour. It is barely possible
that the captain shall ever sail a vessel again, and therefore the law
may not reach him, but in the meantime what punishment should be
meted to a company that gives such orders and with the expectation
that they will be implicitly obeyed? (Portage Lake Mining Gazette Nov.
26, 1885).

The Canadian Pacific Railway Company, like most other companies that have lost

vessels, was quick to rally to the support of their captain.

No man could stand higher in the opinion of the company than
Captain Moore does. If the company was having another boat built
tomorrow, costing $500,000, no one would be offered the command in
preference to Captain Moore, who is known and trusted as one of the
ablest, most discrete, and careful masters on the Lakes. There is no
doubt that all who survived the wreck owe their lives to the Captain,
and had he not been stricken down by the fall of the cabin many more
lives would have been saved. He never attempted to make Rock
Harbor, and did not want shelter as so stated. The boats do not fear
any sea when there is plenty of room. He did not sight Isle Royale
and was turning out for the open Lake when the reef was struck
(Cleveland Leader Nov. 22, 1885; cf. Port Arthur Sentinel Nov. 20,
1885).

The Commissioners of the official inquiry made a partial report of their findings on
Nov. 28. They had not been able to interview Capt. Moore, who was still suffering
from his injuries. Moore was reported dying from shock and exposure (Duluth
Tribune Nov. 27, 1885). Moore did eventually recover from his injuries, including
multiple rib fractures (Cleveland Leader Nov. 29, 1885).

The partial report, released to the government, indicated that:

the reports as given in the newspapers are correct in all important
points with one exception. This is a correction of the statement that
the ALGOMA was making for the harbor when she struck the rocks, as
it is now shown that she was putting around and heading for the Lake
when it was found she was nearer to the fatal rocks than was
anticipated by the officers. It remains, therefore, for the court to
decide who, if any one, was responsible for the vessel being out of
her course and in that dangerous locality the time of the wreck. It is
said the evidence shows also that after the vessel struck the crew
behaved like heroes, and all hands had a terrible experience"
(Cleveland Leader Nov. 29, 1885).

The Commissioners traveled to Owen Sound to interview the injured captain. The
final decision of the inquiry came in January, 1886. Captain Moore and Chief Officer
Hastings were censured. Captain Moore was found negligent, and his certificate
was cancelled for a year. First Officer Hastings' certificate was suspended for six
months (Duluth Daily Tribune Jan. 16,1886). The Minister of Marine approved the
sentences, but shortened the suspension of the captain to nine months "owing to
previous good record" (Portage Lake Mining Gazette Feb. 4, 1886).

The loss of ALGOMA also prompted discussion as to the merits of iron and steel
vessels for Lake transportation. "The general opinion is that they are unsafe unless
built with a double bottom and water tight compartments. The CPR vessels have
neither" (Duluth Trubune Nov. 27, 1885). ALGOMA had multiple water tight
compartments, but not a double bottom. The loss also prompted a re-evaluation of
the remaining sister ships. "Outside of passenger accommodations the vessels of
the line are now said to be inferior to many others on the Lakes" (Ibid).

Salvage

The CPR company contracted to recover the machinery of ALGOMA in early June,
1886 after sending an agent to various wrecking companies (Port Arthur Sentinel
June 11, 1886). They agreed to pay $6,500 for delivery of the machinery to Owen
Sound. An effort was also directed to the recovery of the railroad iron on the wreck
(Duluth Tribune June 18, 1886). Detroit and Port Huron parties were awarded the
contract "to blast the hull of the Canadian Pacific Railway steamer ALGOMA." Fred
L. Merryman (or Merriman), of Port Huron, was placed in charge of the expedition
(Ibid. Aug. 2, 1886).

Henry Beatty announced that a contract had been let to the Moffat Tug and
Wrecking Company of Detroit, with L.B. Montgomery assisting the operations. (The
company also appears as "Moffat Tug and Canada Wrecking Co." in Port Arthur
Sentinel June 11, 1886, and may actually represent two companies working
together.) CPR had taken over the wreck from the insurers after a settlement had
been reached. The company was particularly interested in recovering the engines
and machinery for eventual reuse because they had no counterpart in the country
except for those in ALGOMA's sister ships (Owen Sound Advertiser June 10, 1886).

The tug GEORGE HAND and schooner L.L. LAMB were engaged in recovery
operations by early July (Detroit Free Press July 7, 1886). The operations were
expected to be completed within a month (Detroit Free Press July 21, 1886).

Commercial salvage companies were not the only ones engaged in the salvage of
materials from the ALGOMA wreck site. Sport fishing parties were visiting the
wreck, as well as prehistoric sites to gather artifacts and relics (Duluth Daily Tribune
July 20, 1886).

One of the "darkest mysteries known to the Lakes" developed in connection with the
salvage of ALGOMA. The commercial wreckers made a careful search for more
victims of the disaster. There were only

one or two bodies found pinned in the timbers and frame-work of the
vessel. The theory for this mysterious disappearance is that the
bodies were despoiled by the islanders and then sunk in the Lake.
This theory is strengthened by the finding of mutilated clothes and
articles of value in their cabins. Such is the explanation advanced by

the wreckers as the reason why the bodies have never been recovered
(Detroit Free Press Aug. 2, 1886).

The revenue cutter ANDREW JOHNSON left Milwaukee August 3 to investigate the
wreckers' allegations. Captain Baker of ANDY JOHNSON reported his findings 4 days
later. As to the alleged robbery of bodies from the wrecked steamer ALGOMA, he
"... found no truth in it. Only a few bodies were found and they were shipped to
Canada. The railway company that owned the steamer has had guards on the island
continuously since the wreck" (Detroit Free Press Aug. 8, 1886).

Indignant responses to the allegations came quickly:

Of course the story about fishermen plundering the bodies off the
wrecked steamer ALGOMA is all pure bosh, and no one, who ever
knew anything about the habits of the fishermen of Lake Superior,
ever believed for a moment. The report was a cruel slander upon as
honest and industrious a class of men as exist in the northwest, and
very probably was started expressly to gull some innocent. If it was,
the bait took (Duluth Daily Tribune Aug. 8, 1886); see also (Portage
Lake Mining Gazette Aug. 19, 1886).

The contracting wreckers suffered more than the indignation of the fishermen and
press. The tug GEORGE HAND was reported wrecked and subsequently abandoned
.on the rocks at Rock Harbor. The tug was lying on its side and filled with water
(Detroit Free Press Aug. 12, 1886). The uninsured tug was reported to have gone to
pieces in a storm, the crew barely escaping with their lives (Detroit Free Press Aug.
26, 1886). Mr. Montgomery, who was in charge of the operations, was brought to
Port Arthur aboard the tug KATIE MARKS from Passage Island. He reported GEORGE
HAND broke in two on a reef near Passage Island. Montgomery chartered the tug
BEEBE and left for Passage Island to pick up the crew (Port Arthur Sentinel August
20, 1886). The boiler and engine may have been salvaged. They were reported
raised and put aboard L.L. LAMB (Port Arthur Sentinel Sept. 3, 1886).

The newspaper accounts of the location of the wreck of GEORGE HAND as Passage
Island or Rock Harbor are evidently in error. The journal of the Menagerie Islet
Lighthouse Station for the date of loss records the following:

August 10 — We discovered a tug on the Schooner Island reef
almost a wreck. I found her to be the Geo. Hand of Alconac Mich.
The tug that was wrecking the steamer Algoma at Rock Harbor. Full
particulars of how she got on there are not known yet. We have had
very thick smoky weather here lately. She is laying in about 4 feet of
water on her starboard side and about five hundred yards from the
Little Schooner Island Rocks. She is listed a starboard full of water.
She is surrounded with very shole water. The foggy weather
prevented us from seeing the main shore.

August 11 — Wrecking party are at work raising the machinery
of tug Geo Hand.

The machinery that had been salvaged from ALGOMA was not lost. The schooner
L.L. LAMB arrived in Owen Sound August 26, with the salvaged engines aboard. The
boilers had been recovered, but stored at Isle Royale. LAMB brought machinery to
both Owen Sound and Port Huron (Detroit Free Press Aug. 27, 1886). The engine
and other machinery estimated to be "some hundreds of tons weight" were

displayed on a number of platform cars at Owen Sound (Meaford Monitor Sept. 10,
1886).

There were 13 engines from ALGOMA reported on board when L.L LAMB arrived at
Owen Sound (Port Arthur Sentinel Sept. 3, 1886; Daily Mining Journal Sept. 13,
1886). This is an important clue to the nature of the deposition of the wreck. Some
historians and divers believe the ALGOMA bow to be "lost" in deep water. One
source for this belief is probably Dana Thomas Bowen's (1952:127) account of the
ALGOMA wreck that implies the bow sank in deep water.

The missing bow has been considered somewhat of a mystery and divers have
periodically searched the area in hopes of finding an intact section of ALGOMA.
Rather than breaking off and sinking as intact structure, the probability is that the
bow was broken up during the wreck event and sank as fractured hull elements.
The references to deep water in the historical accounts is probably only in relation
to the water at the stern. The stern of ALGOMA had hit and lodged on the reef; the
bow was still afloat, free to work with the wave action.

The evidence indicates clearly that the bow was accessible to the 1886 salvagers.
Detailed descriptions of ALGOMA published soon after its appearance on the Lakes
state that there were a total of 12 auxiliary engines aboard (see above ALGOMA
Construction; Cleveland Herald Nov. 30, 1883). A total of 13 engines aboard L.L.
LAMB indicates all engines aboard ALGOMA, including the main engine were
recovered. In order to have salvaged all the engines from the wreck, the salvagers
had to have worked on the bow portion of the vessel. It could not have been "lost",
and it was not likely to have been in very deep water. This may account for the
fact that no anchors or cables have been located. If the wreckers were able to
recover the bow windlass and capstans (all having steam engines to operate them),
they most likely recovered the anchors and cables. Additional research into the
records of the salvage companies and other sources may clarify some of these
points. A complete mapping operation of the material record of ALGOMA will
certainly augment our knowledge of this important historic site.

The salvaged engine from ALGOMA was installed in MANITOBA in 1889. The new
passenger steamer was launched that year and had a safe 60-year career on the
Lakes. The vessel was only retired after the enactment of stringent new safety
regulations prompted by the disastrous burning of NORONIC in 1949 (Landon
1970:313-315).

A later salvage effort stated that the ALGOMA wreckage as seen in 1903 remained
much as it had been in 1886. Captain Ryan aboard JOSEPH C. SUIT salvaged
portions of the wreck in that year, apparently the second commercial salvage effort.
A newspaper account records Ryan's comments as: "Her bow is resting above water
on shore, but the stern is sunk about thirty feet below the level of the Lake" (Duluth
Evening Herald May 22, 1903). Evidently, "bow" and "stern" were reversed in the
newspaper account. If that is the case, the recognizable bow sections were located
in shallow water some 19 years after the wreck.

Ryan carried out fairly extensive salvage operations. The operation employed a
diver and a steam crane. "About eighty tons of iron plates, fish plates and railroad
iron have been recovered. Dynamite was used to break the wreckage into pieces
that could be easily handled by the crew." It was reported that this was the second
trip of SUIT (Duluth Evening Herald May 22, 1903).

100

Apparently, there have been other commercial salvage efforts on ALGOMA. A
silver-plated crown jug from the wreck was exhibited in 1906. A Great Lakes
Dredging Company diver had given the artifact to L.G. Andrews, who was displaying
it in Port Arthur (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 6, 1906).

In more recent times, ALGOMA has been the site of SCUBA diving activity. Many
portable artifacts have been removed from the wreckage, but the site still proves an
interesting dive, particularly when searching for new wreckage. The site has not
been thoroughly surveyed and mapped. There are many discoveries to be made on
this widely scattered shipwreck, both for divers and for those interested in Lakes'
vessel architecture.

Dives conducted by Patrick Labadie with SCRU personnel in 1985 have produced
indications that portions of the bow of ALGOMA lie to the west. Other divers have
reported sightings to Labadie that may be other bow-related structures, such as the
gaff from the forward mast and the ship's galley stack reported by Scott McWilliam.
Videotapes made during 1986 also show a bulkhead that is believed to be from the
bow. There is much exploration and documentation to be done on this site.

Epilogue

To better understand the contemporary perception of the nature of the ALGOMA
disaster, it may be instructive to consider the following song. It was written by
Thomas Hughes, a resident of Port Arthur, Ontario and printed in Toronto in 1885.

101

THE WRECK OF THE ALGOMA

On the sev'nth day of November

Our Dominion look'd with pride
On a steam boat which spread her

Reputation far and wide,
The world's two mighty oceans

Were join'd by iron band,
And the great work so accomplish'd

Was the pride of our fair land.

But no one thought that ere the dawn

Of that glad triumphant day,
A sad and fearful accident

Would take that joy away.
The noble ship "ALGOMA"

With some sixty souls set sail,
And only fifteen of them all

Were left to tell the tale.

CHORUS:

Hear the cry of us poor sinners
Cast upon the friendless wave,

And protect us we implore Thee,
Thou alone hast power to save.

On the shore of Isle Royale that morn,

The vessel struck upon the shoals,
And 'mid tempest, storm and blinding snow

Sank forty-five poor souls.
The captain of the gallant ship

With courage few would dare,
Oft risked his life to save the lives

Of those placed in his care.

Full thirty hours they lay exposed

To the fierce relentless wave,
Uniting in their prayers to Him

Who only now can save.
On Sunday morn, that morn on which

Christ burst the bonds of death,
He heard the prayers poured forth to Him

With supplicating breath.

Their wounded helpless captain now

They fasten on a slender raft,
And with what feeble strength remains

They leave the ill-fated craft,
And reaching shore on bended knees

They joined in praise to One
Who saved them: but for those who're lost

Whispered "Thy will be done."

102

Fig. 4.5. Canadian Pacific Railway passenger vessel ALGOMA, one of the first
steel-hulled vessels on the Great Lakes. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Marine Museum Collection.

■

Fig. 4.6. ALGOMA at the dock with schooners. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal
Park Marine Museum Collection.

103

MONARCH: HISTORY

Construction

MONARCH was built in 1890 by John Dyble, formerly of Parry and Dyble. The
combined firm had, in 1882-83, built UNITED EMPIRE, MONARCH'S running mate.
The new ship was built for the Northwest Transportation Company of Sarnia, Ontario
on the southern tip of Lake Huron and launched June 27, 1890 (Chicago Inter Ocean
June 27, 1890). The company, owned by the two Beatty brothers, was known as the
"Beatty Line." James H. and John Beatty had built the Northwest Transportation Co.
from a partnership they formed in 1865, which became the Lake Superior Line in
1870.

The demand for their transportation services on the upper Lakes grew, and the two
brothers incorporated their enterprise in 1882 to form the Northwest Transportation
Co. This firm continued to grow into the largest company transporting package
freight and passengers under the Canadian flag on the upper Lakes. It was locally
called the "Blackline."

In early 1899, the Beattys merged with the Great Northern Transit Company of
Collingwood. The latter company, known as the White Line, operated steamers on
Georgian Bay and the North Channel. This merger formed the Northern Navigation
Company and evolved into the Northern Navigation Co. Ltd., which dominated upper
Lakes transportation of freight and passengers for many years. This company was,
in 1915, to become a part of the Canada Steamship Lines Limited, which still carries
the original Beatty Line funnel design, red with a white band and black top,
maintained throughout the series of mergers.

UNITED EMPIRE, MONARCH'S running mate, formerly known as "Old Betsy," was an
arch-trussed wooden propeller, 252 feet 8 inches by 36 feet 15 inches with a gross
tonnage of 1,961 and a registered tonnage of 1,296. The ship originally carried a
sail on the foremast. This ship had a fore-and-aft compound engine of 1,000
horsepower. This vessel was rebuilt at Collingwood in 1904 and renamed SARONIC
in 1905.

UNITED EMPIRE was a well-appointed vessel sometimes referred to as the "Queen
Vessel of the Inland Seas" (Thunder Bay Sentinel, Port Arthur, Dec. 1, 1883). Captain
Edward Robertson and his crew of 50 became known for their competency and
courteous attention to passengers.

A perspective on MONARCH'S passenger and freight capabilities may be gained from
comparison with those of UNITED EMPIRE. UNITED EMPIRE carried 200 cabin
passengers and at least another 200 (some sources give 400) in steerage, and it
made the Sarnia-Port Arthur run on the average of 60 hours. In a single season,
UNITED EMPIRE carried more than 5,000 passengers and 40,400 tons of freight
during 16 trips, netting the owners some $40,000 (Thunder Bay Sentinel, Port Arthur,
Dec. 1, 1883; Chicago Tribune May 21, 1883).

Continued demands prompted the company to construct another vessel for the Port
Arthur-Duluth-Sarnia run. This new vessel was to become the flagship of the
Beatty Line and bear the appropriate name of MONARCH. Edward Robertson was
made captain of the new steamer, which was considered a "high but entirely
deserved compliment to Capt. Robertson" (Duluth Evening Herald Oct. 22, 1890).

104

MONARCH was built in Sarnia, Ontario on the St. Clair River for a cost between
$150,000 and $200,000 (Chicago Inter Ocean June 27, 1890; Duluth Evening Herald
June 28, 1890). The vessel was built for extended season service on Lake Superior
and was strongly reinforced with iron. The hull was of white oak. The vessel was
259.0 feet long overall with a beam of 34.8 feet and 14.8 feet depth, with a waterline
length of 245 feet. The registered tonnage was 2,017 gross tons and 1,372 net.
The hull was originally painted white to the main deck rail; the cabins were also
white.

The engine of MONARCH was a three cylinder, triple-expansion, inverted, vertical
steam engine, which some sources say was built at the Phoenix Iron Works of Port
Huron, Michigan. Other sources, such as the Duluth Evening Herald of Oct. 22, 1890,
state the engines were built by Kerr Brothers of Walkerville, Ontario. The cylinders
of the engine were 21 inches, 33 inches and 54 inches in diameter with a common
42-inch stroke. The engine, with a 900 horsepower rating at 80 revolutions per
minute, was capable of making the 26-mile run from Thunder Cape to Passage
Island in a normal running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. The ship averaged 32
hours to Sault Ste. Marie. Some sources say the engines developed 2,000
horsepower (e.g. Chicago Inter Ocean June 27, 1890), although this is unlikely.

The engine required 160 pounds of steam from the two Scotch marine boilers.
These boilers were 11 feet 4 inches long and 16 feet in diameter, and were built by
the Lake Erie Boiler Works of Buffalo, New York and installed there in July, 1890
(Chicago Inter Ocean June 27, 1890).

Apparently, MONARCH was the last vessel to be constructed at Sarnia for 54 years
until the MAC-Craft Corporation used its shipyards during the second World War.
When the company's first vessel went down the ways, there were none present who
remembered the last launching in Sarnia (Young 1957:107).

MONARCH was appointed with luxury fittings and was unsurpassed for elegance of

furnishings until the company built the 321-foot steel steamer HURONIC in 1902.

MONARCH'S cabins were finished in white enamel trimmed with gold moldings and

carefully crafted; they

... had a fair rake and that meant that all the window sashes were cut
out of square to follow the lines of the cabins. Every sash had to be
made separately for its place and paired off, port and starboard, a nice
piece of work which W.H. Pitfield carried out the whole length of the
cabin (London, Ontario, Free Press Dec. 1, 1956).

One of the best descriptions of MONARCH appeared in the Duluth Evening Herald
(Oct. 22, 1890):

A Beautiful Ship: The magnificent New Monarch of the Beatty Line.
Far the Finest Running to Duluth, Destined to be the Popular
Passenger Ship of the Upper Lakes ....

On her first trip, which was enjoyed by about thirty passengers,
she made an average speed of thirteen miles and hour. She was built,
however for a speed of fourteen miles an hour and that rate can
easily be attained .... This will make her the fastest passenger boat
running into Duluth harbor.

The smoking room and washroom for the gentleman as well as
the offices for the captain and purser are on the main deck.

The cabin is finished in white and gold, and will be lighted by
electricity. There are sixty-two staterooms and a bathroom. Doors

105

between each alternate stateroom can be thrown open .... Each
stateroom has a double lower and single upper berth for nearly 200
passengers.

In the center of the cabin is the pantry and steam tables, the
kitchen being on the main deck below. Forward of the pantry is the
dining room, there being twelve tables with room for ten people at
each. The ice box is a model one and is large enough to hold several
tons .... There are five separate holds, the hoisting machinery being
operated by pony engines...

The stack of the Monarch is a trifle smaller than that of the
Empire, and is a little further astern. The low steel sustaining arch
visible amidships on the upper deck of the Empire is in the Monarch
clear out of the way below decks thus entirely obliterating one
objectionable feature.

The new ship was special in every way. The ship's menus made the news; it carried
the most famous names on its passenger list. The decor, orchestras and salons
were noted in the social columns (Doner 1958:121).

On the first trip the boat was loaded to capacity, and the working of the new vessel
in a heavy sea wedged the stateroom doors shut. When the vessel returned to
Sarnia, this was corrected (London, Ontario, Free Press Dec. 1, 1956). The original
appearance of MONARCH was completely white; later, its hull was painted black.
The pilot house was later raised, and the Texas deck lengthened some 30 feet.
Examinations of photographs taken before and after the alteration reveal that there
were also port holes installed in the aft crew quarters.

Operational History

The normal route for MONARCH and running mate UNITED EMPIRE was from Sarnia,
Ontario on Lake Huron, through Sault Ste. Marie to Fort William in Thunder Bay,
Ontario, and to Duluth, Minnesota. Passengers and package freight were carried
both ways. The ship had a relatively uneventful career, except for these few known
incidents.

In the first incident, the vessel ran its bow aground at the river's mouth at Port
Arthur in August 1892. MONARCH was released after its cargo was lightered
(Detroit Free Press Aug. 8, 1892).

A second incident, which took place on Thanksgiving Day 1896, was considerably
more exciting. MONARCH was downbound from Port Arthur to Duluth with cargo
and passengers aboard; there was some speculation in Duluth as to whether Capt.
Robertson would leave Port Arthur because there was a storm approaching. The
storm became a gale and continued to build in force until it became one of the
worst in the recent memory of those reporting the event.

Capt. Robertson and crew left Port Arthur at 1:30 a.m. expecting a wind shift from
easterly to westerly. Instead of a shift came sleet, snow, and gale force winds that
whipped waves up to a height level with the ship's rail. Several times the sea came
over the stern of the vessel, which sometimes occurs when Lakes ships run before
a gale. The full force of the gale struck when MONARCH was about 70 miles out of
Port Arthur. The weather was too fierce to turn back.

106

By 4:00 p.m. it was already getting dark as the ship passed Two Harbors. The
captain had trouble picking up the range lights to align the vessel with the Duluth
Ship Canal, and came close enough to the south shore to hear the breakers. When
the ship was not more than 1,000 feet from the piers, the wheel was put hard to
port. MONARCH responded to the helm splendidly for a vessel laboring in such a
heavy sea. The captain finally made out the ranges and struck for the entrance
under a full head of steam. A large wave threw MONARCH against the south pier,
damaging the hull slightly. The heavy current threw the ship toward the north pier,
but because Capt. Robertson had ordered full steam, the ship avoided a serious
collision and sped safely through the narrow waterway. The spectators who had
gone to the piers to see the huge breakers were witness to an additional
performance of masterful seamanship that Thanksgiving night (Duluth Tribune Nov.
27, 1896; Duluth Evening Herald, Nov. 27, 1896).

MONARCH was involved in minor collision with the steamer MAHONING October 4,
1898. MONARCH was lying at the outer end of the St. Paul and Duluth slip, and
MAHONING was entering the channel. Apparently, there was a problem with
MAHONING'S steering, and it collided with MONARCH, causing some damage to its
stern hull planks (Duluth Evening Herald Oct. 4, 1898).

One incident in MONARCH'S career has only been documented in the biography of
salvor Tom Reid (Doner 1958:121-2). MONARCH, in later years, was overhauled in
the shipyard and thereafter ran package freight. The year the ship was refitted it
froze in the ice in mid-November near Sailors' Emcampmant at the Soo. The tugs
REID, SARNIAN and eventually PROTECTOR were sent to the rescue. MONARCH was
reportedly freed at a cost of $20,000.

The 1903 season ended with reduced business for the company. It was reported
that MONARCH would only make the trip between Duluth and Sarnia once every 10
days (Duluth Evening Herald Oct. 10, 1903).

Wreck Event

The final voyage of MONARCH would have been its last trip of the 1906 season. It
was not unusual for a Great Lakes vessel of this period to be lost on the last trip of
the season. November and December are busy months on the Lakes as vessel
operators attempt to make as many trips as possible before the close of the
season. Freight rates are at the highest of the year, and pressure is great to make
one more passage.

According to the Marine Protest, MONARCH had run into heavy weather on the
upbound trip from Sarnia. The vessel suffered some water damage to the cargo in
the Number 3 and Number 4 holds (Marine Protest: MONARCH 12-11-06, Canadian
Archives).

On Thursday, December 6, 1906, MONARCH was loaded at Port Arthur with a cargo
listed as "grain and general merchandise" (Marine Protest, re: MONARCH). The
Toronto Daily Star Dec. 10, 1906 and the Toronto World Dec. 11, 1906, both list the
cargo as "35,000 bushels [which would be about 1,050 tons weight] No. 1 Northern
wheat; one car oats for Thessalon; one car oats for Gore Bay, four cars for the Soo;
one car of flour for George Gardner, Sarnia; one car of salmon for Montreal; one car
of salmon for London; 200 tons of flour for the GTR, Sarnia." (A car of grain was
equal to 350 bushels.) Unfortunately, little mention has been made of any additional
"general merchandise." The ship was downbound through the Soo Locks to Sarnia.

107

At 5:25 in the afternoon, with loading completed, MONARCH departed its berth and
started out into Thunder Bay, arriving at Thunder Cape at 6:48 p.m. Here the course
was changed to a heading toward Passage Light, off the northeast tip of Isle
Royale. The Marine Protest (December 11, 1906) states the wind was from the
northwest, with snow, fog, and a heavy sea running; the temperature was below
zero degrees Fahrenheit. The normal running time for MONARCH from Thunder
Cape to Passage Light would have been 2 hours and 20 minutes. Near the end of
the normal running time the second mate went aft to check the log, only to find it
frozen and registering 10 of the 26 miles between the Cape and Passage Light.
Passage Light had been glimpsed twice during the voyage. At the normal time, the
captain set the course for Whitefish Point (recorded in the Protest as southeast by
east 1/4 east, or about 120 degrees). Six minutes later the captain adjusted the
course "to allow for leeway," to east by 3/4 south, or about 110 degrees. The wind
was blowing fresh from the North-Northwest. The time must have been about 8:54
p.m. About 9:30, MONARCH ran into the solid rock wall known as the The Palisades,
about 900 yards west of BLake Point, the northeastern tip of Isle Royale.

The exact cause of the wreck is not readily apparent. Popular explanations for the
vessel being off course seem rather weak when subjected to scrutiny. For example,
the loss has been attributed to the compass being out of order, possibly from the
cold (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906; Toronto World, Dec. 12, 1906;
Wolff 1979:88). This seems unlikely on two counts: 1) it would certainly have been
an advantage to report such a malfunction during the Marine Protest, but it was not
reported; 2) MONARCH carried steam radiators for heat, many were located by the
Park Service dive team on the site, and the pilothouse was surely heated. The
taffrail log, however, was reported frozen so that their distance out was not known.
Coupled with snow, fog, wind and heavy seas, it was sufficient to put the MONARCH
hard up on Isle Royale.

Wolff (1979:88) reports the pilot house crew mistook the BLake Point Light for
Passage Light and they were steering "some 70 degrees" off course. While the
varying reports do mention that in a couple of instances during the voyage the
Passage Light was visible, there could have been no confusion as to which light it
was. BLake Point Light was not installed until 1917, 11 years after MONARCH had
wrecked. (See examples of criticism of U.S. Government after the wreck from the
Canadian press for not marking both sides of the Channel, Barry 1980:18).

Wolff does not mention how he computed the course variance of 70 degrees. The
difference between the route of MONARCH from a point clearing the north of
Thunder Bay by Thunder Cape Light on the current downbound route to the site of
the wreck is a course variation of about 6-1/2 degrees. At the latter course, the
vessel would have hit the Palisade Cliff at an angle of somewhat greater than 103
degrees true. The course recorded for MONARCH was east by south 3/4 south, or
about 110 degrees. An examination of the five side-scan sonar passes of the wreck
site done by the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit in 1980 show the bearing of
MONARCH'S structural remains to be about 110 degrees true. Although those data
coincide with the course as stated in the Marine Protest, the position of the remains
may not precisely represent the final course heading of MONARCH.

The weather was extreme during MONARCH'S last voyage. Two Booth Line
steamers, AMERICA, a later casualty at Isle Royale, and EASTON, were held up in
Duluth due to weather conditions (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 6, 1906). The same
newspaper reported the lowest temperature reading of the season on December 7;

108

the reading was 22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Charles Thomas Davis, the
lighthouse keeper at Copper Harbor Ranges, recorded in the log for December 5,
1906 a fresh, east wind and snowstorm, with a northeast gale that evening. The log
entry for December 6 was: "north wind, gale, cold and heavy snowstorms, freezing
very hard today."

The intense cold of this storm caused the formation of 6 to 9 inches of ice in Lake
Superior, which trapped 20 vessels. The Lake Carriers Association organized an ice
breaking expedition that left Sault St. Marie on December 1 1 to free the trapped
vessels. (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 10, 1906).

Damage to vessels resulting from this December 6 storm was not limited to Lake
Superior. Three vessels, one steamer and two schooners, were damaged on Lake
Huron (U.S. Department of Agriculture 1907:10). The 1906 shipping season closed
abruptly because of the storm; it was reopened only briefly by tug ice-breaking
operations.

During the season 229 vessels were damaged and 53 were lost to weather causes.
The financial loss for the season was put at $2,043,850. The greatest loss to heavy
weather conditions was in the month of December and amounted to $471,750. The
wreck of MONARCH, a loss of $100,000 for the vessel and $60,000 for the cargo,
was the largest single loss of the 1906 season (Henry and Conger 1907:5-6). The
single largest cargo loss from the MONARCH disaster was probably sustained by
Parish and Lindsay of Winnipeg, who had 35,000 bushels of wheat on board (Duluth
News Tribune Dec. 11, 1906).

MONARCH hit the rock face of Isle Royale Thursday, December 6, a little after 9:00
p.m., on the coldest day of the year; a heavy snow had been falling, driven by gale
force winds. Visibility had been reduced to less than 50 feet, a distance little further
than the bow from the bridge. Captain Robertson had gone outside and "with his
face to the full brunt of the storm [he] endeavored to regain his course" when the
"vessel veered to the right and there was a scraping, grinding sound, and then a
crash; the MONARCH had struck" (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906).

Capt. Robertson reported (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906) that he caught a
glimpse of Passage Light twice before the ship struck, but could not hear the fog
whistle. He also said to the newspaper reporters he assumed his compass must
have been at fault. The ship had been proceeding at the "usual speed" when it
struck, and immediately the order for full speed astern was signalled to the engine
room. The engineer (Samuel Beatty) realizing the ship was on the rocks, disobeyed
the order and kept the engines in gear and moving forward to hold the damaged
ship on the rocks. A great hole was torn in the bow (Port Arthur Daily New Dec. 11,
1906).

Plight of the Survivors: Soon after the impact the passengers and crew rushed up
on deck, but the brief confusion was soon put in order (Port Arthur Daily News Dec.
11, 1906). The electric lights went out leaving the ship in darkness. Quickly, a
lifeboat was lowered and manned by by fireman Walter Houghton and three sailors:
Edwin Brealin, Jacob Smith and Robert Berry. The boat was evidently lowered on
the starboard side, the side closest to the rocks, but floating wreckage and the force
of the waves prevented the men from rowing to the closest rock, a scant 25 feet
away (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906).

109

Shipwrecks often prompt acts of courage; indeed, many people have survived only
through heroic acts, their own or those of others. The wreck of MONARCH
produced a hero, James (Jack) D. McCallum. McCallum, a deck hand and brother of
the second mate, was working off his passage down the Lakes. It was he who, after
the failure of the landing attempt, managed to get a line to shore. Accounts vary as
to what actually took place. Some say he tied a rope around his waist and used a
ladder to get ashore (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906); or was swung
pendulum-like until he managed to cling to the rocks and was passed a ladder (Fort
William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906); others say that he gained a foothold on
sacks of grain and mattresses thrown over the bow (Particulars of Service rendered
in Saving Life, rendered by John D. McCallum to passengers and crew, S.S.
MONARCH.) However McCallum did it, he managed to get up the bank to the shore
apparently with the aid of a ladder and secured a line. One account said the rope
broke and a tow line was thrown to him and he secured it to a tree (Fort Williams
Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906). Using this line, the passengers and crew were
able to leave the ship and make their way up the rocks. There may have been a
boat used to aid the crossing. One passenger (R.M. Lockhead) in his account stated
he fell off the line and hit the gunwale of the boat that had been used to pass the
life line to the shore (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906).

When about half of the ship's company were safe on the rocks, MONARCH'S stern
began to sink (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906). This shift of the wreck
apparently caused some confusion among those remaining on the vessel. In the
confusion, the only fatality occurred. Joseph Jacques (reported elsewhere as James
Jacques, e.g., Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906) an 18-year old watchman
aboard MONARCH, drowned (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 18, 1906).
Jacques, whose family lived in Point Edward, had been working at the Grand Trunk
elevator all summer and had only quit two weeks before deciding to take his
ill-fated trip on MONARCH. His mother, Mrs. A. Jacques, had begged him not to go,
but young Jacques shipped as a watchman aboard the vessel on the upbound trip.
His mother was in shock for some time after hearing the news of her son's death
(Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 18, 1906).

There are some slight discrepancies regarding this single MONARCH fatality. In the
Fort William Daily Times Journal (Dec. 18, 1906), it was reported Jacques was asleep
in his bunk when the boat foundered and sank. Accounts that appeared immediately
after the wreck state that in the confusion that occurred when the stem section
broke off and sank, Jacques by mistake seized a fender rope rather than the shore
line and fell into the Lake. His cry could be heard by those on deck, but no
assistance could be rendered (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906). Other
accounts state that Jacques had been subject to temporary blindness (Fort William
Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906). No trace of Jacques was ever recovered. In
this latter article, it is reported that Jacques was trying to lower himself into the
row boat and had slid down what he thought was a fender rope, but was actually a
short line that reached only half way down the vessel.

The exhausted survivors huddled together in the bitter cold. The rocky shoreline
was covered with ice. At least one passenger had fallen into the water during the
crossing, and his clothes had become frozen solid. W.H. Lockhead was spared
serious frostbite by a fire that was started with the few dry matches found among
the other passengers (Duluth News Tribune Dec. 11, 1906; Port Arthur Daily News
Dec. 11, 1906). Along with the fire, a crude windbreak was constructed of
branches. The only blanket was given to the one woman aboard, the stewardess:
Rachel McCormick. Before morning, a second fire was started on high ground to

110

attract the attention of the lighthouse keeper on Passage Island, or of passing
vessels (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906). Later, a tent was
constructed of sails recovered from the wreck (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11,
1906).

On Friday, food was obtained from the wreck. Either that morning (Port Arthur Daily
News Dec. 11, 1906), or in the evening (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11,
1906), a case of salmon was found on shore, or a bag of flour and a box of salmon
washed ashore. A sailor was lowered by rope to retrieve them (Fort William Daily
Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906). Sometime Friday the wreck was boarded, and a
quantity of damaged bacon, bread and pie was secured and served. These meager
supplies did not last long. The remainder of the time the survivors ate salmon and
flour. The flour was made into flapjacks by Rachel McCormick and cooked in the
ashes. The flapjacks "resembled a piece of frozen asphalt block" blackened, no
doubt, by the ashes in which they were cooked. The survivors had divided into
three camps on Friday. Each camp maintained a fire for warmth, and together they
chopped wood for the beacon fires on the point (Port Arthur Daily News, Dec. 11,
1906).

The beacon fires were kept burning all day Saturday (December 8) in an effort to
attract the attention of the Passage Island lighthouse keeper. Saturday passed
without a response. Although the keeper had seen the light of the fire during the
night, heavy seas prevented an attempt to reach the island. Sunday the waves
subsided enough to allow Lightkeeper Shaw (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 10, 1906)
to row the 4 miles distance to the wreck site. Waves were still heavy enough to
prevent Shaw from landing the rowboat, but he was able to take off one person,
purser Reginald Beaumont. Beaumont waded and swam out to the boat (Duluth
News Tribune Dec. 11, 1906; Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906). That
evening Beaumont and Shaw signalled the steamer EDMONTON downbound with a
load of grain. Beaumont was picked up and EDMONTON immediately headed back
to Port Arthur after finding she could not get near the wreck (Port Arthur Daily
News Dec. 10, 1906).

EDMONTON arrived in Port Arthur Sunday about 2:00 a.m., bearing the news of the
wrecking of MONARCH. Immediately, Agent Bell of the Northern Navigation
Company began to organize the rescue of the survivors. By 6:00 a.m. the owners,
crew and masters of the tugs JAMES WHALEN and LAURA GRACE had been roused
and dispatched to the wreck site (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 10, 1906).

The rescue party aboard JAMES WHALEN and LAURA GRACE was led by Capt.
Campbell of MONARCH'S running mate, SARONIC (earlier UNITED EMPIRE), which had
just arrived in Port Arthur. Several of SARONIC's boats were taken on the rescue
trip to aid in removing the survivors from Isle Royale. Doctors McCougall and E.
McEwen were taken to provide medical aid to the survivors feared to be in bad
shape after their ordeal. The relief party left at 6:00 a.m. on what was expected to
be a 6 or 8 hour round trip (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 10, 1906).

Meanwhile, on Isle Royale, a party of four men set out from the main camp on
Monday (10th) soon after purser Beaumont left with the lightkeeper. Firemen Walter
Houghton and three sailors, Styles Fisher, John McPherson and Edwin Brealin,
walked 12 miles to Tobin Harbor on the opposite side of the island (Fort William
Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906). It is informative to trace the probable route of
the party with distances reported in the contemporary press and the geography of
the island to establish possible terrestrial site locations. Historic fish camps are still

111

on Isle Royale and are like the one to which this party went. (Probably the site now
known as Mattson Fishery.) The four men probably came across the central ridge of
Isle Royale from The Palisades (near the present-day Merritt Lane Campground)
down along the shore to a position across Tobin Harbor from Scoville Point, the
location of the Matson Fishery, a distance of about 2 miles, or 2-3/10 miles from
the wreck. The men had no choice but to walk around Tobin Harbor to reach the
fish camp, another 8.5 miles, or a little more than 10 miles total, unless they were
able to cross on the ice that was probably in the mouth of Tobin Creek. They
located several fishermen's huts, all deserted. Fortunately, provisions had been left
by the fishermen, and the four spent the night. They secured more supplies and
started back across the frozen trail Tuesday (11th) morning, arriving a few minutes
before the rescue tugs arriving from Port Arthur were spotted by the survivors (Fort
William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906).

WHALEN and GRACE approached the wreck, but could not launch their boats for the
pickup. The tugs signalled and went around to the south side of the point into
Tobin Harbor. The survivors had to walk across the island, the second such trip of
the day for the four-man party that had just returned. The survivors were taken
aboard the rescue tugs, and their injuries attended.

In the report given by Capt. Robertson (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906), he
says the survivors had to walk a distance of 8 miles. The route they took from the
wreck site over to Tobin Harbor to be picked up by the rescue tugs is not
recorded. The distance straight across the tip of the island to a point near
present-day Merritt Lane Campground and opposite Merritt Island is about 1,500
feet. If the tugs could not pick them up. at this point, it is hard to conceive of a
reason for traveling down shore another 7-3/4 miles. This would have placed them
beyond Tobin Harbor, but they could have come across to Rock Harbor to be picked
up at a point near Rabbit Island. The only explanation for going to Rock Harbor was
if ice or wave conditions prevented the tugs from approaching the island. However,
this is unlikely on both counts, because JAMES WHALEN was an ice-breaking tug
and most probably could have landed virtually anywhere. The four-man party
apparently walked around Tobin Harbor to the fish camp, something they would not
have done if they could have crossed the ice. The southeast shore of the island
should have been in the lee of the diminishing storm. The most probable
explanation is that the survivors' walk to reach the tugs was nowhere near 8 miles,
but it seemed that it was because of the extreme conditions.

The survivors were in good condition, considering their plight. Mr. Farquar had
evidently come through the worst. He had frostbite and perhaps pneumonia and
was in a seriously exhausted state (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906).

The tugs made their way back to Port Arthur and arrived about 8:00 p.m. (Monday,
10th). Both Mr. Farquar and Capt. Robertson were made comfortable on board the
steamer HURONIC, the newer vessel of Northern Navigation Co. Mr. Farquar was
transferred to St. Joseph Hospital for treatment, and Capt. Robertson went to the
Algoma Hotel (Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 11, 1906).

At the Algoma Hotel, a beaten and exhausted Capt. Robertson gave reporter Sarah
Stafford an account of the disaster (Port Arthur Daily News Dec. 11, 1906). It was
not a formal interview, the captain simply talked while eating his dinner.

We were near Isle Royale about half past nine at night. I was
standing on the bridge, when I heard a ripping sound and a part of the
upper cabins were torn away ... it was found we were on a rock, and

112

that the stern was slowly sinking ... I had a number of farmers on
board, and they made just as good a scramble for their lives as the
rest of us. We had only one women on board, the stewardess, and
she was a good one. She went down that rope 30 feet, hand over
hand, into the boat and the way she stirred up that flour with a stick
and made us pancakes was a caution!

We had nothing to eat for 6 hours, and not being able to get
water over that high bluff, we had to melt snow for a while. After a
time the men went back to the ship and yanked out something to eat.

The MONARCH'S bow stands up 10 feet above the water on the
rock.

I lost all my clothes and shoes but I got an old belt I have had
for many years, and I was glad to get it.

We made a tent out of some sails, and I had to watch the fire,
or some fellow would put it out with his feet, covered with snow, as
he lay sleeping.

We had canned salmon, but after a few mouthfuls we did not
want to eat.

We had to walk 8 miles before we could get to the tugs. The
way that woman walked through the woods with the best of them! I
was on my face half the time.

The old ship stands there up against the side of the rock. You
might pass her by a hundred times and not see her. Everything is
covered with snow and ice.

Apparently, the survivors were taken on the steamer HURONIC to Sarnia. The
passage was courtesy of the Northern Navigation Co. The arrival was heralded by
the citizens, replete with brass band. The following report appeared in the Port
Arthur Daily News (Dec. 19, 1906):

Sarnia, December 18th ... Pandemonium broke loose when the
steamer HURONIC arrived on Sunday night with the survivors of the
wrecked steamer MONARCH on board. It appeared as if the entire
town came down to the wharf to welcome the shipwrecked crew. A
brass band added to the din of whistles, and seldom has such a
demonstration occurred on the Great Lakes.

Every man was a hero, but it remained for the woman, Miss
Rachel McCormick, one of the crew, to carry off the real honors.

The Northern Navigation Co. responded quickly. The following statement appeared
in the Port Arthur Daily News on December 12, the day after the rescue:

No compensation will be offered by the Northern Navigation Company
to passengers who lost their effects on the wrecked steamer
MONARCH. That is one of the risks taken by passengers and they
have no case for damages against the company.

Company representatives also pointed out that the passengers had been given
transportation on HURONIC, but, even this was more than it was required to do, as
the loss of the steamer terminated their contract with the passengers.

The captain and crew of MONARCH were exonerated for their actions involving the
wreck, although some rumors to the contrary had been circulated (Port Arthur Daily
News December 12, 1906). A special address of esteem and sympathy was
presented, along with a purse of gold, to Capt. Robertson on the evening of
December 12. The ceremony took place at the Algoma Hotel in Port Arthur, and

113

many prominent citizens of both Port Arthur and Fort William were in attendance,
including the mayor, members of the Council and Board of Trade of Port Arthur.

In addition to the captain, Jack McCallum received recognition. On July 6, 1907, it
was reported that he had been presented with a Royale Humane Society medal at a
special session of the Board of Trade for his gallantry the previous season (Superior
Evening Telegram, July 6, 1907).

Salvage

Commercial operations were not undertaken on the wreck for two years. The
Northern Navigation Co. did invite bids for salvage of the wreck (Canadian Railway
and Marine World Nov. 1907:855). Apparently none were submitted.

Plans to remove the machinery were expressed in 1907. A description of the site
was published six months after the wreck (Detroit News June 9, 1907):

The wreck of the Monarch bow presents a most interesting sight,
while the stern is buried deep in water. Where it was wrecked the
shore can easily be reached by a Lake boat, the drop being so rapid.
Portions of the machinery are exposed, the timbers and planks
covering it having been torn away by the severe storms which
occurred since the wreck.

Huge timbers 12 inches through and bolted by long steel bands
were broken like so many matches. Pieces of wreckage can be seen
along the Lake shore... Masses of iron twisted into all conceivable
shapes show how the wind must have buffeted the ship from the time
that it went on the rocks.

The time of the separation of the large stern section from the bow is uncertain.
The newspaper account above indicates the stern may have been attached as late
as 1907. At least one newspaper account that reported the wreck events stated the
stern broke before all the survivors were removed from the wreck. All
contemporary photographs of the wreck of MONARCH located so far show the only
the bow section on the rocks. These photographs may have been taken the next
year.

MONARCH'S machinery was salvaged in 1908 by Reid Wrecking Company under the
direction of Capt. Thomas Reid. The salvage operations began in late August or in
September, 1908. The Reid Wrecking Company apparently purchased the salvage
rights to MONARCH from the underwriters in late August (Port Arthur Daily News
September 9, 1908) and work was in progress soon after (Ibid., September 17,
1908). It was reported that the salvage of MONARCH was complete after 25 days of
work.

Capt. Reid was quoted in a newspaper article (Port Arthur Daily News September 26,

1908):

We took in everything of value out of the wreck ... having found
conditions such that we were able to make a very complete job of it.
We have the boilers, engines, dynamos, chains windlasses, etc., loaded
onto the barge KELDERHOWE (This is certainly the KELDERHOUSE, see
Port Arthur Daily News Oct. 6, 1908) ready to be taken to Sarnia and
we will likely leave for our trip down the Lake tomorrow.

In the same article, it was reported that MONARCH:

114

... stood with her nose shoved upon the rocks of Isle Royale and her
bow and forward cabins out of the water to withstand the onslaught
of the waves, but now that has been broken away by the salvage
crew, the engines and all moveable material of worth taken away and
the remnants of the hull and the last cargo loaded into it left to be
scattered by the waves or swallowed up by the waters of Superior ...
of the cargo Capt. Reid says he saw little. The flour was still in the
hold, also an amount of canned goods .... The hull was practically all
broken up and all that remains in place now is the bottom,
underwater.

The crew of SALVOR reported MONARCH'S engines were set about half speed
(Duluth News Tribune Oct. 1, 1908): "When the MONARCH struck she must have
been running alright as her engines indicated that she was open to about half
speed." This may, however, not have been the speed the vessel was running when
it struck. The Port Arthur Daily News (Dec. 11, 1906) reported that Capt. Robertson
called for "full speed astern" immediately after running aground, but Chief Engineer
Samuel Beatty, realizing the extent of hull damage, kept the engines ahead to hold
the steamer against the rocks. The decision probably saved those on board; the
engine telegraph was probably found in the position left by the engineer when he
abandoned his post.

The final disposition of MONARCH'S machinery is currently uncertain. It is known
that one of the salvage barges, BENNINGTON, sank soon after the completion of the
salvage of MONARCH while enroute to the Soo Locks, somewhere in the vicinity of
Whitefish Point. The Port Arthur Daily News (Oct. 6, 1908) reports the overturning of
the scow owned by Reid, and the loss of two lives. The barge was reportedly
loaded with derricks and other machinery and in tow of the schooner KELDERHOUSE
with the tug SALVOR in close proximity. Beeson's Marine Directory (1909:131)
reports the loss of the Reid Wrecking Company schooner BENNINGTON, 250 gross
tons, due to foundering. KELDERHOUSE was probably JOHN KELDERHOUSE, a 500
gross ton vessel built in 1857 (Mansfield 1899:1:844).

The newspaper report quoted earlier (Port Arthur Daily News Sept. 26, 1908) stated
the machinery was placed aboard KELDERHOUSE. There is some speculation that it
was in fact aboard the schooner BENNINGTON when it was lost while enroute to the
Soo.

It may have been the case that some of MONARCH'S machinery was lost. It is
known that the triple-expansion engine itself was not lost when the salvage vessel
sank. The engine was not placed aboard another vessel, as was a frequent Great
Lakes practice. MONARCH'S engine was taken to Reid's Port Huron salvage yard
where it sat until 1913, when it was finally broken up for scrap. "It was necessary
to use dynamite to break up the machinery and for several days the town echoed to
the rumbles of the explosions" (Detroit Free Press Dec. 4, 1913).

Research into the activities of the Reid Wrecking Company in their salvage efforts
would contribute to the understanding of wooden wreck formation processes in the
Great Lakes. It would be quite helpful to know what impact the salvage activities of
Reid Wrecking Company had on the site. Many questions were raised when the
distribution of the structural elements of the vessel was examined; e.g., are their
current positions the result of natural impacts such as wave activity and ice
shelving and reflect the process of normal wreck formation (the breakup of the hull

115

on points of weakness, such as along the bilge) or is it the result of breaking apart
the stern with tugs to ease removal of machinery?

More recent salvage activity of sport divers visiting the wreck has removed some of
the material Reid missed. The capstan was brought up in the 1960s and is now on
display at Isle Royale National Park. Other artifacts from MONARCH have been
recovered and returned to the Park, such as the ship's wheel, lamps, china and some
pieces of tea service.

116

Fig. 4.7. Passenger/package freight vessel MONARCH. An early photograph of the
ship before alterations. The iron hull support arch is visible above the gangways.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

£0v&M^

Fig. 4.8. MONARCH after alterations that included the addition of cabins aft of the
pilot house. The vessel had this configuration when lost. U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

117

Fig. 4.9. Bow of MONARCH on the rocks at Isle Royale after the wreck. This photo
may have been taken the following spring. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.10. Bow of MONARCH, offshore view. This photograph was reversed when
published in the contemporary press. This view is correct. U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

118

GLENLYON: HISTORY

Construction

GLENLYON was built as WILLIAM H. GRATWICK in 1893 at West Bay City, Michigan
by F.W. Wheeler & Company. The original U.S. registry number was 81427. Prior to
1893, Wheeler-built vessels carried engines built by one of two Detroit engine
companies, S.F. Hodge & Company or the Frontier Iron Works. Wheeler later
expanded its operations to include engine construction, and its own new engine
works were put in operation in the latter part of 1892. The foreman of the new
Wheeler facility was William Willis, formerly of the Hodge Company. Willis
supervised the placement of the first Wheeler-built engine in hull 93. WILLIAM H.
GRATWICK had the distinction of carrying their first engine (Wright 1969:124). The
triple-expansion engine had cylinder diameters of 20, 32 and 54 inches on a 42-inch
stroke, with an indicated horsepower of 1200. The original cylindrical Scotch
boilers, 12 feet x 13 feet, were built by the Wickes Brothers Boiler Works of
Saginaw, Michigan.

GRATWICK was built to serve as a package freighter for John Mitchell & Company of
Cleveland. The hull was of steel with a length of 328 feet, a beam of 42.5 feet and
a depth of 20.5 feet. Gross tonnage of the vessel was 2,818.27 and the net was
2,202.90. In the builder's certification of March 13, 1893, GRATWICK was described
as a screw steamer with two decks, three masts, plain head, and round stern.
GRATWICK was launched Saturday afternoon, February 4, 1893 (Port Huron Times
Feb. 6, 1893).

This was the fourth vessel to carry the name WILLIAM H. GRATWICK. Others were a
steam tug built in 1882 in Buffalo; the 475-ton (1880) propeller later renamed JOHN
C. PRINGLE; and a 1687-ton wooden vessel built in West Bay City in 1887. All three
earlier vessels were in commission at the same time that GLENLYON was
constructed (Mansfield 1899:1:832). The fourth vessel was the first GRATWICK to be
made of steel. When constructed, the steel GRATWICK was notable because of its
large size (Lake Carriers' Association 1924:118-119).

The first owner of WILLIAM H. GRATWICK was the Mitchell Steamship Company of
Cleveland (Doc, of Enrollment April 15, 1893, Huron, Ohio). The president of the
company was Capt. John Mitchell, a prominent businessman, who was born in
Canada in 1850.

Apparently, the Mitchell Steamship Company was a personal entrepreneurial concern
for Mitchell, who was also a member of the board of directors of the Hopkins
Steamship Company when GRATWICK was built. F.W. Wheeler, whose company built
the boat, was vice president of the same company. In 1894 Mitchell became vice
president of the newly formed Gratwick Steamship Company. In 1895, Capt. Mitchell
was made secretary and general manager of the Etna Steamship Company of which
William H. Gratwick was president (Mansfield 1899:2:435).

119

Operational History

A change of ownership is recorded for GRATWICK in 1899. In October, the
documents list the new owner as the Drake-Maythem Steamship Company of
Mentor, Ohio (Duluth News Tribune Sept. 16, 1899; Doc, of Enrollment Oct. 16, 1899,
Cleveland). This company retained ownership until 1902 when the ship was sold to
the United States Transportation Company of Syracuse, New York (Doc, of
Enrollment Oct. 14, 1902, Oswego).

GRATWICK was sold again in 1907 when the Prindville Transportation Company of
Michigan City, Indiana became the owner (Doc, of Enrollment Nov. 29, 1907,
Chicago). While owned by the Michigan City firm, GRATWICK was chartered by the
Graham and Morton Transportation Company of St. Joseph, Michigan. The G&M
Line operated ships in the fruit and passenger service from lower Michigan ports to
Chicago but ran to Lake Superior ports for a few seasons (Detroit Marine Historian
1951, Vol. 4, No. 10:3). If GRATWICK carried the G&M colors at this time, she had a
dark green hull and a black stack during this period.

The vessel was reboilered while under Prindville ownership in 1908. The
Wickes-built boilers were replaced with 13 feet 9 inches by 11 feet 6 inches Scotch
boilers built by the American Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland.

The Chicago and Duluth Transportation Company of Michigan City purchased
GRATWICK in 1910 (Doc, of Enrollment April 8, 1910, Chicago). While owned by this
company, GRATWICK was noted for receiving the first load of iron ore taken from
the Cuyuna Range in Minnesota. In May 1911, GRATWICK loaded 4,000 tons of ore
at the Soo Line's newly constructed St. Louis Ore Dock on St. Louis Bay in Superior,
Wisconsin, and headed east (Duluth Tribune May 22, 1911). It is not clear, however,
that this is the same GRATWICK associated with Isle Royale.

In August 1911, the company changed GRATWICK's name to MINNEKAHTA (Doc, of
Enrollment Aug. 23, 1911, Chicago). Apparently, the company converted both
MINNEKAHTA and MINNETONKA, ex-ALVA, into passenger/package boats (Lake
Carrier's Association 1924:119).

A "Coasting and Foreign Trade" document was issued in Chicago for the vessel in
February, 1913. MINNEKAHTA was sold to the Lake Michigan Steamship Company of
Gary, Indiana in September 1913 (Doc, of Enrollment Sept. 23, 1913). This company
owned MINNEKAHTA for less than a year before reselling it. The ship's documents
were surrendered in April 1914 when she was "sold foreign" to the Great Lakes
Transportation Company, Ltd. of Midland, Ontario, who returned the ship to the grain
and coal trades. MINNEKAHTA received Canadian registry number 126,660.

Four years later, the ship was overhauled at the Midland Shipbuilding Company, and
renamed GLENLYON. Among the alterations were a steel deck house with
accommodations for the master and mate added forward, another steel deck house
built aft, and some minor repairs were made to the hull (Canadian Railway and
Marine World 1918:126). At this time the ship had a light blue-gray hull, white
cabins and a rose-red stack with a black top (Williams 1956:255). At the time,
GLENLYON was one of a dozen vessels owned by this company, all the names of
which began with "GLEN." (e.g. GLENFINNAN; GLENLEDIE).

GLENLYON had a rather unusual operational history. During the course of its
serviceable life, the ship participated in the package freight trade, the

120

passenger-package freight trade and the bulk grain trade in two countries. Few
ships were involved in all the major trades of the Great Lakes.

GLENLYON was slightly damaged in an incident that occurred in August of 1920.
While entering Sarnia, GLENLYON was diverted from its course by the schooner
HATTIE HUTT and a sand sucker working at the port. GLENLYON lost steerage and
struck the Grand Trunk Railway freight sheds causing $5,000 worth of damage
(Canadian Railway and Marine World 1920:463).

Wreck Event

The last navigation season for GLENLYON was 1924. On the last trip, the boat left
Ft William, Ontario on Thursday, October 30 downbound to Port Colborne (Port
Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 1, 1924) with a cargo of 145,000 bushels of wheat (Port
Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 3, 1924). (The Superior Evening Telegram Nov. 1, 1924
reported 245,000 bushels; the Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 4, 1924 reported
318,000 bushels.) The last 3 or 4 weeks of the season were very stormy and foggy
with gales and snowstorms. Ships in many ports were delayed while seeking
shelter from winds and seas (Canadian Railway and Marine World 1925:642).
GLENLYON was one of the vessels delayed. The boat cleared feet William Thursday
night only to remain at anchor in the shelter of the Welcome Islands all of Friday,
October 31 (Superior Evening Telegram Nov. 4, 1924) while a northeast gale raged
(Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 1, 1924). The captain was William Taylor, it was
his first season as master of GLENLYON. The chief engineer was Edward Hurl (Great
Lakes Redbook 1924:72).

The weather lessened somewhat by Friday afternoon and Capt. Taylor resumed the
voyage. The weather worsened, and the wind shifted to the north, then to the
southwest, soon reaching a heavy gale (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 1, 1924).
Shortly after clearing Passage Island, the course was altered to run down the south
shore of Isle Royale to Siskiwit Bay to seek shelter from the storm (Canadian
Railway and Marine World 1924:642). The storm of Friday night and Saturday would
be labeled by mariners as one of the worst encountered in years. "Whitefish Light,
which stands up some 60 feet out of the water, was deluged by the breaking waves,
running mountains high" (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov 3, 1924). John Collins,
wireless operator off G.J. GRAMMER, a vessel crossing Lake Superior Friday and
Saturday, made the following comments:

Rough, I should say it was rough. The waves in Lake Superior on
Friday last were mountains high. We had to ballast the boat with
water to keep her on some sort of even keel. After a short lull Friday
afternoon the wind at midnight reached the hurricane velocity of
nearly 60 miles per hour. It came from the southeast to southwest.
Our boat was tossing about like a cockle shell. Many of the crew had
never been through such an experience before. I never want to go
through it again (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 4, 1924).

At about LOO a.m. on November 1, (Houghton Mining Gazette Nov. 2, 1924)
GLENLYON reached the entrance of Siskiwit Bay. While entering, the vessel ran hard
aground on a submerged reef off Menagerie Island.

The first reports of the disaster were received by wireless in time to be carried in
the November 1, 1924, edition of the Port Arthur News Chronicle. The account of
the wreck that follows is taken from that source, except where otherwise noted.

121

Siskiwit Bay was a known sanctuary from gales for ships in the area, and the
entrance channel was not considered dangerous. The crew expected nothing out of
the ordinary. "The off watch were asleep in their berths when the grinding,
crumbling, grating of ship's keel awakened them" (page 1). Roger Paige,
GLENLYON's wireless operator, was on watch at his key and immediately sent a
distress message giving the ship's position. The message was received aboard
running mates GLENSANNOX and GLEN LINN IE, who rushed to their stricken mate's
aid (reported as GLENSANNOX and GLENFINNIE in Detroit Free Press Nov. 2, 1924).
The vessels stood off in the lee of Isle Royale throughout the early hours of the
morning.

As soon as GLENLYON struck the submerged reef, all crew members were ordered
to their watch stations and the pumps were manned. The pumps were later
abandoned, and the captain scuttled the ship to secure it to the reef (Canadian
Railway and Marine World Dec. 1924). (It is is interesting to note that the captain
scuttled the vessel to secure it but did not drop the anchors — they were found still
shipped during the site investigations of 1982-84.) During the night GLENLYON
communicated with the government wireless station at Port Arthur. John Bell, agent
for the Great Lakes Transportation Company, was notified and dispatched the
salvage tug STRATHMORE to the scene at 6:00 that morning. Agent Bell and
Strathmore were familiar with shipwrecks at Isle Royale — they were both involved in
the events of the wreck of MONARCH in 1906.

Shortly after the wreck, two men set out in one of the ship's open lifeboats
(referred to as a yawl in some reports). Mate John McLaughlin (reported as Daniel
Mclaughlin, Daily Mining Gazette Nov. 4, 1924 and as Donald in Superior Evening
Telegram Nov. 3, 1924) and Watchman (or wheelsman as reported in Detroit Free
Press Nov. 2, 1924) Wilfred Roy were soon missing and were presumed lost in the
first reports to reach Port Arthur. A search for the two men was begun.

It is not known why these two men left the ship. The reasons for their departure
has been the subject of some speculation. One source (Wolff 1979:127) stated they
launched the lifeboat to seek help. This is unlikely when one considers that the
vessel had been in wireless communication with Port Arthur and a lifeboat would be
quite unmanageable in the heavy seas, especially with only two men aboard.
Another account asserted the two crew members launched the boat in a panic
against the direct orders of the captain and were blown across the Lake to the
Apostle Islands (Stonehouse 1974:9). Neither statement is supportable as far as we
can determine. In his next edition the latter author said the two men lowered the
lifeboat in the confusion of stranding (Stonehouse 1977:51). Stonehouse may have
confused the account of three sailors from GLENLOCHIE, who were drowned when
their lifeboat was crushed against the side of their vessel after it was grounded in
Lake Ontario. These men launched the lifeboat against their captains orders (Detroit
Free Press Nov. 18, 1924). It seems most likely that the two men from GLENLYON
were sent overboard to carry out a damage inspection and were accidentally swept
away. No historical accounts have been located that shed any light on this event of
the wreck.

The U.S. Coast Guard was notified of GLENLYON's stranding. The Portage Lake Ship
Canal crew under the command of Capt. C.A. Tucker and the Eagle Harbor crew
commanded by Anthony Glaza responded. The Canal crew left for the site Saturday
morning about 11:30 only to return to port at midnight due to the heavy weather.
This crew was unable to make the 45 miles to the site in the face of "one of the
most severe storms in the history of the Lakes. Marine men estimated that the

122

wind attained a velocity of between 50 and 60 miles an hour" (Daily Mining Gazette
Nov. 4, 1924). Eight-foot waves were washing over the breakwater when the Coast
Guard vessel entered the Lake (Daily Mining Gazette Nov. 4, 1924).

The Eagle Harbor crew aboard the cutter COOK left Sault Ste. Marie about 10:45
a.m. The Lakes Division Office of the Coast Guard had received the message of the
stranding from Lt. Commander R.B. Hammes of the Navy, who had transmitted the
message by the steamer JAMES E. FERRIS, which had intercepted the original
distress signal (Detroit Free Press Nov. 2, 1924). At 11:45 a.m. the gaskets on the
manifold of COOK's engine had to be replaced. Repairs were completed by 4:00
p.m. The cutter locked through and proceeded up the St. Mary's River in a fresh
west-southwesterly breeze that was shifting to the north. At 6:15 p.m. the flywheel
on the main engine became loose due to a defective key. By this time the wind had
hauled to the northwest at gale force and there was a heavy sea running. The
captain turned his vessel back and anchored to make repairs.

In the incident report that was filed Capt. Glaza stated that it would add greatly if
their vessel was equipped with a wireless (this information taken from U.S. Coast
Guard report from Commander of Cook to Commander, Lakes Division, November 3,
1924). Apparently, COOK did reach Isle Royale late on the evening of November 2
(Daily Mining Gazette Nov. 4, 1924).

At 10:30 a.m. Saturday the steam tug JAMES WHALEN and barges EMPIRE and
GREEN RIVER were dispatched to the site. By noon they had not reached the
Welcome Islands because of the heavy weather that impeded the progress of the
tug and its two tows. The Great Lakes Transportation Company indicated that it
would also send the barge STRATHBUOY to the wreck as soon as tug STRATHMORE
returned. The plan was to pump out and refloat GLENLYON after she had been
lightered of its cargo. The grain was to be removed by EMPIRE, which was
equipped with two clams, and then loaded onto GREEN RIVER.

STRATHMORE reached the wreck site about 1:00 Saturday afternoon. By 2:00 p.m.
Agent Bell was able to report that he had received radio communication from Capt.
Brown of GLENNLINNIE. Brown was able to pull alongside GLENLYON, remove the
crew and transfer them to GLENNSANNOX. It was also reported that the weather
had subsided and GLENLYON was in no immediate danger of breaking up.

At midnight the Canal Coast Guard crew arrived at Siskiwit Bay. A light was spotted
on shore and the crew investigated. They found McLaughlin and Roy, the two men
who had disappeared in a lifeboat. They had been washed ashore further up in
Siskiwit Bay (Daily Mining Gazette Nov. 4, 1924). An earlier account said the men
were picked up on the open Lake (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 3, 1924). It is
assumed the November 4 report is the accurate account. The two men were
transferred to GLENNSANNOX with the rest of the shipwrecked crew.
GLENNSSANOX soon left the site and headed east (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov.
3, 1924).

Salvage

The first reports received from the wreck were encouraging. The Port Arthur News
Chronicle of November 1 reported "that any immediate danger of the ship breaking
up had passed." Later the same newspaper (Nov. 3, 1924) was able to report that
"unless a disastrous southeast gale sets in the GLENLYON is in no immediate

123

danger. Although storm signals are now up for a westerly blow, such a gale will
have little effect on the wrecked steamer owing to her protected position."

Lightering operations were underway by the barges GREEN RIVER and EMPIRE. They
were interrupted for a time by an east wind. They had only managed to lighter
10,000 bushels before having to cease operations because of weather (Canadian
Railway and Marine World Dec. 1924:642). Agent Bell told the press of the
company's plans to bring GLENLYON to Port Arthur for drydocking to make repairs if
the lightering efforts were successful (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 3, 1924).

A report on the vessel's condition on the 3rd was radioed by Capt. Taylor: "On the
starboard side her decks have been pushed up some 20 inches. Actual damage to
her hull has not been determined" (Ibid.). The November 4 edition of the same
newspaper said the steam tug BUTTERFIELD had been visiting the wreck site and
was expected back at Port Arthur that afternoon.

By November 4 reports being received from the wreck were sounding more serious.
"The GLENLYON", a report said, "was in bad condition. Its hull is broken and its
engine room is taking water. It is believed the ship will be a total wreck" (Daily
Mining Gazette Nov. 4, 1924).

Lightering operations were resumed whenever weather allowed, but the entire fleet
of the Dominion Towing and Salvage returned to Port Arthur November 13. Heavy
southeast gales had plagued the operation and they were only able to lighter 75,000
bushels of the cargo. The wheat was transferred to the Richardson's Elevator. The
salvors reported that GLENLYON had broken in two and settled on the shoal. It was
thought that the insurance company would call for tenders for the wrecking of the
steamer since all efforts to remove the boat had been unsuccessful (Port Arthur
News Chronicle Nov. 13, 1924).

The Great Lakes Transportation Company called in the well-known Reid Wrecking
Company to ascertain whether it was possible to raise the wreck (Canadian Railway
and Marine World Dec. 1924). Captain Reid visited the site to assess the possibility
of saving GLENLYON.

The reports on GLENLYON that were made public later in November dispelled any

remaining hope for refloating the wreck.

The freighter GLENLYON ... will probably be abandoned as a total loss
by the underwriters. This statement was made jointly by John Smith,
General Manager of the Port Arthur Shipbuilding Company, and
Captain Thomas Reid, of the Reid Wrecking Company of Port Huron,
following a trip to the scene of the wreck early this morning.
Disagreement between the tendering wrecking companies and the
underwriters is given (as the reason) for abandonment.

It is believed the underwriters were willing to award a contract
to the Reid Wrecking Company, but the delay of two weeks has
altered the position of the vessel and the company is not ready to
undertake the hazardous task at this season of the year. Mr. Smith,
who with Captain Reid, returned from the wreck at 3:00 this afternoon,
told the News Chronicle that the GLENLYON appeared to have settled
considerably since last week. The vessel has also twisted and the
stanchions are forcing the deck plates. The crack, however, had not
widened any further, although the aft section has been working. The

124

GLENLYON is in a more difficult position for re-floating than at any
time since she went on the shoals.

The question of refloating appears to be now up to a decision
from the wrecking company and indications late this afternoon were
to the effect that the Company was not over anxious to tackle the job
(Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 20, 1924).

The Reid Company did not tackle the salvage job. On November 21 the
announcement was made that the wrecking companies had abandoned GLENLYON
as impossible to refloat. The vessel had settled another 18 inches and swung to
port. The tank tops were also gone (Port Arthur News Chronicle Nov. 21, 1924).
The Port Arthur Shipbuilding Co. was disappointed by the news. It was expected
that repair of GLENLYON would provide work for a large force of men.

The wreck remained on the shoal through the winter. In mid-December wreckage
was reported washing up on the northwest coast of the Keweenaw Peninsula and
the Eagle Harbor Coast Guard responded. A thorough investigation was carried out
but no wreck was located. Captain Glaza said he believed the wreckage came from
GLENLYON. He went on to suggest that the vessel had been broken up in a
northeast storm the week before and wreckage had been driven ashore by a
nor'wester (Marquette Daily Mining Journal Dec. 16, 1924).

An April 30, 1924 report said GLENLYON had completely disappeared over the winter
(Canadian Railway and Marine World June 1925).

125

Jit*- r

Fig. 4.11. Later view of package freighter GLENLYON. Note freight elevators and
gangway hatch cranes. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum
Collection.

Fig. 4.12. Stern of GLENLYON. Both views are of the configuration of the ship when
lost. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

126

AMERICA: HISTORY

The passenger/package freight vessel AMERICA was more closely tied to the people
of Isle Royale than any of the other ships that remain in its waters. AMERICA was
tied also to those who lived along the Lake Superior north shore between
Duluth-Superior and Thunder Bay. Few Lakes vessels are recalled with more
genuine affection than the popular AMERICA. The popularity of this vessel was
renewed with the advent of scuba diving; AMERICA is by far the most dived
shipwreck at Isle Royale National Park.

Construction

AMERICA was Hull Number 127 for Detroit Dry Dock Company (Edward N. Middleton
notes, Canal Park Marine Museum Collection, Duluth). Events surrounding the launch
of the AMERICA'S hull on Saturday, April 2, 1898, were carried by the Detroit Free
Press (May 22, 1898):

Yesterday afternoon at 3:26 o'clock the steel passenger steamer
AMERICA was launched at the Wyandotte yards of the Detroit Dry
Dock Co. There were about 400 people present .... At exactly 3:17
the first click of the hammers was heard and in just nine minutes the
axmen had cut the ropes that held the big beams in place and the
boat slid gracefully off the ways .... She was christened "AMERICA" by
Mrs. E. C. Dunbar, wife of one of the owners.

The new boat, which was intended for the Lake Michigan
service between Michigan City and Chicago, was built on the same
general lines as the CITY OF ERIE, though much smaller (Detroit Free
Press April 3, 1898).

Less than a month later, after the new ship was completed at the Detroit Drydock
(about June 10) and began the daily run between Chicago and Michigan City (Detroit
Free Press May 22, 1898), Chicago marine men were expressing their satisfaction
with AMERICA and remarking on its speed of 15-17 miles an hour.

AMERICA'S first document of enrollment was a temporary one issued on June 13,
1898 in Detroit. This document listed E. C. Dunbar of Michigan City as 3/4 owner
and M. B. McMillan of Detroit as 1/4 owner. The master of record is Capt. M. F.
Morgan. A master must be assigned at the time of ship enrollment. In many cases
this master, as shown on the documents, is not actually the captain of the vessel,
but rather a representative of the company or individual who owns the vessel. In
this instance, Capt. M. F. Morgan was also the captain. The document shows
AMERICA was built by Detroit Dry Dock Company in 1898 at Wyandotte, Michigan.
United States registry number 107367 was given to AMERICA, which was classed as
a steel hull screw steamer. This document states the steamer had one deck, no
masts, plain head, and round stern, with registered dimensions of 164.6 feet in
length, 31.0 feet in breadth, and 11.0 feet in depth. The gross tonnage was
calculated to be 486.37 tons, consisting of 309.79 tons capacity under the tonnage
deck and 176.58 tons capacity of enclosures on the upper deck. AMERICA'S net
tonnage was 283.40 tons, allowing for deductions of 28.90 tons for crew quarters,
28.90 tons for master's cabin, 18.43 tons for anchor gear, and 155.64 tons for
propelling power (Temporary Certificate of Enrollment, No. 69, Port of Detroit, issued
June 13, 1898; Detroit Free Press (May 22, 1898).

The 1899 edition of Great Lakes Register (p. 7), issued in conjunction with Bureau
Veritas, gives similar information to that shown on AMERICA'S first two documents,
with some additions and differences noted: Michigan City, Michigan was shown as

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AMERICA'S home port. The construction materials were given as "Oak and Steel",
meaning steel hull and oak superstructure. In this register AMERICA'S dimensions
differed from the official documents with a length of 154.0 feet rather than 164.6
feet, a breadth of 27.0 feet rather than 31.0 feet, and depth of 13.0 feet rather than
11.0 feet. It is not clear why this discrepancy occurs other than, perhaps,
differences in the rules of measurement used by Bureau Veritas and the U.S.
Government. AMERICA was also shown as having three decks in Great Lakes
Register rather than one as shown on the documents.

AMERICA'S engine and boilers were listed as built in 1898 by Dry Dock Engine Works
of Detroit. It is a triple-expansion engine with cylinder diameters of 15, 24, and 38
inches and a stroke of 24 inches. The engine produced 700 indicated horsepower at
160 RPM. Steam for the engine came from two Scotch boilers, 10.0 feet in diameter
and 10 feet 2 inches long. The boilers had four furnaces with grate surface of 48
square feet, and heating surface of 2,242 square feet; working pressure was 125 psi.

The hull of AMERICA was lengthened in 1911 at the shipyard in West Superior,
Wisconsin. When work was complete, AMERICA was 18 feet longer with 12 added
staterooms for 50 additional passengers. The freight capacity was also increased by
about 100 tons. The beam of 31 feet and depth of 11 feet remained unchanged.
However, the new length was 182.6 feet and registered tonnages increased to 937
gross and 593 net tons (Doc. of Enrollment Sept. 9, 1911). The speed remained
unchanged, but handling and appearance were reported improved with the addition
of the 18-foot section .

Master of AMERICA was listed as E. C. Smith with Louis P. Hogstad of Duluth as the
owner's representative. The approximate number of crewmen required was listed for
the first time as 20 persons (Permanent Certificate of Enrollment, No. 79, Port of
Duluth, issued June 9, 1911). By the time of its sinking, AMERICA would be required
to carry 30 crew members.

Both the hull (HIR) and boiler inspection report (BIR) books for the AMERICA'S 1921
and 1928 inspections are in the collections of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers'
Canal Park Marine Museum in Duluth. These inspection reports add much to what is
known of details of machinery, equipment, as well as the Lakes passenger/package
practices during the period. A comparison between the two inspections gives an
indication of the revisions made to the vessel in the last years of operation.

In 1921 AMERICA was classed by the American Bureau of Shipping and it was noted
that the hull had been rebuilt in 1911 (1921 HIR:2-3). The number of staterooms
was listed as 51 with 43 "available for passengers only." Of the total, there were 40
double and 46 with single berths. The number of first-cabin passengers allowed
was set at 94 persons under the "100 percent clause" and 228 persons under the
"50 percent clause." The square footage of deck space for passengers was 2,666
square feet on the Saloon Deck, 1,420 on the boat and Texas deck, and 418 on the
Texas alone (lbid:8-9).

The number of persons allowed in the steward's and other departments not
connected with navigation was set at 12 (1921 HIR:12-13). This was reduced in
1928 to 8 with 5 required at all times (1928 HIR:12-13). In a handwritten note
regarding operation of AMERICA under Class (A) rules, it was added: "When
navigated more than 3 miles off shore during the interval between May 15th and
September 15th 322 passengers are allowed a total of 352 persons including crew"
(1921:12-13). These figures were reduced without comment in the 1928 season to

128

277 and 307, respectively (1928:12-13). The report gave the ship's hatches as "2
cargo hatches between decks" (HIR 1921:14-15).

The 1928 hull inspection, conducted while AMERICA was berthed at the Booth dock
in Duluth, Minnesota shows she was previously inspected on April 21, 1927. For the
1928 season, the last brief operational year, accommodations were for 42
staterooms providing 37 double berths, and 51 single berths for a total of 88. The
number of first-cabin passengers allowed was set at 94 under the "100 percent
clause", but increased to 277 persons under the "50 percent clause." When
AMERICA was not laden with freight, the main deck had 2,657 square feet of space
for passengers, the cabin deck had 3,739, and the boat deck 1,174 for a total of
7,570 square feet (1928 HIR:8-9).

Minimum crew requirements were specified as 1 licensed master and pilot, 1
licensed first-class pilot, 5 able seamen, 3 seamen, 11 certificated lifeboat men, 1
licensed chief engineer, 1 licensed first assistant engineer, 3 oilers, 3 firemen, and 4
watchmen. An added note stated, "Of the watchmen specified, 2 are main or deck
watchmen included in the deck department and 2 are cabin watchmen or deck patrol
and included in the stewards department" (Ibid: 1 0— 1 1). In all, the number of officers
and crew allowed was 30 and the total number of passengers allowed was 94.
Thus, the total number of persons allowed to be carried under Class (A) rules
equalled 124. An additional handwritten note referring to Class (A) stated, "When
running more than 3 miles off shore during the interval between May 15 and Sept.
15, both dates inclusive, 277 passengers are allowed making a total of 307 persons
including crew" (1928 BIR:13). One additional note was pencilled adjacent to the
latter saying simply "14 less than last year", but without further explanation.

The inspectors described AMERICA'S hull as having three decks; main deck, cabin
deck, and boat deck. It had 2 cargo hatches and 3 fuel hatches on the main deck
with wood covers for the cargo and metal for fuel. All hatch coamings and covers
were said to be in "good" condition. The steel hull was 1/4-inch thick with 4
water-tight cross bulkheads. The type of construction was described as "on angles
and channel stiffeners, plate lapped & riveted to frames and deck beams." There
were 5 "sluice gates" located at bulkheads in the hull for movement of bilge water
(1928 HIR:14-15). Listed as in "good" condition were the bulkheads, floor plates and
frames in the forward and after holds as well as under the engines, along with the
hull and frames in the bunkers, hull abaft transom, and "all other accessible parts of
hull." It was further noted that the main decking had been repaired since the vessel
was last inspected. Additionally, the vessel had permanent stairways from the main
to upper decks both forward and aft, and suitable ladders were to be found on each
side of the ship for escape to lifeboats with at least two avenues of escape
provided passengers from the ship's interior (1928 HIR:16-17).

Pilothouse equipment was also inspected, and it was recorded that AMERICA had
hand or manual steering gear with wire tiller ropes and no steering engine. All
were tested and found in good working condition. The auxiliary or emergency
steering gear was also found in good order and efficient for the task using tackle on
the tiller aft. Pilothouse communication with the engine room was through "wire
whistle pulls" and "electric signal speaking tube", presumably meaning an intercom
system. AMERICA had 1 compass, which was located in the pilothouse, in good
condition. No record of when it was last swung was located.

The "electric signal" between pilothouse and engine room was not noted in the 1921
inspection as it was in 1928, probably reflecting a modification during the

129

intervening years. The 1921 survey listed "bell pulls" as a means of communicating
with the engine room, which was not listed in 1928. This equipment may have been
removed or simply omitted in the 1928 inspection.

Regarding ground tackle, Inspector Sullivan noted AMERICA had 2 anchors of 2,100
and 1,900 pounds, each fitted with 60 fathoms of 1-15/16-inch chain. The anchor
windlass was steam powered and provided with a devil's claw to hold the anchor
chain (1928 HIR 18-19).

Among the miscellaneous equipment carried aboard AMERICA and noted by Sullivan
in his inspection were a hand lead and line for determining depths, a message case,
and two 10-gallon tanks of storm oil with proper distribution equipment carried in
the windlass room (1928 HIR:42-43).

Lifesaving apparatus was included in the inspection reports. The description within
the 1928 HIR is of the same equipment that was deployed during the wreck events.
AMERICA carried 5 metallic non-motor lifeboats, all built in 1898, with a combined
capacity of 93 persons or 936 cu. feet. There were also 6 life rafts carried aboard
AMERICA. All were of wood frame with metal cylinders. Total capacity of the 6
rafts was 83 persons (1928 HIR:36-39).

AMERICA carried cork life preservers: 307 for adults, 39 for children, and 12 for
lifeboats. Sixteen were condemned during inspection in April 1928, perhaps
explaining why the number of passengers allowed was reduced by 14 as noted
above. The ship also carried 2 ordinary ring life buoys and 2 "luminous ring life
buoys" (1928 HIR:40-41).

Apparently, Inspectors observed lifeboat drills as this note, which was appended to

the 1921 inspection, indicates:

Tested out life boats loaded to full capacity and lowered to water and
then lifted clear; boats in good condition. Ordered rail constructed
where No. 6 life boat was formerly carried.

The boiler inspections give specific detail on the machinery. All engine data were
the same in 1921 as listed in 1928; however, the cover of the 1921 inspection book
noted AMERICA'S boilers had been "rebuilt" in 1914 while later it stated clearly
"Repaired 1914" (1921 BIR cover; 10-11). All boiler data were the same in other
respects. The boiler was hydrostatically tested to 249 psi with allowable operating
pressure set at 166 psi (1921 BIR:12-13). New fusible plugs, with a heat number of
20, were installed in the boilers on April 19,1921 by Marine Iron and Ship Building
Works. A double-acting hand fire pump was located on the forward port side and
another on the after main deck. Both were tested and in good condition (1921
BIR:30-31). There was no notation made as to the number and kind of fire
extinguishers carried in the boiler spaces, if any (1921 BIR:34-35).

The boiler inspector noted in his record book that the engineering department
required 1 licensed chief engineer, 1 licensed first assistant engineer, 3 oilers, and 3
firemen. Thus a total of 8 persons were required to properly staff this department
(1928 BIR:2-6).

The boiler report recorded AMERICA was powered by a triple-expansion condensing
steam engine of an estimated 450 horsepower with cylinder diameters of 15, 24, and
38 inches and stroke of 2 feet (1928 BIR:8-9).

130

The boiler inspection showed 2 Scotch boilers built in 1898 at Detroit, Michigan by
Detroit Dry Dock & Engineering Works. The boilers were each 10-1/6 feet long
and 120 inches in diameter. There were made of rolled sheet steel of 0.875 inches
thickness and having a tensile strength of 60,000 psi. The boiler sheets were made
by Lukens Iron & Steel Works Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Boiler draft was
noted as forced rather than natural. Boiler plate was last drilled for inspection on
April 22, 1922 and found to be 0.875 inches thick (1928 BIR:12-13). The boilers were
of lap joint construction and triple riveted. Rivet holes were drilled, not punched, to
diameter of 1-7/16 inch. Rivet pitch on lap joints was 4-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches. The
boilers were given hydrostatic testing to 249 psi with allowable steam pressure of
166 psi. Each boiler had 4 circular furnaces in 3 sections. Furnace grates were
7/16-inch thick measuring 48 x 36 inches and totalling 4,800 square inches.
Adamson flues were used. They were 7 feet 9 inches in length and 36 inches in
diameter with a thickness of 7/16 inches. Each boiler had 188 tubes, each 7 feet 3
inches in length with a 2-1/2-inch diameter and thickness of 0.109 inches. There
were both steam and water connections between the two boilers. One main and
one cross steam pipe were installed and last inspected for thickness on April
23,1926 (1928 BIR:13-19).

Two spring-loaded safety valves were installed on the boilers and tested by the
inspector. The valves were manufactured by Scott Valve Manufacturing Company of
Detroit, Michigan. There were set to blow off at 166 psi. The valves were located
at a distance of 3 feet from the boilers. A set of steam gauges were located in the
engine and boiler rooms; 2 in the engine room and 2 in the boiler room. All steam
gauges were in "OK" condition and compared favorably with test gauges. Fusible
plugs of heat number 28 and manufactured by Marine Iron & Shipbuilding Co. of
Duluth, Minnesota were installed during the inspection (1928 BIR:24-25).

Also attached to the boiler was 1 bilge pump of 4-inch diameter and 8-inch stroke.
Four other syphonous bilge pumps of 4 inches diameter and 6-inch stroke were also
installed. One additional pump of the same size, but designated for fire, was also
connected to the boilers.

AMERICA had two lamp lockers or oil rooms, both metal lined. One was located in
the engine room beneath the dynamo and the other in the fore peak. Location of
the sprinkler system that was noted in the HIR was delineated in the BIR as being
on the main deck and the crew's dining room and in the kitchen or galley area. It
was fed by a 3/4-inch water line (1928 BIR:30-31). The boiler inspection also
showed AMERICA to have two electric lighting systems and no refrigeration unit.
Both the engine room and the fire or stokehold had two avenues of escape in case
of emergency.

Appended to the inspection report was a list of the number of square feet of deck
area for passengers on the following decks:

Deck No. 1 (Main Deck) 2,657 when not freight laden

Deck No. 2 (Saloon Deck) 3,739

Deck No. 3 (Boat Deck) 1,174

Total: 7,570

131

Operational History

Little historical documentation has been located for the first two seasons of
America's operation, other than the ship was periodically chartered for special
cruises and to augment the vessels of other lines. One of the early charters was to
the International Navigation Co. of New York to run between Buffalo and Niagara
Falls (Benton Harbor Daily Palladium March 12, 1901; Holland City News March 15,
1901).

AMERICA'S involvement with Isle Royale began in March 1902 when the Booth
Steamship Line purchased the new ship. Booth put AMERICA on "the Duluth Port
Arthur,and Isle Royale route" (Canadian Railway and Marine World March 1902:109).
Before heading up the Lakes, the ship was altered at Grand Haven where the cabin
capacity was "materially increased" (Duluth News Tribune March 18, 1902). The new
Booth Line steamer, due to arrive in Duluth April 15, was rated "one of the finest
and fastest freight and passenger boats available" (Ibid. April 5, 1902).

AMERICA was not in service long before being seriously damaged in a collision with
the south pier at the Duluth Ship Canal. "Her bow is bent double and stove in from
about 3 feet below the water line to the main deck" and the plates were torn
allowing the forward compartment to flood. The accident was attributed to "a good
rate of speed" and a crew unacquainted with the current in the canal. The ship was
drydocked for repairs (Duluth News Tribune May 5, 1902).

The competition must have been stiff in the excursion trade between Duluth and
Two Harbors. The excursions were heavily advertised and races between competing
vessels were not unknown. The Canadian steamer HURONIC lost a race down the
shore with AMERICA (Duluth Evening Herald May 29, 1903; June 26, 1903).

At the end of the 1903 season, the Isle Royale lightkeepers were returned to the
mainland aboard AMERICA, as they frequently were in the years that followed (Ibid.
Nov. 26, 1903). AMERICA often had the distinction of being the first passenger out
and the last to end the navigation season (e.g. Duluth Evening Herald April 20, 1914;
Duluth News Tribune April 24, 1918)

In July 1904, the steamer HOLMES' anchor destroyed 5 staterooms along the boat
deck of AMERICA (Duluth News Tribune July 19, 1904). HOLMES was not equipped
with anchor pockets. The cabin repair was done by carpenters who worked while
AMERICA proceeded on its regular trips (Ibid. July 22, 1904).

In November, 1905 AMERICA was bound from Two Harbors to Duluth during one of
the most severe storms ever to hit Lake Superior. The devastating storm of
November 27-29, which became known as the "Mataafa Storm", was responsible for
30 casualties on the Lake, the largest from a single storm in Lake Superior history.
Casualties from this one storm account for 1 percent of all recorded casualties on
Lake Superior (T.R. Holden collection, Lake Superior shipwreck notes). The crew of
AMERICA saw MATAAFA, the shipwreck for which the storm was named, during the
storm (Duluth News Tribune July 23, 1944).

For most of AMERICA'S career it served as a prime communication and
transportation link between the Lake Superior north shore settlements and between
the mainland and Isle Royale. Passengers and freight were connected to the main
economic outlet of the port of Duluth, and this trade was the commercial mainstay
of AMERICA'S operation. In the early period of AMERICA'S operation the north shore

132

roads were poor (e.g. Duluth Evening Herald April 22, 1907). AMERICA was also a
principal summer mail carrier alternating with a stage line that carried during the
winter (Duluth Evening Herald April 30, 1913). Over the course of the last two
decades of AMERICA'S operation, land transportation along the north shore improved
markedly, cutting sharply into the steamer's prime role in communications and
transportation. A road was completed around Lake Superior in 1921 (Duluth News
Tribune May 1, 1921). During the later years AMERICA expanded operations in the
excursion trade, although it never left the north shore-Isle Royale run.

In the 1908 season AMERICA served as much more than a communication and
transportation link for the smaller ports. Early in September forest fires threatened
many areas, "Grand Marais is in great danger of being burned and no avenue of
escape — forest fires raging within a mile of town and fate of the place is in doubt"
(Duluth Evening Herald Sept. 8, 1908). It was not only Grand Marais, but a large
portion of the north shore with fires at Knife River and at Split Rock, at Chicago Bay
(Hovaland) and Grand [Portage just east of the Susie Islands. "Everywhere on the
north shore the flames are slowly crawling through the forests, eating up miles of
timber lands and making life a terror for the scattered settlers" (Ibid. September 10,
1908). Fires were also seen on Isle Royale (Port Arthur Daily News Sept. 12, 1908).

The threatened settlers who had escaped the fires congregated on the shore line.
Household goods and belongings were piled on the docks. There was little hope of
escape except by water. AMERICA picked up many of those escaping the flames.
The governor of Minnesota sent AMERICA to Beaver Bay to rescue 300 villagers
threatened with destruction by the flames (Duluth News Tribune Sept. 12, 1908).
The steamer was the only source of news of the fate of the shore towns (Duluth
Evening Herald Sept. 12, 1908). The forest fires were not extinguished until
September 29 (Ibid. Sept. 29, 1908).

While AMERICA was rescuing villagers from the forest fires, its owner A. Booth and
Co. failed and was placed in receivership (New York Times Sept. 11, 1908). The
fishermen who depended on the company and their vessels for their livelihood were
alarmed (Duluth Evening Herald Sept. 12, 1908), but the company managed to keep
its vessels operating (Ibid. Sept. 21, 1908).

In 1909 the old company was dissolved and a new enterprise named Booth Fisheries
Company of Delaware was formed, that took over the operations (Duluth Evening
Herald June 3, 1909). AMERICA had not been affected and was continuing on
schedule. A month later Fourth of July celebrations were celebrated at Isle Royale
(Ibid. July 10, 1908). The managing agent of AMERICA was changed in 1914 to the
United States 8t Dominion Transportation Co., a company formed by the Booth
Fisheries Co. (Duluth Evening Herald April 22, 1914). Ownership of the vessel was
unchanged.

"The steamer AMERICA ran aground at Burlington Point on the north shore about 6
o'clock this morning. She released herself after about an hour, arriving in port
about 11 o'clock. Her forefoot was slightly damaged" (Duluth Evening Herald July 9,
1909). "... her bow post and several plates are badly broken and twisted. She will
be in dry dock several days" (Duluth News Tribune July 19, 1909). "It was found
necessary to put in a new stem and replace about 40 feet of her keel. Twelve new
plates are being put in which were bent or broken in the accident and seven frames
(Ibid. July 14, 1909).

In 1910 AMERICA had wireless installed (Duluth Evening Herald August 1, 1910).

133

The start of AMERICA'S 1911 season was delayed while the hull lengthening was
completed (Duluth News Tribune May 9, 1911). Eighteen feet of length and 12
cabins had been added. The steamer could carry 100 tons more freight as a result
of the new alterations. It was announced that the steamer would make three trips a
week between Duluth and Port Arthur, and Isle Royale.

One of the popular Isle Royale resorts that AMERICA frequented was Schofield's
Lodge on Belle Isle. It was a popular excursion, and the resort catered to vacation
clientele (Duluth Evening Herald June 17, 1912).

The sinking of TITANIC, the largest vessel afloat, in the Atlantic in April led to the
documentation of AMERICA'S passenger, crew and lifesaving capacities that might
not have otherwise been recorded. TITANIC, with over 2,000 passengers aboard
carried only lifeboat capacity for 1,178, and as a consequence an estimated 1500
people lost their lives. The disaster prompted newspaper investigation into Great
Lakes practice, of which AMERICA was used as an example:

"Passenger boats on the Great Lakes do not pretend to carry boats
and rafts to accommodate all the passengers on board in case of an
accident," said a marine man this morning. After the investigation
now going on as the result of the TITANIC disaster, they will probably
be forced to either cut down the number of passengers or increase
the number of boats and rafts.

But few passenger boats are inspected at the port of Duluth.
Only the boats of the Booth line, excursion steamers, and ferry boats
are inspected at this end of the Lakes.

The steamer AMERICA, for an instance, is allowed to carry 450
passengers, but has room for but 108 people in the life boats and on
the rafts. She complies with the law in every respect.

The law states that she be required to have 1,080 cu. feet of
carry capacity. This she is doing, but ... this gives room to but about
108 people.

The AMERICA carries a crew of 25. She is allowed 450
passengers. There are life preservers to the number of 478 on the
boat, one for each one aboard and three over. She has five life boats
and two rafts, making up the amount of cubic carrying space required
by law.

The law regarding the carrying of life boats and rafts, is
claimed to be lax. All the boats live up to the law, but ... the law is
not stringent enough in insisting that sufficient boats and rafts be
carried (Duluth Evening Herald April 20, 1912).

AMERICA was severely damaged when it ran aground a mile northeast of Two
Harbors, Minnesota in early May 1914. It was positioned about 100 feet from
GENERAL O.M. POE. Five years earlier the two ships had been aground together in
virtually the same spot (Duluth News Tribune May 6, 1914). AMERICA was
positioned broadside to the waves and was punctured below the boilers (Ibid. May 7,
1914). The stranded vessel was lightered and freed on the night of May 7.
Necessary repairs were described as "nine plates will be removed and straightened
... and about five feet of her keel will be relaid. The hull was quite badly damaged
beneath her engines" (Ibid. May 12, 1914).

The reinspection of AMERICA in 1921 by the Steamboat Inspection Service resulted
in the issuance of a "Certificate Amending Certificate of Inspection By Changing

134

Character of Vessel, Route, Equipment, Etc." The vessel would now operate under
Class B rules that limited it to navigation of not more than 3 miles off shore. It was
allowed to carry 146 passengers or a total of 176 including crew (Certificate dated
September 19, 1921 issued at Duluth, copy in Canal Park Marine Museum Collection).

In 1925, the steamer BRUCE took over AMERICA'S operation on the south shore.
AMERICA would make three trips weekly to Isle Royale and Port Arthur (Duluth News
Tribune April 25, 1925). Later that year, AMERICA ran aground at Scott's Point, near
Grand Marais and damaged the rudder shoe and stern bearing (Duluth News Tribune
May 30, 31, 1925).

A collision between AMERICA and HURONIC occurred in 1926. The vessels were
maneuvering in dense fog near the entrance to the Kaministiquia River. Captain
Smith was at the wheel of AMERICA when he saw HURONIC loom up out of the
fog. He quickly turned the wheel and his ship received a glancing blow and slight
damage rather than the full brunt of the impact of the other larger steamer (Port
Arthur News Chronicle Sept. 13, 1926; Duluth News Tribune Sept. 14, 1926).

In mid-summer of 1927 AMERICA was involved in a bizarre series of events at
Thunder Bay Harbor. On Thursday, July 21,1927, AMERICA was headed toward the
Booth dock in Port Arthur when a mix-up in the engine room caused it to ram the
tug VIOLET G berthed at the Booth dock, shearing off 15 feet of the tug's stern and
tearing away some 20 feet of the dock. There were three crewmen aboard the
VIOLET G at the time; they escaped uninjured. Moments later, AMERICA was
aground on the rocks at the head of the dock, requiring assistance to be released.
Then it collided with, and nearly capsized, the tug CON LYNCH that had just freed
it. During all this, a lighthouse keeper's gas launch was also slightly damaged.
AMERICA was reported to be carrying "passengers and a cargo of fruit and package
freight" at the time (Detroit Free Press July 23, 1927).

During the last winter of its operation, AMERICA steamed to Port Arthur during a

severe December storm:

The steamer AMERICA arrived in port this afternoon from Duluth. She
was completely ice-coated. Aboard was a cargo of salt for the
Booth Fisheries Canadian company. The vessel is taking back

salted herring" (Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 3, 1927).

This would have put AMERICA on its return voyage to Duluth in the same storm that
halted KAMLOOPS, QUEDOC, WINNIPEG, and other vessels on their upbound journeys
from the Sault toward the Canadian Lakehead.

Wreck Event

AMERICA'S 1928 season began as many before it. There were no signs at all that
this would be AMERICA'S final season. AMERICA last steamed out of the Duluth
Ship Canal on Wednesday, June 6, 1928, headed up the north shore and expected to
touch at all the usual ports of call. From Grand Marais it headed toward Isle Royale
to drop off a number of passengers in the darkness of early morning so they would
not have to wait out the trip to Port Arthur and around the northeast tip of the
island, before landing at their Washington Harbor destinations the following day
(Duluth News Tribune June 7, 1928; Superior Evening Telegram June 7, 1928;
Holden interview with Capt. Stanley Sivertson, Duluth, Minn, in 1973 and with James
R. Marshall, Pike Lake, Minn, in Oct. 1974, 1986).

135

The Great Lakes Red Book for 1928 listed AMERICA'S officers as Capt. Edward C.
Smith and Chief Engineer Frank McMillan. Edward C. Smith is also listed as master
of AMERICA in a special certificate related to AMERICA'S carrying of petroleum
(Steamboat Inspection Service, Dept. of Commerce. "Certificate Relative to Carrying
Refined Petroleum On Routes Where There Is No Other Practicable Mode Of
Transporting It, issued on April 21, 1928 at Duluth, Minn.)

Soon after clearing the dock in Washington Harbor, Capt. Smith turned command of
AMERICA over to First Mate John Wick, with Fred Nelson at the wheel, and retired to
his cabin behind the bridge. Five minutes later AMERICA thudded over a reef,
bumping four times and tearing a small hole through its single bottom below the
engine room on the starboard side. Mate John Wick was a new mate on AMERICA,
having served previously as mate under Capt. Gus Ege on JACK of the Minnesota
Atlantic Transit Co., popularly known as the "Poker Fleet." Wick quit MATCo because
Capt. Ege would not recommend him for his own ship in the fleet (Ken Hafner
interview with Capt. Duncan Schubert at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. ca. 1977, copy in
Holden Collection).

At first it seemed as though AMERICA'S pumps could handle the inrushing water, but
Chief Engineer Frank McMillan quickly reassessed the situation — AMERICA was
going to sink. Meanwhile Capt. Smith returned to the bridge where he found Mate
Wick ringing the ship's bell to alert all aboard of the disaster. Moments later Capt.
Smith yelled, "Beach her! Beach her!" (Holden interviews with Marshall 1974, 1986).

Capt. Smith remembered a small gravel beach nearby in the North Gap of
Washington Harbor. It would be a good place to try to nose AMERICA ashore
before she foundered in deep water. He ordered Fred Nelson to swing the wheel to
point AMERICA directly toward the beach. Then another thud and AMERICA ground
to a halt about 30 yards short of the beach that probably would have assured its
imminent salvage, subsequent repair, and return to service.

Below deck in the engine room, Engineer McMillan ordered his crew to relieve boiler
pressure and grease down everything in sight so AMERICA'S power plant could be
made readily functional when salvage work was completed. Water already had
snuffed fireman Hans Fjorne's boiler fires (Holden interviews with Marshall 1974,
1986.

The loss of the steamer AMERICA was covered in newspapers and journals ranging
from the American and Canadian Lakehead port cities to Chicago and New York
(Lake Carriers' Association, 1928 Annual Report: 51-52; Canadian Railway and Marine
World, ca. July 1928). First news of the wreck was carried over the wireless station
affiliated with Singer's resort on Washington Island and sent to Duluth (Port Arthur
News Chronicle June 7,8, 1928).

In an "extra" for the Calumet News of Calumet, Michigan was an Associated Press
wire story headlined "Steamer Sinks Near Isle Royale; All Hands Are Safe", the same
story carried by the New York Times (Calumet News June 7, 1928). This same
wire service article also appeared in the Superior Evening Telegram (June 7, 1928).

AMERICA was carrying 31 crew and 16 passengers at the time of the accident

(Duluth News Tribune June 9, 1928):

In all 10 passengers and at least 30 officers and crewmen were
aboard when AMERICA slipped away from the Singer Hotel dock at

136

Washington Island. Captain Smith officially reported 31 crewmen
aboard at the time of the accident. It is possible Louis P. Hogstad,
Manager of United States & Dominion Transportation Company, was
aboard at the time of the accident and considered by Capt. Smith as a
member of the crew (Record of Casualties to Vessels, U.S. Treasury
Department, p. 17, bound journal, copy in Canal Park Marine Museum
collection).

First reports at the Canadian Lakehead said AMERICA sank at 4:30 a.m., local time,
on June 7th after striking a "reef that split the hull." Word was first received in Port
Arthur from Booth Fisheries by S. H. Knauss of the Fitzsimmons Fruit Co. that had a
consignment of fruit was lost in the wreck. In describing the vessel's normal
occupation the newspaper stated that AMERICA engaged in:

... carrying fresh fruit and vegetables from produce housed in Duluth
to the Head of the Lakes, and on the East-bound trips called at
various fishing stations around Isle Royale. A large number of wealthy
Americans, with Summer homes at Isle Royale, used the steamer at
Week-ends (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 7, 1928).

A Chicago newspaper reported

Duluth, Minn., June 7 — An old well-known passenger steamer, The
AMERICA, was lying on the bottom of Lake Superior tonight under
seventeen fathoms of water .... Reports of the sinking and rescue
were still vague here early this evening. The only report so far came
from the ship's purser, who said that the vessel struck a reef near
Washington Harbor on Isle Royale at 3 a.m. and that the ship sank an
hour and a half later.

The steamer WINYAH was sent to take the rescued persons off
the island. When the AMERICA left here yesterday morning she
carried twenty passengers in addition to her crew of thirty (Chicago
Herald and Examiner June 8, 1928).

WINYAH was enroute from Duluth up the north shore and off Schroeder when its
crew was notified to proceed to Washington Island to pick up AMERICA'S survivors
(Duluth News Tribune June 8, 1928). WINYAH was in the fish and freight trade on
the north shore and owned by H. Christiansen and Sons of Duluth (Superior
Evening Telegraph June 8, 1928).

An amusing note pertaining to the importance of a fresh strawberry, at least as
viewed by the editors of the Fort William newspaper, was headlined, "Fruit Supply
For Lakehead Lost in Wreck:

Sinking of the steamer AMERICA off Isle Royale created a shortage of

strawberries and fresh vegetables in Fort William and Port Arthur

today. The Fitzsimmons Fruit company had ten tons of vegetables

and fresh fruit on the boat.

These products would have been here for distribution today

had the boat not gone down. However, it is reported that two trucks

left Duluth at 5 o'clock this morning with a fresh supply.

(Fort William Daily Times Journal June 8, 11, 1928).

More details of the wreck emerged in the press the day after the event:

In the most orderly manner, without any confusion whatsoever, 15
passengers and 30 members of the crew of the steamer AMERICA ...
launched five boats and made for shore early Thursday morning ...

137

according to the account of a member of the crew, Fred Nelson,
wheelsman, who arrived here last night (Duluth News Tribune June 8,
1928).

Wheelsman Fred Nelson gave a detailed report of the events:

We were out in Washington Harbor about a half mile from the dock
when the ship struck the reef .... This caused a loud noise which
awakened most of the crew and passengers. Those who were not up
when the crash occurred came on deck when the ships bells started
ringing. Members of the crew went to cabin doors telling passengers
and crew of the danger. The boat started sinking slowly. All five of
the ship's life boats were launched. Members of the crew were
assigned to take charge of these boats and everyone was taken off.
Captain Edward C. Smith left on the last boat just before the entire
ship was practically under water. There was no confusion while the
life boats were being lowered. Everyone behaved wonderfully and the
six women aboard, mostly members of the crew, were not a bit
excited over the crash as all saw there was no danger. All of the five
life boats reached Washington Harbor, a half mile from where the
AMERICA hit the reef, without any trouble" (Duluth News Tribune June
8, 1928).

Booth officials reported that John Wick, the first mate, was in charge of AMERICA at
the time of the disaster, having relieved Capt. Smith just five minutes before the
crash. These same officials were cautious about providing other particulars of the
incident, pending their discussion with Capt. Smith in Grand Marais the night of
June 8th (Duluth News Tribune June 8, 1928).

On the same day the Fort William press proclaimed the shortage of fruit in their
city, it also carried the following based upon a passenger's recounting of the event:
Heroism on the part of Capt. Edward C. Smith and coolness on the
part of crew and passengers stand out sharply in the accounts given
of the sinking of the steamer AMERICA ....

The veteran captain, with all the love a real tar feels for his
craft, stayed with the boat until she was ready to sink to the depths
of the Lake" (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 8, 1928).

Passenger H. S. Cottier said after arriving in Port Arthur:

There is nothing to be seen of the old AMERICA now except the top
of the mainmast and part of the pilot house sticking up out of the
water ....

I left Duluth along with fourteen or fifteen other passengers for
Port Arthur on Wednesday night .... We had an uneventful trip, and put
in to Washington Harbor to let off two passengers for Isle Royale.

I understand that Captain Smith does not care to put in to
Washington Harbor on the trip out of Duluth, but prefers to do so only
on the return trip from Port Arthur. However, this time, in the middle
of the night, he put in to Washington Harbor, and put his passengers
off all right. Then we started out for open water again. It had not yet
broken day, and we struck a reef just outside the harbor.

I was in bed and we got a fearful jar, and it woke me and
everybody else up. I don't think anyone was hurt. We all dressed,
and there were lots of boats to take us ashore. The ship began to
settle and all we had to do was to get into the boats .... There was

138

no panic whatever, and it was not until an hour later, when it was just
breaking day, that the good ship sank almost out of sight in the
waters of Lake Superior. It must have been shortly before four o'clock
this morning, I should judge ....

Captain Smith stayed on his ship until to do so any longer was
at the risk of his life. He saw everybody else ashore, sent all his crew
away, and stayed on board himself, and alone until the ship was ready
to sink. Then he, too, with evident reluctance, for he loved his ship,
was put ashore himself.

Captain Smith sent the purser ashore with the first news of the
disaster, and through the private telephone wire he got the news into
Duluth. The purser was taken to the mainland, and proceeded back to
Duluth, as did the captain later ....

We are all thankful ... to be alive and well today. I have lost
some clothes and a few personal belongings. There were two men
aboard who were going to Nipigon to fish the Nipigon river. They
were on their way up from Detroit and they had a truck in the hold of
the boat in which were their fishing tackle, rods, lines, and flies, and
$500 in cash. They lost it all and did not continue on, but have
returned to Duluth, and are now on their way to Detroit.

... The discipline was perfect .... There was complete order;
there was no need for the cry "women and children first" because we
had plenty of time. There was no real danger, and the passengers
were given the first and every possible consideration" (Fort William
Daily Times Journal June 8, 1928).

Identity of the two men from Detroit who had the truck with their fishing gear has
never been clarified because no one among the passengers listed was identified as
having come from Detroit (Duluth News Tribune June 9, 1928). An account years
later reported the truck as simply being shipped to the Canadian Lakehead for some
plasterers (Duluth News Tribune Oct. 17, 1967).

In a second account by Mr. Cottier, he said:

"The first we realized that there was anything amiss was when the
AMERICA struck and was shaken from stern to stem. Hurried
examinations were made by Mate Wick, and just a minute or so later
we were aroused and told to make ready to get into life boats. We
were told the boat was sinking. The boats were lowered and, without
confusion, we got into them. We were taken to Washington Harbor,
where Mr. Singer, proprietor of the resort there, made us comfortable.
Captain Smith sent one of the crew to the wireless station and a
message was sent to Duluth" (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 8,
1928).

Passengers expressed satisfaction with the way officers of AMERICA dealt with the

disaster, as the following indicates:

"I can tell you very little more than what has already appeared in the
press .... It was a most unusual experience, I can tell you that, and
there was no loss of life. I was particularly struck with the conduct of
Captain E. C. Smith, and the crew, and with the dispatch at which they
went about the task of getting ail people safely away from the sinking
vessel" (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 9, 1928).

139

Capt. D. T. Sullivan of the Steamboat Inspection Service announced in Duluth that an
investigation into AMERICA'S sinking would be conducted by his office (Houghton
Daily Mining Gazette June 6, 1928). Curiously, the Houghton newspaper failed to
carry any further news on AMERICA sinking through the end of June.

Capt. Edward C. Smith filed an official "Record of Casualties to Vessels" report on
June 12, 1928 after returning to Duluth (Record of Casualties to Vessels, U.S.
Treasury Department, 17, bound journal, copy in Holden Collection). It appears that
this volume is what could be termed "a blotter book", that is, a handwritten
facsimile of the original, single-page report which was forwarded to higher
authorities by the receiving officer. This copy was kept in the receiving office. A
synopsis of Capt. Smith's answers is given. The wreck occurred on June 7, 1928 at
2:47 am. The ship had sailed from Duluth June 6 and was bound for Port Arthur
with 10 passengers and 31 crew. The estimated value of the vessel was $100,000;
the 55-ton cargo of miscellaneous merchandise was valued at $10,000. The amount
of insurance on the hull was $60,000; disbursements was $40,000. The cargo was
uninsured. The cause of the wreck was "hit reef" and the vessel was stranded and
beached about 400 feet from where it hit.

The official investigative hearing held by Capt. Sullivan opened in Duluth on June
11 and concluded on June 12, 1928. Nine members of AMERICA'S crew including
the captain and chief engineer testified at the hearing, which was closed to the
public. Records of testimony were forwarded to the Marquette office of the
Steamboat Inspection Service where a determination of negligence or inattention to
duty was to be made (Duluth News Tribune June 13, 1928; Fort William Daily Times
Journal June 13, 1928; Port Arthur News Chronicle June 15, 1928).

While it has been believed that Mate Wick was censured for careless navigation
(Pomeroy, Dick. "Shallow, Cold, Watery Grave Still Holds Steamer AMERICA", Superior
Evening Telegram Oct. 25, 1983; Holden "Above and Below: Steamer AMERICA", THE
NOR'EASTER, Vol. 3, No. 4, July-August 1978: 2), records in the National Archives are
to the contrary, apparently exonerating all parties:

Summary records there [National Archives] indicate that the hearing
on the [AMERICA'S] sinking on June 7,1928 was held in Marquette,
Michigan, with the case being dismissed. The actual transcript of the
hearing is not available (Correspondence, Bruce C. Harding, Chief,
Archives Branch, Federal Archives and Records Center, Chicago, III. to
Holden Dec. 2, 1974).

The Fort William Daily Times Journal carried the most fitting eulogy for the
AMERICA to appear in any of the Lake Superior port city newspapers:

The unfortunate loss of the steamer AMERICA has, for a time at least,
removed from the run between Fort William and Duluth, a boat that
has served the public at the head of the Lakes in good stead for over
a quarter of a century.

While connection with Duluth has been maintained by the
passenger boats of the Canada Steamship Line, originally of the
Northern Navigation Company, it was the AMERICA which did the local,
routine work along the north shore, poking her nose into every little
harbor on the coast line and keeping communication between the
mainland and Isle Royale uninterrupted. While the HAMONIC was
sailing majestically from point to point, the AMERICA was serving all
the places enroute. She was like the local train which unloads its

140

freight at every unimportant siding, past which the stately express
train glides as if it never existed ....

So accustomed had she become to the run that it seems
almost strange that she could not find her way alone through any
passage along the north shore or Isle Royale .... The work done by
the AMERICA will have to be continued by some other boat, but it will
be hoped by all who have made use of the AMERICA and enjoyed her
picturesque trips, that she will be raised and sail the same route
again (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 9, 1928).

Salvage

Following the accident, there was an almost immediate expression of hope for

salvaging AMERICA. In Port Arthur it was reported:

... The owners of the AMERICA are preparing to send out a wrecking
outfit from Duluth. If possible the vessel will be raised and taken to
the Superior shipyard for repairs and reconditioning. In the meantime
efforts are being made to get another steamer, as in addition to the
freight the company handles between these two ports, a large number
of fishermen were accustomed to send in their catches to the Duluth
market by the AMERICA twice a week (Port Arthur News Chronicle
June 11, 1928).

In a brief editorial in the Fort William Daily Times Journal, it was noted that if the
spars and pilothouse were still visible, it should be possible to salvage AMERICA
(Fort William Daily Times Journal June 9, 1928).

Other press reports indicated little optimism concerning salvage as being expressed
by Booth Fisheries and the United States & Dominion Transportation Co.

Hopes of salvaging the vessel have been practically abandoned by
the United States & Dominion Transportation Company .... The ship
is to be replaced by a new vessel (Detroit Free Press June 10,
1928).

As the official investigation concluded, it was announced that bids were being
sought by AMERICA'S underwriters for salvage of the vessel (Fort William Daily
Times Journal June 13, 1928), but aspirations for complete salvage were mixed:
The underwriters interested in the loss of the steamer AMERICA of
the Booth Line have been seeking bids for the boat just as she lies,
on the rocks at Isle Royale. It is said that she probably is damaged
beyond chance of profit by releasing her and causing her to be
repaired. So, in any event, the boat may not bring more than
somebody can see profit in recovering the machinery and junking the
steel plates, etc. blankets, pillows, and other articles that have floated
out of the stranded boat (Sellings' Mining Review July 14, 1928).

Four parties were requested to submit salvage bids: Barnett and Record of Duluth
with a bid of $35,000; Reid Towing 8« Salvage Company of Sarnia and Port Huron
bidding $65,000; Merritt Chapman & Scott bidding $30,000 to $40,000; and Capt.
Cornelius O. Flynn whose bid was about $30,000, but definitely less than Merritt
Chapman & Scott. Reid Towing's bid was excessive because he did not have his
salvage floating plant on Lake Superior at the time. In fact his bid was not even
received until October 1928, affecting low bidder Flynn's ability to begin salvage that
year. Consequently, when Flynn did acquire salvage rights from the court in 1929,

141

he had not only a salvage job on the vessel, but also an extensive refurbishing job
due to ice and weather damage, as well as vandalism, before AMERICA could see
service again. The onset of the Great Depression also adversely affected Flynn's
salvage plans (Skillings' Mining Review July 14, 1928; Holden interview with Marshall
1986).

Capt. Cornelius O. Flynn of Duluth is believed to have been the first diver on the
wreck of AMERICA, apparently as owner's representative. He determined there was
a single hole in AMERICA'S hull on the starboard side. Captain Flynn hoped he could
raise AMERICA and place it back in service along the south shore, running between
Houghton-Hancock and Isle Royale, perhaps across to Port Arthur and Fort William
(Ibid).

Unauthorized salvage work on AMERICA began almost before its boilers cooled as

area fisherman found the vessel a new source of prosperity:

It is said that some of the fishermen's boys around the western end of
Isle Royale have displayed unbelievable skill at locating and floating
pails of candy and crates of fruit, using an iron hook on a long pole,
and operating from a small boat. There was $4,000 worth of fresh
fruit on the AMERICA when she went down (Skillings' Mining Review
July 14, 1928).

Isle Royale's resort operators could not long be without passenger service and
survive financially. Arrangements for alternative service to the island were
announced by Booth representative Hogstad on June 22, 1928:

Boat service between Duluth and Isle Royale ... will be resumed today
by an arrangement with the Northern Navigation Company ... to
operate a passenger steamer from Duluth to Port Arthur and Fort
William. From Port Arthur and Fort William a smaller steamer will be
used for transporting the passengers to Isle Royale (Duluth News
Tribune June 24, 1928).

AMERICA'S document of enrollment issued in March 1927 was surrendered at Duluth
on September 6, 1928 carrying the notation that it had last been renewed on March
22, 1928 and that the reason for surrender was "Vessel struck reef and sunk in Lake
Superior at North Gap, Isle Royale, Michigan on June 7, 1928, 48 persons on board,
No lives lost" (reverse of Permanent Certificate of Enrollment, No. 89, Port of Duluth,
issued March 22, 1927). This document showed no indication of any preferred
mortgage on AMERICA, that is, it was apparently owned outright by Booth Fisheries
Company of Delaware.

Booth's own aspirations for salvaging AMERICA seemed to have been rejected
outright by August 21, 1928 (Duluth News Tribune Aug. 23, 1928).

Underwriters settled with Booth Fisheries for AMERICA'S hull, but apparently not for
the cargo or the belongings of crewmen or passengers. Confusion and hard
feelings resulted all around since Booth Fisheries had been paid for their loss, but
those of the passengers and crew who lost personal property and those to whom
cargo had been consigned were not subsequently paid by Booth interests (Holden
interviews with Marshall 1974, 1986).

Some felt, and still feel, AMERICA was scuttled for the insurance since the north
shore highway had cut drastically into Booth's passenger and freight business.

142

AMERICA'S loss effectively put an end to Booth's Duluth operations although they
apparently ran the HOLLIS M, possibly in 1928, but at least part of 1929 and perhaps
longer (Holden interviews with Sivertsen 1973 and Marshall 1974, 1986).

The settlement dispute found its way into court. Captain Flynn went to court as
well to propose a settlement that would satisfy all parties. He proposed to
purchase AMERICA and its salvage rights from the court by paying a nominal court
fee and settling any outstanding claims against Booth or the vessel. Ultimately,
Flynn was successful in his bid. It was announced on September 12, 1929, more
than a year after the wreck, that Capt. Flynn had obtained ownership of AMERICA
(Canadian Railway and Marine World Oct. 1929:665; Duluth News Tribune Sept. 12,
1929). Marshall reports the actual date of transfer of ownership as July 29, 1929
(Holden interview with Marshall 1986).

When sunk, AMERICA was still protruding above the water; technically a stranding
rather than a foundering, since the wheelhouse and forward deck were left above
the surface. Ice damaged this portion over the winter of 1928-29, shearing off
those cabins. The following winter, 1929-30, AMERICA was further ice damaged, but
more importantly, was buoyed up sufficiently by the ice to be released from the
rock pinnacle atop which she rested. By spring of 1930, AMERICA had slipped
totally beneath the surface to 85 feet at the stern and 4 feet at the bow while
listing over on the port side.

Capt. Flynn visited the wreck a couple of times in the next few years and devised
ways of raising AMERICA, but was never able to secure the necessary capital for the
venture as the Great Depression descended on the Twin Ports and the nation. Flynn
and/or his son Paul visited the wreck in 1930, 1932, 1933, and 1935 (Holden
interview with Marshall 1986).

Capt. Flynn never did get the chance to make a real attempt to raise AMERICA. He
died in 1936 at the age of 81 having served the Port of Duluth for more than half a
century. In that time he had been master of the ELLA G. STONE, James J. Hill's
yacht WACOUTAK, Thomas F. Cole's yacht ELVINA, and R. G. STEWART among
others. He had also worked various salvage jobs including that on the NOQUE BAY
in the Apostle Islands (Duluth News Tribune April 3, 1936; Duluth Evening Herald
April 3, 1936; Mansfield 1899:2:483-84).

Capt. Flynn's plan for raising AMERICA did not die with him. His son, Paul J. Flynn,
also a hardhat salvage diver, purchased salvage rights to AMERICA from his father
before he died. Paul Flynn purchased the salvage rights with his business partner,
Alexander J. McDonnell. These two men also visited AMERICA several times. But
they, too, were unable to fund a real salvage attempt through their inability to raise
the necessary capital and interference from World War II. Still, Flynn and McDonnell
held documents showing their claim to the AMERICA'S salvage rights from 1935 until
1965 (Holden interviews with Marshall 1974, 1986).

In June 1943 what is believed to be one of the earliest (there were no anniversary
columns on the loss in the Duluth Evening Herald or Duluth News Tribune on June
6,7 1929 or 1939) in a long list of articles recounting AMERICA'S loss was published
in a Duluth newspaper under the title "SS AMERICA Ends 15th Year at Bottom of
Lake Superior." While the article recounted the event briefly, it added an aspect of
the wreck brought on by the advent of World War II and attempted to bring the
history of salvage efforts up to date:

143

During the last 15 years, there has been no effort to raise her
[AMERICA], although when she first went down there were reports this
would be done. The hull has entirely disappeared, the cabin the last
to drop from view.

Not long ago the War Production board compiled a list of ships
resting in Lake Superior which might be salvaged for the scrap iron
and cargoes they contain. [America was listed for salvage.]

Interest in the salvage of AMERICA lay dormant through World War II and into the
1950s, although the ship was not forgotten. Transference of Cousteau and Gagnon's
military aqualung of 1943 into a post-war recreational outlet brought AMERICA back
into the press; the wreck was being visited by sport divers in the summer of 1956:

Duluth's intrepid skin divers, aptly named the Frigid Frogs, next

week-end will take to the deeps of Isle Royale to look over the

sunken passenger steamer AMERICA ....

They won't have much trouble finding the AMERICA. Any Isle

Royale fisherman can point out the reef where she ripped out her

bottom. On a calm day, one can see the bow a few feet below the

surface and it's a spooky sight, too.

If it's salvage they're after, the Frogs won't find much of that

either. A couple of generations of fishermen, without today's

complicated skin diving equipment, have seen to that (Herbert J.

Coleman, "Frigid Frogs to Tour Ship Sunk Near Isle Royale". Duluth

News Tribune July 8, 1956).

A 24-year-old hardhat salvage diver, Jack Coghlan of Port Arthur, visited AMERICA
in 1957, calling the dive his "most fascinating experience." Coghlan reported
entering the vessel through the "dining compartment" as he described the
experience to a Duluth reporter:

"It's sort of eerie," he said last week. "You can still see dishes on the
sideboards, and the tables are piled high on one end of the room."

From there, Coghlan swam down a flight of stairs through a
hallway and looked into a passenger's compartment. Silt obscured his
vision, since he was working with an underwater light.

More rewarding was his entry into the purser's office, which he
accomplished by breaking in the door. Rummaging in an old desk, he
felt a mass of paper, thought he was wealthy, and found that the
'banknotes' were old snapshots.

Oddly enough, the pictures were legible and Coghlan has had
them copied by a photographer. They included a number of scenes of
what appears to be the Chicago waterfront ....

Coghlan said the ship's hull is ringed with debris which has
torn or fallen loose. Still in the hold is an ancient Model T Ford which
he said seems in good condition. Coghlan took the car's horn as a
souvenir.

Another souvenir was a bottle of meat sauce he found in the
dining room. He said it was "sort of ripe" (Herbert J. Coleman, Duluth
News Tribune April 28, 1957).

Coghlan and the Frigid Frogs early descents on AMERICA renewed talk of possible
salvage of AMERICA, although it would be four more years before that interest was
coherently voiced and four additional years before the first actual attempt at salvage
was undertaken.

144

Serious talk about raising AMERICA did not come until 1961 when James R. (Jim)
Marshall, Pike Lake, Minnesota, took an interest based largely upon reports of the
condition of AMERICA from various divers, including members of the Frigid Frogs.
He personally did not dive on the wreck until September 1965. Marshall rekindled
the interest that had been brewing for three decades. In the next four years the S.S.
AMERICA Salvage Company, Inc. was formed by Marshall and a Duluth attorney,
Patrick D. O'Brien. Salvage rights were purchased from Paul J. Flynn. The firm
acquired the cabin cruiser SKIPPER SAM and modified it for salvage and logistics
work. A salvage plan was worked out and permission to salvage was secured from
the National Park Service. A cadre of local divers was assembled to assist in the
project. Many of the divers were in the Canadian Air Force but stationed at Duluth
and had been trained in diving by Marshall through his recreational outfitting
business (Holden interview with Marshall 1986; Special Use Permit 6-65, Isle Royale
National Park, issued to Marshall, Chippewa Outfitters, Duluth, Minnesota, for the
period of Sept. 21, 1965 to Dec. 1, 1965 to conduct salvage operations on S.S.
AMERICA, in Windigo Ranger Station files; Duluth News Tribune Sept. 24, 1965).

Appended to the Special Use Permit issued for salvage work on AMERICA were
notes indicating that Isle Royale National Park officials had contacted both the Coast
Guard and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in Duluth regarding the vessel. The Coast
Guard commented that they had no jurisdiction as long as the wreck and salvage
work were properly marked to comply with current rules of the road. The Corps of
Engineers said they had no interest in the operation. Neither agency had comment
regarding requiring a performance bond for the salvage work (Special Use Permit,
6-65, Ibid).

The salvage corporation's primary interest was to raise AMERICA and return it to the

Duluth waterfront where it could be restored over a five year period, and thus

transformed into a tourist attraction of historic interest, as well as a unique dining

or hostel facility. This is an idea which has now come into vogue on the Great

Lakes. Marshall said in 1965 of his thoughts about salvaging AMERICA in 1961:

"Talk was about as far as it went [in 1961] ... until early this year

[1965] when it became apparent that raising the steamer and returning

her to Duluth would bring recognition to the city and provide an

attraction that people throughout the nation would enjoy visiting"

(Duluth News Tribune Sept. 15, 1965).

A Houghton Daily Mining Gazette columnist agreed that AMERICA would be a
good tourist attraction saying:

"It is likely that the AMERICA revived might become an important
tourist curiosity in the Zenith City [Duluth] region. Duluth has no such
other ventures and the reclaiming from Davy Jones Locker the
remains of the CITY OF HANCOCK type ship might not be a bad idea"
(Houghton Daily Mining Gazette Sept. 25, 1965).

However, clarification of the National Park Service's position on ownership of the
wrecks and its role in preservation and conservation of shipwrecks located within its
jurisdictional boundaries, was ultimately the most tangible and lasting result of the
salvage attempt, outside of the physical damage done to the wreck itself.

A salvage method was proposed. The plan was worked out by "salvage master"
Chuck McClernan. The method consisted of first sealing up the steel hull's major
openings. About 50 such openings were identified in preliminary examination of the

145

vessel, including 5 cargo hatches, smokestack opening, a stairway, the dumbwaiter
in the galley, the grocery chute, three coal bunkers, and the skylight above the
engine room as well as 34 other "minor" openings such as portholes, plus the
original hole in the hull. This plan was reviewed and found sound by Marine Iron &
Shipbuilding Co. of Duluth and individuals from Fraser-Nelson Shipyard in Superior
(Duluth News Tribune Sept. 15, 1965; Holden interview with Marshall 1986).

When preliminary work was done, the salvagers would be able to proceed in raising
the vessel by removing an estimated 159,000 gallons or about 1,821 tons of water
from the vessel using an air lift. The 10-inch airlift was inserted into the hull
through the galley stove flue. Air could be forced at 600 cu. feet per minute
through the pipe into the vessel. Salvagers expected to force nearly a quarter
million gallons of water out of the hull per hour (Duluth News Tribune Sept. 15,
1965).

When part of the hull reached the surface, the salvors planned to switch over to
two 4-inch pumps, which could handle about 160,000 gallons per hour. Once afloat,
the SKIPPER SAM would tow AMERICA into the same gravel-bottomed bay that Capt.
Smith was headed for the morning of the wreck. There they could check over the
hull and make any further repairs necessary. From Isle Royale AMERICA was to be
towed back to Duluth, possibly escorted by the Coast Guard Cutter WOODRUSH
(Duluth News Tribune Sept. 15, 1965; Duluth News Tribune Sept. 24, 1965; Holden
interviews with Marshall 1974, 1986).

AMERICA Salvage, Inc. was not operating in a vacuum without public and political
support. Duluth Mayor George D. Johnson and Seaway Port Authority Director
Robert T. Smith, both enthusiastic about the project, granted permission to moor
AMERICA at Duluth's port terminal over the winter. Also lending support to the
salvage project were the Northeastern Minnesota Development Association,
Minnesota Arrowhead Association, U. S. Rep. John A. Blatnik, and citizens of Duluth
and Superior, many of whom clearly recalled their own trips on the steamer (Holden
interviews with Marshall 1974, 1986; Duluth News Tribune Sept. 15, 1965.

Once AMERICA was returned to the Duluth waterfront, plans called for refitting the
ship over a five-year period at a cost of about $200,000. The ship's galley,
passenger dining salon, engine room, and many cabins were relatively undamaged.
The engines were believed to be operational with minimal restoration work, and
there was still coal in the bunkers (Duluth News Tribune April 6, 1966; Holden
interviews with Marshall 1974, 1986).

Actual work on sealing up the vessel in preparation for refloating began in
September 1965 with the salvagers based at Grace Island, Isle Royale, only a half
mile from the wreck site. The entire project, from hull survey to fabrication and
installation of all patches, and refloating, was expected to take three to four weeks.
Work through the first two stages progressed on time or ahead of schedule.
Salvors hoped to refloat the vessel by October 20 and have AMERICA in
Duluth-Superior Harbor in November (Duluth News Tribune Sept. 24, 1965).

The 1965 salvage report by James Marshall, President of America Salvage, Inc., to
the Park gives considerable insight into the diving operations on the wreck (Letter
from James Marshall to Superintendent Carlock Johnson, Dec. 3, 1965 on file Isle
Royale National Park). The divers discovered about 200 fathoms of chain remaining
in the chain locker and removed. The nine main deck openings were sealed with
wooden hatches of 2x6-inch boards.

146

A great deal of the damaged superstructure was removed .... A large
portion of the damaged second deck was removed opening the area
over the engine ... and the area around the opening in the deck has
been shored .... The remains of the ship's funnel, weighing some
seven tons, were severed from the boilers with a cutting torch, and
with the assistance of the cruiser, drifted over the side. This exposed
the steel room over the engine and boilers. The galley appears
undisturbed .... Bad weather set in during September and early
October. Finally, the salvors decided to delay refloating AMERICA until
the following spring. They stored their equipment at Grace Island over
the winter of 1965-66 under special permit (Holden, interviews with
Marshall 1974. 1986; Duluth News Tribune Oct. 25, 1965; Duluth
Evening Herald Oct. 25, 1965).

Despite the weather, members of the salvage group took a reporter down to explore
the wreck. His descriptions are informative of the state of preservation of the wreck
in the mid-1960s:

I observed that the ship is resting on a rock shoal at a severe angle,
the bow being 19 inches below the surface and the stern in 85 feet of
water.

As we worked our way slowly toward the bow, it was evident
that the upper superstructure - which consists of the ship's two
topside decks, and pilothouse - had been severely damaged, for debris
was strewn in wild disarray throughout the steamer's forward section

[Mike] Pinkstaff showed me where the hull was torn, which
caused the AMERICA to sink. It consisted of a 3-foot
horse-shoe-shaped dent with a 4 and 6-inch tear on each side ....

Pinkstaff and I looked at the ship's big propeller and rudder —
which is turned hard left the same way she was the night she sank —
and then entered a hatch leading to the ship's dining area.

We started working our way forward by ascending an elaborate
carpeted stairway — the carpet is still intact — leading to a large
ballroom.

In the ballroom was a large upright grand piano ... sitting
upside-down and slightly damaged as a result of the sinking.

Forward of the ballroom I saw the AMERICA'S smokestack, and
a little forward of that is a Model T Ford truck resting on the deck.
The truck, which was being shipped to a plasterer in Fort William,
Canada, is still assembled except for the hood and radiator, which
have been taken by skin divers.

My last venture during the dive was a look at the engine room
and engines. It's difficult to believe ... but the AMERICA'S engines are
as new-looking and shiny as the day they were bought. There isn't
even marine growth on them (Duluth News Tribune Oct. 17, 1965).

AMERICA Salvage, Inc. applied for an additional salvage permit by letter to Isle
Royale Superintendent C. E. Johnson on April 7,1966 to complete the salvage.
Salvors planned to complete their task by June 12, 1966 (Correspondence, AMERICA
Salvage, Inc. to Supt. C. E. Johnson dated April 1, 1966 and April 7, 1966, Windigo
Ranger Station files, Isle Royale National Park; Duluth News Tribune April 10, 1966).
A salvage permit was issued.

147

Inspection of the vessel in the spring revealed only the expected; many of the
patches would have to be re-secured. However, bad news came on May 11 when
divemaster Chuck McClernan reported "their worst fears had been realized" raising
AMERICA was "all but impossible." McClernan and M. W. Gamblin discovered a new
hole in the side of AMERICA apparently caused by dynamite placed by "an unknown
party" to stop salvage of the vessel (Memorandum from Windigo District Ranger
Jon B. Abrams to Superintendent, Isle Royale dated May 16, 1966, Windigo Ranger
Station files).

Discovery of the reportedly sabotaged area marked the beginning of the end of
salvage efforts. In August 1966, the U.S. Justice Department indicated they had
informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the reported "bombing" of AMERICA
and supposed they would send a demolitions experts to assess the situation. A
Justice Department attorney, Harold D. Beaton, contacted AMERICA Salvage, Inc. for
permission to survey AMERICA without being held liable for any damage such
survey might cause. Permission was granted by AMERICA Salvage, Inc. on August
12, 1966 (Correspondence from U.S. Attorney Harold D. Beaton to James R. Marshall
Aug. 9, 1966; correspondence from Marshall, AMERICA Salvage, Inc. to Harold D.
Beaton, U.S. Attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan Aug. 12, 1966, on file Windigo
Ranger Station). No information has been available from the Justice Department or
FBI concerning the extent or findings of any investigation.

Marshall reported, too, that the damage went beyond the new hole in the hull. He
said the explosion caused the ship to "jump" and as it re-settled, the rudder was
swung hard over and that there was tearing in the hull along the shaft tube that
would prevent use of AMERICA'S own engine for propulsion on the return to Duluth
(Holden interview with Marshall 1986).

The Submerged Cultural Resources Unit was unable to locate the "bomb hole" in the
hull. The bomb incident apparently provided a convenient closing to the salvage
attempt. The salvage operation provided the impetus for legal and administrative
clarification of NPS policy regarding the submerged cultural resources of Isle
Royale. The history of this development is presented in Chapter VII.

Recreational diving grew in the wake of the commercial salvage operations and
attendant media coverage. In 1974 a sport diver, who was also an amateur historian
and certified scuba instructor, wrote of his impressions and experiences on
AMERICA presenting a comparison to the experience Coghlan had on the wreck in
1957. This also serves as an example of the beginnings of observations by sport
divers on AMERICA and other shipwrecks at Isle Royale and the region as a
benchmark in the changing attitudes of sport divers toward the objects upon which
a majority of their recreational interests were focused:

Many divers have dove on the AMERICA because she is easy to get to,
in rather shallow water, and safe from storms ....

The condition of the wreck is very good with ice damage
extending to the boiler room. From the boiler room to the bow the
ice has taken away the wood superstructure. The bow lies at the
edge of a slope which goes down to the North Gap Channel ....

There is much to see on this old wreck, one just does not
know where to start exploring. Going down the deck starting from the
bow you pass a big deck winch [sic] used once for pulling in the
many feet of anchor chain. Just past that there is a hatch and down
a ladder you can get to where the crew once slept. There is another
point of interest in the bow and this is an air pocket created by the

148

exhaust air of divers. You can go up inside this air pocket and talk to
your buddy, but do not breath the air. There is always enough light to
see your way out of the wreck but for close inspection a light and
lifeline are needed.

Coming out of the hatch and going back down the deck you
come to another hatch. This hatch was the coal bunker. There is
hardly anything in it because the ship is lying at such a great angle
that the coal has run into the boiler room. The hatch to the coal
bunker is nearby.

At the edge of the coal bunker is where the wreckage starts.
This is caused by a build up of ice which sometimes can go down to
a depth of more than 30 feet. The pilot house is no longer there and
many of the cabins are destroyed. The wreckage consists of a lot of
wood and pipes.

The main deck starts to take its shape again near the engine
room. This is as far down as the ice could go, so from that point on
there is very little damage.

Swimming over the top of the ship, the engine room is
exposed to view. She had a three cylinder engine. In the front of the
engine and on top of the boiler room there is the remains of a Model
A truck that was being shipped to Port Arthur. Divers through the
years have taken many things off the truck like the tires and engine
parts.

On deck two and in the rear of the engine room there is a
hatchway that goes into a companionway. This companionway goes
out to the side of the ship and then toward the stern. From the
companionway, access can be made into the dining area.

Going through the companionway and to the dining area, you
come to a pretty big room which was the dining room. All the tables
and chairs that were once in the room are lying in the very rear of
the room. Because of the great angle [at which] the ship is lying all
the tables and chairs just slid to the rear of the room.

From the dining area you can leave the ship by going out
through a cargo door. Following the side of the ship down you come
to a small deck on the very stern. There is a hatchway on this deck
which goes to deck one. Right inside the hatchway there is a piano,
in bad shape. On the after deck there is a hatch going down to deck
two. It is a little small for a diver to get through but it can be done.

Letting yourself off the stern and sinking to the bottom you
have a most awesome and impressive sight as you look up at the
huge size of the stern. All of the decks are intact ....

The depth is 80 feet and all around the ship there is wreckage.
The rudder and prop are still visible, with the rudder turned hard a
starboard. The rudder seems to keep the ship from sliding further into
the channel (Engman 1976:1-5).

Although AMERICA was lost without loss of life, there has been one death aboard
the vessel, a diving accident. In August 1976 20-year-old Donald G. Lienhardt of
New Auburn, Wisconsin, apparently became disoriented while low on air and
exploring AMERICA'S interior in a small storage area just aft of the galley. The door
is wedged partly open. His brother and another friend had not noticed their
partner's absence when they left the galley, nor were they immediately concerned
when they surfaced without him. All had entered the wreck while low on air. The
divers' air reserves were too low to conduct an effective search and rescue effort.

149

Other sport divers in the area began the search while alerting other dive boats in
the area of the problem. Lienhardt's body was recovered an hour and a half later
(Houghton Daily Mining Gazette Aug. 23, 1976).

The room in which the fatality took place became popularly known to the diving
community as the "forbidden room", and consequently became an attractive
nuisance. Many divers pushed the limits of their abilities to visit the "forbidden
room." In consultation with IMPS managers, a decision was made to remove the
partially open door. The door was removed with a large pry bar by lifting the door
off its hinges.

150

Fig. 4.13. Passenger and package freighter AMERICA. 1905 view at the Duluth
Docks. As built configuration prior to alterations. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.14. AMERICA showing the appearance of the ship after the 1911 alterations
that added 18 feet of length to the hull. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Marine Museum Collection.

151

Fig. 4.15. Birth of AMERICA. On April 2, 1898, AMERICA was launched at the
Wyandotte yards of Detroit Dry Dock Co. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.16. Demise of AMERICA. AMERICA aground in North Gap of Washington
Harbor ca. June 7, 1928. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum
Collection.

152

GEORGE M. COX: HISTORY

Construction

The steel passenger screw-steamer GEORGE M. COX was named PURITAN by the
Craig Shipbuilding Co. of Toledo, Ohio in 1901. U.S. Registry No. 150898 (June 7,
1901) listed the owner of the vessel as the Craig Shipbuilding Co., and gave the
dimensions: 233 feet long, 40.5 feet wide and 21.9 feet deep. The ship had no
masts, two decks, a plain head and round stern. The tonnage capacity under deck
was 1169.08; the capacity between decks above the tonnage deck was 378.53 tons,
yielding a gross tonnage of 1547.61. A deduction of 495.04 tons was allowed, giving
a net tonnage of 1052.

The ship was designed for the overnight passenger service. The first owners, the
Holland and Chicago Transportation Co., intended to name the vessel OTTAWA.
Before hull 82 was completed, the Holland and Chicago Co. was bought by the
Graham and Morton Transportation Co. The new owners named the vessel PURITAN
and launched the ship on the afternoon of May 1, 1901 (Detroit Eree Press May 2,
1901).

The Craig Shipbuilding Co. owned PURITAN from June 7 to June 28, 1901. Graham
and Morton Transportation Co. retained ownership until December 27, 1902, when
ownership was transferred to J. H. Graham of St. Joseph, Michigan.

A detailed description of PURITAN was published shortly after the launching in
Marine Engineering (1901:458-460). It is one of the best and most complete
reports located for any Isle Royale shipwrecks:

She was built throughout to meet the requirements of the Bureau
Veritas Classification Society, with extra heavy scantlings, thus making
her one of the strongest vessels of her class afloat. The following are
a few of her principal scantlings:

The center vertical keel is 48 inches deep by 17 1/2 pounds,
fitted with a 36-inch by 17 1/2-pound rider plate on top of the floors
with 4 1/2 by 3 inches continuous angles. The frames are 6 inches by
3 inches by 14 pounds, channels spaced 24 inches apart and
continuous to upper deck, with web frames of 12 inches by 22 pounds
channel, spaced every 24 feet. Solid floors are fitted on every frame,
20 pounds in the machinery space and 18 pounds elsewhere, and are
secured to the vertical keel by 3 inches by 4 inches double angles.
Deck beams are of channel section, 10 inches by 22 pounds on main
deck, and 6 inches by 14 pounds on upper deck, all spaced 4 feet
centers and secured to frames with substantial brackets. Three
channel stringers are fitted in the lower hold, one on each side and
between decks. The shell plating is as follows:

Garboard 19 pounds to 16 pounds at ends; bilge and side
plating, 17 pounds to 14 pounds at ends; shear strake, 60 inches by 20
pounds, and 17 pounds at ends; between deck plating, 10 pounds.
The vessel is constructed with two complete steel decks, and is fitted
with three gangways on each side for handling freight. The stern post
is a steel casting, and the rudder frame and stem are forgings.

The passenger accommodations are very complete, and all
conveniences for a large passenger business are provided. The main
cabin on the upper deck is finished in mahogany, and has forty-two
stateroorrjs, with the dining room at the forward end. The galley and

153

crew's quarters are directly under the dining room, on the main deck.
Aft of the engine room on the main deck is a large smoking room,
with connection to the main cabin by a grand stairway, all finished in
mahogany, similar to the main cabin. Pilot house and officer's
quarters are on the boat deck, on which are also located sixteen
staterooms similar to those in the main cabin. The accommodations
for second class passengers are under the main deck aft. The
steamer has accommodations for 200 first and second class
passengers, and is licensed to carry 2,000 excursionists.

The machinery consists of an inverted, direct-acting, triple
expansion, surface condensing engine, with cylinders 21 inches, 34
inches and 58 inches in diameter, and 40-inch stroke, designed by the
Craig Ship Building Co., and built in their own shops. The high
pressure and intermediate cylinders are fitted with piston valves, and
the low pressure cylinder with a double ported slide valve. All valves
are worked by Stephenson double-bar link motion, and have
adjustable cut-offs, actuated by screws in the arms of the reverse
shaft. The reversing gear is direct connected with a steam cylinder 11
inches diameter by 16 inches stroke. All pistons are fitted with cast
iron spring rings, the high pressure and intermediate bodies also being
cast iron and the low pressure being cast steel. Piston rods are
machinery steel, secured to piston by tapered ends and nuts, and to
crossheads by cottars. Crossheads are cast steel recessed for
crosshead pin boxes and fitted with composition slippers. Connecting
rods are wrought iron, the upper end being forked with crosshead pins
shrunk in. The crank pin boxes are cast steel lined with best
anti-friction metal.

The framing of the engine consists of three cast iron housings
of box section in front and back, the latter being fitted with guide
surfaces provided with water back for circulation of cooling water.
The bedplate is cast iron of box section, cast in one piece, with five
main journals.

The lower main journal boxes are cast steel, lined with
anti-friction metal, as are also the cast iron caps which form the
upper part of the bearings. The crank shaft is of wrought iron, 12
inches in diameter with steel crank pins and cast steel webs. Line and
propeller shafting is wrought iron, provided with forged couplings and
supported by suitable spring bearings. The thrust bearing is of the
horseshoe type, with adjustable shoes. The propeller is four-bladed,
solid cast iron, 12 feet in diameter and 19 foot pitch.

Owing to the large amount of lime in the waters of Lake
Michigan, a surface condenser was fitted to obviate any trouble with
the scaling of boilers. The condenser is separate from the main
engine, and is of the cylindrical type, with steel shell fitted with
composition tube sheets and composition tubes tinned inside and
out. The cooling surface is 2,500 square feet

All the pumps are independent of the main engine, and with the
exception of the circulating pump, were furnished by Dean Bros, of
Indianapolis, Ind. The air pump is of the simplex vertical type, 12
inches by 24 inches by 18 inches; and the main and auxiliary feed
pumps are of the Admiralty duplex type, 8 inches by 5 inches by 12
inches. Two duplex pumps, 5 1/2 inches by 5 1/4 inches by 7 inches,
and one simplex pump, 4 inches by 4 inches by 5 inches are also
fitted for general water service and for pumping from the bilge. Water

154

is circulated through the condenser tubes by a centrifugal pump, with
a 10-inch suction and discharge, driven by a 6 inch by 6 inch vertical,
direct-connected engine, supplied by the Morris Machine Works of
Baldwinsville, NY.

Steam is generated by four water tube boilers with an
aggregate heating surface of 7,500 square feet. These boilers were
tested to 450 pounds hydrostatic pressure, and are allowed a working
pressure of 225 pounds.

The PURITAN is lighted throughout with electricity, generated
by two 15 kilowatt direct-connected General Electric Co. generators,
located in the engine room. She is also fitted with steam steering
engine and a Hyde steam windlass. Her anchors are of the Baldt
stockless type, and weigh 2,840 pounds each.

Taken altogether the PURITAN exemplifies the highest class of
vessel for the trade in which she is employed, and is a credit to both
her owners and builders.

Although she has only been running altogether about six weeks
she has already broken the record for the run between St. Joseph,
Mich., and Chicago, beating the best time of the whaleback steamer,
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, thus ranking her as one of the fastest
boats on Lake Michigan. Her time for the run was 3 hours and 11
minutes, making an average of 19 3/4 miles per hour .... She now
averages 108 revolutions with 200 pounds of steam.

The triple-expansion engine of PURITAN was rated at 1,700 indicated horsepower
(Certificate of Consolidated Enrollment and License, Puritan. May 23, 1924).

Operational History

John H. Graham, of Graham and Morton Transportation Company, was a prominent
businessman connected with the passenger pleasure resort service out of Chicago
and the fruit traffic from Michigan. Graham and Morton had built a line of palatial
steamers primarily for the summer passenger service between Chicago, St. Joseph
and Benton Harbor. In addition, the vessels also carried freight between these cities
as well as to Milwaukee (Mansfield 1899:2:245).

Graham and Morton Transportation evolved as a stock company in 1880 or 1881
from the partnership between J. Stanley Morton and J.H. Graham, formed originally
in the early 1870s. By 1899, the Graham and Morton Transportation Co. had grown
to be the largest single business on the docks at Benton Harbor and Chicago,
employing more than 100 persons in the summer (Mansfield 1899:2:246).

After PURITAN'S launch in 1901, it made a trial run on Maumee Bay with William A.
Boswell as Capt. and Louis Sebastian as chief engineer. On board were George
Craig, representing the builders, master mechanic Cady Markely, E.E. Roberts,
designer of the four water-tube boilers and who represented the Marine Boiler
Works of Toledo, and other invited guests (Hamilton n.d.).

Graham and Morton Co. was anxious for the delivery of the new vessel. When
PURITAN left Toledo for Chicago on June 15, carpenters were on board completing
their work. The ship was placed on the daily Chicago-to-Holland run shortly after
the company took title on June 28, 1901. Typically, PURITAN remained on this run
until the end of the fruit season, when it sometimes ran from Chicago to Benton
Harbor during the winter (Hamilton n.d.).

155

The first temporary port of enrollment was Toledo. When the Graham and Morton
Transportation Co. took delivery, the port of record according to enrollment
documents was changed to Grand Haven, Michigan. W.A. Boswell was the master of
record, and remained so when the ship was transferred to the ownership of J.H.
Morton on December 27, 1902.

PURITAN was reboilered in 1905. The Roberts boilers were replaced with four newer
11x10-foot Scotch boilers built by Johnston Bros, of Ferrysburg, Michigan (Hamilton
n.d.). Recent field observations of these boilers reveal they were constructed with
steam drums, an unusual feature for Great Lakes vessels.

A new enrollment was issued for PURITAN in February, 1908, reflecting a 26-foot
increase in length. The lengthening took place in Manitowoc under the direction of
George Craig, the designer and builder (1908 Certificate of Enrollment; Hamilton
n.d.). The revision increased the gross tonnage from 1,547 to 1,762.20, and the net
from 1,052 to 1,267. The registered depth increased from 21.9 feet to 26.6 ft. W.A.
Boswell was again listed as master. It is unclear whether the depth change
indicates an actual structural modification or was an artifact of a change of
measurement procedures. There were some vessels structurally altered to
accommodate automobiles. More research is needed to clarify this point for
PURITAN/COX.

PURITAN was one of several Great Lakes ships summoned to serve in World War I.
There were at least five of the Lake Michigan passenger-steamer fleet called to U.S.
Naval service: THEODORE ROOSEVELT, CITY OF SOUTH HAVEN, VIRGINIA, MANITOU
and PURITAN (Fort William Daily Times Journal April 9, 1918). PURITAN was
purchased by the U.S. Navy in April, 1918 and commissioned November 20 of the
same year (U.S. Department of the Navy 1970:5:405; Lake Carriers' Association
Annual Report 1918:149). The ship's enrollment papers were surrendered October
23, 1918 (Consolidated Certificate of Enrollment and License PURITAN. July 7, 1920).
In Naval service, PURITAN was designated SP-2222. It was the third vessel of that
name to serve in the U.S. Navy.

The passenger steamers were principally used to bring U.S. troops back home after
the Armistice (U.S. Department of the Navy 1970:5:405). PURITAN was modified for
naval service at the Krafts Shipyard in South Chicago, where it was fitted out for
ocean service and camouflaged.

Most Lakes passenger vessels had to be structurally altered to allow passage to the
ocean. Contemporary photographs indicate the bow of PURITAN was severed to
allow passage through the canal system to the Atlantic (Fig. 4.19). The cut was
made immediately forward of the pilothouse, and both sections were apparently
bulkheaded to make the passage, or perhaps the smaller bow portion was simply
loaded and carried throught he passage.

The details of PURITAN'S military career are unclear. The Dictionary of American
Fighting Ships (U.S. Department of the Navy 1970:5:405) indicates the ship served as
a troop transport, and it was later reported that the ship had spent some of its time
operating in the English Channel (Toledo Blade May 29, 1933). Some sources state
that PURITAN, along with other Lake passenger steamers, served as a mine-layer in
the North and Baltic Seas (Lake Carriers' Association 1933:35-36). Dana Thomas
Bowen recorded that PURITAN was used as a training ship for recruits (Bowen
1952:308). Another writer stated that PURITAN saw no action or service at all, but

156

spent the time laid up in the Boston Navy Yard (Hamilton n.d.). Further historical
research is needed to clarify PURITAN'S military service.

Apparently, after PURITAN was decommissioned, it was sold to a private company
and rebuilt to resume the Lake passenger trade. The rebuilding took place at the
South Chicago Drydock in the spring and early summer of 1920 (Hamilton n.d.).
PURITAN was redocumented on July 7, 1920 to the Chicago, Racine and Milwaukee
Line, whose agent of record was James F. Gallagher of Michigan City, the same
agent who served the Graham and Morton Transportation Co. before the war
(Consolidated Certificate of Enrollment and License, PURITAN. July 20, 1920).

The newly rebuilt passenger steamer was chartered to the Michigan Transit Co. of
Chicago, which purchased the vessel outright in May, 1924 (Consolidated Certificate
of Enrollment and License, PURITAN. May 23, 1924).

The Michigan Transit Co. utilized PURITAN in the "Direct Overnight Service to Cool
Northern Michigan Summer Resorts" (Advertisement that appeared in the Chicago
Herald and Examiner June 24, 1925). Tri-weekly express service left Chicago
Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 6:00 p.m., with the first run of the summer
season on June 27. The towns served were: Ludington, Hamlin Lake, Epworth
Heights, Manistee, Onekama, Portage Point, Frankfort and Crystal Lake, with service
extended to Glen Haven and Traverse Bay on Wednesdays. PURITAN served on this
resort run with the steel steamer MANITOU. Both vessels accommodated
vacationers' cars (Chicago Herald and Examiner July 8, 1926).

In the severe storm of December 6, 7 and 8, 1927, PURITAN broke from its moorings
in Muskegon Harbor and drifted around with no one aboard. Buffeted by
65-mile-per-hour winds, PURITAN dragged its winter moorings — steel cables fixed
to large concrete blocks that had been buried 6 feet deep — and came to rest
against an abandoned pier at East Lake. The huge concrete blocks that were
dragged by the ship prevented serious damage to the hull when the ship hit the pier
(Detroit Free Press December 9, 1927). The same storm sank the canaller
KAMLOOPS on Isle Royale.

The resort and passenger cruise vessel PURITAN was idled in 1929, just before the
demand for recreation cruises and passage to the northern Michigan resorts was
virtually eliminated by the Great Depression. The ship was docked at Manistee
(Hamilton n.d.).

After the idle time at Manistee, PURITAN was purchased by Isle Royale
Transportation Co. The Enrollment Document for the purchase (May 22, 1933)
registered the name change from PURITAN to GEORGE M. COX. The Isle Royale
Transportation Co. was an Arizona corporation headed by the man for which
PURITAN had been renamed.

George M. Cox was a millionaire ship builder and brewer from New Orleans, and a
large stockholder of the Duke Transportation Company. The new owner had refitted
PURITAN in a grand manner. "I never had to shine shoes, but if I did I would try to
do it better than the other fellow, and I am going to follow this same procedure
with these boats," he said after the refitting and renaming of his company's newest
boat was complete. "The boats are elegantly equipped and everything that can
possibly be done will be offered for the passenger's pleasure. The ships, however,
are going to remain clean — there'll be no gambling or disorder — if we have to
sink them first. Our purpose is to supply two ships, and perhaps more, where every

157

facility will be offered for clean and wholesome amusement and plenty of good
times" (Manistee News Advocate May 25, 1933).

There was much excitement regarding the newly appointed GEORGE M. COX. On
May 23, the ship, decorated with a new coat of white paint and carrying the
International Code of Signals, left the moorings at Arthur Street in Manistee to move
down to the Michigan Transit docks. Hundreds of people visited the ship as it lay at
the dock, the crew finishing last-minute preparations for departure on COX's first
voyage in more than two years. The ship was slated to leave for Chicago the next
morning with George Johnson as captain and Arthur Cronk (appears as Kronk in
most other references) of Houghton or Hancock, Michigan, as first mate. The
refurbished vessel met with approval from its many visitors and well-wishers.
"Entirely repainted, inside and out, the fine appearance of the ship won the favorable
comment of those who inspected it" (Manistee News Advocate May 24, 1933).

Wreck Event

The first voyage of PURITAN as the newly appointed GEORGE M. COX was also to
be its last. On May 25, 1933 the ship left Chicago bound for Port Arthur to begin
its new route in the passenger trade between those two cities. Intermediate stops
were planned for Houghton and Isle Royale.

The steamer left Saturday May 27, from Marquette at 2:00 a.m. bound for Houghton
with namesake George M. Cox and 124 others aboard (Daily Mining Gazette May 27,
1933). The captain was George Johnson of Traverse City and the first mate was
Arthur Cronk. There was also an eight-piece orchestra aboard ready to join in the
festivities anticipated on the maiden voyage (Manistee News Advocate May 24,
1933).

COX arrived in Houghton and tied up at the Peninsula dock around noon after its ten
hour run. The vessel was opened for inspection and hundreds of local residents
toured the finely appointed cruise ship (Daily Mining Gazette May 28, 1933).

GEORGE M. COX left Saturday afternoon, May 27, 1933, for Isle Royale, but COX ran
hard aground off the west end of Isle Royale sometime before 6:00 p.m. Saturday
evening while those on board ate dinner. The steamer MORRIS S. TREMAINE
intercepted a wireless SOS message from the stricken ship, and the first word
reached Houghton about 8:00 p.m. Word of the disaster was received by Capt. Fred
Sollman of the Portage Canal Coast Guard via Ft. William. The Coast Guard left
immediately for the wreck site (Daily Mining Gazette May 28, 1933).

Capt. M.L. Gilbert, marine superintendent of the Isle Royale Transit Company in Ft.
William, was receiving fragmentary reports of the wreck by wireless from ships in
the vicinity. The ship had struck a reef in thick fog, and George M. Cox and three
women passengers were reported aboard TREMAINE. Gilbert described GEORGE M.
COX to the press as an unusually seaworthy craft with a hull of steel. He went on
to reassure those concerned that "the boat was commanded by Capt. George
Johnson of Traverse City, a veteran Great Lakes shipmaster." (Daily Mining Gazette
May 28, 1933).

On the 28th the story of the wreck appeared in the newspapers. The New Orleans
Times-Picayune carried a detailed report prominently mentioning the president of
Isle Royale Transit Co., a resident of New Orleans:

158

Four persons were injured, one seriously, in the wreck, the first
on the Great Lakes this season, but no lives were lost. The four, with
George M. Cox of New Orleans ... and a nurse were brought to Fort
Williams by the freighter M.S. TREMAINE and placed in a hospital ....

Mrs. Cox said Sunday afternoon that she talked with her
husband Sunday morning at Port Arthur, Canada, by long distance
telephone and that he suffered no ill effects from his harrowing
experience.

The GEORGE M. COX, making her first trip of the season, was
en route to Port Arthur, Ont., from Chicago to pick up 250 Canadian
residents and take them to the Century of Progress Exposition at the
latter city. Thirty-two of the persons aboard on the out bound trip
were passengers ....

Plowing through a heavy fog, the steamer, with its passengers
at dinner, struck an extended ledge of rock a short distance from Rock
of Ages Lighthouse with such force that her engines and boilers were
ripped loose. The impact threw the passengers to the salon floors
and sent tables and chairs crashing against the walls.

Keepers of the Rock of Ages Light said they saw the spars of
the steamer above the low-hanging fog and made frantic but futile
efforts to attract the' vessel's attention with the siren. A few minutes
after the vessel struck she had broken open and filled with water until
her top decks were awash.

Only the, fact that the Lake was calm enabled the keepers of
the light and the crew of the steamer to transfer everyone to small
boats and rafts and avoid loss of life.

A description of the wreck was given by the 23-year-old ship's staff nurse, Adeline
Keeling, who was taken to Port Arthur with Cox, the injured passengers and crew
(New York Times May 29, 1933):

"There was a heavy thud, followed by a series of crashes," said Miss
Keeling. "The passengers were at dinner at the time. I saw a heavy
buffet slide across the floor and crash into tables and a partition. I
was in my stateroom and was thrown against a door and stunned.
The stewardess, Beatrice Cote, helped me to my feet, and was herself
knocked down in the second crash. She injured her back.

"There was no panic, but the steamer listed heavily to port and
the passengers and crew rushed to starboard. It was impossible to
lower the starboard boats because of the list of the vessel, but the
port boats were lowered and ferried us all to the lighthouse."

Capt. George Johnson, whose actions had been termed heroic in his hometown
newspaper (Traverse City Record Eagle May 29, 1933), recounted the wreck events
(Superior Evening Telegram May 29, 1933): "We hit a reef while going at a speed of
17 knots. The impact was severe, causing a large hole to be torn in her side. It
listed to 90 degrees and the ship's stern submerged in about four minutes, I should
judge." A similar quote of Johnson's appeared the next day in the Daily Mining
Gazette (May 30, 1933) with one difference: the speed was given as 10 knots.

Although no casualties resulted from the wreck, some injuries were sustained by
crew members. Beatrice Cote, a stewardess from Manistee, Michigan, suffered an
injured back; John Gancarz, deckhand from Freesoil, Michigan, injured his legs, hand
and shoulder. George Williams had a head injury that was a scalp wound. Alex
Mack, from Portland, Maine, broke a leg and injured his hand (Superior Evening

159

Telegram May 29, 1933). Other reports indicate that Mack's injuries were severe
burns, rather than a broken leg. George M. Cox himself was among the injured
(Manistee News-Advocate May 29, 1933), but the inclusion of Cox on the injured list
may have resulted from his accompanying the injured to the hospital. Other
sources state that Gancarz' injuries were severe scalds (Fort William Daily Times
Journal May 30, 1933).

Heroic deeds had been observed during the stranding and evacuation of COX: Rita
Little refused her seat with the other women in the lifeboat and assisted Deck Mate
M.L. Gilbert in loading three more lifeboats before leaving the deck. Alex Mack, with
a broken leg, also gave up an early seat in the lifeboats and only left after all the
women had been taken off the stricken vessel. Bar steward Zoeller tied a rope
around himself and searched the ship to insure no passengers remained trapped
(Manistee News Advocate May 29, 1933).

Departure from the stricken ship was orderly;the crew was apparently well
disciplined. There was some confusion, but no panic after the crash. Members of
the crew moved among the passengers and quieted their fears (Manistee News
Advocate May 29, 1933). Wireless messages were immediately sent out and the
radio was manned until the water quieted the transmitter. The ship was safely
abandoned in 40 minutes under the direction of Capt. Johnson, who was the last to
leave the ship (Traverse City Record Eagle May 29, 1933). The removal of 89
passengers and 32 crew from COX makes this one of the largest mass ship
abandonments and rescues recorded in the history of Lake Superior.

Five life boats were lowered on the port side; the boats on the starboard side were
not launched because of the extreme port list. The passengers were loaded into the
ship's lifeboats and towed to Rock of Ages by lightkeeper John Soldenski's motor
launch. The passengers took turns warming themselves in the limited quarters of
the lighthouse, and they were served hot coffee by the wife of the lightkeeper
(Cleveland News May 29, 1933).

The operational procedures of the U.S. Coast Guard at Portage Canal Station and
aboard the cutter CRAWFORD offer some insight into the COX rescue operations.
About 8:00 p.m. the Portage Station received the following telegram, from Port
Arthur: "Steamer GEORGE M. COX aground on Rock of Ages. In bad shape. Want
assistance" (Letter from F.C. Sollman, Officer in Charge, Portage Station to John
Hanson, Bureau of Navigation and Steam. boat Inspection June 7, 1933). Within 10
minutes a lifeboat and crew left the station. The Portage crew arrived at the wreck
site at 2:15 a.m. the morning of the 28th. All passengers and crew had been
nemoved from the wreck and were safe on Rock of Ages.

The Portage crew transported 43 persons from the lighthouse to Washington Island
hotel dock on Isle Royale and returned to Rock of Ages. Captain Johnson requested
the removal of baggage from the wreck, and 71 bags, suitcases and other baggage
items were taken aboard the lifeboat and transported to the lighthouse, arriving
there at 8:40. Twenty crew members were transported from the lighthouse to
CRAWFORD with some of the baggage, then 12 more of the COX crew were
transported to Washington Harbor.

The Coast Guard cutter CRAWFORD received word of the wreck at its dock at Two
Harbors at 6:10 p.m., May 27, from TREMAINE as it was transmitting a message to
the Port Arthur radio station addressed to the Portage, Michigan Coast Guard
Station. CRAWFORD left immediately making all due speed. During the trip the

160

ship's log indicates that the speed was increased when additional weights were
placed on the governor to increase the engine's revolutions. The officers of
CRAWFORD assumed that human lives were at stake.

CRAWFORD arrived on site at 5:35 a.m., May 28, and anchored in 3 fathoms of
water. Five minutes later the officer of the North Superior Coast Guard was aboard
to brief the officers of CRAWFORD. Captain Johnson was consulted on the
disposition of the passengers and crew. Johnson responded that he wanted them
taken to Houghton, Michigan. The COX crew and passengers were loaded aboard,
and the cutter proceeded to Washington Harbor to pick up the people who had been
transferred there. The Coast Guard lifeboat from Grand Marais had engine trouble
and was towed to the Singer Dock in Washington Harbor by CRAWFORD. The ship
encountered dense fog on the way to the dock, finally arriving at 8:55 a.m. In an
hour, all remaining people were loaded and CRAWFORD was underway to Houghton.
The total aboard was recorded in the CRAWFORD log as 113 (Log of the U.S. Coast
Guard Patrol Boat CRAWFORD May 27, 28, 1933).

Almost immediately, speculation and opinions regarding the crash were offered to
the press. Captain John Hope Clark of ISLE ROYALE, COX's planned running mate,
stated that COX had to cope with currents especially strong at that time of the year,
in addition to fog conditions.

It is said that the light at Rock of Ages reef is equipped with a
theoretically efficient fog whistle, but it is located in a so-called
"silent zone," so that even if the whistle is operating, it may not be
heard more than two or three miles away (Manistee News Advocate
May 29, 1933).

The area of Rock of Ages reef, where the wreck occurred, was generally known to
be a particularly hazardous region. When the cutter CRAWFORD approached the
reef on its rescue mission, the engines were slowed and the radio direction finder
was used for navigation because the area was recognized as having a local
magnetic attraction, so it was not advisable to rely on compass course for the last
15 miles approaching the light. In addition, because of the fog conditions, a double
watch had been posted on the bow (Log of CRAWFORD, Sunday May 28, 1933).

Early reports indicated that COX's first officer was in charge when the wreck
happened, but the captain had taken over and directed the evacuation of the ship
(Traverse City Record Eagle May 29,1933). There had been praise for the officers of
the sunken steamer (e.g., Detroit Free Press May 30, 1933), but there would also be
many questions. A federal inquiry was convened to answer them.

The federal inquiry was held in Houghton and directed by Capt. John Hanson,
steamboat inspector, and Alfred Knights, boiler and machinery inspector. Both men
were from Marquette and represented the U.S. Bureau of Navigation. They would be
joined by Capt. F.J. Meno of Detroit, supervisor of the eighth district. The inquiry
convened May 30, 1933, the same day the stranded GEORGE M. COX was abandoned
to the underwriters as a total loss (Daily Mining Gazette May 30, 1933).

The first witness called before the inquiry was Capt. Johnson, who testified that
First Mate Arthur Kronk had changed the course he had set without his authority
after the ship had cleared Portage Lake Ship Canal (Detroit Free Press May 31,
1933). Captain Johnson stated he set the course for Fort William at NW 1/4 N,
which is the charted course from the canal to the Canadian port city. He then
retired and left the first mate in charge. Johnson remained in his cabin until 5:00

161

p.m. when they encountered fog on a calm sea. The Daily Mining Gazette (May 30,
1933) carried the captain's testimony:

"The sounding of the Rock of Ages fog siren was well
determined," Captain Johnson said, "at 5:20 p.m., exactly one hour
before it piled up on the reef. Continuing on a course one point north
of the charted course, the vessel proceeded at a moderate speed until
6:10 p.m. when the fog siren on Rock of Ages became more distinct,"
the master testified.

"Discovering that we were near abreast of the light, owing to a
greater speed than I had anticipated, we received an alarm signal from
the Rock of Ages lighthouse and immediately I put the wheel hard to
starboard and steered west for eight minutes .... At 6:18, feeling
assured we were at least two and one half miles westward of the
lighthouse, I hauled slowly to the northwest in order to get a bearing
on Rock of Ages Light. We struck at 6:20 p.m." Visibility at the time
the COX hit the reef was about one-quarter of a mile or about 1,500
feet, according to Capt. Johnson, who said the boat's speed at that
time was about 10 miles per hour.

The change of course was not the only problem attributed to Kronk in the
testimony. Kronk was allegedly one of the first of the crew to get into a lifeboat
after the wreck. "One witness said that Kronk set out with one woman in his boat,
but that he was ordered back to the steamer and additional passengers were placed
in the boat" (Detroit Free Press May 31, 1933).

Others substantiated the captain's recounting of the events. John Nelson, the
wheelsman on duty when the vessel left the canal, and M.L. Gilbert, Jr. agreed with
the captain's testimony. "Nelson stated that when the COX left the canal he was
steering northwest one-quarter north, and about 55 minutes out from the canal he
was directed to change the course to northwest one-half north. When he was
asked who gave him that order, Nelson answered: 'Mr. Kronk'" (Detroit Free Press
May 31, 1933).

First Officer Kronk was called to testify late in the day, and he had not finished by
the time of adjournment at 9:15 that night. The inquiry reopened at 8:00 the next
morning:

The first mate admitted that the course had been changed from NW
1/4 N to NW 1/2 N after leaving the canal, but he had not been
questioned regarding who was responsible for the change. He said
that he sighted top of Rock of Ages lighthouse about 5:00, and the
light bore NNW when first seen, and it appeared about three miles
away.

After sighting the light Kronk stated that he reported to the
master, who took charge of navigation after that time. He said that
the captain hauled to the west for about five minutes and then
brought the ship back on a WNW course.

Questioned by Captain Hanson regarding the lowering and
manning of the life boats after the crash, Kronk admitted that the life
boat of which he was in charge was the first over the deck, and that
he was the first officer off the boat. The inquiry was adjourned at this
point in the interrogation (Daily Mining Gazette May 30, 1933).

Some additional information on the course change appeared in another paper:

162

Captain Johnson was again questioned Tuesday night [May 30] and
said he asked Kronk about the change in course when he assumed
command at 5 p.m.

"I asked why he changed the course," the captain told the
investigators, "and he replied that I had advised him to steer chart
courses whenever possible to obtain the correctness of our
compasses on all chart courses."

Johnson's testimony brought up the question of the accuracy of the compasses
aboard COX and the influence of local deviations, two questions that concerned the
investigators:

Replying to this line of questioning, Capt. Johnson admitted that the
GEORGE M. COX steered a good course over the entire route from
Manistee to Chicago and north as far as Houghton. In the vicinity of
Isle Royale, Captain Johnson said he believed there were some
variations due to local magnetic disturbances, but when questioned
admitted that he had not looked up the charted variations for that
course on the map. First Mate Kronk said that in his opinion there
was a one-eighth deviation to the west in the COX's compasses on a
northerly course (Daily Mining Gazette May 30, 1933).

During the second day of the investigation (Wednesday May 31), Kronk maintained
that he had remained at his post until the last, and that he assisted in lowering and
loading lifeboats before leaving the ship and departing for shore with 17 men in his
lifeboat (Detroit Free Press June 1, 1933). He also maintained that he did not
change the course of COX while in command between the time they had left
Portage Lake Ship Canal and the time he turned the ship over to Capt. Johnson
(Daily Mining Gazette June 1, 1933).

Emotions were running high during the investigation. Kronk had gotten into an
"impromptu fistic argument" with Capt. M.L. Gilbert, vice president and general
manager of the Isle Royale Transit Co. The encounter took place in the lobby of the
Douglass House Hotel, where the investigation was being held (Daily Mining Gazette
June 1, 1933).

Later during the afternoon questioning, stress of the proceedings were reflected:
While being re-questioned this afternoon, Mr. Kronk created some
commotion when he broke down and cried, and, slamming his fist
down on a desk, shouted that he was being "framed by a dirty bunch
of crooks!" (Detroit Free Press June 1, 1933).

The findings of the COX investigation were not announced until July 8, 1933. The
board found both Capt. Johnson and First Officer Kronk guilty of "reckless navigation
in a fog and inattention to duty." Both men were stripped of their officer's papers
by the U.S. Steamboat Inspection Service (Daily Mining Gazette July 9, 1933;
Manistee News Advocate July 10, 1933). Because no time period was mentioned,
presumably the revocation of their papers was permanent. The COX inquiry
decision marked the second time Kronk had lost his papers; they had previously
been suspended for 90 days for negligence in the loss of the freighter KIOWA in
1929 (Detroit Free Press June 2, 1933).

163

Salvage

GEORGE M. COX had been reconditioned at a cost of $80,000, and was valued at
$150,000 when lost (Traverse City Record Eagle May 29, 1933). Other sources place
the value of the vessel at $200,000 (Daily Mining Gazette May 30, 1933). The ship
was declared a total loss; uninsured liability to the company was about $40,000
(Daily Mining Gazette May 30, 1933).

Beginning the day after the wreck, groups of sightseers cruised out to the wreck,
and many photographs were taken of the stranded ship, its bow poised 110 feet in
the air. Some furnishings and other items were removed from the wreck while it
could still be boarded. Six high-backed oak chairs ended up in the Douglass House
of Houghton, the same location where the wreck investigation took place (Daily
Mining Gazette April 26, 1980). The chairs had been removed by members of the
Hancock Naval Reserves and were placed in the Naval Armory until the building was
taken over by Michigan Tech. in 1980 (Daily Mining Gazette July 22, 1980). These
chairs are now part of the museum collection of Isle Royale National Park.

Four men were left on guard at the site until the company decided the disposition
of the wreck (Manistee News Advocate May 29, 1933). Records of professional
salvage efforts are scanty. The salvage tug STRATHBUOY visited the site on the
29th or 30th and reported: "the bottom of the steamer was torn out, the engines
jolted from their moorings and the vessel is listing toward deep water, with the
likelihood of sinking in the first heavy storm" (New York Times May 29, 1933). The
salvage barge STRATHMORE may have also operated on site.

Some salvage was carried out with its recovered materials being stored in the
Booth Fisheries Dock at Port Arthur. On September 5, 1933, the running mate of
COX, ISLE ROYALE, cleared Fort William on the last run of its season loaded with the
equipment salvaged from COX (Canadian Railway and Marine World Oct. 1933:495).

Three of the men who were left to guard the site were returned to Houghton on
June 2 to testify in the federal inquiry. A seaplane was chartered to make the run
to the island and retrieve the crewmen. Their reports indicate they were
undertaking some light salvage operations while guarding the wreck. They reported
that the compass and charts had been recovered along with some gas masks. The
plane also brought 400 pounds of baggage from the island with the crewmen (Daily
Mining Gazette June 2, 1933). It is most likely the luggage had been recovered
since the departure of CRAWFORD, and was the result of the guards salvage activity.

The wreck was abandoned to the underwriters on June 6, 1933 (Daily Mining
Gazette June 6, 1933). The Enrollment and License for the Coasting and Foreign
Trade (number 31) for COX was surrendered in Chicago on July 18, 1933. There
was a May 17 endorsement of a preferred mortgage for a total of $95,000 due to
mature June 1, 1933 (National Archives Record Group 41).

GEORGE M. COX remained in position on the reef until early July. The strong box,
reportedly containing more than $200,000 in stocks, bonds, money and jewelry, was
salvaged by two Portage Entry men, Arthur and Emil Tormala. The safe was raised
from 35 feet of water and taken to Marquette, Michigan July 11 (Daily Mining
Gazette July 11, 1933). They reported the ship was breaking up fast and had already
broken in two; the stern was sinking.

164

The advent of SCUBA diving 25 years later brought heavy attrition of artifacts from
the wrecksite. The wreck sites of Isle Royale became diving attractions in the 1960s
and 70s. Local divers held formal artifact collecting expeditions in the mid-1970s.
An example, relating to COX, is the Minnesota School of Diving pamphlet telling of
their recoveries in August of 1972:

Thirty-nine years after her descent, a team of twenty sport divers
from Minnesota School of Diving explored the wreckage [of GEORGE
M. COX]. They dove in 1 1/2 to 2 hour intervals three times a day,
almost every week-end in August of 1972. Found were tea kettles,
silverware, dishes, port holes, running lights and a multitude of other
souvenirs ... all evidence of the hard crash that night in 1933 on the
Rock of Ages Reef.

Most portable artifacts have been removed from the site. Despite the losses of
portable artifacts, COX is still a primary diving attraction at Isle Royale and was
rated as the second most visited diving site at Isle Royale National Park (Stinson
1980:15).

165

Fig. 4.17. GEORGE M. COX after the 1933 refit for the new Isle Royale Line.
Appearance at the time of loss. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine
Museum Collection.

166

>>,Ar /SZO.

Fig. 4.18. GEORGE M. COX as PURITAN in March 1920 after service in World War
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.19. PURITAN with the temporary bulkhead in place to allow passage through
canals for ocean service in World War I. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park

Marine Museum Collection.

167

<<b. •

'& •

MEfc--*

to^--#

Fig. 4.20. GEORGE M. COX hard aground at Rock of Ages, Isle Royale ca.
1933. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

*•..

***-

**e£

Fig. 4.21. Stern view of COX aground at Rock of Ages. Note starboard lifeboats in
place. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

1 68

CHESTER A. CONGDON: HISTORY

Construction

CHESTER A. CONGDON was built as SALT LAKE CITY for the Holmes Steamship
Company of Cleveland, then managed by W.A. Hawgood. The new steamer was of
the 10,000-ton capacity class and measured 532 feet in length, 56 feet in beam with
a depth of 26 feet. The gross registered tonnage was 6371.49, and net tonnage was
4,843. While under construction, the Chicago Ship Building Company numbered the
hull 74. The steel bulk freighter had 32 telescoping hatches 9 feet wide, on 12-ft.
centers, with three compartments of 3,700, 3,100 and 3,400 tons, for a total capacity
of 10,200 tons. The ship carried a crew estimated at 19.

The Chicago Ship Building Company departed from its tradition of launching its
vessels on Saturdays when SALT LAKE CITY slid down the ways; it splashed into the
Calumet River on Thursday, August 29, 1907. The new bulk freighter was given U.S.
Registry Number 204526 when it was enrolled September 11, in Cleveland.

The huge, steel bulk freighter was powered by a triple-expansion engine with
cylinders of 23.5, 38 and 63 inches on a 42-inch stroke. The engine received its
steam from two induced-draft Scotch boilers 14 feet 6 inches x 11 feet 6 inches.
Both the engine and boilers were built by the American Shipbuilding Company of
Cleveland. The engine produced 1765 indicated horsepower.

Operational History

The first owner of SALT LAKE CITY was the company that had it built: the Holmes
Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio. The Holmes Company operated the boat
until 1911, when it was sold to the Acme Transit Company of Ohio, managed by H.B.
Hawgood (May 13, 1911 Certificate of Enrollment).

On February 2, 1912, SALT LAKE CITY ownership was transferred to the Continental
Steamship Company of Duluth, G.A. Tomlinson, President. A change of name to
CHESTER A. CONGDON was registered by D.W. Stocking, Secretary of the
Continental Steamship Company, on April 1, 1912. Chester A. Congdon was a
prominent Duluth lawyer and financier who had made a fortune in mining and grain
interests.

On August 10, 1912, CHESTER A. CONGDON ran aground while waiting for fog to
clear. The ship drifted onto a shoal about 4 miles north of Cana Island on Lake
Michigan, and damaged several plates (Lake Carriers Association 1913:18; 1912:9).

CONGDON ran aground again in October 1915. The ship was drawing 19 feet 6
inches of water, and it rubbed both bilges hard while going through Grosse Pointe
channel during a period of low water. The grounding sheared several rivets, which
opened some seams and the vessel began leaking (Bulletin of Lake Carriers
Association Nov. 1915:62; May 1915:18).

Wreck Event

The newspaper that contained the first report of the wreck of CHESTER A.

CONGDON carried the news on page 10; the headlines and front pages that day

were devoted to the news that World War I had ended (Fort William Daily Times
Journal Nov. 7, 1918).

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The voyage that would end with one of the most costly marine disasters on the
Lakes began on November 6, 1918. At 2:28 a.m. CONGDON left Fort William, Ontario,
downbound to Port McNicoll with a cargo of 380,000 bushels of wheat (Lake Carriers
Association 1918:142). Other sources list the cargo as 400,000 bushels (Fort William
Daily Times Journal Nov. 12, 1918), and 350,000 bushels (Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Nov. 8, 1918). The grain had been loaded at the Ogilvie and Pacific elevators (Fort
William Daily Times Journal Nov. 12, 1918). CONGDON had done a 1-day
turnaround. The ship arrived on November 5 and cleared downbound on the 6th
(Duluth News Tribune Nov. 6, 1918).

CONGDON proceeded a little way past Thunder Cape, where the ship encountered a
heavy sea whipped up by a southwest gale. At 4:00 a.m., Capt. Autterson turned his
ship and retreated 7 or 8 miles to calmer water, anchoring until 10:15 a.m. By then
the wind had abated, although the sea was still running. The captain ventured out
again, but after passing Thunder Cape, a thick fog set in. A course was set for
Passage Island at 10:40 a.m., and the ship held a speed of 9 knots. The captain's
intention was to run for 2.5 hours at that speed and stop if the fog held (Lake
Carriers Association 1918:142-143). "I figured on stopping on account of fog until
we could locate something. At 8 minutes after 1:00 in the afternoon she fetched
up — grounded (from the captain's account, Fort William Daily Times Journal, Nov. 12,
1918).

The ship's officers had not heard the Passage Island fog signal before they struck
the southerly reef of Canoe Rocks (Lake Carriers Association 1918:143). Captain
Autterson described the events that followed:

We immediately lowered boats and sent one boat over to Passage
Island, about 7 miles, to try and secure some assistance from the
lighthouse keeper, if possible. We were on Canoe Rocks. Then the
second mate took another boat, a fisherman's launch, from Canoe
Rocks into Fort William. He had two fishermen with him. The launch
became disabled, and they did not reach Fort William until 6:00
Thursday morning (Nov. 7) (Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov. 12,
1918).

The second mate brought the first news of the wreck to Fort William. Apparently,
CONGDON had no wireless aboard, or it was disabled when the ship struck. The
historical accounts indicate no messages were transmitted from CONGDON.

As soon as word of the disaster reached Fort William, J. Wolvin, manager of the
Canadian Towing and Wrecking Company dispatched the wrecking barge EMPIRE and
the tug A.B. CONMEE to the site. The tug SARNIA, with additional equipment, was
being prepared to follow soon (Fort William Daily Times Journal, Nov. 7, 1918).

First reports of damage to the stricken ship indicated that the vessel, although
damaged, might be saved. "Her forepeak, Nos. 1 and 2 starboard tanks and No. 1
port tank are full of water" (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 8, 1918). It was hoped that
lightering would be all that was necessary to refloat the vessel. The lightered grain
was to be placed aboard the barge CRETE (Cleveland Plain Dealer Nov. 9, 1918).

The most serious obstacle to refloating CONGDON would prove to be the weather.
When the lightering tugs and barges initially left for the site, the weather had been
"calm and thick" (Cleveland Plain Dealer Nov. 8, 1918), but this did not last long.
Two days later, by Friday, strong winds had blown up. The crew was removed from

170

the wreck sometime that day, November 8, and was placed aboard the barge
EMPIRE. As the wind blew from the southeast at gale force, reaching a speed of 55
miles per hour (Lake Carriers Association 1918:143, Cleveland Plain Dealer Nov. 10,
1918), the crew was sheltered on the barge in protected waters at Isle Royale (Port
Arthur Daily Chronicle Nov. 8, 1918).

No loss of life resulted from the wreck. One serious injury, however, did occur
before the lightering operations were concluded, due to the fierce gale that drove
the salvage vessels and crew to shelter at Isle Royale. Wireless operator Thomas
Ives of the barge EMPIRE was transported to the hospital in Port Arthur with a
mangled thigh, which was smashed when he caught his leg in a hoisting gear. He
was taken to port on one of the attending tugs (Port Arthur Daily Chronicle Nov. 7,
1918).

The messages of the wreck that reached land on November 9 relayed the news that
CONGDON had broken in two, and that the stern had sunk in deep water. The tugs
had stood by as long as possible, but there was nothing they could do, although
they stayed at the site until heavy seas were breaking over the wreck (Fort William
Daily Times Journal Nov. 9, 1918). The steamer had broken in two aft of the No. 6
hatch sometime Friday night (Nov. 8th). The forward end remained on the reef in 20
feet of water, but was in very bad condition (Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov.
12, 1918; Lake Carriers Association 1918:143; Cleveland Plain Dealer Nov. 10, 1918).
The 36-man crew of CONGDON returned to Fort William, arriving on the tug
CONMEE Saturday morning, November 9 (Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov. 12,
1918). The captain, along with Superintendent Close who had arrived from Duluth to
investigate the accident, both visited the wreck on Sunday morning and salvaged
personal effects from the bow section.

The ship was declared a total loss. The newspapers noted that four-fifths of the
cargo would be lost (Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov. 12, 1918). The crew
arrived in port in time to participate in the Nov. 11, armistice celebrations. The
survivors of the CONGDON wreck paraded in the streets carrying the ship's flag, and
a large crowd fell in behind them (Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov. 11, 1918).
"We expected to be somewhere on Lake Huron today," said one of the crew,
"instead of back again at Fort William" (Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov. 12,
1918).

The wreck of CHESTER A. CONGDON was a tremendous financial loss. When
declared a constructive total loss, officials placed the value at more than $1.5
million. Although the owners carried insurance of $365,000 on the hull and $369,400
in disbursements, the wheat cargo alone at $2.35 per bushel was worth $893,000
(Lake Carriers Association 1918:143). Contemporary accounts labeled CONGDON the
largest loss ever sustained on the Great Lakes, surpassing the loss of HENRY B.
SMITH, wrecked in 1913 (Lake Carriers Association 1918:138; Canadian Railway and
Marine World 1918:567; Cleveland Plain Dealer Nov. 10, 1918).

CONGDON's cargo of wheat had been owned by the Wheat Export Company
(Canadian Railway and Marine World 1918:567). The lightering operations were only
able to remove about one-fifth of the cargo, some 50,000 to 60,000 bushels. The
amount remaining was described in the Fort William Daily Times Journal (Nov. 12,
1918):

What it means in wheat — four-fifths of the whole cargo of 400,000
bushels is unsalvageable, meaning a total loss of 320,000 bushels. In
money--at $2.24 a bushel, $716,000. In flour— net weight, 97,950

171

barrels, or 195,900 bags. Made into number 1 pure white flour,
allowing 33 percent shrinkage, 100 pounds of wheat equalling about
66 pounds of pure white flour, this four-fifths lost cargo represents
79,200 bushels, or 158,400 bags with a retail flour value of $918,720.
In bread — number of standard loaves that could be made from this
amount of wheat, 14,139,200 loaves. Allowing 9 inches as the length
of a standard loaf of bread, the lost wheat on the CONGDON, if
converted into loaves, would reach 6,025.75 miles, or more than twice
the distance from Montreal to Vancouver. Computing that one person
can subsist on a loaf of bread a day, this amount would be enough to
feed the present population of the Dominion for two whole days, or
afford sufficient (loaves) for one meal for the whole of the population
of Great Britain and Ireland.

Salvage

John Bell, an agent for the Great Lakes Transportation Company, and who
investigated other Isle Royale wrecks (MONARCH and GLENLYON), announced on
November 29, 1918, that James Playfair, apparently a private investor, had purchased
CONGDON and intended to raise the wreck in the spring (Lake Carriers' Association
1918:143).

By late November, the bow was reported in 50 feet of water (Fort William Daily
Times Journal Nov. 29, 1918). The Lake Carriers Association stated that recoveries
of forward-end equipment had already been made (1918:142-143). Playfair
reportedly paid $10,000 for the wreck, outbidding U. Wolvin, who had done the
original salvage work (Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 13, 1918). This same report
said that when Playfair's crew arrived at the wreck site (presumably in December),
"they found that it had completely disappeared, having washed off the rock on
which it rested."

CHESTER A. CONGDON was one of 45 steel and iron vessels that became total
losses on the Great Lakes between 1902 and 1918. CONGDON was the largest of
those lost during that time. In 1918 alone, the year of CONGDON's demise, a total
of 21 vessels was lost from all causes in the Great Lakes. There were 10 wooden
steamers, 1 steel bulk freighter (CONGDON), 6 barges, the forward end of 1 steel
passenger steamer, the forward end of a steel bulk freighter and 2 new mine
sweepers belonging to the French government lost that year (Lake Carriers
Association 1918:141).

172

Fig. 4.22. 532-foot long bulk freighter CHESTER A. CONGDON as it appeared at the
time of loss in 1918. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum
Collection.

Fig. 4.23. CHESTER A. CONGDON aground at Canoe Rocks, Isle Royale November
1918. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

173

Fig. 4.24. CHESTER A. CONGDON aground. View is from the bow showing the break
in the hull aft of the Number 6 hatch. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park
Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.25. View from the deck of the grounded CHESTER A. CONGDON.
Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

U.S. Army

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EMPEROR: HISTORY

Construction

When the steel bulk freighter EMPEROR was launched on December 17, 1910 (Port
Arthur Daily News April 8, 1911), it was the largest ship ever built in Canada (Duluth
News Tribune April 9, 1911). It was built as hull number 28 by the Collingwood
Shipbuilding Co. of Collingwood, Ontario, for James Playfair's company, the Inland
Lines Ltd. of Midland, Ontario. Playfair would eventually build up a substantial fleet
of Lakes carriers, and EMPEROR was his first large vessel. Evidently Playfair had a
penchant for giving his ships names that related to royalty, for in later years he
would own vessels with names like EMPRESS OF MIDLAND, EMPRESS OF FORT
WILLIAM and MIDLAND KING (Greenwood 1978:53).

The length of EMPEROR was 525 feet, breadth 56.1 feet, and depth 27 feet. Molded
depth was 31 feet and the draft could go as deep as 27 feet. The gross tonnage
was 7,031 and the registered tonnage was 4,641. The original registry number
assigned to the vessel at its home port of Midland was 126,654. The Transcript of
Register states EMPEROR had one deck, two masts, was schooner-rigged with a
plumb bow and elliptical stern.

The new ship was built of steel and designed on the arch-and-web frame system of
construction to create an unobstructed cargo hold under the 30 hatches. Each of
the hatches was 9x36 feet wide and placed on 12-foot centers. There was an ore
chute at each hatchway (Railway and Marine World Jan. 1911:89). The ship had 11
bulkheads; the engine room was 67 feet long.

The hull was equipped with 7 side-ballast and water-bottom tanks with a capacity
of 5,021 tons (Transcript of Register). The tanks were directly connected with 7"
steel suction pipes. A combination header connected to sea valves and ballast
pump allowed the ship to rapidly take on or discharge ballast water. There was no
separation between the side and bottom tanks.

The pilothouse, captain's and mates' quarters were forward; boilers and engine were
aft with the crew's quarters. Between the forward and aft superstructures, the deck
was clear, free of spars and other obstructions in order to allow rapid loading and
unloading of its bulk ore cargo (Canadian Railway and Marine World Feb. 1911:188).

EMPEROR was powered by an inverted, triple-expansion steam engine built by the
Collingwood Shipbuilding Company. The engine had cylinders of 23, 38.5 and 63
inches on a 42-inch stroke, and received steam at 180 pounds of pressure from two
Scotch boilers 15.5 feet in diameter and 12 feet in length. The engine produced an
indicated horsepower of 1,500 (Transcript of Register) at 82 revolutions per minute.
Registered nominal speed was 10 knots. By the time the vessel sank, its normal
speed loaded was 11 knots.

The last recorded major hull modifications were done in 1944. The Canada
Steamship Lines Company installed new side tanks and tank tops at a cost of
$140,000 (Toronto Globe and Mail June 5, 1947).

175

Operational History

EMPEROR was launched December 17, 1910, but was not ready to go into
commission until April 1911 (Port Arthur Daily News April 8, 1911). By the time the
ship was ready for its first trip, the captain selected was G.W. Pearson, and G. Smith
was chosen to be the chief engineer for the season (Canadian Railway and Marine
World March 1911:283).

The huge bulk carrier's first season commenced with a major incident. The ship
broke its main shaft in Thunder Bay, Lake Huron, and was towed to Detour, Michigan
(Canadian Railway and Marine World June 1911:573; Port Arthur Daily News May 26,
1911).

The broken shaft on the first trip out was not the most serious mishap to befall
EMPEROR during its first season. While anchoring in the Canadian canal at Sault
Ste. Marie, the ship rode over its anchor, causing it to tear a hole in the bow. The
freighter sank the few feet to the bottom blocking the channel. It was released, and
after temporary repairs were made, proceeded on to Midland, Ontario (Canadian
Railway and Marine World Nov. 1911:1085).

A court found the canal employees to blame for ordering the flooding of the lock
without inquiring if the vessel was ready. The court stated it believed that it was
customary for the master of a vessel to sound one blast of the whistle as a signal
to the canal authorities to begin flooding. Although the officers were exonerated,
the responsibility was placed on the watchman on board who "happened to be a
deckhand and, therefore, irresponsible" (Canadian Railway and Marine World Dec.
1911:1187). The court added that it believed it necessary for masters of all vessels
to have copies of the regulations governing the operation of locks and canals.

In May 1916, James Playfair sold EMPEROR to the Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. of
Montreal, Quebec. Playfair was listed as the sole owner of the 64 shares of the ship
(Transcript of Register).

Another incident occurred October 29, 1926, when EMPEROR was grounded on Major
Shoal near Mackinaw City, Michigan. The ship was released unharmed at 4:00 that
afternoon after jettisoning 900 tons of ore (Detroit Free Press Oct. 27, 1926). It is
not known how EMPEROR dumped the ore.

The 1926 ore season closed November 17. The season had been the busiest on
record for the industry at Hamilton, Ontario, with an average of 10 ore carriers a
month unloading at the docks of the Steel Company of Canada. The last ship of the
season to bring down a cargo that season was EMPEROR (Detroit Free Press Nov.
20, 1926).

In 1936, EMPEROR lost a rudder (Toronto Evening Telegram June 4, 1947). A man
was washed overboard at the same time. EMPEROR ran aground in 1937 off Bronte,
on Lake Ontario, and was soon released (Toronto Evening Telegram June 4, 1947.

Wreck Event

EMPEROR struck Canoe Rocks off Isle Royale June 4, 1947 and sank in about 30
minutes. Three officers and nine crew were lost. The following account was
developed from the official investigation of the disaster conducted by Canadian
officials on June 6 and July 2 and 3, 1947:

176

EMPEROR had brought up a load of coal and unloaded at the coal docks at Ft.
William. The freighter had immediately moved from the coal docks to the Port
Arthur Iron Ore Dock to load ore. The loading of ore took six to seven hours. The
first mate had supervised the loading and took the watch after they cleared the
breakwall.

The doomed ship was laden with 10,429 tons of bulk iron ore (removed from the
Steep Rock Mine) stowed in its five holds when she cleared Port Arthur at 10:55
p.m., June 3, downbound for Ashtabula, Ohio. The ship's draft was 21 feet 3 inches
forward and 21 feet 9 inches aft.

The steamer was in seaworthy condition and well-equipped with suitable charts and
sailing directions for the intended voyage. EMPEROR was also carrying a gyro
compass, echo meter, sounding machine, ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore telephone
and the "latest modern type of Marconi direction-finding equipment," in addition to
the usual compasses and other equipment. EMPEROR, however, did not carry a full
crew. There was no third mate.

The weather was good, the wind light and visibility excellent. These favorable
conditions held for the short voyage. The navigation lights of Passage Light and
BLake Point should have been clearly visible. Passage Island Light should have been
visible from Trowbridge Light outside Thunder Cape, and Blake Point Light should
have been visible for at least an hour before the wreck occurred.

The watch sequence established that Capt. Eldon Walkinshaw had the watch until
midnight when the first mate, James Morrey, took over. He had the watch from
midnight to 6:00 a.m., and spent that time seated in a chair in the front of the
wheelhouse. Evidence brought out that Morrey was in charge of loading the vessel
in port before departure during most of the 6 hours he normally would have been
off duty and, as a result, was probably overtired during his watch and fell asleep.

According to the testimony of J. Leonard, wheelsman, who was on duty the watch
before the accident, the courses were plotted by the first mate at Thunder Cape.
The course steered from Welcome Islands to Thunder Cape was 138 degrees true
with a 2 degree alteration to pass the steamer BATTLEFORD. Leonard, who was
inexperienced in the upper Lake region (this was his first time steering downbound
from the Lakehead), believed the course was altered to 98 degrees true abreast of
Trowbridge light. The mate did not take a four-point bearing, a bearing on the light,
nor did he use the radio beacon on Passage Light. Leonard went off watch at 4:00
and stated Passage Island Light was 10° off the port bow. He turned the wheel
over to J. Prokup. The mate did not check the course at the watch change.

There was no record of the ship's course until it passed Welcome Island at the
mouth of Thunder Bay. At Thunder Cape Light, the normal downbound course
should have been set to 98 degrees true; however, the court determined that the
course was not set until the ship was abreast of Trowbridge Light, some 3 miles
beyond Thunder Cape Light.

EMPEROR struck Canoe Rocks shortly before 4:15 a.m. According to various
accounts, the ship stayed afloat from 20 to 35 minutes.

By the time the first reports of the wreck appeared in the newspapers the survivors
were already in Fort William, having been rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard crew

177

aboard the 125-foot, 250-ton cutter KIMBALL, under the command of Lt. C.R. Clark.
KIMBALL had been in the vicinity of Isle Royale repairing navigation lights, and was
headed to the Coast Guard base at Cleveland by way of Canoe Rocks when the
distress message from EMPEROR was intercepted. It took them about 35 minutes to
reach the wreck (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette June 4, 1947).

KIMBALL picked up 21 survivors and the body of the first cook, Evelyn Shultz, of
Owen Sound, Ontario. The survivors were brought to the Fort William City Dock on
the Kaministiquia River at 8:30 a.m. They were taken from there to the Salvation
Army Hostel. Some of the survivors moved to the Royal Edward Hotel. By the
evening of the 5th, all would be residing there with Canada Steamship Lines picking
up the bill (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 6, 1947). The company gave each
wreck survivor $100 for clothes and essentials. The survivors were transported to
EMPEROR's downbound destination aboard a Canadian Pacific Railway sleeping car
provided by Canada Steamship Lines.

Soon after the cutter arrived, the survivors began to relate stories of their grim
struggle. There had been no panic after the ship struck. Eleven of the crew were
still missing, including the captain, who was last seen on the bridge of his wrecked
ship (Winnipeg Free Press June 4, 1947).

Two lifeboats were launched, one from each side of the ship, but both ran into
difficulties. The one on the starboard side lost a bilge plug, and when the 10 sailors
aboard were rescued, they were knee-deep in water. The port lifeboat pulled away
from the wreck but was sucked under by the ship when it went down. Four men
were clinging to it when KIMBALL arrived. The suction from the sinking ship also
pulled crew members below the icy waters — some said they had been drawn down
30 to 40 feet as the freighter sank. Second Mate Peter Craven of Port McNicoll,
Ontario said he was pulled under twice by the suction (Winnipeg Free Press June 4,
1947).

Seven men were rowed to safety on Canoe Rocks by the starboard lifeboat that
returned to pick up other survivors, the men on the rocks were taken off by a
motorboat launched from KIMBALL. Two men, suffering from shock and exposure,
had to be carried aboard the cutter (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 4, 1947;
Montreal Gazette June 5, 1947).

Exposure to the waters of Lake Superior is serious at any time during the year. On
the day the wreck occurred, there was little relief for those lucky enough to get out
of the water because the air temperature read in the mid-30s on that "summer"
day. In fact, it was the coldest June 4 reading in Michigan's history (houghton Daily
Mining Gazette June 4, 1947).

It was lucky that we were on the west side of Isle Royale," Lieutenant
Clark of KIMBALL said. "We had intended to go along the east side.
We received the call about 4:00 a.m. and we were underway at 4:17,
and were picking up survivors at 4:50. I was told by one of the
survivors that suction took one of the lifeboats under. The two halves
of the EMPEROR must have sunk in a hurry (Port Arthur News
Chronicle June 4, 1947).

When KIMBALL left the site with the survivors, the only trace of the ship above the
water was the mast jutting some 15 feet above (Minneapolis Star June 4, 1947).
However, pictures taken after the wreck show the top of the pilothouse was
exposed.

178

Chief Engineer Merritt Dedman, a 63-year-old veteran of 32 years on the Great
Lakes, was awakened when the ship struck and told the following story to the press:
I didn't have to have anyone tell me something seriously was wrong.
I threw on my clothes and went down to the engine room. I listened
as I ran down a passage. The engine started to race and I knew then
that the propeller was gone. It was a case of waiting with our fingers
crossed until the captain gave the order to abandon ship. He wasn't
long; about 10 minutes, I would say. (Dedman got into the starboard
lifeboat and found himself up to his knees in water.) We picked up
several men in the water and cruised around until we were picked up
by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 4,
1947).

Peter Craven, the second mate, related his experiences during the sinking:

As the ship began to list sharply the captain gave his abandon ship
order. The first boat was lowered and floated without too much
trouble and men piled down ropes to get in while others jumped into
the water. I jumped in and managed to get in the second boat but
she was capsized by suction of the sinking ship. Most of the missing
were in or about this second boat. Down we went When I came up I
reached the surface a moment before the boat came up overturned.
(He climbed on the boat with Louis Gale and Ed Brown.) We were a
wet, cold bunch as we waited for the rescue ship to reach us. I'm still
shivering. Gee, that water was cold (Port Arthur News Chronicle June
4, 1947).

Bill Randall, a wheelsman, was on watch near the bow of the ship. He also gave his
account to the newspapers (Port Arthur News Chronicle, June 4, 1947): "It was pitch
black and I couldn't see a thing, but I knew something serious had happened. I
noticed the ship begin to sink almost immediately at the bow." He knew it was
"only a matter time" before they went under. "I would say the men kept remarkably
calm. I don't think they realized we were sinking as fast as we were. When the
time came to abandon ship, things began to happen so fast that no one had much
time to get scared." He said water was "up to the winches" when the order to
abandon ship was given. He saw the captain rush from the wheelhouse as waves
came over the side and toppled him on his back. "I didn't see him after that" (the
same source states that not one of the survivors saw Capt. Walkinshaw in the
water).

Randall noted one pathetic scene. He saw Paul Perry, a watchman, walking at the
stern with his suitcase in his hand. Apparently Perry could not swim, for he made
no attempt to jump overboard with the others. "He didn't say a thing. He just
stood there and went down with the ship."

Only one account located mentioned exploding boilers. Night Steward Art
Laframboise said he was cooking a meal when the ship struck. He rushed out and
helped launch a lifeboat.

I helped pull two men into the lifeboat, and they were still jumping
from the sinking freighter when the boilers exploded. Instead of
drawing us in, the force of the explosion pushed us out .... That was
lucky. I was careful to steer the lifeboat straight away from the ship
as she went down, otherwise, if we had been traveling in a parallel
direction, I don't think we'd have made it. A few hundred feet ahead

179

we saw a rock sticking out of the water, so we made for it and
discharged our cargo. Then we went back to pick up some more
survivors .... By this time the ship had gone down. On the way over
to the Coast Guard cutter we picked up the body of the first cook,
Mrs. Shultz. Her clothes were torn and I figured she went down with
the boat, and then was blown to the surface when the boilers
exploded (Montreal Gazette June 5, 1947).

The Albrecht account below contradicts what Laframboise thought happened to
Shultz. Albrecht was on the aft deck with all three of the women when the ship
went down and saw them aboard a lifeboat. This was apparently the port lifeboat
that capsized from the suction of the ship sinking.

Nick Tonita would remember his first voyage as a sailor. "I jumped over the side. I
went under pretty deep and when I came up I hit my forehead on the overturned
lifeboat. Then I swam to a mattress and stayed on it until the other lifeboat picked
me up. The water was like ice" (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 4, 1947).

The Minneapolis Star (June 4, 1947) carried the experience of Ernest Albrecht, 18, a
coal passer who was the youngest of the 21 survivors. Albrecht was preparing to
go to bed when he learned the ship was going down. When he heard the news he
dressed rapidly, grabbed a life jacket and rushed to the afterdeck, where he helped
lower the two lifeboats. He waited until the three women cooks were aboard and
started to follow them.

Before I got into the boat I was standing by the after house. Then the
ship gave a lunge and water came gushing over like a waterfall. The
port lifeboat was thrown against the after house bulkhead, with
several persons in it. I thought my time had come as the boat
threatened to pin me to the cabins, but luckily I was just bruised and
cut a bit. The next thing I knew I was in the water, floating with the
jacket. The port lifeboat was overturned and a few feet away. I
couldn't swim in that water, it was so cold, so I drifted to the boat
and hung on it until I saw the cutter coming.

Emil Savereux, deck hand, said, "I was bounced out of my berth from a sound sleep
when the crash came." He added, "I ran down into the dunnage room. There the
second mate told the men to put on life belts and prepare the lifeboats to be
lowered. I then jumped into the water ... a sinking section of the ship drew me and
the second cook, Mabel Cochrane, under the water. The suction was bad, but I
fought my way to the surface and came up in a life ring .... I was later picked up by
a lifeboat and brought to safety (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 4, 1947).

The survivors were a hardy lot. Young Albrecht, who was just starting his career as
a Lakes sailor, said from his hospital bed that he was planning to ship out again in a
few weeks. Perhaps he summed up the attitude shared by some of the other
survivors, and many of those who had made their living on the Great Lakes, when
he said, "We can't let one little shipwreck get us down" (Fort William Daily Times
Journal June 4, 1947).

Shortly after the survivors returned safely to Fort William, the search for the missing
was resumed. KIMBALL'S Lt. Clark and his crew of 12 left port about 11:00 o'clock
the morning of June 4 to "hunt around Canoe Rocks for survivors and bodies" (Port
Arthur New Chronicle June 4, 1947).

180

Alan J. Linfoot, general agent, announced that Canada Steamship Lines had
chartered another vessel, COASTAL QUEEN, owned by the Northern Engineering
Company, to go to the wreck site to continue the search and also to attempt
recovery of bodies still trapped on board the wreck. COASTAL QUEEN had a diver,
E.J. (Doc) Fowler, aboard. Fowler was a veteran diver who was employed by Pigeon
River Timber Company and was on loan to C.S.L. (Fort William Daily Times Journal
June 5, 1947). Small launches were also aboard QUEEN to enable the many small
bays and inlets of Isle Royale to be searched. The charter vessel left at 6:00 p.m.
(reported elsewhere as 3:00 p.m.) on the 4th and diving operations were planned for
that evening (Montreal Gazette June 5, 1947; Toronto Globe and Mail June 5, 1947;
Fort William Daily Times Journal June 5, 1947).

KIMBALL's crew found the body of another woman during the search they conducted
after returning to the site the afternoon of the disaster. It was identified as that of
Marie Tobachuk, a porter. She was found about 4 miles from the site, floating
upright, supported by her life jacket (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 5, 1947).
The Coast Guard returned her to Fort William that evening (Montreal Gazette June 5,
1947). The two lifeboats and a company raft were also reported in the same
general area.

At first there was some confusion regarding the number and identity of the missing
from the wreck. The official company list of the dead and missing released from its
corporate headquarters in Montreal named only 11 persons. Company officials in
Fort William stated that there were indeed 12 missing or dead. The 12th missing
crew member was J. Prokup (also Proykop and Prohupof), a wheelsman. Prokup had
replaced J. Sepchuk, who left the ship the night before it sailed. Sepchuk had
surprised everyone when he walked into the company headquarters on the day of
the wreck to pick up his pay (Toronto Globe and Mail June 6, 1947; Montreal
Gazette June 5, 1947).

EMPEROR's crew usually consisted of 35, but two men were left behind when it
departed Fort William on its last trip (Montreal Gazette June 5, 1947).

Malcom Melsaacs (or Mclsaacs, Winnipeg Free Press June 5, 1947) and Melville
Anderson were the two men on the normal EMPEROR crew roster not aboard when
the ship took its last voyage. Anderson, a wheelsman, had been suffering from eye
trouble and stayed ashore (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 5, 1947). A day
earlier, the same paper stated that a fireman and third mate were not on the ship.

This would have been Melsaacs second trip on the Lakes. His luck had changed for
the better. As a salt-water sailor, he was torpedoed three times during the war
(Fort William Daily Times Journal June 4, 1947).

James Buzzie was not as fortunate as those who had missed the boat. Buzzie, who
was among the missing, shipped aboard EMPEROR as a coal passer on June 3 —
the ship's last night afloat (Fort William Daily Times Journal June 4, 1947).

Capt. Norman Reoch, operating manager of Canada Steamship Lines, told the
newspapers that his company's ships had the most modern safety devices
obtainable, and apart from that,

"EMPEROR was one of the most seaworthy ships in the company's
lines. We feel that our fleet is one of the best-maintained fleets on
the Great Lakes. There has been more safety practice on the Great
Lakes in the past 10 years than ever before, in view of the fact that

181

operators are endeavoring to obtain lesser premiums on insurance
rates — and with telling results" (Toronto Globe and Mail June 5, 1947).

Reoch's comments were in response to those made by Harry Davis, president of the
Canadian Seaman's Union (Toronto Globe and Mail June 5, 1947). The night of the
wreck, Davis had called for an immediate investigation into the sinking, and
demanded that the C.S.U. be represented on any board set up that would probe the
worst Lake tragedy in 5 years. "Too many Lake ships are far too old to be sailing
with such heavy cargoes as ore, and altogether too many safety regulations are
being violated. It is high time to call a halt to the needless tragedies." He stated
that the union had always fought for adequate safety regulations and would
continue to do so. "We of the union mourn the loss of these men along with their
relatives. We consider, however, that the best memorial to those lost in this
tragedy is to ensure such future calamities shall not take place" (Montreal Gazette
June 5, 1947). Captain Reoch, however, labeled the Davis statement as that of "an
opportunist," and stated that Lake ships are inspected periodically by the British
Corp Register (a classification society) and approved by the Steamship Inspection
Service, Ottawa (Toronto Globe and Mail June 5, 1947).

Three investigations were soon opened regarding the cause of the disaster. One
was begun by the U.S. Coast Guard under the direction of Lt. Cmdr. S.D. Larue,
inspector, from Duluth. The Coast Guard was required to make an investigation,
because the incident happened in U.S. waters. The other inquiries were the ones by
the Steamship Inspection Branch of the Canadian Transport Department (this would
be a preliminary investigation, with a formal inquiry to follow), and the Canada
Steamship Lines, to be conducted by H.R. Baxter, of Toronto, shore captain for the
company (Toronto Globe and Mail June 6, 1947). There may have been a fourth
inquiry; it was reported that the Fort William coroner was also investigating the
cause of the accident (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette June 5, 1947).

The most informative document of the many inquiries into the wreck is that of "The
Preliminary Inquiry into the Circumstances concerning the Sinking of the
S.S. EMPEROR; Conducted by Capt. W.N. Morrison, Supervisor and Examiner of
Masters and Mates for the Department of Transport, Province of Ontario on the 6th
day of June 1947" (Canadian Archives). Ten of the survivors were interviewed under
oath and the questions and answers are contained within this document.

The Canadian Legislature expressed its concern over the wreck. More navigational
aids were urged in the Commons as a result of EMPEROR'S loss. T.L. Church led the
discussion. Church declared that there were no aids to navigation on the Lake at
the spot where the ship struck the reef, and he asked what the government was
going to do to protect shipping. Transport Minister Chevrier replied that if Church
knew the facts, he would not make the statements he did (Montreal Gazette June 6,
1947).

Apparently the Canadian Seaman's Union also conducted an inquiry on the wreck. A
report of its findings was released June 18, and excerpts and company responses
appeared in the press (Montreal Gazette June 19, 1947). In the union's report, T.G.
McManus, national secretary, charged that an officer of EMPEROR had disregarded
warnings that the ship was nearing dangerous rocks, and that, due to "rusty davits,
the crew had difficulty in launching lifeboats." According to McManus, survivors of
the sinking told the union that the ship had been sailing short one mate since the
beginning of the season, and the chief and second mates had shared the missing
mate's wages between them. The union charged further that, contrary to the

182

regulations of the Canada Shipping Act, no lifeboat drills had been held aboard
EMPEROR that season. McManus went on to say that "facts revealed by
investigations conducted by the union" had moved the union to request the
government to include C.S.U. representatives in the government inquiry board that
was investigating the sinking. The union wanted unlicensed survivors to be called
as witnesses during the inquiry.

Capt. Norman J. Reoch issued a statement in response to the union's report on
behalf of Canada Steamship Lines (Montreal Gazette June 19, 1947). He declared
the report "false and irresponsible."

The formal investigation to be done by request of Transportation Minister Chevrier
was announced (Montreal Gazette June 19, 1947). Justice F.H. Barlow of the
Supreme Court of Canada presided, Capt. F.J. Davis and Angus G. McKay acted as
assessors, Hugh Plaxton of Toronto acted as counsel for the Transport Department.
The investigation opened at the Osgoode Hall, Ottawa, July 2. Representatives of
the Canadian Seaman's Union had been invited to attend.

The court findings were announced July 26 (in Court Documents):

Honourable Lionel Chevrier, Minister of Transport, today announced
the findings of the investigation into the stranding and sinking of the
S.S. EMPEROR in Lake Superior on June 4 last with the loss of 12
lives. The report places the blame for the wreck on James Morrey,
the first mate, "who did not keep proper watch." In this connection,
the report expressed the opinion "that the system which prevailed,
which required the first mate to be in charge of the loading of the
ship during the period when he should have been off duty, resulted in
his becoming over-tired, suffering as he was from loss of sleep."
James Morrey was drowned when the vessel sank.

The ill-fated vessel had loaded 10,429 tons of iron ore and had
sailed from Port Arthur at 10:55 p.m. on June 3. The captain was in
charge of the watch till midnight when the first mate, James Morrey
relieved him for the midnight until 6 a.m. watch. The evidence
indicated that the first mate was overtired and the report emphasizes
the fact that "James Morrey was a man of wide experience on the
Great Lakes, that he was most efficient, and that he had an excellent
record previous to this unfortunate accident."

Recommendations of the Court of Investigation are as follows:
1. We recommend that some system be evolved, either by
employing a third mate or otherwise, if feasible, to prevent a mate or
other officer from taking charge of a ship when he is suffering from
loss of sleep or is in a state of exhaustion by reason of his duties.
We find that the eight-hour day prevails with the engine room officers
and crew but not with the officers in the forward end. We cannot
understand why the eight-hour day should not prevail throughout the
ship, and we would so recommend.

2. The evidence does not disclose, and so far as we know
there is no requirement by which a ship is equipped with a system of
electrical gongs, throughout the ship, to be used in case of a disaster,
such as collision, fire or grounding. We recommend that a regulation
be passed requiring all Lake vessels to be so equipped.

3. In our opinion, the evidence does not disclose that
sufficient lifeboat and fire drills were held to familiarize the changing
crew with their proper stations and proper duties, in order that the

183

same may be carried out speedily and efficiently. We recommend that
lifeboat drill and fire drill be held weekly during the summer season
and that at least twice during the navigation period, apart from the
spring inspection, that lifeboat drill and fire drill be held in the
presence of and under the supervision of, an officer from the
Department of Steamboat Inspection.

4. In view of the submissions made we have given
consideration to whether or not wooden lifeboats should be used. We
are of the opinion that wooden lifeboats are far superior to any other.

The evidence submitted before the Court of Investigation
showed that the vessel was in a good and seaworthy condition as
regards hull, machinery, lifesaving and other equipment. All necessary
charts and sailing directions were on board and in addition, the
following equipment in excess of Department of Transport regulations
had been installed: gyro compass, echo sounding machine,
ship-to-shore radio telephone and radio direction finder.

The Board of Investigation fully exonerates the master, Captain
Eldon Walkinshaw, and says: "We are of the opinion that under all the
circumstances he did everything possible most promptly and
efficiently." He sent out a distress signal by radio immediately after
the vessel struck, in response of which the United States Coast Guard
vessel KIMBALL, located nearby, came to render assistance. In this
connection, the report says "We cannot commend too highly the
action of the captain and crew of the KIMBALL for the prompt
assistance which they rendered." As a result, 21 of the crew were
saved. Most of those who lost their lives were in the second lifeboat
which was being launched and was sucked down when the EMPEROR
sank.

Newspaper stories at the time of EMPEROR'S loss compared the high shipwreck
concentration at the northeastern end of Isle Royale to Keweenaw Point and
Whitefish Point, which had been known as the "Graveyard of the Great Lakes" (Port
Arthur News Chronicle June 4, 1947). Most of the wrecks that occurred at
Keweenaw Point were ships driven ashore during storms. The wrecks on Whitefish
Point have been due primarily to vessels converging into the narrow channel leading
out of the Upper Lake, and then colliding, usually during fog. The Isle Royale wrecks
have been principally attributed to a "combination of storms and mistaking the
travel routes, the latter, in former days particularly, being due to magnetic
disturbances which sometimes affect the steamer compasses in that area" (Port
Arthur News Chronicle June 4, 1947.)

The loss of EMPEROR was the worst disaster on the Great Lakes since the year
1942, when three incidents were recorded: 25 drowned in a launch in Georgian Bay,
14 elsewhere in a tug, and 18 in a barge in Lake Erie. EMPEROR'S demise was the
first event on Lake Superior resulting in a loss of life since 1940, when the steamer
ARLINGTON went down in a gale with the loss of one crew member. The worst
year on Lake Superior prior to the EMPEROR wreck was 1927, when KAMLOOPS
disappeared in a storm with 22 crew aboard (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette June 4,
1947). The worst year since the turn of the century on the Great Lakes was 1913,
when a 2-day November storm wrecked 13 vessels, and 240 people drowned. It
was estimated that, since the turn of the century, more than 100 ships have gone
down on the Great Lakes, and more than 2,000 seamen have lost their lives
(Winnipeg Free Press June 4, 1947).

184

EMPEROR was the most recent large ship to be wrecked on Isle Royale.

Salvage

The first diver to view the remains of the EMPEROR was E.J. (Doc) Fowler. On
Thursday, June 12, 1947, Fowler made three dives of about 30 minutes duration in
an attempt to recover some of the bodies of those still missing from the wreck
(Port Arthur News Chronicle June 14, 1947). The dives had been planned to take
place during the original search operations carried out by COASTAL QUEEN after the
wreck, but weather conditions did not allow them to be done.

There are no records of commercial salvage on EMPEROR. Soon after the advent of
scuba diving, EMPEROR became a popular diving attraction in Lake Superior. The
continued exploration of EMPEROR led to the discovery of what Fowler sought. In
1975, the clothed and preserved remains of one of the crew was discovered by
sport divers in the area of the engine room (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette Sept. 2
and 3, 1975). The body was discovered by members of the Inland Divers Club of
Duluth and was reported to the National Park Service. Park headquarters said that
no further diving attempts to recover the remains were planned due to the depth
and the difficulty in reaching the remains (Daily Mining Gazette Sept. 3, 1975). The
remains were reportedly removed by Canadian divers and sunk in deep water.
Occasional reports of additional remains have reached the Park Service. However,
none have been verified.

185

J ;

..I,..., ^
-Llftl

■■ ■»

EMPEROR

Fig. 4.26. 525-foot long, Canada Steamship Lines' bulk freighter EMPEROR, the
largest ship built in Canada at the time of launch. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4.27. Port side view of EMPEROR as it appeared when lost in June 1947. U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

186

KAMLOOPS: HISTORY

Construction

KAMLOOPS was built in England by Furness Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. at its shipyard at
Haverton Hill on Tees in 1924. Built for Steamships, Ltd. of Montreal, Canada for use
in the Great Lakes package trade, the single-screw, steel freighter was designed as
a canaler, with dimensions appropriate for passage through the Welland Canal
system. Its primary intended function was to transport package freight, but it could
also carry bulk cargo.

The specific vessel type in the Great Lakes known as "canalers" began with the
opening of the Welland Canal in 1829. These vessels were built close to the
maximum dimensions that would allow their passage through the locks. The
original locks required a ship's length to be less than 110 feet, the beam no more
than 22 feet, and a draft of less than 8 feet. The Welland Canal was expanded to
accommodate a 9-foot draft in 1850, and a 10-foot draft in 1872 (Murphy
1966:393). By 1887, improvements permitted vessels up to 256 feet long, 44 feet
wide with a draft of 14 feet (nearly double in length over those of 1829) to clear the
locks and canal system from Lake Ontario to Montreal (Mills 1910:226-7).

KAMLOOPS had a length between perpendiculars of 250 feet, molded breadth of 42
3/4 feet and a molded depth of 26 1/2 feet. Its deadweight capacity was 2,400 tons
on a 14-ft. draft (Canadian Railway and Marine World July 1924). KAMLOOPS was of
the vessel type built to the maximum possible canal dimensions.

At each improvement of the locks, the older vessels became obsolete because of
their increasing competitive disadvantage with the larger ships. Had KAMLOOPS not
wrecked on Isle Royale in 1927, it might have become outdated when the canal
improvements begun in 1913 were completed. The Welland Canal in 1932 allowed
vessels to pass measuring 715 feet long with a draft of 30 feet. The locks could
accept vessels with a beam of 80 feet (Murphy 1966:394). However, LETHBRIDGE,
the sister ship of KAMLOOPS, survived until it was scrapped in 1961, two years after
the larger Saint Lawrence Seaway opened (Greenwood 1973:125).

Steamships Ltd., the company that ordered both sister ships built, was a subsidiary
of Canada Steamship Lines, Ltd., and all of its principal company executives were
also officers of Canada Steamship Lines. Steamships, Ltd. was incorporated in
November 1923, stating its purposes as "to carry on the business of transportation
of passengers, freight, etc., towing, wrecking and salvage in or over any of the
navigable waters within or bordering on Canada, and to or from any foreign port,
and various other businesses connected therewith" (Canadian Railway and Marine
World August 1924:422-3).

The first of the two new ships slid down the ways on May 20, 1924, after being
christened KAMLOOPS by Agnes Black, daughter of the Canada Steamship Lines
superintendent. LETHBRIDGE followed on June 14. A fairly complete description of
KAMLOOPS was published in Canadian Railway and Marine World in July 1924 (p.
370):

KAMLOOPS is built on the longitudinal system of framing, with upper,
shelter, and forecastle decks. The double bottom, extending all fore
and aft, and the peak tanks, are arranged for water ballast, and a
water-tight cofferdam is fitted at the sides of [the] fore hold to give
added protection to the cargo to meet the severe conditions of the

187

service. The captain's accommodation and chart-room are in house
on [the] forecastle deck, with [the] steering wheel in [the] teak Texas
house above. Special attention has been given to the
accommodation[s] for the officers and crew in [the] forecastle, and
engineers and firemen in [the] deck-house aft. The whole of the
accommodation is heated by steam radiators, and electric lighting is
to be installed. A powerful steam windlass is fitted in [the] forecastle,
and special pockets are arranged in the hull to house the anchors.
The cargo gear, consisting of 4 sampson posts, each having one 5-ton
derrick, is operated by one 8x12-inch and two 7x10-inch steam cargo
winches, and mooring arrangements are carried out by means of four
6x10-inch steam mooring winches. A hoisting gear, consisting of 13
winches driven through shafting by a double-cylinder vertical steam
engine, will be fitted in the upper 'tween decks for discharging cargo.
A steam steering gear will be fitted in [the] after 'tween decks and
controlled by shafting from [the] wheelhouse forward and boat deck
aft. The propelling machinery consists of a set of triple expansion
inverted marine engines, having cylinders of 18, 30, and 50 inches
diameter, and a stroke of 36 inches. Steam is supplied by two
single-ended boilers 13.6 feet in diameter by 11 feet long, working at
a pressure of 185 lbs.

The Canadian Transcript of Register (Nov. 7, 1926, Montreal) gives additional
information on KAMLOOPS' registry record and construction. Apparently, the ship
remained under British registry No. 154 until 1926. There is a mistake in the
recording of the official number on the Transcript of Register, as two registration
records exist for KAMLOOPS in the Public Archives of Canada. One register with
overstamps reads: "Registery Of Shipping May 26 1926 Marine and Fisheries";
"Registery of Shipping Dec 27 1927 Marine and Fisheries"; and "Registery of
Shipping Jun 30 1937 Dept. of Transport" (RG 12 Vol. 3028) gives the official number
as 147682. The other, apparently a later version of the Transcript of Register, with
two overstamps, reads: "National Revenue Canada 20 Jan 1926 Registrateur
Maritime Montreal, P.O." and gives the official number as 147,687. The earlier one
(147,682) is probably correct.

According to the registers, the ship had two decks and two schooner-rigged masts,
fore and mizzen, and was classed as clincher-built, with an elliptical stern. The hull
contained five bulkheads, four of which were water-tight, and six water-ballast tanks
with a capacity of 699 tons. The depth of hold from the tonnage deck to ceiling at
midships was 24.3 feet, with the depth from the top of the deck at the side
amidships to the bottom of the keel 26.65 feet. The hull had a very sharp chine.
The round of bilge was 8.3 tenths of a foot.

The triple-expansion engine and the Scotch boilers were made specifically for
KAMLOOPS by Richardson, Westgarth and Co., Ltd. of Hartlepool, England, and rated
at 1,000 indicated horsepower. The engine could push the ship at an estimated
speed of 9 1/2 knots.

The tonnage particulars give a perspective on hull volume configuration. A total of
2,226.09 tons are recorded under the tonnage deck. In addition, the forecastle
measured 49.72 tons, and the deck houses 125.73 tons, including two tons for
access of hatchway. Thus the ship's gross tonnage totaled 2401.54. Deductions
yield a register tonnage of 1,747.79 tons.

188

KAMLOOPS completed its builder's trial on July 5, 1924 and proceeded to
Copenhagen to load the first cargo, which was bound for Montreal. The ship went
on to Houghton, Michigan. The vessel, along with its sister, would run regularly
between Montreal and Fort William, Ontario carrying package freight west and grain
east (Canadian Railway and Marine World Oct. 1924:527).

Operational History

KAMLOOPS' first season on the Lakes started late, when its maiden upbound
passage began on September 13, 1924 (Detroit Free Press Sept. 14, 1924) under
Capt. William Brian and engineer T.W. Verity (Great Lakes Red Book 1925: 51). The
new package freighter had arrived from Copenhagen shortly before its sister ship
LETHBRIDGE, which reached Montreal on September 18 (Canadian Railway and
Marine World Oct. 1924:527). A cargo of pebbles was brought from Denmark for the
Calumet and Hecla Mining Company in Calumet, Michigan. Here the crew which
sailed on the maiden voyage was replaced by a crew of Lake sailors (Calumet News
Aug. 24, 1924; Dec 14, 1927). KAMLOOPS passed Port Colborne on the Welland
Canal on September 22 downbound for the first time (Detroit Free Press Sept. 23,
1924).

The first season set the pattern for KAMLOOPS, whose owners continued to operate
as long as possible each season. The canaller weathered a severe storm on its last
downbound run of the 1924 season on December 13 and 14 when winds of 50 to 60
miles per hour and a temperature of 6° below claimed at least one vessel believed
wrecked near Eagle Harbor on the Keewenaw peninsula. After the storm,
KAMLOOPS, along with MIDLAND PRINCE, MIDLAND KING AND LETHBRIDGE, each
with a load of grain, were all reported downbound on Lake Superior, while other
vessels were laid up in the shelter of Isle Royale (Marquette Daily Mining Journal
Dec. 15, 1924). The four ships soon became trapped by ice in the St. Mary's River,
and two tugs of the Great Lakes Towing Company were dispatched to assist them.
Those four vessels were the last of the 1924 season to pass through the locks
(Marquette Daily Mining Journal Dec. 17, 1924).

The 1925 season began for KAMLOOPS in April, when it cleared Sault Ste. Marie on
the 20th at 3:30 upbound, and again on the 23rd downbound (Detroit Free Press
April 21, 23, 1925). In October the freighter was held up with 10 others of the grain
fleet during a downbound run by the grounding of W. H. DANIELS in the Welland
canal aqueduct (Detroit Free Press Oct 12, 1925). The remainder of the season was
uneventful.

The first downbound run of the 1926 season began May 3, when KAMLOOPS cleared
Detroit at 3:00 am (Detroit Free Press May 4, 1926). The ship ended its third season
like the first — stuck in the ice. This time there were not four ships stuck in the St.
Mary's River ice, but more than 100. The 100 ships were caught in the channel near
Neebish Island on December 3, the same location where KAMLOOPS had been
trapped earlier. That event was the largest ice jam in the history of upper Lakes
shipping, according to contemporary references. The soft ice halted all progress of
the steamers, and even the powerful tugs made only slow headway through the
slush that in places was 12 feet thick. The problem was increased by the fact that
there were about 2,000 people aboard the jammed ships, and supplies ran short
(Detroit Free Press Dec. 4, 1926).

189

The weather worsened, and a 35-mile-an-hour northeast wind pushed the
temperature to 12 below zero, turning the slush to ice. Every available tug in the
vicinity was summoned, and the steel car ferry SAINTE MARIE was brought out to
assist in the struggle to free the trapped fleet. Truck loads of food were shuttled to
the ships by the tugs (Detroit Free Press Dec. 5, 1926).

On December 5, seven inches of snow fell, further complicating the rescue effort,
which at this time was assisting 40 upbound and 65 downbound boats in the
channel. The shortage of coal became critical on some vessels, and efforts were
begun to purchase coal from the upbound carriers because none was available at
the Sault. During this blockade more vessels left Port Arthur loaded with grain to
get their last run in before the ice got too thick to be broken by the harbor tugs
(Detroit Free Press Dec. 6, 1926). These vessels fell in behind those already
ice-bound in the St. Mary's River.

The upbound fleet was released the next day, but the number of trapped downbound
vessels grew to 70. The principal obstruction was COULEE, which was stuck nearly
crosswise in the channel. Ten thousand tons of coal were purchased by the Lake
Carriers' Association, whose members were losing an estimated $50,000 a day as a
result of the ice jam, although Sault merchants were making $15,000 a day from
providing supplies to the inert grain fleet (Detroit Free Press Dec. 7, 9, 1926).

By December 7, the number of blocked Lake carriers reached 90. Experts arrived in
growing numbers, as representatives of companies and the now idle grain elevators
joined the effort. COULEE was released, but the next ship in line, GENERAL
GARRETSON, became trapped, halting further rescue efforts for that day (Detroit Free
Press Dec. 8, 1926).

The trapped grain carriers, now more than 100, began moving down the river
December 8, but were held up for another 12 hours (Detroit Free Press Dec. 9,
1926). Twenty-six freighters were freed on December 9 (Detroit Free Press Dec. 10,
1926). However, KAMLOOPS was not one of the fortunate vessels, being 39th in line
(Detroit Free Press Dec. 9, 1926). In a list of vessels freed from the ice on
December 10 that was published in the Detroit Free Press (Dec. 11), KAMLOOPS is
not mentioned, and therefore must have been released on the 11th after being
trapped in the ice for 9 days. It was KAMLOOPS last voyage of the 1927 season.

Open water was visible April 7 for the first time of the 1927 season at Port Arthur,
when an ice breaker opened a channel for the downbound freighters (Cleveland
Plain Dealer April 8, 1927). KAMLOOPS cleared Sault Ste. Marie upbound for the
recently opened Port Arthur during the first run of the new season on April 20
(Cleveland Plain Dealer April 21, 1927). The vessel was reported in Fort William on
April 22, and had cleared downbound on the 23rd (Cleveland Plain Dealer April 23,
24, 1927). KAMLOOPS cleared the Sault at 9:00 a.m. on the 25th (Cleveland Plain
Dealer April 26, 1927).

KAMLOOPS was technically under new ownership the 1926 season. On October 11,
Canada Steamship Lines bought the vessel from Steamships, Ltd. On October 28,
1926 the registry listed a mortgage dated October 19, for $50,000,000 (although the
amount seems unlikely) loaned at 6 percent yearly interest by Montreal Trust
Company.

The dealings between steamship companies and the various financial institutions
have not been researched by historians. The relationship between Steamships, Ltd.

190

and Canada Steamship Lines, Ltd. should interest historians studying the
development of capitalist enterprise on the Lakes, for the officers were the same for
both companies, and the addresses of their principal places of business were the
same. The details of this arrangement should shed light on the business practices
of ship owners of the period.

Wreck Event

The last trip of the 1927 season would be KAMLOOPS' final trip. The doomed vessel
cleared Port Colborne, Ontario on the Welland Canal upbound on December 1 at
9:30 AM (Detroit Free Press Dec. 2, 1927). The ship passed Detroit at 11:30.
Apparently KAMLOOPS passed through the Soo on December 4 in the company of
QUEDOC, a 345-foot bulk freighter (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 13, 1927).
From Saulte Ste. Marie, Capt. Brian wrote his wife in Toronto, saying that the
weather was very bad and that he was going out to anchor his ship (Ibid. Dec. 14,
1927). Mrs. Brian expected her husband home for the winter season six days later
on Saturday, December 10.

The giant freeze-up of vessels the year before was still fresh in memory as the
1927 navigation season drew to a close. A rumor had circulated from Buffalo that
Lake ships, fearing another blockade, would end their season on November 30, but
executives of Canada Steamship Lines denied the rumor. A company official was
quoted in the Fort William Daily Times Journal on November 29: "We will run our
ships as long as the weather holds good, and as long as there is grain to carry.
The experience we had last year does not deter us because we realize that a thing
like that may not happen again for another 50 years." The executive's declaration
would prove ironic on two counts: Company vessels would be lost in 1927, and
others would end their season icebound in the very same channel as the year
before (Detroit Free Press Dec. 15, 16, 1927).

The day following the executive's statement, a 36 mile-an-hour northeast wind
began, causing the upbound vessels to shelter overnight on November 30 at
Whitefish Point and the Welcome Islands. The temperature was 8°F. at Duluth, 10 F.
at Port Arthur, and storm warnings were raised at the Soo. The temperature
continued to drop as a massive cold front advanced from the northwest (Sault Daily
Star Dec. 1, 1927). This cold front would be closely followed by a worse storm.

Insurance rates were raised at midnight, November 30, reflecting the increased risk
of late-season navigation. The rates were raised again on December 5, and
underwriters ceased all coverage by midnight on the 12th. Navigation aids and
lightkeepers were removed from the Lakes by that time (Sault Daily Star Dec. 1,
1927; Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 1, 1927).

Meanwhile, the Booth Fisheries' steamer AMERICA was reported to have arrived at
Port Arthur on December 3, ice-covered after passing through the storm. The
vessel carried a load of salt and was to return to Duluth with a cargo of salted
herring (Port Arthur News-Chronicle Dec. 3, 1927).

The storm increased as the second front arrived, sweeping Lake Superior with high
winds on December 5. Upbound vessels, including KAMLOOPS, had been delayed
and anchored at Whitefish Bay. The downbound grain fleet had weathered the
storm at Fort William. VALCARTIER, the first ship to reach the Soo, arrived heavily
laden with a thick coating of ice, and reported temperatures of 40 degrees below
during the storm (Sault Daily Star Dec. 6, 1927).

191

The financial pressure of the December 5 increase in the insurance rates had
prompted furious activity at the Lakehead grain port. Eighteen ships of the grain
fleet were loaded by the Port Arthur elevators, which worked at maximum capacity
to clear the fleet before the insurance rates went up. All but three made it before
the rate changed (Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 6, 1927).

Storm signals were raised once again on December 7, as a northeast wind began
blowing at 20 to 30 miles per hour. The temperature dropped to 10 degrees below
at Port Arthur. The passenger steamer ASSINIBOIA was loading flour to begin its
downbound voyage as soon as the weather cleared (Port Arthur News Chronicle
Dec. 7, 1927). The next day the same paper announced that no vessels had entered
Port Arthur or Fort William for the last 36 hours (Ibid Dec 8). The winds would
soon exceed 60 miles per hour, and later 80 before the storm subsided.

The storm became a major blizzard. The weather remained at sub-zero levels with
lows of 10-38 degrees F. below zero reported. The gale was responsible for at
least eight deaths in Alberta. More than 30 people on land lost their lives during
this storm (Detroit Free Press Dec. 10, 1927), which was so severe that train service
between St. Paul, Winnipeg and Minneapolis was suspended on the 7th (Fort William
Daily Times Journal Dec. 8, 1927.

The situation on the Lakes grew worse as the storm raged the 7th and 8th. Damage
reports began filtering in on the 9th: the bulk freighter AGAWA was aground in
Lake Huron, being pounded to pieces; all efforts to rescue the 23 stranded crew
members were thwarted by the weather. At least 20 other vessels were in distress
or missing. Seven downbound grain ships were overdue at Detroit. Winds of 84
miles an hour broke four vessels and a passenger steamer from their moorings at
Detroit. An unidentified boat (which turned out to be the bulk freighter E.W.
OGLEBAY) ran aground at Shot Point; MARTIAN, another bulk freighter, ran aground
in Thunder Bay; ALTADOC was aground at Keweenaw Point. In Lake Erie three
steamers ran aground with a total of 81 men aboard (Detroit Free Press Dec. 10,
1927). In all, five vessels were eventually declared a total loss by the
underwriters — KAMLOOPS was among the missing.

The steel package freighter WINNIPEG arrived in Port Arthur on Friday the 9th with
the news that the crew had seen KAMLOOPS at Whitefish Bay on Tuesday (Dec. 6).
When the storm first broke, WINNIPEG had laid up in Whitefish Bay, but left during a
lull. At the upper end of the Lake, thick fog slowed its progress and an anchor was
set. The early morning light revealed that WINNIPEG was only a few hundred yards
from rocks and had just narrowly missed becoming a casualty of the storm.
WINNIPEG arrived in port covered with tons of ice on the deck, white with frost.

A crewman of WINNIPEG described his five-day ordeal (Port Arthur News Chronicle

Dec. 10, 1927):

I have never seen anything like it in my 20 years of sailing. The storm
was bad enough, but to get a combination of gales, fogs, and 20°
below zero weather all at the same time is something that has given
many a mariner nerves this last few days.

The same report stated that a gang was at work unloading the ship and cutting
away tons of ice so that "the steamer, like a good many more, will make 'one more
trip' to the east before the close of navigation."

192

By December 12, grave concern was mounting regarding the fate of KAMLOOPS,
which was now overdue at Ft. Willliam. No word of the ship had been received
other than that brought by WINNIPEG; KAMLOOPS carried no wireless. [Wireless
was not required on all Lake ships at this time, although many carried them as
safety equipment. Wireless was required on all vessels carrying 50 or more
persons (Sault Daily Star Ontario Dec. 14, 1927).]

At least three other vessels were missing: SASKATOON, a Canada Steamship Lines
package freighter; BROOKTON, a bulk freighter also owned by CSL; and the tug
CHAMPLAIN (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 12, 1927). All but KAMLOOPS would
soon be located.

News of another victim of the storm circulated: LAMBTON, a steel canaller similar
to KAMLOOPS, was discovered wrecked on Parisienne Island in Lake Superior (Sault
Daily Star Dec. 12, 1927; Fort William Daily Times Journal Dec. 12, 1927)

The ordeal of the survivors of the wrecked vessels ALTADOC, AGAWA and LAMBTON
give a view of the conditions that KAMLOOPS faced. The Coast Guard dory that
attempted the removal of ALTADOC's crew became frozen in the ice, and was freed
only after 16 attempts by the cutter CRAWFORD to break a lane to the boat.
AGAWA's crew was trapped aboard without food or heat for three days, and during
that time the stranded vessel was covered with ice 4 to 6 feet thick. The captain,
who retired after that voyage, reported being battered by 40-foot waves that swept
away the smokestack, spars and top deck (Detroit Free Press Dec. 12, 1927). Two
suicides were reported aboard LAMBTON by crew members unable to withstand the
severe conditions. These deaths, reported as suicides, may have been attempts to
swim to shore.

A search for KAMLOOPS began in earnest December 12. ISLET PRINCE, commanded
by A.E. Fader, began searching the north shore (Ft. William Daily Times Journal Dec.

12, 1927). The government tug MURRAY STEWART left from the Soo to join the
search (Sarnia Canadian Observer Dec 13, 1927). W.J. King, assistant manager of
Canada Steamship Lines, announced his company was in communication with
officials in Ottawa, and had requested the use of a government plane to aid the
search (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec 12 1927).

Speculation on the whereabouts of KAMLOOPS centered on Isle Royale. Captain R.
Simpson of QUEDOC arrived at the Soo and discovered KAMLOOPS still on the
unreported list. He gave the following account (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec.

13, 1927):

The QUEDOC passed upbound December 4. Beside her was the
KAMLOOPS upbound loaded with package freight, with 21 [sic] men
aboard, and captained by William Brian. The QUEDOC was leading and
the KAMLOOPS was one-quarter of a mile astern. At ten o'clock
Tuesday night [Dec 6], the lookout on the steamer QUEDOC suddenly
saw a dark mass ahead, and gave the alarm immediately. The
QUEDOC turned sharply to avoid running head on into the rocks at the
same time blowing the danger signal to the KAMLOOPS. A north gale
was blowing, there was a heavy sea, and it was rough going. The
visibility was poor, on account of frost fog, and it is not known if the
KAMLOOPS saw the rock or heard the signal. The KAMLOOPS has not
been seen or heard of since. She had no wireless aboard.

193

Finally the weather cleared, and there was no wind on December 12 when the last
grain carriers of the season departed the Canadian Lakehead (Owen Sound Daily Sun
Times Dec. 13). All departing vessels had been alerted to watch for wreckage.
Searching vessels benefited from the fair weather, however, there was still no trace
of KAMLOOPS (Sault Daily Star Dec. 13, 1927).

A report circulated that the lost ship KAMLOOPS was aground at Keweenaw Point.
Brock Batten, the CSL general agent at Port Arthur, reported that the Coast Guard at
Eagle Harbor had been requested to search the Point. Evidently that agency had
been contacted by the Chicago-based marine insurance underwriters (Port Arthur
News Chronicle Dec. 13; Calumet News Dec. 13). The cutter CRAWFORD was unable
to respond because of heavy ice in the harbor, and damage to its props incurred
during the rescue of the ALTADOC crew. The Keweenaw was searched by lifeboat
to no avail (Detroit Free Press Dec. 14, 1927; Houghton Daily Mining Gazette Dec.
14,1927; Calumet News Dec. 14, 1927; Sault Daily Star Dec. 15, 1927). The
Keweenaw was searched by the tug CHAMPLAIN (Ft. William Daily Times Journal
Dec. 14; Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 14, 1927). Both searches would prove
futile.

Apparently, the rumor that KAMLOOPS was aground on Keweenaw Point had
originated at the American Soo, relayed to Buffalo, and then to Chicago, from
whence it was forwarded to the steamship company (Port Arthur News Chronicle
Dec. 14). The search for KAMLOOPS on the Keweenaw Peninsula was unsuccessful,
and the ship's whereabouts remained unknown.

Three hundred square miles of water and more than a thousand miles of rugged
coastline had been searched with negative results (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times
Dec. 15 1927). As hope for the safe return of KAMLOOPS and its crew dimmed,
speculation of Lakes sailors and captains began to appear in the regional press.
"Either her cargo shifted and she keeled over, or she ran aground on some rocks
and was wrecked" (Ft. Wm. Daily Times Journal Dec. 14, 1927). Another paper
(Houghton Daily Mining Gazette Dec. 14, 1927) added:

Marine men agree that the only hope for the safety of the KAMLOOPS
is the chance it might have made a successful run to the north
Canadian shore where it either ran ashore or is laying to in some
isolated harbor, probably frozen in or has run aground somewhere on
the Keweenaw.

KAMLOOPS was carrying a heavy cargo. Included in the cargo was valuable
machinery, made in England for the Thunder Bay Paper Company (Ft. William Daily
Times Journal Dec. 14, 1927). There was also a full deck load on board. Captain
Harry Lavers of the steamer J. FRATER TAYLOR described seeing KAMLOOPS during
his downbound trip (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 14 1927):

I passed quite close to the KAMLOOPS somewhere between Caribou
Island and Michipicoten Island, and while it was blowing fairly hard at
that time, I did not think there was any danger, although I thought
about her safety after we had passed her. There was another
freighter going with her, but she was some little distance away, and I
could not say what boat it was, but I know that one of the two boats
was carrying quite a heavy deck load, and I am of the impression that
it was the one nearest to us, which would be the KAMLOOPS.
The ship seen by Lavers accompanying KAMLOOPS must have been QUEDOC.

194

The deck load described may have been a factor in the sinking of KAMLOOPS. Ice
was discussed as a possible factor in its loss, as the possibility of finding a trace of
the ship or of the survivors making it to shore grew more grim (New York Times
Dec. 15, 1927):

It is believed that the missing vessel, fighting against the mountainous
waves which swept Superior last week, foundered when the weight of
ice formed by the huge waves as they dashed against the vessel in
sub-zero weather made the ship unmanageable and brought disaster
while she was far from port or sheltered inlet.

A "well known mariner" later added (Sault Daily Star Dec. 17, 1927):

The KAMLOOPS went up the Lake with a deck load of fence wire ...
and I am of the opinion that this is what swamped her. The wire was
piled high, and water washing over the deck would immediately freeze
there. It would be impossible to remove it, and the cargo and ice
would make one huge, heavy and solid mass. It would be impossible
to remove the ice or the deck load under such conditions. Other
boats have nearly come to grief in Lake Superior from the same
cause. I suggest this as being responsible for the loss of the
KAMLOOPS, and I believe I am right. The KAMLOOPS became over
weighted with the wire and ice and turned over and sank.

The speculation of the mariners of the Lakehead was somewhat different (Port

Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 16, 1927):

Unless something unforeseen has happened, broken
steering gear or sprung plates, the KAMLOOPS could
have made some beach or shore line, is the general
opinion of mariners. The KAMLOOPS was a staunch
vessel, heavily loaded perhaps, but nonetheless the ship
could have been able to weather the storm, or seek
shelter. Mariners do not think the Captain of the
KAMLOOPS would allow sufficient ice to form on their
decks to put her in danger of sinking. He probably knew
his position and, if danger of that kind had arisen, it is
more than likely the Captain would have made a run for
shore to beach his vessel, is another opinion.

As more time passed without a trace of wreckage, and hope was reluctantly
abandoned, the general feeling grew that KAMLOOPS would remain a Lakes mystery
(Sault Daily Star Dec. 14, 1927). The Coast Guard ceased its search of the
Keweenaw in the face of heavy seas and ice, and suggested concentrating efforts
on the shores of Isle Royale and Manitou Islands (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
Dec. 16, 1927). The ISLET PRINCE, which had seen no wreckage, was called back to
port by CSL officials. Evidently, no planes were employed in the search for
KAMLOOPS (Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 15 1927). MIDLAND PRINCE and
MURRAY STEWART had also been unsuccessful (Owen Daily Sun Times Dec. 13,
1927).

Company officials, however, remained optimistic. Alex Auld, Canada Steamship Lines
superintendent in Toronto, issued a nress dispatch, saying "We have every hope of
hearing from the KAMLOOPS yet." He pointed out there was no probability of the
ship's food supplies giving out and, as it had no wireless, there was nothing to
indicate it was not lying in some sheltered spot inaccessible from land. Auld also

195

said there was "not the slightest" possibility that the boat's cargo had shifted,
causing the ship to turn turtle (Ft. William Daily Times Journal Dec. 16, 1927).

Isle Royale and Manitou Island represented the last shred of hope for the searchers.
Captain Henry Gehl of the tug CHAMPLAIN believed every bay of Isle Royale should
be inspected. "I would like to give the Isle the once-over to be certain. It might be
that some member or members of the crew got ashore and are wandering about
the island. It must be made certain that no one is on the island before the search
for the missing steamer is given up as hopeless" he said (Port Arthur News
Chronicle Dec. 16, 1927).

Capt. Gehl was not alone in his belief that survivors might be on Isle Royale.
Another tug captain, Sam Wright, said that practically every tug captain, mate and
engineer was ready to start a close search of the shore of Isle Royale, and the
waters and islands between Port Arthur and the big island, to ascertain the fate of
the freighter KAMLOOPS. Wright believed that the missing ship would be found
ice-locked on the inner side of Isle Royale between Washington Harbor and Gull
Rocks, a stretch of 15 miles of sheer rock where there is no shelter for ships, or
else in one of the numerous bays and island-sheltered nooks that extend from Gull
Rocks to the outer point of the island (Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 17, 1927).
The prospect of finding survivors still alive on Isle Royale was considered remote
(Daily Mining Journal, Marquette Dec. 16, 1927).

The Fort William agents of Canada Steamship Lines informed the Eagle Harbor Coast
Guard that they planned to charter the Dominion Towing and Salvage tug JAMES
WHALEN. The tug was to leave Port Arthur on Friday, December 16, to search for
KAMLOOPS, proceeding to Isle Royale first and then to Keweenaw, circling the end
of the peninsula and Manitou Island (Daily Mining Journal, Marquette Dec. 17, 1927).

One newspaper report, if accurate, changes what is known of the last days of
KAMLOOPS. According to the Port Arthur News Chronicle, December 17, 1927, the
crew of MARTIAN said that it had almost collided with KAMLOOPS in heavy fog on
December 9. This is the only reference located regarding any such occurrence, and
may be a case of mistaken identity.

Further efforts to find the missing boat would be undertaken by the company. Tug
JAMES WHALEN, carrying extra food and warm clothing, left Fort William on the
night of December 19, three days later than announced, to search for KAMLOOPS
(Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 20, 1927). Indications are that this search was a
combined mission, for the tug would also pick up lighthouse keepers ending their
season (Ibid Dec. 21, 1927). The reason for WHALEN's delay from the first notice of
its pending search on December 16 was not stated in this reference. Apparently it
was involved in channel clearing operations (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 22,
1927).

Company officials received a telegram from JAMES WHALEN on December 21 saying
the tug had made a circuit of Isle Royale without finding any trace of the missing
steamer. "That the KAMLOOPS was flung against some jutting boulder, cracking in
two and sinking almost immediately, now appears the logical solution to the
mystery" (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette Dec. 22, 1927).

JAMES WHALEN, with two Canada Steamship Lines captains aboard, searched around
Manitou Island and off Keweenaw on the south shore of Lake Superior. The tug
returned to Port Arthur about 10:00 p.m. on the 22nd and reported no trace of

196

KAMLOOPS. WHALEN's return marked the official close of the 1927 navigation
season (Port Arthur Daily News Chronicle Dec. 23, 1927; New York Times, Dec. 24,
1927).

During JAMES WHALEN's search for KAMLOOPS, public concern mounted. Citizen
pressures to find the missing canaller grew, as did the number of rumors. Letters
and editorials on the ship appeared in newspapers in increasing numbers. One
popular editorial topic was the need to change regulations to require that all boats
carry wireless equipment (e.g., Sault Daily Star Dec. 23, 1927; Port Arthur Daily News
Chronicle Dec. 23, 1927).

Assertion of the continued possibility of the ship being ice-bound in a remote area
was frequently mentioned in letters to the editor (e.g., Owen Sound Daily Sun Times
Dec. 24, 1927). The suggestion that the government should patrol the coast by
airplane again appeared. Pressure was also exerted on the government to continue
the search with ice-breaking tugs, although none were available at the west end of
the Lake. Telegrams had been sent by the Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce and
private businessmen to the Minister of Marine and Fisheries in Ottawa, urging that
government tugs be employed. These people were assured by the Ministry that it
had been in constant touch with the owners of the vessel "with the idea of leaving
nothing within reason undone to ascertain the whereabouts of the missing ship"
(Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 20, 21, 1927).

Rumors circulated widely. The charge that the Canada Steamship Lines was
dropping the search and not doing all it could was raised in Fort William and Port
Arthur. The company responded through W.J. King, assistant manager of the
company (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec. 22, 1927):

The feeling that Canada Steamship Lines were not pushing the search
for the KAMLOOPS as vigorously as they might, was said by W.J. King
to be absolutely without foundation, and that on the contrary,
everything humanly possible was being done to find some trace of the
vessel and its crew.

On December 23 the rumor that KAMLOOPS had been located by some fishermen
caused a great deal of excitement in the Lakehead port cities. Supposedly the
missing ship was ashore on Manitou Island. JAMES WHALEN was once again
chartered by Canada Steamship Lines, this time for a "roving commission" (Detroit
Free Press Dec. 25, 1927). Again, there were two Canada Steamship Line captains
aboard to supervise the search (Sault Daily Star Dec. 24, 1927). The captains had
been authorized by the company to visit any part of the Lake that in their opinion
should be looked over, to keep the tug out as long as there was any hope, and
otherwise direct operations.

"They have full liberty to go wherever their judgement dictates and to
stay out as long as they think there is any use. They can even go as
far east along the south shore as Marquette," said Brock Batten, agent
for the Canada Steamship Lines.

Isle Royale waters will again be visited by the WHALEN, making
the third time they have been inspected on behalf of the owners of
the KAMLOOPS (Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 24, 1927).

The Canada Steamship Lines head offices at Montreal flew its flag at half mast on
Dec. 24, 1927, a gesture in memory of KAMLOOPS' crew (Ft. William Daily Times
Journal Dec. 24, 1927).

197

JAMES WHALEN was out three days on the final active search for KAMLOOPS. It
returned at 5:00 p.m. on December 26, again without sighting a trace of the missing
vessel. It had been a thorough search, primarily due to a period of calm weather.
The principal search area was around Manitou Island. The only signs of life had
been a wolf and an eagle. WHALEN had circled Pie Island and Angus Island opposite
Thunder Cape. The Canoe Rocks area of Isle Royale was also searched. In all, more
than 500 miles were traveled in the search, which was the first time Christmas Day
stillness had been pierced on mid-Lake Superior (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Dec.
27, 1927; Port Arthur News Chronicle Dec. 27, 1927; Sault Daily Star Dec. 27, 1927).

On December 22, 1927, Arthur Magnan, registrar for the Canadian Marine and
Fisheries, Registry of Shipping, closed KAMLOOP's official registry.

The losses of the season were summarized and the Marquette Daily Mining Journal
provided a picture of what mariners of the next season might expect (Dec. 24, 1927):
The bet with the Storm King lost again, the navigation season has
come to a close with the wreckage of five steamers and hundreds of
thousands of bushels of grain wasted on Lake Superior's and Lake
Huron's bleak waters and shores; one ship, the KAMLOOPS,
presumably on the bottom of Lake Superior with 20 men, two women
and valuable cargo; and the expense of another ice blockade on the
debit side of the shipping ledger.

The fad of last-tripping claimed four victims this year,
landmarks which will be pointed out in 1928 when the merciless wire
ticks out again the order for "that last cargo".

Events of 1928: Discovery of Members of the Crew of KAMLOOPS.

By the beginning of the new year, there was little mention of the loss of
KAMLOOPS. In January the Ontario Workman's Compensation Board judged the
crew lost and were waiting for receipt of the official report so compensation to the
widows and children could begin (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times Jan. 12, 1928;
Detroit Free Press Jan. 17, 1928). It was known that there were two women aboard
KAMLOOPS during its final voyage. Jennet Grafton and Alice Bettridge were the first
and assistant stewardesses. This was to have been the last season on the Lakes for
Grafton; it was the second season for 22 year-old Bettridge (Owen Sound Daily Sun
Times Jan. 12, 1928).

The opening of the 1928 navigation season began April 17, when JAMES WHALEN
began breaking ice at the Lakehead port (Ibid. April 17, 20). The Canada Steamship
Lines planned to have the first ships out of port begin looking for evidence of their
missing vessel. The company intended to systematically search the north shore of
Lake Superior and the entire shore line of Isle Royale. The cutter CRAWFORD would
be dispatched from Eagle Harbor to begin its search as soon as the weather and ice
conditions allowed movement. Some writers held to the slim hope that some of the
crew may have survived the winter.

Ship crews were not the only ones on the lookout for KAMLOOPS' wreckage. A
number of pilots flew into Port Arthur and reported seeing wreckage, at first thought
to be the missing vessel. The wreckage was not that of KAMLOOPS but LAMBTON
(Fort William Daily Times Journal May 16, 1928).

Insurance claims on the missing vessel were settled in February. The net collection
of the insurance on the ship was $214,009.05 (Letter from the Montreal Trust

198

Company to Canada Steamship Lines, Feb. 8, 1928, Queens University Archive,
Kingston). The hull and machinery were insured for a total of $168,100 (Letter from
Montral Trust Co. to Canada Steamship Lines, Feb. 4, 1928). There were 13
companies carrying hull and machinery insurance and 20 companies involved with
disbursements insurance on KAMLOOPS.

On May 26, the electrifying news that the fishermen of Isle Royale had found bodies
believed to belong to the crew of KAMLOOPS reached the newspapers (Calumet
News May 26, 1928; Detroit Free Press May 27, 1928). The cutter CRAWFORD, which
postponed entering the drydock in Duluth at Marine Iron and Shipbuilding for
repairs, went to investigate. Two bodies had been reported found by David Lind
(Duluth News Tribune May 27, 1928).

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter CRAWFORD, flying its flag at half-mast, returned the
sailors of the missing freighter to Port Arthur. Captain Christianson and executive
officer Lt. Woods of CRAWFORD provided the details of the recovery.

The bodies, both wearing life preservers with "KAMLOOPS" stenciled
on them, were reported located near Twelve 0' Clock Point on
Amygdaloid Island (sic) on the north shore of Isle Royale. They were
found along with wreckage of the lost steamer. Fragments of
superstructure, including the top of the wheelhouse, a spar with a flag
on which was printed KAMLOOPS, and a lifeboat were found in the
area between Green Isle and Hawk Island.

Captain. Christianson stated that the wreckage includes all of
the boat's hatches, half a lifeboat and five or six pairs of oars. The
beach is covered with medicine, candy, tooth paste, and foodstuff
carried by the steamer. The reason the steamer was not found until
Saturday was because ice on the little bays is just beginning to melt.
Indications are that the steamer KAMLOOPS can not be very far from
Isle Royale (Duluth News Tribune May 28, 1928).

It is unlikely the bodies were on Amygdaloid Island. It would have required a
southwest wind, rare in the winter, for the bodies to have drifted toward Amygdaloid
Island. Many contemporary sources erroneously reported Amygdaloid as the
location of the bodies. Apparently, Twelve O' Clock Point was believed by some to
be to located on Amygdaloid Island — it is actually located near Todd Harbor on
Isle Royale.

The same paper reported that four other ring buoys, marked "EDWARD CHAMBERS,"
were found among the wreckage. It was believed that these were carried aboard
KAMLOOPS as cargo (also reported in The Evening Telegram [Superior] May 28,
1928).

At Sargent's Funeral Parlor, where the bodies were taken, they were searched for
any evidence that might indicate the identity of the sailors. There was no material
to furnish a clue on one body; the other, however, did produce an identification:
It is thought that the name of one of the men is J. Journeault, for on
his body was found a letter, addressed to him in care of the Sault
Canal post office, written in French. In his pockets also were found a
$10 bill and a check for $60 made out in his favor by the Canada
Steamship Lines (Fort William Daily Times-Journal May 28, 1928).

Journeault's body was sent to L'lslet, Quebec for burial. The unidentified sailor was
buried in Riverside Cemetery at Port Arthur. Brock Batten, Canada Steamship Lines

199

representative, made burial arrangements. He selected the caskets for both men
and secured the cemetery plot for the unknown sailor (Port Arthur News Chronicle
May 28, 1928). Batten made every effort to show respect for the unidentified
employee. The funeral was held at the Riverside Cemetery, and the minister of the
First Presbyterian Church officiated The pallbearers were four Canada Steamship
Lines captains (Ft. William Daily Times Journal May 29, 1928).

The discovery of the bodies and wreckage prompted the Canadians to mount an air
search of the area to locate the other crewmembers and the wreck itself (Owen
Sound Daily Sun Times May 29, 30, 1928). Ontario government hydroplane
NIGHTINGALE searched the Amygdaloid Island coast, but located no additional
wreckage. The pilot reported much ice still in the bays of the area, which delayed
the deployment of a search party. In this account, Capt. Martin Christiansen of the
coastal steamer WINYAH reported seeing wreckage in the area between Hawk and
Green islands. The captain also speculated that the wreck was in deep water, and
accounted for the fact that the ship sank on the north side of the island because of
a possible mishap to the rudder (Port Arthur News Chronicle May 31, 1928).

A detailed description of the probable location of KAMLOOPS was published in the
Calumet News (June 1, 1928; cf. Houghton Daily Mining Gazette June 1, 1928). This
report indicated the loss was not Amygdaloid Island, as was frequently reported in
the press. Captain Christianson of CRAWFORD was quoted as believing that the
wreck was "lying on a rock just off Twelve O'Clock Point on Isle Royale, within 300
feet of the little unnamed bay where [were found] the bodies of two members of
the crew and considerable wreckage identified as that of the KAMLOOPS ... in rather
shallow water and the ice packs of the winter had torn off the roof (of the
pilothouse)."

Legislative ramifications of the loss of KAMLOOPS were being felt at this time. The
sinking of the CSL steamer was used as an example of the need for additional
lifesaving stations at the upper end of the Great Lakes and also to substantiate the
argument for the requirement of wireless sets on all commercial vessels. Those
arguments were presented to the House of Commons by D.J. Cowan of Port
Arthur-Thunder Bay and R.J. Manion of Fort William (Port Arthur News Chronicle
June 1, 1928).

American interests were also represented in the discussion of the opening and
closing of the Great Lakes navigation season. DP. Quinlan was sent by President
Calvin Coolidge to investigate the controversy that came about when small shippers
on the Lakes charged that the operators of the larger fleets and the Great Lakes
Carriers' Association delayed the opening of the 1928 season to benefit themselves.
There were 80 civil suits against the operators pending in Cleveland (Duluth
News-Tribune June 19, 1928).

Quinlan indicated the government would control the opening and closing dates of
the navigation season and would provide equal rights to all vessel operators and to
safeguard as much as possible the lives of seamen and vessels. KAMLOOPS was
used as the example of a wreck that might have been prevented if governmental
restrictions had been in effect.

It is the belief of Mr. Quinlan that weather conditions in the future will
control the opening and closing of navigation. Heretofore, it has been
a practice among large vessel owners to insert in their shipping
contracts clauses which declare the date of navigation open or
closed. Many of these contracts are made without reference to

200

weather conditions .... The findings of the government inspection will
be presented to the Secretary of War who will issue executive orders
to district U.S. engineers relative to navigation dates (Duluth
News-Tribune June 19,1928).

On June 4, six more bodies of KAMLOOPS' crew were found, again by fishermen.
News of the discovery was relayed to the port cities from Isle Royale by the captain
of WINYAH. Brock Batton of the Canada Steamship Lines dispatched the tug
CHAMPLAIN to recover the remains, which were found close to Twelve O'Clock Point
(Ft. William Daily Times Journal June 5, 1928; Port Arthur News Chronicle June 5,
1928). The tug had four CSL captains aboard to supervise the search, and shipped a
gasoline launch for searching the shallow bays and inlet. The bodies were
decomposed, but one appeared to be that of a woman (The Calumet News June 5,
1928).

At first, the woman, reportedly found attired in nightclothes, was believed to be
stewardess Netty Grafton of Southampton (Owen Sound Daily Sun Times June 6,
1928). The woman was later identified as Alice Bettridge, the assistant stewardess,
an identification based on the fact that the body had a set of natural teeth; it was
known that Netty Grafton had false teeth (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 7, 1928).
The report that Bettridge was found in her nightclothes was denied. Brock Batten
stated, "She was fully dressed and wore a sweater and a coat (Ft. William Daily
Times Journal June 7, 1928). This evidence supports the belief held at the time by
many that the. bodies found were the occupants of a lifeboat that made it to shore.
All had been found with lifebelts.

Three other bodies were identified based on pocket contents (Owen Sound Daily
Sun Times June 7,1928; Port Arthur News Chronicle June 7, 1928; Port Arthur News
Chronicle June 8, 1928). The identified bodies were returned to their families for
burial, except for Gauthier, whose address could not be determined. The two
unidentified sailors and Gauthier were buried in the Riverside Cemetery in a central
plot over which the Canada Steamship Lines erected a bronze tablet
commemorating the wreck victims (Ft. William Daily Times Journal June 6, 13,
1928). Although reported, the tablet was apparently never erected.

A ninth body was found inland some distance from shore, believed to be the
remains of Honore (Henry) Genest, first mate. The body had no lifebelt, although
one was found in the vicinity. It was surmised that the first mate was able to make
it to shore and remove his lifebelt before succumbing to the elements (Ft. William
Daily Times Journal June 14, 1928).

The theory that some of KAMLOOPS' crew may have made it to shore, and there
died of exposure, gained support. Those who adhered to this view argued for a
complete search of the inland region of Amygdaloid Island (Houghton Daily Mining
Gazette June 7, 1928).

Capt. H.J. Brian, brother of the captain of KAMLOOPS, was influenced by this
possibility. When he was not able to identify his brother among the bodies found,
he mounted an independent search party to find his brother's body. The tug RUTH
B, captained by George Burns, was chartered (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 13,
1928).

Brian's search was based on some strong evidence. The fact that a lifeboat had
been found and the bodies had lifebelts on indicated there was at least some

201

warning of the disaster. Searchers had reported finding papers in the pockets of
the victims as well as other items that had not been water-soaked. Most believed
they perished from the coid and not hunger, because of the large amount of food
found on the shore (The Calumet News June 15, 1928).

Brian's search took place June 14 and 15. He and his search party returned to Port

Arthur on June 16 to report they had found no further remains (Owen Sound Daily

Sun Times June 16,1928). The private searchers did, however, report finding

evidence of what they believed to be "shelters and resting places that might have

been erected by members of the crew of the wrecked steamer" (Port Arthur News

Chronicle June 16, 1928). He stated to the newspaper that a shelter of shrubs and

brush was found 400 feet from the shore, and Henry Genest was found in it. There

was also a quantity of candy, particularly peppermint lozenges, also in the shelter.

"I am positive that no bodies are along the shore line, after a

thorough search. I came to Port Arthur with the idea in mind that

they would all be found in the bush, and I go away with the same

belief. I am positive the entire crew got away safely from the

KAMLOOPS and that they had lived, some of them possibly, for days."

A fisherman living near Todd Harbor, the place where most of
the wreckage came ashore, informed the searchers that on a night in
December, the date of which he is not certain, he heard a ship, not far
in the distance give four blasts of her whistle. At 3:30 o'clock next
morning, the fisherman says the whistle blew continuously about an
hour.

The CSL Company had sent a party of five "experienced bushmen" to search the
island, who were apparently still in the area during the Brian search and returned
after Brian had issued his report (Ft. William Daily Times Journal June 15, 18, 1928).
The party returned to Port Arthur and Brock Batten issued the following report (Port
Arthur News Chronicle June 19,1928):

This party made a very thorough search of the whole vicinity .... They
went up and down the shore line for a couple of miles on either side
of the apparent location of the wreck and they went inland a couple of
miles, over the same frontage. Their report is that they saw no trace
whatever of any of the crew having survived the wreck and spent any
time on shore.

Capt. Brian did not respond directly to the statement of the other searchers.
However, he did give some additional comments after the Canada Steamship Lines
statement was published (Owen Daily Sun Times June 20, 1928):

Captain Brian says that in his own search he found a set of false teeth
and a woman's wig, which he was informed tallied with Miss Grafton.
Miss Betteridge [sic] had natural teeth. The captain thinks that the
finding of the wig and teeth would suggest that they were from one
of the bodies already recovered. He is of the opinion that one of the
bodies having male attire and already buried is that of Miss Grafton of
Southhampton.

Explaining further his belief that many of the crew reached
shore alive, Captain Brian offers the statement that he found articles
from the wreckage of the boat carried up onto the shore, farther he
says than they could have been washed by the waves, and also in
condition to suggest that they had been tampered with by human
hands. Had these human hands been of the fishermen who remained
late on the island, reports of their finding would have early reached

202

the outside world last fall. No such reports have been heard. The
articles in question were principally boxes of candy, and the captain
believes some of them were used as food.

The discrepancies between Brian's reports and the searchers hired by Batten only
added to the mystery shrouding KAMLOOPS' loss. Apparently the public felt that
Canada Steamship Lines was not doing everything possible to recover the missing
crewmen, and was perhaps even hiding something.

Brock Batten, who served as company spokesman and director of the search and
recovery operations undertaken by Canada Steamship Lines, issued a statement to
the newspapers detailing the efforts that had been made to learn the fate of the
missing crew. The account of Batten's comments to the press was carried in the
Port Arthur News Chronicle (June 21, 1928):

Mr Batten particularly explained why the officials of his company feel
certain all members of the KAMLOOPS' crew met their death when the
steamer went to its doom, and why they do not credit suggestions
that they reached shore alive to perish afterwards of hunger and
exhaustion.

Asked particularly with regard to Henry Genest .... "It is

possible Genest did reach shore alive," said Mr Batten. "The evidence
seems to indicate that he was tossed up on the bank and succeeded
in walking or crawling a short distance back. I do not believe he was,
however, the occupant of a life boat. He was more likely washed over
from the ship. This is the opinion of our captains, who have had the
experience to know what might be happening at such a time. We all
believe the most plausible explanation with regard to the others
whose bodies have been found is that they were working at the
lifeboat which has been found among the wreckage when they were
engulfed. We do not believe they ever entered the lifeboat. If they
did the chances were all against them getting ashore, because of the
backwash of the waves and the nature of the shore line. One man in
a safety suit might be thrown up where he could get a footing if he
were carried by a particularly high wave, but those in a boat could not
be so fortunate. Genest apparently was the only one on the
KAMLOOPS who had donned a safety suit. If any of the others had
done so, their bodies would most likely have been found as they
would thereby at least have been kept floating. The safety suit would
keep a man afloat, but would not save him from exhaustion or
exposure to the cold. It was thirty below zero at that time and
snowing.

Asked with regard to reports that shelters have been found at
Isle Royale which might have been used by members of the missing
crew, Mr. Batten pointed out that Isle Royale for many years had been
a camping and tourist resort and the working ground of fishermen,
and the finding of a rude shelter had no significance. It might have
been built by anyone at any time.

Batten listed the various search and recovery parties that the
company had dispatched: the MIDLAND PRINCE, the week-long survey
of the north shore by ISLET PRINCE; Tug WHALEN searched when it
went out to get the lightkeepers and circled Isle Royale closer to
shore than MIDLAND PRINCE was able to reach; WHALEN searched a
second time, going all the way to Keweenaw; CRAWFORD made two
trips to the island to recover bodies and made limited searches each

203

time. The last search expedition was by the five men who searched
the island.

They reported to us yesterday they had carefully examined
fifteen miles of shore line and on a front of four miles, two miles
either side of the wreck, had worked inland for about two miles at
distances apart of only 10 feet and could find neither bodies nor
evidence that anyone from the KAMLOOPS had been ashore to live.
They are of the opinion that there is no reason to continue the
search.

... friends of the missing ones and the public may rest assured
that every effort is being made, as it has been made, to continue
fullest information regarding the crew of the missing steamer, and to
hide nothing (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 21, 1928).

The next day the same paper ran an editorial comment on Batten's statement that
gives some insight into the public sentiment (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 22,
1928):

Even though the statement comes at what we consider a rather late
date, it will nevertheless be welcomed by the public. The attitude
taken by the officials of the Canada Steamship Company toward the
public was not by any means satisfactory. The loss of the ship
involved much more than the interests of the company .... The public
was entitled to a frank statement of what the company was doing, the
extent of the search that was taking place at the time it was being
made.

... But this knowledge was not given them. The whole
proceeding was surrounded with mystery.

The same unsatisfactory procedure was followed when the U.S.
cutter CRAWFORD brought the dead bodies of two of the ill-fated
crew of the KAMLOOPS to Port Arthur. Orders were issued to dock
attendants to close the docks and not permit any person to approach.
The undertakers were given orders to give out no information. The
newspapers were compelled to get information from whatever source
they could in regard to the finding of the bodies. When other bodies
were brought to port, every possible precaution was taken to prevent
information getting to the public.

This attitude of the company could not but arouse suspicion in
the public mind that there was something to hide. However
unfounded this suspicion might be, it continued, and Mr. Batten can
count himself extremely fortunate if it is dissipated by the statement
he just made of the measures taken by the company to deal with the
situation when it first arose and subsequently when the remains of the
unfortunates were found.

Batten's statement did not dissipate the public feelings, at least with some of the
people directly involved. Captain Brian, who had returned to his home town of
Kingston, returned to Port Arthur a few days later to mount another search of the
island for his missing brother and the other crewmen (Ft. William Daily Times
Journal June 22, 1928).

The final search for the bodies of the crew of KAMLOOPS left June 23 for the
wrecksite. Captain Brian who organized the search had little to say regarding the
expedition other than that he had procured the participation of James Higgens of

204

the Canadian Forestry Department to take charge of the actual operations in the
woods and that he planned to be out with the party of seven men for six days.
When asked to explain his belief that there were bodies to be found in
the woods, proving that some of the crew of the KAMLOOPS reached
shore alive, Capt. Brian said he needed nothing more than the recent
official statement from the Canada Steamship Lines, wherein it was
admitted that the body of Mate Henry Genest had been located 100
yards from shore under conditions which indicated that he had
reached there alive (Port Arthur News Chronicle June 23, 1928).

Capt. Brian and the search party returned to Port Arthur after six days. Nothing was
found to shed further light on the fate of the steamer and its crew (Detroit Free
Press June 30, 1928).

An official crew list has never been located. Press reports of the number aboard
included 20, 21, 22, 27 and 29; the most frequently cited totals for the crew were 20
and 22. A roster of 20 people was compiled from crew lists published in the Port
Arthur News Chronicle on December 15, 1927, and again on June 6, 1928 and the
Fort William Daily Times Journal of Dec. 15, 1927:

Captain William Brian, Toronto (Kingston)

First Mate Henry Genest, St. Thurbie

Second Mate J. Poitres, L'lslet

Watchman P. Lalonde, no address

Watchman J. Journeault, L'lslet

Wheelman Leon Laroche, St. Antoine

Wheelman Victor Latham, Sarnia

Deckhand R. Tooley, Toronto

Deckhand M. Mckay, Fort William

Deckhand G. Gauthier, Quebec

Deckhand A. Morton, Toronto

Chief Engineer J.A.C. Hawman, Collingwood

2nd Engineer R.E. Eashney (Dashney), Coldwater

Oiler Robert Owen, Toronto

Oiler Fred Brown, Collingwood

Fireman Andy Brown, Collingwood

Fireman Harry Wilson, Port Arthur

Fireman Sam Lamont, Phelpeston

Steward Netty (Jennet) Grafton, Southampton

Assistant Steward Alice Bettridge, Southhampton

There was no mention of the KAMLOOPS tragedy in the press until the following
year. In January it was reported that a note from one of KAMLOOPS' crew had been
found a month earlier. Louis Coutu, a trapper, found a bottle containing the note at
the mouth of the Agawa River in Canada. The first news of the find reached Sault
Ste. Marie by way of another trapper, who reported the note said, "We are freezing
to death." At first considered a ghastly hoax, the family of Alice Bettridge identified
her writing on the note (Detroit Free Press Jan. 22, 1929; The Evening Telegram
[Superior] Jan 22, 1929).

Coutu arrived in Sault Ste. Marie soon after the news of his discovery. At first he
refused to divulge the contents of the note, saying "the people of the Sault don't
give me anything for nothing. If they want something I've got, they can pay for it
or go without." The trapper eventually did turn the note over to Capt. Brian. Brian

205

took it to the parents of Alice Bettridge, who identified the writing as that of their
daughter (The Evening Telegram [Superior] June 22, 1929).

Through the efforts of Thorn Holden, the text of the Bettridge note has come to
light from interviews with Alice Bettridge's relatives. In November 1976, two
brothers, a sister, and a sister-in-law were interviewed in Sarnia and
Southhampton. Apparently the exact contents of the note were not published by
the contemporary press. Surviving relatives of Alice Bettridge recalled the note
saying, "I am the last one alive, freezing and starving on Isle Royale. I just want
mom and dad to know my fate. Alice Bettridge." Present whereabouts of the note
are unknown. Family members believe it no longer exists.

Discovery of KAMLOOPS

The location of KAMLOOPS remained one of the mysteries of Lake Superior until
August 21, 1977. On that date Minneapolis sport diver Ken Engelbrecht spotted the
dark shadow of the wreck during an exploratory dive searching for KAMLOOPS.
Engelbreht, along with dive partner Randy Saulter of Mounds View, was carrying out
a systematic search in the area known as Twelve O'Clock Point. The dive team had
been directed to the possible site of the wreck by Roy Oberg, captain of the
VOYAGEUR II. Oberg had made a fathometer tracing several years earlier in the
area that indicated a shipwreck lying on its side (Press release by Ken Engelbrecht
and Thorn Holden, 1977).

The wreck was found while diving off Ken Merryman's boat HEYBOY, on the second
day of the search. On earlier dives, bits of cargo, such as a brass barrel and a
ladder, were sighted. Then, "enough pipe to fill a semi-truck." On the last dive of
the weekend, Engelbrecht, at a depth of 195 feet "saw this really big shadow, the
KAMLOOPS, and this other shadow coming out of it, which was the flagpole. I got a
really big rush and started trucking over there" (Minneapolis Star Oct. 13, 1977).

The next dives on the wreck were done September 5 and 6, 1977, but there was
some doubt that the wreck was indeed KAMLOOPS.

The real proof, he [Ken Merryman] said, came after the second dive
when pictures, on close inspection, showed the ship's name peeking
out through the years of accumulated rust and underwater debris on
the freighter's stern ...

The wreck lies on a steep slope. The stern is toward shore,
about 195 feet below the surface at its shallowest point. One of the
first things the divers check is the condition of the rudder and
propeller; they seem to be intact.

The divers go to the back deck and examine a large wooden
wheel. It's apparently an auxiliary steering wheel for emergencies,
because the main steering equipment would be in the pilothouse near
the bow of the ship ....

They note that the glass in a skylight over the engine room is
intact, snap some more pictures and move forward along the 250-foot
ship ....

They see other artifacts: The inside of a cabin, a string of new
shoes to be sold in some Canadian store, a drum with steel cable
neatly rolled on it, a running light that looks in good condition.

They can't make it to the pilot house at the front — it's too
deep. But they get about two-thirds of the way forward and they can

206

see the pilothouse, with its top shorn off [its roof was found in the
1920's along with other debris].

The best theory about the sinking ... according to Holden, is
that the ship lost its steering and drifted at the mercy of the storm.

"It's quite possible that the final disaster occurred because of a
massive ice buildup" on its deck caused by waves crashing on the
freighter and freezing in the bitter cold, he added. He emphasised
that the theory isn't proven ....

Merryman said what they've been able to inspect of the ship
bears that theory out. "All the other wrecks around Isle Royale have
their bows smashed up and pointed to shore," Merryman says. The
KAMLOOPS has her stern to the shore and it's intact. The bow, 270 or
more feet below the surface, retains its secret (Minneapolis Star Oct.
13, 1977).

Later dives by those and other divers add to what is known of the last moments of
KAMLOOPS. A party led by John Steele filmed the wreck in 1978. This expedition
discovered that the engine telegraph was set at the "Finished With Engines"
position, indicating the engines may not have been operational at the time of
sinking, or that the vessel was laid to before the disaster. Steele's party made the
following speculations based on their observations:

In the position of her last sighting and in the raging storm, a guy wire
attached to the port side of KAMLOOPS' stack snapped or tore free.
The stack, no longer secure and positioned only by gravity, toppled to
the starboard side shearing off the ventilators and crashing overboard
breaking through the starboard railing atop the stern cabin.

The coal fired, forced draft engine could not function without
the stack. The crew was forced to "finish" the engines. If there had
been power available, they would have been put on "Standby" not
"Finished With Engines." KAMLOOPS' power plant was shut down
before she sank. With no power, she was at the mercy of the raging
storm and the northeast gales tossed and blew her toward Isle
Royale.

She hit Isle Royale broadside, smashing her starboard bow.
Temporarily, she remained fixed on the reef, quickly taking on water
she rapidly sank bow first to rest at the foot of the reef.

The crew probably thought themselves safer aboard rather than
facing the icy seas and sub-zero temperatures. They probably hoped
she would remain foundered on the reef, leaving a potential for
rescue. However, the opened cabin door may indicate a hasty
departure of crew members as they realized their doom .... The other
twelve crew members probably remain trapped in the stern house, yet
to be opened (Schuette 1979:41).

Because of the hazards involved with conducting air dives to the
depth of KAMLOOPS, particularly in frigid water, a decision was made
by the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit not to document the site
using dives. In 1985 the opportunity to visit the site was offered by
Michigan State University/Sea Grant using the sea link submarine from
the Research Vessel SEWARD JOHNSON. SEWARD JOHNSON was not
able to deploy over the site so the focus of their visit was turned to
other research objectives. In 1986 a very successful mission was
carried out on KAMLOOPS using two miniaturized Remote Operated

207

Vehicles. The latter was a joint venture of the National Park Service
and National Geographic Society.

208

Fig. 4.28. KAMLOOPS, a canaller built for the package freight trade as it appeared at
the time of loss. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum
Collection.

209

DUNELM: HISTORY

Construction

DUNELM was a steel package freighter built by the Sunderland Shipbuilding
Company of Great Britain. The ship was registered at Sunderland, Official number
123950. The propeller was built in 1907 for Dunelm, Ltd., also of Great Britain. Hull
No. 246 had a keel length of 250 feet, beam of 43.2 feet and a depth of 23.5 feet,
and was built to pass through the Welland Canal. DUNELM was 2,319 gross tons
and 1,481 net tons with a capacity of about 3,000 tons (Toledo Blade Dec. 8, 1910).

The British-built steamer was powered by a triple-expansion engine with cylinders
of 19.5, 33 and 54 inches in diameter on a 36-inch stroke. The two Scotch boilers
were 12.6 feet x 11.6 feet. The engine was built by Northeastern Marine Engine
Works.

DUNELM, although never registered in Canada, was managed by James Playfair in
association with the Canadian companies Richlieu & Ontario Navigation Company of
Montreal, and Inland Lines, Ltd. of Hamilton, Ontario. In 1913 these were merged
with Canada Steamship Lines, Ltd.

There has been little research into the operational history of DUNELM, other than
the incident that occurred at Isle Royale. It is known, however, that DUNELM was
wrecked en route from Sidney, Nova Scotia, for England in 1915. The boat was
primarily involved in the trading between the Canadian Lakehead and the lower Lake
ports (from notes on file at the Institute for Great Lakes Research).

Wreck Event — Stranding at Isle Royale

Underwriters were notified on December 7, 1910 that the Inland Navigation Company
package freighter DUNELM, downbound from Ft. William to Goderich, Ontario with a
load of wheat flour (Toledo Blade Dec. 10, 1910; Wreck Register, Record Group 12
Vol. 1007:121), was ashore at Isle Royale. The first reports of the stranding were
received in Port Arthur by wireless from the steamer F.B. SQUIRE; apparently
DUNELM was not equipped with a wireless (Daily Mining Gazette Dec. 9, 1910). The
position of the stranding was first given as Blake Point near where MONARCH was
lost in 1906 (Detroit Free Press Dec. 8, 1910). DUNELM, like some other shipwrecks
of Isle Royale, was wrecked on its last scheduled trip of the season.

The stranded vessel was reported in bad shape, and James Playfair summoned the
Canadian Towing and Wrecking Company of Port Arthur to its aid. DUNELM was in
command of Capt. C.R. Albinson, with J.A. Nicol as chief engineer and a crew of 18.
The first reports gave no indication of whether there was loss of life (Toledo Blade
Dec. 8, 1910).

The captain and 21 crew all arrived at Port Arthur on the afternoon of December 9
aboard the tug WHALEN, with reports of the condition of their vessel. The wreckers
had been driven away by heavy weather. The steamer was lost in a snowstorm
while trying to get through Passage Island gap. Fourteen feet of water stood in the
engine room, but the hull compartments were dry. "They report the steamer is
resting easily on the rocks, but in an exposed and dangerous position should a
heavy sea come up. The hull is badly punctured forward. The lighter EMPIRE is
standing by ready to start work" (Detroit Free Press Dec. 10, 1910).

210

The owners, after viewing DUNELM, gave up hope that the ship could be saved, and
the wreck was abandoned to the underwriters on December 14. The value of the
loss was placed at $100,000 (Detroit Free Press Dec. 15, 1910). The next day the
underwriters announced they were taking salvage bids on a no-cure, no-pay basis
(Toledo Blade Dec. 15, 1910). (In this account the captain of DUNELM is listed as
Featherston.)

The Canadian Towing and Wrecking Company took the contract and Capt. Morrison
was put in charge of the operations. The work was carried out in the face of heavy
waves that continually pounded the wreck. It was feared that the waves would push
DUNELM off the reef's edge to sink in the 500-foot depths. (This report accurately
gives the location of the wreck as Canoe Rock rather than Blake Point.) The
weather grew colder and the salvage vessels became covered with ice, making the
difficult salvage job that much harder. Some days nothing could be done, and at
times the salvage efforts seemed hopeless (Detroit Free Press Dec. 21, 1910).

On December 21, Port Arthur received the wireless message that DUNELM had been
freed and was safe at anchor in Duncan Harbor. The ship would be towed to Fort
William and would be the first vessel to use the new dry-dock facilities that had
just recently been completed. In the Dec. 21 account, DUNELM's cargo was listed as
general merchandise (Detroit Free Press Dec. 21, 1910; Detroit Free Press Dec. 29,
1910).

Sarah Moore Morrison, wife of Capt. Morrison's son Neil, wrote the following poem
commemorating the stranding and salvage of DUNELM (originally published in a
book of poetry by Sarah Morrison titled Scenes and Hours [from notes in the
Michigan Technological University Archives by Neil F. Morrison and published in the
Fort William Daily Times Journal and Nordic Diver, Winter 1975]

211

At the head of navigation
Of our Great Lakes waterway,
Stand Port Arthur and Fort William
Looking out to Thunder Bay.

In the busy sailing season
Vessels come, unload, and fill,
But they tie up for the winter
When the ice-bound Lakes are still.

Yet one Christmas at Port Arthur
People gathered at the quay:
Why should they be there on Christmas —
What was there for them to see?

Bitter cold it was that morning
When the DUNELM stood at dock.
Salvaged after two weeks' effort,
Stranded on a ledge of rock.

Stranded where the Great Lakes' MONARCH
Met her doom some years before
On Isle Royale in Lake Superior,
Broke in two, sank aft and fore.

On her last trip of the season
And her last forever more.
But the DUNELM held together,
She was floated, towed to shore.

And the people hailed her gladly,
And they hailed the rescue crew,
Glad to have them home for Christmas,
After all they had been through.

In the cold and stormy weather
They had stayed when hope was slight,
They had worked with skill and patience,
They had laboured day and night.

Sheathed with ice the rescued freighter
Had a dignity new born;
She looked stately at her moorings
On that clear, cold Christmas morn.

212

Fig. 4.29. Package freighter DUNELM aground at Canoe Rocks, Isle Royale December
1910. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

Fig. 4 30. DUNELM under tow after release from the stranding at Canoe Rocks. U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection.

213

CHAPTER V. SHIPWRECKS OF ISLE ROYALE:
THE ARCHEOLOGICAL RECORD

Introduction

This chapter consists of a series of analytical descriptions of each of the principal
shipwreck sites at Isle Royale. For each site a depiction is developed through
graphics and narratives of the remains on the Lake bottom. Empirical observations
are interspersed in the narrative with references to those aspects of the historical
record that most influenced our approach to data recovery in the field. The best
way to understand any preconceptions held by this research team in its
interpretation of the archeological record is to read, in its entirety, the historical
record section of this report, which identifies all of the archival elements thought
pertinent to the archeological analysis and site interpretation.

The historical record has been isolated in this document to emphasize an overall
philosophical approach to Historical Archeology. Archives and oral accounts were
used to establish that major wreck events had occurred and to indicate
contemporary notions about what happened and why. A chain of evidence was then
developed to support a constantly evolving explanation for how each ship was
transformed into an archeological site due to the wreck event and subsequent
post-depositional processes, whether natural or cultural in nature.

In each case, the archeological record is seen as the hard evidence that confirmed,
controverted, or augmented the historical record. In many instances, on-site
observation also suggested new areas of inquiry. Establishing a range of
expectations from the written and oral traditions enabled identification of more
fruitful lines of inquiry much quicker than would have been possible in a totally
inductive framework. Generic and specific research questions are explicitly stated in
the research design section of this report (Chapter I). The analyses presented
address most of those questions and in all cases were guided by them.

The amount of time devoted in the field to each site was variable dependent on
several factors. The intact vessels, for the most part, received less attention than
the ones that were broken and scattered. In a dispersed wreckage field the
archeological record requires more explaining; i.e. there is more discussion
necessary to establish the identity of each piece of vessel fabric. The more intact
the wreck, the less time needed to ascribe function or significance to specific pieces
of structure or machinery.

Additionally, in the decision-making process about time allocations in the field, more
weight was given to those sites representing vessels without plans and to the older
wooden vessels, which, coincidentally, ended up being the same ships. Also, wood
usually breaks in discrete units and individual components retain much of their
original form, much like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. In contrast, steel plates in a
high-energy site buckle, fold, and adopt shapes that are generally irrelevant to the
process of archeological reconstruction. Consequently, more latitude was given to

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the illustrators in portraying fine details of dispersed metal wreckage than dispersed
wooden pieces. One may expect, therefore, that the details in the portrayal of the
twisted structural remains of GLENLYON, for example, may not match the level of
accuracy inherent in drawings of CHISHOLM, CUMBERLAND and MONARCH. In the
case of ALGOMA, a decision was made to document only a representative sample of
the wreckage fields, because it would have been extremely expensive and
time-consuming to produce a high-resolution map of this widely scattered site,
much of which lies in deep water.

As with all archeological endeavors, the provenience of the material remains and the
judgment of the researchers determine where "sites" begin and end. For this report,
artifactual material that was spatially continuous or contiguous was seen as
composing one site, regardless of the nature of the cultural material itself.
Consequently, the wrecks of CUMBERLAND and CHISHOLM are treated as one site
because their remains overlap spatially on the Lake bottom. These two ships are, of
course, treated separately in the historical record chapter (IV). EMPEROR and
DUNELM are also treated as one site for the same reason; it is only the analysis of
the remains that ascribes separate identities to the wreckage of EMPEROR as
opposed to the nearby anchors and other residues attributable to the DUNELM
stranding event. The latter event did not end in complete loss of the vessel, but did
result in a limited amount of material residues.

The one exception to the rule in the way sites were defined for this presentation is
in the treatment of a piece of ship structure located off Cumberland Point several
miles from the main concentrations of CUMBERLAND wreckage, there is compelling
evidence that this piece of structure is indeed a portion of CUMBERLAND, which was
deposited there after the wreck event, and because it was convenient from an
organizational point of view, it was included as part of the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM
site description. In all, this section will include 9 site descriptions encompassing 11
separate shipwreck events.

Observations

Although the specific problems identified for each site in the research design are
addressed in the context of the individual site discussions in this chapter, there are
some observations that can be made related to issues identified in the general
problem statement.

First, the material remains of vessels at Isle Royale give the impression of industrial
intensity even more than is indicated in the historical record. There is little in the
way of recreational vessels or vessels designed solely for passenger excursions
represented in either the major shipwreck population or the number of small craft
wrecks, which are primarily fish tugs. This is not necessarily compatible with
expectations because there was significant resort-oriented activity at Isle Royale as
evidenced from examination of land based sites (Chapter VI) and the historical
record.

Regarding the role Isle Royale played in Lake Superior navigational history: it is clear
that it was more than just that of a natural obstacle to shipping. At least one of the
major shipwrecks (AMERICA) was intimately tied to the island, and many of the
smaller wrecks were tied to fishing or support activities of the island population.
Resource extraction was a major motive for prehistoric and historical human activity
in the area followed temporally by recreation and leisure values that eventually
predominated, resulting in the island becoming a national park.

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The number of modern wrecks associated with the bulk trades is remarkable. It is
rare to work in an area in which there is such a disproportionate amount of
post-1900 shipwrecks. Even considering the shorter history of maritime activity
compared to the Atlantic seaboard, for example, the fact that there are no known
shipwreck sites representing sailing vessels would not be predictable from the
historical record alone. This disparity is additionally noteworthy when one considers
that steam vessels had much greater flexibility in coping with navigational problems
associated with shipping environments with limited sea room; i.e. they could
maneuver without dependency on wind conditions. If one were only to use the
visual remains at Isle Royale and never open a book or visit an archival collection,
the impression would be one of steam mayhem. It would suggest to the viewer
that something about the nature of steam applications on Lake Superior (perhaps
differential capital investment from that associated with sail) was resulting in
increased risk-taking ventures than under sail. The preponderance of steam vessels
could also be the result of the formation of shipping lanes after the decline of
sailing vessels. It is not at all clear that this situation is replicated on the eastern
and western U.S. seaboards. In Florida, California, Cape Cod, and numerous other
areas investigated by this research team, it would be extremely unusual to have no
sailing vessels represented in a shipwreck population of 10 major vessels. Even if
the answer is that "they haven't been found yet" at Isle Royale, it is still noteworthy
that the first 10 located are all steam, and it is unlikely a comparable population of
sailing vessels has thus far escaped detection.

Some other general observations derived from examination of the material record
has to do with post-depositional processes. The lack of superstructural remains
from the vessels is notable, as is the fact that in all the ten complete major losses
at Isle Royale, including the "intact" sites, the pilot house remains in place only on
CONGDON. This would not have been predicted before examining the sites.
Although it is understandable that lighter structural remains would be less
well-represented in the archeological record than the heavy hull components, it is
surprising that in a fine preservation medium such as cold, fresh water, almost
nothing related to superstructure remains. The lesson this leaves the viewer with is
that superstructure, which is the least well documented part of a vessel in
construction plans, is also going to be the least well-represented under water. It is
also the part of the ship that is the most dynamic in an architectural sense, because
it changed the most over time. These modifications are, of course, the signatures
of adaptive behavior to meet exigencies of social change and vessel use. The
ability to compare the modifications against the original intent, for function and
form evident in the hull construction, is what is lost when one loses superstructural
remains.

Another general observation that can be made is wooden vessels of the
construction dates as represented at Isle Royale (1871-1890) tend to break apart in
a very predictable fashion. They disarticulate along the turn of the bilge into fairly
large discrete units. The point of greatest variability in the wreck process on the
hull of the vessel is the bow, which is not well represented in any of the three
wooden ships wrecked at Isle Royale.

There is much to suggest from the individual site analyses in this chapter that ice
damage is a significant factor in the site-formation process, preceded only by the
short period immediately following the wreck event in which the ship is often in a
high-energy zone, and by those processes which can be related to human activity
-- "C transforms" in the sense of Schiffer (1976:12-19).

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There are two points at Isle Royale where there is a clustering effect for
shipwrecks. One is Canoe Rocks and the other is Rock of Ages. It is not surprising
that ships tended to pile up in these areas because they represent points that either
course changes were taking place, or that a vessel was at most risk just prior to
making a course change to avoid Isle Royale. The composition of the concentration
at Canoe Rocks, however, has implications for understanding the economic
dynamics of the period of vessel losses.

All the shipwrecks in the vicinity of Canoe Rocks were downbound from Port Arthur
or Fort William. The locations, time of loss, cargo and type of vessel closely fit the
model of Lake Superior shipwreck distribution developed by Hulse (1981).

The spatial distribution model of Hulse links site location to transportation, rather
than settlement. The model reflects the cultural history generally and the
transportation industry specifically. The shipping industry was structured by trade
routes, industrial development and the physical environment. Hulse demonstrated
that shipping is a non-random, culturally patterened phenomenon, and consequently
shipwrecks will similarly be patterned and non-random in their distribution (Hulse
1981:2).

The typical downbound navigation route from Port Arthur and Fort William contains
four course changes after leaving Thunder Bay. The first two are made to avoid Isle
Royale. The first course change is made at the mouth of Thunder Bay as Pie Island
and Thunder Cape are passed. This course alteration aims the vessel directly for
Passage Island, the shortest route around the north end of Isle Royale. Navigational
errors in setting and maintaining this course contributed directly to the Canoe Rocks
and vicinity wrecks. The second alteration occurs immediately after clearing
Passage Island and corrects for the shortest course to Whitefish Point The
construction of the lighthouse on Passage Island in 1882 greatly diminished the
potential for wreck occurrence at the second course change; consequently, there are
no known wrecks after that date in the area.

The known sites on Canoe Rocks reflect the heavy bulk traffic of the late nineteenth
to mid-Twentieth Century. The shipwrecks of Canoe Rocks: EMPEROR, CONGDON,
DUNELM as well as MONARCH (wrecked on The Palisades just in-shore of Canoe
Rocks) were all carrying Canadian cargoes, and all but CONGDON were Canadian
vessels. The location of these wrecks reflect the growth of Canadian freight trades,
primarily iron ore and grain.

Canadian grain production moved westward in a similar pattern as that of the
United States (see Chapter III). Port Arthur and Fort William, Ontario became the
major Canadian ports on Lake Superior soon after the completion of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, which connected Port Arthur with Winnipeg in 1883. Prior to this
date, most Canadian grain was shipped out of Duluth.

Continued settlement of the Canadian Northwest and the growth of grain production
was ensured by the construction of additional rail lines. Port Arthur and Fort
William were the principal grain shipping ports of Canada until about 1920. These
ports diminished in importance as a result of the development of the Pacific coast
route becoming a viable alternative to the Lakes route after the completion of the
Panama Canal in 1914. Port Arthur and Fort William, however, remained important
grain exporting ports well into the mid-Twentieth Century (Nute 1944:140, 316).
MONARCH (1890-1906) carried grain, flour, and package freight on its last voyage.

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CONGDON (1907-1918) was loaded with wheat when it was wrecked. DUNELM,
stranded in 1910, carried a load of wheat flour.

Iron ore shipped from the Canadian Superior port cities never reached the
magnitude shipped from the American ports. Ore bodies comparable in size to
those on the south shore of the Lake were not discovered on the north shore. The
source of iron ore shipped out of Port Arthur and Fort William was the Steep Rock
mine west of Port Arthur in the Atikokan district. The mine was discovered just
before 1940; mining operations began in 1942 after the Steep Rock Lake was
drained. A new ore dock was built at Port Arthur for the trade (Nute 1944:155-6).
EMPEROR, sunk in 1947, was carrying 10,000 tons of Steep Rock Mine ore.

The other principal export of the Canadian Lakehead was lumber. There are no
wrecks currently known on the north side of Isle Royale with a load of lumber.
Basing a prediction on the pattern of ship loss that develops from those in the
vicinity of Canoe Rocks, it is likely that one exists, yet to be discovered.

ALGOMA and KAMLOOPS, vessels wrecked well away from either end of the island,
were the result of severe storm activity, and possibly equipment failure in the case
of KAMLOOPS. GLENLYON was wrecked while seeking shelter from a storm.
Outside of the attributes of cargo and general location, the final location of these
ships could not have been predicted from the distribution model.

On the south end there also is a concentration of shipwrecks. Three vessels are
wrecked in close proximity over a period of 44 years. CUMBERLAND and COX
wrecked on Rock of Ages while downbound from Canadian ports to
Duluth/Superior. Because of participation in the passenger/package trade on the
North Shore, their final location could have been anticipated. CHISHOLM, in contrast,
was a bulk freighter that had left Duluth downbound with a cargo of grain for
Buffalo. The ship was caught in a storm and released its tow, which was a
schooner carrying a cargo of lumber. CHISHOLM was lost as a result of navigation
error while searching for its consort around the south end of Isle Royale. Its
location could not have been anticipated by the generally accurate shipwreck
distribution model of Hulse. Some shipwrecks occur as a result of activity not
anticipated in a general distribution model.

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CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
Site Location

The wrecks CUMBERLAND, CHISHOLM, and COX are on a shallow reef southwest of
Rock of Ages lighthouse on the south end of Isle Royale. The vessels are within a
square, 3,000-feet on a side, with its geographic center at 47°51'28"N and
89°19'32"W. The center is 3.9 statute miles from the starboard-hand nun buoy at
Cumberland Point on a true bearing of 275 degrees. It is 336 degrees true from the
starboard-hand nun buoy southwest of Rock of Ages lighthouse and 222 degrees
from the lighthouse a distance of 4,000 feet (useful for chart plot). On site location
is best from North Rock: the site is 258 degrees true, 2.4 statue miles from the rock.

Site Description

The wreckage of CUMBERLAND and HENRY CHISHOLM are intermingled near the
lighthouse at Rock of Ages reef. They represent two wreck events separated by 21
years, but because their remains overlap on the Lake bottom, they will be treated as
one site in the archeological record. The historical background of these vessels
leading up to the wreck events is presented in detail in Chapter IV.

In addition to providing a remarkable museum-like exhibit on late-Nineteenth
Century wooden vessel construction, the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM remains, when
closely examined, reveal much about both wreck events and the subsequent
post-depositional processes. First impressions of this site by divers have been
characterized by phrases such as "mass confusion" and "huge jumble of timbers."
What at first appears to be a hopeless jigsaw puzzle makes good sense, however,
when attributes peculiar to each vessel are discerned, and the whole is reduced to
manageable size on paper. Given the constraints of underwater visibility and the
large size of the site, divers can never see more than a small fraction of the
wreckage at one time. This makes accurate mapping critical to obtaining an
understanding of the site.

It is apparent from a brief perusal of the site map in Figure 5.1 that the two vessels
comprising the site are broken into several large, discrete units. Most of these
structural elements are spread through a single underwater ravine that ranges in
depth from 20 to 80 feet. The exceptions are the rudder of CHISHOLM located part
way down the reef, the portion of hull on which the CHISHOLM engine rests (V) in
140 feet of water, and a disarticulated piece of hull (IV) that lies next to it at 150
feet of depth. These latter pieces are at the bottom of a drop-off that fringes the
rock reef that in turn surrounds the main wreckage field in shallow water. To gain a
perspective on the site in its general environmental context, Figures 5.2 and 5.3
have been provided.

Attributing these various hull sections to one vessel or the other becomes easier
when several selective factors are recognized.

The most remarkable contrast between the remains of the two vessels is size The
following table is a general comparison of the two vessels as built:

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Table 5.1 CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM Comparison

Dates Gross Tons Length Beam Depth

CHISHOLM 1880-98 1775.3 256.5 39.3 20.3

CUMBERLAND 1871-77 629 204 26 10.7

Although both vessels had two decks, CUMBERLAND was a side-wheeler, and
CHISHOLM was a propeller-driven bulk freighter (see Fig. 5.4). The length to depth
ratios are: CUMBERLAND 1:19; CHISHOLM 1:12.6. The length to beam ratio for
CUMBERLAND is 1:7.8, indicating a long, narrow hull configuration when compared
to the beamier CHISHOLM, with a ratio of 1:6.5. The higher ratio of CUMBERLAND
reflects the desire for speed in the passenger trade. CUMBERLAND probably would
have drawn about 6 feet of water and CHISHOLM 12 to 14 feet.

The comparison of the documented dimensions of the two vessels indicates that the
scantlings of CHISHOLM would be significantly larger than those of CUMBERLAND.
This observation was supported by the examination of the wreck remains on the
site. The remains of the two vessels could be separated on the basis of the single
attribute of size alone. The remains of CHISHOLM are massive compared to
CUMBERLAND (Fig. 5.5).

CUMBERLAND remains are characterized by split frames that were employed in the
construction process (Figs. 5.6, 5.9, 11). The futtocks are separated by a spacer
block and are quite distinctive. CHISHOLM, in contrast, had the more common
solid, triple-futtock framing from the keel to the turn of the bilge (Fig. 5.22), double
futtocks from there to the weather deck and a single-frame timber that continued
up to become a stanchion of the bulwark. At all points in the hull, this style of
construction can be easily distinguished from the split frames and associated
architectural attributes of CUMBERLAND'S wreckage.

Another useful diagnostic element is the diagonal strapping that was used to
provide longitudinal hull support in CHISHOLM. At any point where the broken hull
sections expose the interface between the molded face of the frames and outboard
planking on the side of the hull, this metal strapping is evident. The strapping
intersects itself at 90 degrees and forms a sort of rigid steel basket weave over the
hull side augmenting the longitudinal strength of HENRY CHISHOLM. No comparable
feature exists on the CUMBERLAND hull pieces. In its stead, the builders of the
latter vessel used an unusual arch support that is built into its ceiling plank layout
to deal with the common problems of sagging and hogging in large wooden ships
(Figs. 5.9, 5.11). Truss rods provided the transverse support needed to cope with
the special problem of wheel guard sag in side-wheelers and evidently formed part
of the longitudinal support system as well.

In some cases, the task of separating out hull pieces was greatly facilitated because
enough of a particular section was intact that two rows of vertical or "hanging"
knees were evident, indicating the piece was part of CHISHOLM (Figs 5.12, 5.13).
The knees on CUMBERLAND were sawn and elongated (dagger knees), whereas the

221

larger knees of CHISHOLM are natural (i.e. made from "compass" timber) and
noticeably broad.

That some third, undocumented wreck also occurred at this site is a possibility that
must be addressed in this discussion, but one that can be quickly dismissed. The
same thematic traits in construction that permit distinguishing these ships from
each other also indicate that they are the only two vessels represented in the
wreckage field. This becomes a certainty beyond reasonable doubt when we fit the
pieces together on paper and find that we are left with no duplication of parts in
the final picture, nor any elements not readily attributed to either vessel.

CUMBERLAND'S remains are evident in the northern part of the ravine where they
trail off into deeper water. CHISHOLM dominates the southern portion of the ravine
and slightly overlaps CUMBERLAND (Fig. 5.1). None of the wreckage in the deep
water where CHISHOLM's engine is located can be attributed to CUMBERLAND.

When all the hull sections making up the site are sorted and reconstituted into their
original form as two ships, several other observations can be made. The most
intriguing is the fact that much of CUMBERLAND is not represented on the site.
What had seemed an endless field of shipwreck remains does not in fact represent
the two vessels in their entirety. Also, as is typical of all the wrecks of Isle Royale,
little of the superstructure of either vessel is present on the site.

A comparison of the reconstituted CHISHOLM to the original ship shows that
approximately 50 feet of the port side of the hull is missing, mostly from the bow
area. All of the rest of the vessel is represented with the glaring exception of part
of the bow and all of the superstructure. Similarly, no significant portion of
CUMBERLAND'S superstructure is evident on the site, but, unlike CHISHOLM, a very
significant portion of its hull is also absent.

Once the initial separation of the remains on the basis of size was completed,
researchers turned their attention to a comparison of individual components. The
components were approached in categories, such as propulsion elements, auxiliary
machinery, hull architecture, cargo handling machinery, superstructure and cargo.
The latter categories of cargo and superstructure were of no assistance, because no
superstructure attributable to either vessel could be located and no evidence of
cargo was observed.

Propulsion elements

Propulsion elements, particularly engines and boilers, could be easily separated. The
vessels had distinctive propulsion machinery: CHISHOLM was a screw steamer,
powered by a compound engine and Scotch boilers (Fig. 5.17), whereas
CUMBERLAND was a side-wheeler powered by a walking beam engine and firebox
boiler (Figs. 5.4, 5.16). Although the specific type of boiler was not historically
documented for CUMBERLAND, it could not have been a Scotch type. Scotch boilers
appeared on the Lakes after the loss of CUMBERLAND. It is unlikely that propulsion
elements of the two vessels could be confused.

The compound engine of CHISHOLM was located intact in 150 feet of water sitting
upright on its mounts within the detached stern portion of the wreck (Figs. 5.18,
5.20). An examination of the structure related to the stern portion revealed the
unmistakable characteristic hull architecture of CHISHOLM. A comparison of the
shallower remains with those found with the engine of CHISHOLM allowed quick

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separation of the two wrecks based on scantling size and construction technique.
This would have allowed the separation of the two wrecks even in the absence of
historical documentation of their dimensions.

The steam plant of CHISHOLM presents a unique opportunity to study an example of
Great Lakes technology in a formative stage. The engine is still connected to the
shaft and screw, much like it might be arranged in a museum display. It is a
double-expansion, inverted, vertical, direct-acting steam engine with cylinders of 30
and 56 inches in diameter and a 48-inch stroke. The two cylinders pushed the
CHISHOLM at almost 9 knots.

The engine, number 128, was built in Cleveland by Globe Iron Works the same year
as the hull. Upon examination, one is struck by the ornate quality of the steam
jacket around the cylinders, which contains wrought iron borders and diamond
designs in the center of each cover. The engine cylinders are mounted on top of
iron supports cast in the shape of columns. The supports between the columns are
in the shape of circles.

This is the earliest steam engine extant of the Isle Royale shipwrecks, and its ornate
embellishments reflect a time when the designers of steam engines were concerned
with both function and aesthetics. (A discussion of the cultural context of
machinery decoration in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries relevant to the
interpretation of the the steam engines of Isle Royale can be found in Kasson
1976.) None of the other engines of the ships of Isle Royale shows the same regard
for aesthetics on the part of the designers. In other wrecks, e.g. AMERICA, the
embellishments have been executed by the men who used the machines, rather than
the designers.

CHISHOLM's propeller has four blades; the two lower ones are broken (Fig. 5.19). It
is uncertain if the blades were broken as a result of the initial wreck event or the
trip down the slope after the stern section separated. It is most likely that the two
lower blades were broken as the stern settled. The first historical accounts of the
wreck indicated the bow was aground with the stern over deep water. The break up
of the wreck occurred as the stranded vessel was buffeted by two storms in quick
succession (Detroit Free Press Oct. 26, 27, 1898, see Chapter IV).

The propeller shafts and shaft log are in their normal position. The tail shaft is
flanged to a thrust shaft. The thrust shaft has a single collar that articulates with
the thrust bearing mounted on a pillow (or plummer) block, which is tied into the
centerline keelson. The single-collar thrust bearing was sufficient for the relatively
low rpm of CHISHOLM's engine (Fig. 5.20). Multiple-collar bearings came into use
later to dissipate the increased thrust and friction of the more powerful
triple-expansion engines and larger hulls. A typical example of the multiple-collar
thrust bearing may be seen on the shaft of GLENLYON (Fig. 5.43).

The rudder of CHISHOLM (Fig. 5.15) is in 70 feet of water immediately upslope from
the engine. The visible steering chain is attached through a block to one of the two
tiller arms on the rudder stock.

The rudder is typical of those fitted to contemporary wooden propeller-driven
vessels. Figure 5.21 shows the position and attachment of the rudder on a similarly
constructed bulk freighter of the period. The rudder is not hinged on a gudgeon
and pintle arrangement common in earlier vessels, but rather, the rudder stock is
suspended from a rudder carrier that is inboard of the horn timber. The lower end

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of the rudder stock rests and pivots on the rudder shoe. The rudder shoe is a flat,
iron casting attached to the underside of the keel extending about four frames
forward of the stern post, and aft beyond the screw to support the base of the
rudder.

CHISHOLM had two iron rods extending from the horn timber as additional support
for the rudder and shaft. One rod was attached to the lower side of the horn
timber positioned aft of the screw and forward of the rudder. This rod, which
supported the aft end of the rudder shoe, is not depicted in the example of Figure
5.21.

A second iron rod extending from the horn timber terminates at the aft end of the
shaft log forward of the screw. This rod appears to be adjustable and apparently
used to relieve the tension of the bearing on the shaft.

Examination of the sternpost directly beneath the horn timber revealed Roman

numeral depth marks. Numerals XII and XIII were on the upper edge of the

sternpost. The numeral XIV was split between the sternpost and horn timber (Fig.
5.23).

Portions of side-wheels were located on the other end of the site from the
CHISHOLM engine (Fig. 5.1). Obviously related to CUMBERLAND, they indicated that
wreckage scatter from this vessel lie generally to the north. A boiler and condenser
were located between the paddle wheel fragments and the concentration of hull
remains. The boiler and engine cylinder, which still remains in the hull of
CUMBERLAND, are separated by a distance of 270 feet. In the immediate area of the
boiler there was also a piece of particularly heavy structure, which could be a
portion of reinforced deck below the boiler.

Propulsion elements of CUMBERLAND are spread along a distance of over 400 feet.
There are paddle wheels in 80 feet of water at a distance of 300 feet from the
engine cylinder. A paddle wheel flange and three radii (or paddle wheel arms) are
located on the hull side of CHISHOLM 135 feet in the opposite direction from the
CUMBERLAND engine cylinder (Section IV, Fig. 5.1).

The paddle wheel segments (Fig. 5.7) are connected to a cast-iron flange that forms
the hub. The paddle wheels had an outer and inner circle or rim of wood (square)
connecting and strengthening the paddle wheel arms or radii. The paddle arms
were separated by 4-inch square blocks 2 feet 10 inch long behind the outer rim.
The rim strengthened the outer circumference of the wheel at the edge of the
floats.

The inner rim, 2 feet 6 inches below the outer rim where the buckets (or floats)
were attached, was made of wood with a circle both on the inside and outside of
the arms. There was no evidence of iron reinforcement on the circles of the paddle
wheels of CUMBERLAND as would be typical of western river practice — a reflection
of the lack of floating obstructions on the Lakes that frequently damaged the
western river paddle wheels.

The paddle floats were attached to the arms by three iron through-bolts. The
dimensions of the extant floats or buckets are 1 feet 8 inches x 1 inch, and 7 feet
long. A section of paddle wheel was located at a depth of 82 feet with buckets still
attached (Fig. 5.1).

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Western river steamboat buckets were most often attached by an iron "U" rod or
stirrup that bent around the arm and bolted through the bucket planks. This
variation may be the result of the different environmental conditions of the Lakes
and western rivers. The western river steamboat frequently damaged paddle wheel
buckets on floating debris and quick replacement was necessary. The U-bolt
assembly practice allows quicker replacement, although it might not be as strong as
the Lakes through-bolt attachment. The Lake paddle wheels were stronger in the
buckets and weaker in the arms than the western river vessels. The western river
practice strengthened the arms (the most difficult element to replace) and
considered the bucket expendable.

The paddle wheels of CUMBERLAND were estimated to be 26 feet in diameter. The
arms are 12 feet long from the hub to the outer rim. A contemporary newspaper
report gives the diameter of CUMBERLAND'S paddle wheels as 30 feet (Detroit Free
Press Oct. 4, 1871). The field observation estimate was based on the length of the
arms attached to a partial flange. Given the 12-foot paddle wheel arm length, the
complete flange would have had to be 6 feet in diameter to conform to the
historical dimensions, which is unlikely. The contemporary diameter may have
included the paddle wheel boxes in the 30-foot measurement.

The boiler on the site (Fig. 5.8) is from CUMBERLAND; of this there can be little
doubt based on both archeological and historical evidence. The boiler is in
proximity to the paddle wheels and quite removed from the engine of CHISHOLM.
An explanation would have to be developed to account for the movement of the
mostly rectangular boiler far from where it would have been located if it had been
part of CHISHOLM. The possibility that another vessel could have deposited the
firebox type boiler can be dismissed: there were no structural remains located that
did not conform to either of the two vessels.

Historical evidence also supports CUMBERLAND as the origin of the firebox boiler,
although the records of what type boiler CUMBERLAND carried and whether they
were salvaged have not been located. A rectangular, multi-tubular firebox boiler
would be expected on CUMBERLAND. Firebox boilers were used extensively after
1850 on walking beam side-wheelers. Beam engines normally operated with less
than 50 pounds of pressure, the pressure normally produced by a fire box boiler.
Compound engines required 100 pounds of pressure or more, considerably in excess
of the normal capabilities of a firebox boiler of the type located on site. Historical
documentation indicates that CHISHOLM carried Scotch boilers at the time of loss
and they were salvaged in 1901 (See Chapter IV).

The elements of propulsion other than the boilers located in the shallow area of the
site can be attributed to CUMBERLAND. The pressure vessel in the vicinity of the
boiler appears to be a surface condenser, the type recorded for CUMBERLAND, and
of a size too small for the engine of CHISHOLM. Surface condensation came into
general use in 1860 and resulted in a reduction in fuel consumption when coupled
with higher steam pressures. A first-class vessel, like CUMBERLAND, built in the
early 1870s would generally have carried a surface condenser to reduce operating
costs in the highly competitive passenger-package trade.

An iron cylinder 36 inches in diameter and about 4 feet long was also located near
the largest concentration of CUMBERLAND hull remains. This is much too small to
be the main cylinder (CUMBERLAND'S engine was 44 inches in diameter with an
1 1 —ft. stroke); it is probably the air pump.

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Underneath the inverted main hull section of CUMBERLAND (CU Bottom, Fig. 5.1), the
bottom of the main cylinder was located. The bottom of this feature can be viewed
through a break in the hull planks. Nearby, mounted on the bottom of the hull is a
rectangular feature that contains a lobed shaft (resembling a modern gas engine
cam shaft) of uncertain function. This may have been a part of the mechanism for
operating engine and pump valves.

The last elements related to ship propulsion located on the site were the tops of
the A-frames (Fig. 5.10). The A-frames were wooden timbers, heavily fastened with
iron, constructed in an A shape to support the overhead shaft or trunnion of the
walking beam (Fig. 5.4). The two A-frame tops were broken off just below the apex
of the frame. Both fragments contain the walking beam shaft bearing.

The missing machinery of CUMBERLAND presents a bit of a problem. No other
fragments of the main cylinder, steam chest, walking beam, crank shaft, lifting and
connecting rods, piping, boiler breeching or stack have been located. It is likely that
most of the portable artifacts have been removed by divers, but the larger
machinery that is missing is puzzling. Perhaps some of it could have been removed
by the salvors when they were working on CHISHOLM, but the question remains as
to why they only removed some pieces and not others. If they were interested in
the recovery of scrap, then it is not clear why the firebox boiler was left. They
certainly had the means to recover it — they salvaged the Scotch boilers of
CHISHOLM. It is hard to imagine that they simply overlooked it, or did not locate
the CUMBERLAND boiler.

The salvors of CHISHOLM were apparently not interested in scrap, but only reusable
elements with high resale value. The firebox boiler was not only out of date, but
was also damaged beyond reasonable repair. The top of the boiler was ruptured.
This was not likely the result of a boiler explosion - the shell is depressed inward.
Because the salvors did not remove the boiler, it is unlikely they removed any of the
other machinery. Perhaps there is large machinery yet to be discovered near the
site.

Auxiliary Machinery

Another piece of machinery was located on the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site but
cannot, as yet, be definitely attributed to either vessel. Figure 5.14 shows a
reciprocating steam water pump of a type commonly used for boiler-feed water.
The steam piston is on the right of the pump and the piston of the water pump
housed on the left. The spherical attachment above the pump piston is an air
chamber. The air chamber serves to allow an even flow of water. Without the air
chamber, or accumulator dome, the water would tend to pulsate because of the
back and forth motion of the pump piston, which stops at the end of each stroke.
When the piston moves forward water enters the dome and compresses the trapped
air, which later forces the water out of the chamber when the piston comes to rest
at the end of the stroke. This allows a steady discharge of water.

The pump is similar in design to those of a number of manufacturers. It is quite
similar to the "Knowles Single Pump" and the "Blake Single Piston Pump" in common
use in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century.

It is likely that the pump in Figure 5.14 is from CHISHOLM. Although unattached, it
lies on a section of the port side of CHISHOLM's hull. It is also likely that the the
pump is near its proper location on the vessel, in the machinery spaces, and close

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to the boilers. In the immediate area of the pump other evidence of machinery is
found. Above the steam cylinder of the pump and to the left above the divers head
in Figure 5.14, a strongly reinforced through-hull fitting can be seen. The location
of this fitting is above the main deck, and it is probably an overboard discharge.
Some metal sheeting was found in the area (immediately below pump, north end of
Section II, Fig. 5.1), which may have been used to line the boiler room.

A separated windlass with some decking attached was located on the bottom of
CHISHOLM's hull (Section II, Fig. 5.1). Based on the dimensions, it is most likely to
have belonged to CHISHOLM. In the immediate vicinity of the windlass is an anchor,
which is wedged between the bottom of the hull and the starboard side. The
wooden stock was all that could be reached to measure. The stock is 13 feet 8
inches long, indicating an anchor of a size more appropriate for CHISHOLM than
CUMBERLAND.

Along the limberway of CHISHOLM's hull bottom 2 1/2 and 3-inch diameter iron pipe
was located. This was bilge pump piping. A rod with two cup-like attachments was
found on the port side of CHISOHLM. This is assumed to be the interior mechanism
for a double-acting, hand-operated bilge or fire pump.

The last feature possibly associated with auxiliary machinery is also located on the
assumed port side of CHISHOLM (Section I, Fig. 5.1). A 10-foot long, iron-capped
cylindrical timber of unknown use was discovered. The base of the timber, which
was 12 inches in diameter, was broken.

Hull Architecture

As discussed, the hull architecture of the two vessels is easily separated. The
differences in scantling size and construction techniques is marked. The centerline
frame dimensions of CUMBERLAND are 12x14 inches including a 2-inch space
between the futtocks, while those of CHISHOLM are 18x18 inches. On this basis
alone, the remains of the two vessels can be distinguished; however, there are
specific attributes of both vessels that bear close examination.

There are certain aspects of architecture that would be expected of a 200-foot
class, side-wheel passenger vessel. Indications of guards, gangways, round stern,
sharp bow and hull support should be notable in the remains.

A right-angle iron bracket was located on a section of the side of CUMBERLAND'S
hull (CU Side, near fantail, Fig. 5.1). The bracket, which is on the outboard side of
the hull, was used to support a section of the paddle wheel guards that ran
longitudinally along the outside of the hull at the height of the lower edge of the
paddle wheel box along the level of the main deck.

Guards (or sponsons) may have originally appeared on Fulton's eastern river
steamboats. Fulton introduced them to prevent damage to the otherwise exposed
paddle wheels. Eastern river guards were widest at the paddle wheel and tapered
fore and aft. Later, in western river practice, guards were extended the full length
of the hull to add cargo space to the main deck. In addition, the guards gave
support to the outboard paddle wheel shaft bearing.

Great Lakes steamboats normally followed the eastern style of guards with the
widest overhang at the paddle wheel and tapered ends. The maximum width of the
guards was determined by the size of the paddle wheels and paddle boxes

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(housings). Guards were extended to provide additional usable deck space and ease
of cargo handling. Gangways normally opened on the guard level to facilitate cargo
loading. Package freight could be wheeled from the dock across the guards into the
cargo spaces on the main deck.

Judging from the size of the right-angle guard support brace, this portion of the
hull was far forward or aft of the paddle wheel, in the area of minimum guard
width. It is most likely that the hull portion with the brace attached is from the
stern, rather than the bow. This speculation is based on the proximity of stern
structure (sternpost and fantail) and the lack of bow structure anywhere within the
main site concentration.

Along the upper edge of the side of the CUMBERLAND hull, there are rectangular
cutouts for the main deck beams. The main deck beams extended beyond the hull
side and supported the guards. The right-angle braces or struts, which appear to
occur in pairs on CUMBERLAND, were located between the deck beam and hull side
in the area of the largest overhang. One side of the brace was attached to the hull,
the other attached to the beam with the iron brace between them forming the
hypotenuse of the right angle. Examination of a portion of the bow of
CUMBERLAND, which was located in Washington Harbor, revealed that the main deck
beams were extended over the sides in the forward part of the hull.

The rounded structure visible in Figure 5.1 (Fantail) is from the stern of
CUMBERLAND. This portion, with exposed cant beams, sternpost, centerline keelson
and deadwood attached, can be seen on the map to the north of CHISHOLM's hull
bottom. The deck beams radiated from the sternpost to support the overhanging
fantail. This portion of the stern would have been on the main deck level, even
with, and a continuation of the guards. This hull fragment was the overhang above
the rudder.

Most of the CUMBERLAND hull structure located on site comes from below the level
of the main deck. All structure seems to come from the stern of the vessel. The
sharply curved frames visible in Figure 5.6 are from the stern area between the keel
and main deck in the aft third of the hull.

An interesting feature of the frames visible in Figures 5.6 and 5.11 is that the
futtocks are separated by a 2x14-inch spacer block. The futtocks are made of
12x6-inch timbers. The frames are on 24-inch centers. A possible explanation for
this feature is that the technique reduced dry rot in the frames. This is unusual for
ocean and Western River vessels as well. The hull was built by Melchanthon
Simpson of Port Robinson, Canada. Historical research may produce some
additional evidence for this construction style and the rationale for it. If historical
research is unproductive, examination of other wrecked vessels produced by the
builder will be the only source of comparative data. This construction is apparently
not unique with CUMBERLAND, but it is rare on the Great Lakes, known only from
brief mention in historical references.

CUMBERLAND carried cabins above the main deck, as was the practice on the Great
Lakes after the appearance of GREAT WESTERN in 1839. Figure 5.4 is a drawing of
the general arrangement plan of CUMBERLAND. A steamer of the dimensions of
CUMBERLAND would have had about sixty cabins, plus parlors and a large ladies'
cabin aft. The crew's quarters would most likely have been below decks.

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There were no structural features located on site that could be attributed to deck
structures. Few elements of deck structures have been located from any of the
wooden vessels. Deck structure was of lighter construction and easily demolished
and separated from the hull during, or soon after, the wreck event.

The construction of CHISHOLM was of much heavier scantling than CUMBERLAND
(Fig. 5.5). The floor frames are composed of three 6-inch wide members. Each
18x18 inch frame is spaced on 24-inch centers. There are two 6-inch futtocks on
the sides of the hull and one 6-inch futtock above the spar deck, which formed the
bulwark stanchion.

The hull of CHISHOLM has a large centerline keelson composed of six elements.
The center keelson is 15 inches wide and 28 inches deep, the sister keelsons on
both sides are 12 in. wide and also 28 inches deep. The centerline keelson contains
two elements each 14 inches deep. The elements are fastened with 3/4-inch
diameter iron drifts. The centerline keelson scarfs are not hooked, but are straight
diagonals.

Next to the centerline keelson assembly is a transverse limberboard 2 1/2 inches
thick and 12 inches deep. The limberway is a triangular cut on the bottom of the
member.

On each side of the hull there are 6 side or floor keelsons and a bilge keelson. The
side keelsons are 12x16-inch timbers on 28-inch centers.. The bilge keelson is
similarly constructed with two 5x1 1-inch ceiling planks and a single 5x9-inch plank
edge-fastened at the turn of the bilge. The ceiling above the bilge is composed of
6x14-inch planks.

The hold floor is composed of 2x8-inch and 2x10-inch planks laid transversely. This
upper layer overlies a 3/4-inch thick layer of planks of smaller widths.

The height of the hold was 12 feet 6 inches and the height above the main deck
was 7 feet 6 inches, which together equals the register depth of 20 feet 3 inches

The spar deck shelf, bulwark and rail detail is depicted in Figure 5.5. Close
examination of the interior of the rail cap revealed it to have been painted pale
green with a routed groove at the base, which was painted red. At regular intervals
between the spar deck knees there were 5 1/2-inch diameter cargo rings of
3/4-inch stock attached to the ceiling planks.

Hull support

A detailed study of the hull support systems integrated into the wooden vessels of
Isle Royale can reveal much of what was understood by mid- and late-Nineteenth
Century Lakes shipwrights about the dynamics of the stresses the hulls would be
subjected to by the Great Lakes. Much can be learned about the technology of
these vessels, as well as the interaction of ideas from other shipbuilding areas. The
Lakes shipwrights borrowed methods and techniques from other areas as they
developed and experimented with variations on their own to meet specific
requirements imposed by the environment of the Great Lakes.

Fortunately, we have examples of three very different vessels to compare hull
structure and support systems: MONARCH, a propeller driven passenger/package

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freighter; CHISHOLM, once the largest bulk freighter on the Lakes, and the
side-wheeler CUMBERLAND. All three had different hull support systems.

The hull of CUMBERLAND was long and relatively narrow with a shallow depth. The
registered length was 204 feet. The beam was 26 feet and the depth 10.7.
Length-to-beam ratio is 1:7.8, and the beam to depth is 1:2.4. Length-to-depth
ratio is 1:19. The hull was built to attain higher speeds with moderate power
desirable for the passenger/package trade. Knowledgeable opinion of the period
was that the longer the boat, the faster, and beam being equal, the same power
would push a longer boat faster (Wheeling Bridge Case 1851: 385, 648 in Hunter
1949:85-89). The theoretical hull speed of CUMBERLAND is estimated at 19 knots.

The length to beam ratios of the western rivers peaked about 1850 at 1:7.9 and
dropped to 1:6.0 in the 1870s, representing a shift in emphasis from speed to cargo
capacity (Hunter 1949:86). CUMBERLAND represents the continued emphasis on
speed in the passenger/package trade on the Lakes. Slower and cheaper propellers
had the competitive advantage in cargo capacity, and were generally designed with
much more beam, and lower length to beam ratio. The design of bulk freighters on
the Lakes emphasized carrying capacity and cheap operation; speed was a
secondary concern.

The machinery of CUMBERLAND was located just aft of amidships. The heavy
keelsons (engine keelsons) in the engine area amidship supported the machinery
weight and stresses of the A-frames. In addition to the weight of the engine and
boilers, the weight of the outboard paddle wheels exerted stresses on the hull. The
concentration of weight in the center of the hull had the effect of correcting some
of the hull curvature due to hogging.

The hull would still have the tendency to hog as a result of the reduced buoyancy
from the decreased volume in the relatively sharp stem and stern areas of the hull,
as well as the light scantlings necessary for the shallow draft design. The stresses
from the long, narrow and shallow draft design of Lakes side-wheelers, and the
weight of machinery made hull reinforcement necessary. In most of the
middle-size vessels of CUMBERLAND'S class, structurally-integrated arched trusses
running fore-and-aft were the common method of longitudinally strengthening the
hull. These trusses were tied into the deadwood at the bow and stern, and rose
above the gunwales, and often above the paddle boxes amidships. The hull-truss
system of the paddle wheeler functioned much like the trusswork of a bridge
forming a sturdy and well-supported longitudinal structure.

CUMBERLAND, however, did not have the typical arched-truss support system.
None is visible in the historic photograph (Figs. 4.1, 4.2). An obvious question arose
regarding the support structures of CUMBERLAND'S hull. Several possibilities were
considered. CUMBERLAND could have longitudinal bulkheads like some of the
western river steamboats, or some other hull-level support mechanisms. Rod and
turnbuckle arrangements were possible, again, much like the "hog chains" common
to western river vessels.

Examination of the vessel remains produced features that were a part of the hull
strengthening system of CUMBERLAND. No evidence of longitudinal bulkheading
was observed, although additional keelson structures were added amidships in the
machinery area to handle the increased weight and stress (Fig. 5.5).

230

Elements of a longitudinal support system that were built into the ceiling planking
were noted (Fig. 5.9). These curved planks were tied into the stern deadwood and
appeared to arch upward on the inside of the hull. Historical research has not shed
any light on this construction technique. Measurements of the hull side indicate
that the "ceiling arch" extended to, but not above, the main deck. Unfortunately,
more documentation is needed on this feature before a definitive description of the
construction technique is made.

A similar feature was predicted for the bow. This speculation was later verified
when a portion of CUMBERLAND'S bow was located. In July of 1984, after the
writing of the first draft of this section of the Isle Royale report, divers from the
Submerged Cultural Resources Unit in association with Park Ranger Jay Wells
located and videotaped the bow section of CUMBERLAND in about 6' of water in
Grace Harbor. A tip from Stanley Sivertson, Captain of WENONAH that "an old dock
structure or perhaps a piece of wreckage had been sighted frequently by locals in
the area" provided the clue to this major part of CUMBERLAND structure. This
wreckage is over 7 miles from the main site.

Later, Patrick Labadie and LaMonte Florentz relocated this site and diagrammed the
construction details. This revised documentation is reproduced in Figure 5.11.

The bow wreckage is in two major pieces. The larger contains the stempost. There
can be little doubt that this is the port bow of CUMBERLAND because it has the
unusual split-futtock frame construction and shares many attributes with the
identified structure on Rock of Ages. The location of these bow fragments
contributes additional information to the construction details of the inner ceiling
arch support noted on the stern elements on the main site.

The bow section incorporated features that allowed a better understanding of the
construction details of the support system. The frames at the bow were 5-inch
sided by 12-inch molded at the keelson, tapering to 6-inch molded at the deck level
with a space of 2 1/2 inches between the futtocks. The spacers between the
futtocks are of oak, 2 1/2-inch sided and 14 inches long.

There was diagonal ceiling planking present forward and above the beginning of the
arch. The arch began 20 feet aft of the stem post and was 4x36 inches, edge
bolted with 3-inch square coaks present. The clamps were 4x32 inches, composed
of three planks. It was observed that the ceiling arch met the clamps 57 feet from
the stem. Deck beams, as determined from the cutouts at the main deck level, were
5 1/2 inches square and placed on 24-inch centers between the frames. The
presence of the deck beam cutouts indicates the deck beams extended beyond the
side of the hull the entire length of CUMBERLAND.

The stem was 12x26 inches and the stemson 12x20 inches. There were three iron
straps across the stem, which were of 1/2-inch stock, 4 inches wide. An 8x10-inch
breast hook was present. The hawse piece was 16x48 inches.

Additional features associated with the inshore bow area include 1 1/2-inch rod and
iron sheeting. The iron rods lend support to the conjecture that CUMBERLAND
contained a longitudinal hog-truss system in addition to the transverse trussing in
the midship section. The iron sheeting was an external hull cladding for ice
protection.

231

Captain Sivertson also recalled fishing over what he believes to be the rudder of
CUMBERLAND outside of Cumberland Point. "Trolling" SCRU team members behind
a boat for several hours, on two occasions did not produce any finds in this regard,
but Park staff and sport diver volunteers have been encouraged to continue the
search along the wreckage trail.

A second feature located on the main site connected with hull strengthening was a
7 1/2 inches square, 20-foot long kingpost with a square iron cap to which an iron
rod with a turn buckle was attached. The king post was a support member for a
section of hull connected to the post by the iron rods, which were called "hog
chains" in many areas.

Both 1 and 1 1/2-inch iron rods were located in association with CUMBERLAND on
the site. Fittings that appear to be for the attachment of hog chains were located
on the engine keelsons. Hog chains were typically used on western river
steamboats to add hull support longitudinally and, on side wheelers, transversely. It
is not clear whether this feature, located in proximity of the amidship engine
mounts, was a portion of a transverse chain used to support the guards and the
shaft blocks of the paddle wheels, or was part of a longitudinal hog-chain system.
Generally, iron rods were used in association with the A-frames, but the presence of
the king post is evidence of a more complex arrangement on CUMBERLAND. Iron
rods were also noted on the A-frame tops found on site (Fig. 5.10). The two sizes
of iron rod may indicate that both transverse and longitudinal hog chains were
employed. It is unknown how common the use. of hog chains was beyond their
common association with A-frames was on the Lakes.

The hull support system of CHISHOLM has already been mentioned. Beside the
keelson and ceiling arrangement, CHISHOLM used a network of iron strapping for
additional longitudinal hull support. The sided or outside face of the frames were
rabbeted at a 45-degree angle to the keelson to receive the criss-cross of 5-inch
wide and 1/2-inch thick diagonal iron straps. The iron straps were riveted together
where they cross in the spaces between frames. The common practice was to
secure the top of the diagonal strapping with rivets to a horizontal belt course
below the bulwarks. This feature, composed of 3/4-inch thick, 10-inch wide iron
strapping was observed on CHISOHLM. This sheer belt can be seen at the ends of
the hull sections (I and III) on Figure 5.1.

Apparently, some ocean vessels used diagonal strapping over the entire hull,
including the bottom, but the practice in the Lakes was to extend it under the turn
of the bilge only enough to fasten securely. Observations on site indicate
CHISHOLM followed the Lakes practice.

Typically, iron strapping was also secured to each frame with a drift. This feature
was not observed on the wreck, although a common practice, and required by
various registers and certifying agencies. The 1876 International Board of Lake
Underwriters requirements for diagonal strapping stated: "all straps are to be
fastened with bolts, one to each timber of the frame; one to the ceiling or planking
in each room between the frames; and one to each crossing .... The fastening of
iron to iron to be hot-riveted; and all other bolts riveted or nutted on the wood."

Contemporary accounts of CHISHOLM described the diagonal strapping:

... double diagonal heavy iron straps run down the sides and under the
turn of the bilge, and fasten to the long frames under the bottom and

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bolt through the bands when they cross and outside of the frames
under the planking (Chicago Inter Ocean Sept 24, 1880).

Site Formation Processes

The remains of CHISHOLM are principally in four large sections. There are 177 feet
of the bottom on the shallower portions of the site. Below, there is a second
section of bottom 47 feet in length. A total of 227 feet of CHISHOLM'S original hull
length of 256 feet remains on site. The portion missing is the bow, which is only
represented by the windlass and anchor and some associated frames west of the
bow of COX (Fig. 5.59).

Examinations of the structural elements of the vessel remains indicate the original
location of the principal structural elements in the hull, and reflect that the
sequence of formation process, such as salvage attempts, storms and ice heaving,
worked in concert to produce the remains seen on site.

Although the hulk apparently reached a deep resting place before the high-energy
action at the surface could break it into smaller pieces, it is disarticulated and
positioned in a fashion that would have been difficult to predict. Consider the fact
that Section V (Fig. 5.1), which comprises the engine and extreme stern flooring of
CHISHOLM, is facing southwest in 150 feet of water, while section IV, which was
part of the original starboard side and bottom where it articulated with the fantail, is
facing the opposite direction. The piece of wreckage lying under the engine floor
timbers is part of the fantail itself. The matching stern section of the hull for the
port side is still a part of a larger section of the side (I) that is located above in the
shallow water ravine. Apparently, the port side broke through the stern gangway.
This conclusion can be reached by process of elimination: II is the hull bottom and
section III is associated with the starboard side, because it is the only piece short
enough to fit the puzzle yet not exceed the length of the CHISHOLM if added to IV,
which is part of the stern.

The assumption that IV is the starboard stern can be further justified by
examination of the northern end of the piece. The arrangement of shelves, knees,
etc. indicate that it was coming to a narrow juncture with the deadwood in the
stern. With all the pieces restored, the end product would be as illustrated in the
midship cross section Figure 5.5.

Historical documentation informs us that the vessel ran aground in 12 feet of water,
with the stern floating over 40 feet of water (Detroit Free Press Oct. 23, 1898). The
bow was damaged severely enough by the grounding to dislodge hull planks. When
the ship was abandoned it was listing "4 feet" (Ft. William Daily Journal Oct. 21,
1898). The wreck was broken up by two storms, which struck in quick succession,
the first only 4 days after the wreck, and the second three days later (Detroit Free
Press Oct. 26, 1898).

The positioning of the hull pieces allows the development of a probable sequence of
events. The stern section was broken off as a result of the still-buoyant stern
section of the hull being worked by the storm waves. The hull was probably
grounded from the bow to below the boilers. Historical records do not state to
which side the vessel was listing, but indications are that it was to port, because
hull damage caused from the boilers appears to have been on that side, and the
deep portions of the wreck show more extensive damage to the port side in the

233

stern section. What probably took place was the boilers tumbled out of the port
side as the stern section broke off. The most damaged section of the port stern
was in the area just aft of the gangway. The starboard gangway is still visible in
section IV. The boilers would have slid down the slope, while the hull, relieved of
the weight of the machinery and stern structure, became more buoyant and
continued to move to the port (north), pushed by the waves and wind.

As the stern section slid down the face of the reef, the rudder shoe struck with
enough force to dislodge the rudder and push the horn timber upward, breaking the
fantail. The lighter stern and fantail pieces reached the bottom of reef before the
stern section of the hull bottom, which still contains the engine. This stern section
(V) is resting on structure that is from the port side of the stern. The large piece of
wreckage just off the port side of the bottom hull (IV) is a major portion of the
starboard part of the stern and fantail. The end containing the knees and gangway
(northern end) was forward on the starboard side.

The hull was presumably more heavily damaged on the starboard bow, probably a
result of being the first point of contact with the reef. The starboard side, now free
both bow and stern, separated along the bilge as the hull pivoted on the remains of
the bow. The starboard side was probably originally deposited in shallower water
and later pushed northward and down the slope into the gully by ice movement.

The storms, principally from the northwest (Detroit Free Press Oct. 26, 1898),
continued to buffet the still-connected port and bottom. As the vessel moved, the
bow was breaking up and apparently dropped the anchor and deck section carrying
the windlass northward to the upslope location above their current position. The
port side must have separated after the hull bottom turned almost 180 degrees with
the bow facing south and the stern portion of the bottom to the north.

The depositional sequence of the 177-foot long bottom section, the port side, the
anchor and windlass in the shallow portions of the site might have taken place over
a longer period of time. The bottom was the first element to arrive in its present
location, with the anchor coming to rest at its present location at the port bilge.
The windlass evidently was the next element to be located in its present position on
top of the bottom. The port side was the last piece of CHISHOLM to find its way
down the incline to the bottom of the gully. After the port side was in position, a
piece of paddle wheel of CUMBERLAND came to rest on it. All the shifting of the
elements was probably the result of ice movement.

Diagnostic features can be used to establish the articulation of the hull pieces. The
principal diagnostic feature of the large bottom portion (II) is the doubled floor
keelsons on the north end of the section, which are likely associated with
strengthening of the machinery spaces.

The features on the section of hull side that is in proximity to the bottom (I) that
indicate the stern is to the north, are more definitive. The water pump and
through-hull fittings on the north end of the piece reflect the boiler spaces. There
is an iron beam in the vicinity. Historical documentation indicates CHISHOLM had
iron beams below the boilers for support. In addition, documentation indicates the
boiler spaces were sheathed with iron. Iron sheeting, riveted together, was located
in close proximity to the beam. This sheeting is of a style of construction
appropriate for sheathing for fire protection:

234

The iron beams under the boilers, and the iron house over and around
the boiler, with the iron coal bunkers, are sure protection against fire
... (Chicago Inter Ocean Sept. 24, 1880).
(No indication of the iron coal bunkers were located).

There are indications that the bow was the southern end of this portion of port
hull. The mooring fairleads on the southern end of the piece appear to be bow
associated. Directly behind the fairleads is a chain plate assembly. Seventy-five
feet to the north along the gunwale (under the paddle wheel segment) is a second
set of chain plates. The location and distance are what would be expected for the
fore and main mast of CHISHOLM. The reason the mizzen chain plates are missing
is that they were placed higher on the cabin structure in the stern, and no cabin
structure remains on site.

The second side section in the shallow area of the site (III) has no clearly diagnostic
attributes, except it lacks both bow and stern features. The main indication that this
is the starboard side is found on the hull side in deeper water. The hull and fantail
section (IV) associated with the stern bottom section has considerably more of the
starboard side connected to it. The beams and gangway are clearly starboard side.
The assumed starboard side (III) in shallow water is 200 feet in length, including the
diagonal-strap sheer belt, while the port hull side (I) is 230 feet in length. The port
side would simply be too long for the vessel's dimensions if added to the starboard
fantail section.

The last of the diagnostic elements to be considered is also in the deeper section.
The stern bottom section is resting on remnants of the port side. Virtually all of the
stern hull structure is represented.

Question arose as to those portions of the vessel missing. All the fore and aft
cabin structures are absent. In addition, the towing bitts, which would have been
stepped into the horn timber, deadwood and the main deck, are not represented.
There is also about 25 feet of bow that was displaced from the central site
concentration. Other elements missing are the main and spar deck beams. None
were recognized anywhere on site. They must have all been pulled out when the
sides of the hull separated from the bottom. The main deck may not have originally
been planked, but would have had the beams in place, whether planked or not.

The remaining fragments of CUMBERLAND exhibit more extensive alterations by
formation processes than CHISHOLM. The relatively intact structural elements of
CHISHOLM can be attributed to heavier construction and the diagonal strapping that
tended to hold the sides together. CHISHOLM's bow, lacking the iron strapping,
appears to have come apart as separate elements.

Less than 100 feet of CUMBERLAND bottom was located on site. Apparently the hull
separated between the engine and boilers, as did CHISHOLM. The boiler and bow
structure maintained enough buoyancy to be moved a hundred feet to the north
before the boilers and other machinery dropped out. The bow section was able to
float the 7.5 miles into Grace Harbor. The offshore hull elements show evidence of
movement by ice. Some of the hull sections show ice scour damage. Ice
movement must be considered a major formation process in the shallower sections
of CUMBERLAND.

CUMBERLAND, with a draft about half that of CHISHOLM, originally broke up in the
shallower sections of the reef. Storm and ice movement are undoubtedly

235

responsible for the vessel fragments being moved off the edge of the reef into the
gully in which they now lie. Both the vessels moved basically northward during and
after the wreck event. This may be the best indicator for the direction to
concentrate future survey efforts.

The remains of the vessels are a particularly rich source of information on wooden
steamers of this period. As has been demonstrated, there are many details of
construction techniques and steam technology that may only be answered by
examination of the material record. Even when one is fortunate enough to have
construction drafts and blue prints of a particular vessel, or as in the case of
CHISHOLM, plans of a similar vessel, many details were omitted. They were
considered too obvious and common to have been included in plans and have
already slipped from our current understanding of our technical heritage.

The side-wheeler contained numerous common, and some very rare features. The
split-frame construction is apparently rare. The details of the hull support system
will be of interest to historians and students of marine technology, as well as
serving as a comparison. CHISHOLM has already contributed to the details of
known technology through its nearly complete engine and drive train. In addition,
the use of iron beams for boiler support and other technical details of construction
are not represented on the blueprints of the similar vessel of Figures 5.20 and 21.

A last glance at the wreckage of the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site leaves us with a
tantalizing thought for future research: where is the rest of CUMBERLAND? The
reconstruction of CUMBERLAND parts available in the known site boundaries
indicates that some very interesting materials related to this wreck have neither
been found on the site nor been accounted for in the historical record of salvage.
Is it possible that more large machinery and intact pieces of CUMBERLAND bow
wreckage are waiting for discovery some place between the boiler and the bow in
the deep waters leading up to Rock of Ages light?

236

Fig. 5.1.
CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM SITE

ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK

National Park Service

Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

Plammelric View

J.L. Livingston

CU P»ddl«whe«l«

Slick rock hump with
very few boulders

d ?

r Jointing with a
j* few boulders

40-

Approx, Area of Wreckage

Gravel Silt & Rock " Gravel & Boulder transition zone varies extensively

I I I I I l I l i i i i i i i i [ i

100 90 8° 70 6° 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

SECTION E

Small Boulders

Large Boulders

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

80 90 100

100 90 80 70 60 50

30 20

ncreasingly Large Boulders

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Fig. 5.3. Environmental cross section of CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site. Drawing by
Ernesto Martinez.

239

CABIN DECK

DECK PLANS

*£

CREW i GALLEY

±5&

INBOARD
PROFILE

OUTBOARD
PROFILE

CP. LABADIE. 198 1

10 0 10 20 30

I ....I I I I

STR CUMBERLAND 1871
GENERAL ARRANGEMENT PLAN

Fig. 5.4. Conjectural general arrangement plans of CUMBERLAND. Drawings by C.
Patrick Labadie.

240

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Z (A
UJ I
Z X

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u.

o -•

b
>

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C/5
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241

Fig. 5.6. Structural elements related to stern of CUMBERLAND,
construction with separated futtocks on the central segment,
outboard side up. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

Note split-frame
These pieces are

Fig. 5.7. Segment of paddle wheel from CUMBERLAND,
right. NPS photo by Dan Lenihan.

Note firebox boiler in upper

242

Fig. 5.8. Firebox boiler of CUMBERLAND. NPS photo by Dan Lenihan.

Fig. 5.9. Hull structure of CUMBERLAND. Note that a structural arch for longitudinal
support was built into the ceiling planking. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

243

Fig. 5.10. Top of A-frame that supported the bearings of the walking beam of
CUMBERLAND. NPS photo by John Brooks.

244

BREASTHOOK: 8X10'
HAWSE PIECE: 16 X 48'
STEM: 1 2 X 20"

STEM-IRON:
1/2 X 4"

IRON STRAP:
1/2 X 5"

12 X 16" KEELSON
20' FROM BOW, BEGINNING OF ARCH
DETAIL OF BOW

57' FROM BOW, ARCH MEETS CLAMP

FRAMES: 6" AT DECK

PLANKING: 2 1/2 X 5'

DECKBEAMS: 5 1/2", SPACE 26"

FRAMES: DBL 5 X 12", SP 2 1/2, 24" CTRS

SPACERS BETWEEN FUTTOCKS: 2 1/2 X 14" OAK

COAKS IN ARCHES: 3" SO.

CEILING: DIAGONAL 2"

ARCH: EDGE BOLTED 4 X 36"

DETAIL OF HULL 55' AFT OF STEM

CP LABADIE 9-85

Fig. 5.11. Port bow structure of CUMBERAND found at the entrance to Grace Harbor.
Drawing by C. Patrick Labadie.

245

;

Fig 5.12-5.13. Two views of main and spar deck beam knees and shelves of
CHISHOLM. Note their large size compared with the structure of CUMBERLAND.
NPS photos by Larry Murphy.

246

Fig. 5.14. Double-acting, steam water pump on CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site.
Pumps similar to this were often used as boiler feed pumps. This one is in
proximity of the machinery spaces of CHISHOLM and is likely from that vessel. NPS
photo by Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.15.
Lenihan.

Rudder of HENRY CHISHOLM at Rock of Ages Reef. NPS photo by Dan

247

MANITOWOC.

Fig. 5.16 Firebox boiler similar to that on site from CUMBERLAND, which did not
have a steam drum as depicted in this illustration. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Canal Park Marine Museum Collection

Fig. 5.17. Single ended "Scotch" boiler similar to those carried on the other Isle
Royale vessels. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Marine Museum Collection

248

JJt-V

■

:HIKi niff

JfJ

1 (*^^ 1

ih* / H w:''«*i

J^I^P

1 H ''*-_-

9 W '

/f^BRg^^Bb i .^H

■ v: ■

Fig. 5.18. CHISHOLM engine at depth of 140'. IMPS photo by John Brooks.

249

Fig. 5.19. Archeologist Larry Murphy examining propeller of HENRY CHISHOLM.
photo by John Brooks.

NPS

250

CHKutS'u Tt?9, fmm 1881 P'anS °f MASSACHUSETTS, a vessel very similar to
umbHOLM. The drawing corresponds to the remains of CHISHOLM in 140 feet of

W3t6r.

251

I J / J>

_ 7"

/' /
/

FEET

] 3

10 12

Fig. 5.21. Arrangement of rudder from MASSACHUSETTS plans. The rudder and
support is similar to that of CHISHOLM.

252

Fig. 5.22. Hull bottom remains of HENRY CHISHOLM. Centerline keelson is on the
right and bilge keelson and broken paired vertical frames on the left. NPS photo by
Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.23. Roman numeral draft markings located on the horn timber of CHISHOLM
at a depth of 130'. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

253

ALGOMA: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Location

ALGOMA is directly offshore of Mott Island on the northeast end of Isle Royale. The
center point of the known wreckage is computed at 48°06'41"N and 88°31'55"W.
This point is approximately 2 1/3 statute miles from the starboard-hand bell buoy at
Middle Islands Passage on a true bearing of 53 degrees, 4 1/8 statute miles on a
true bearing of 31 degrees from the white daymark at Saginaw Point, and
approximately 7/8 of a mile on a true bearing of 61 degrees from the radio mast on
Mott Island. The point can be reached by rounding the starboard-hand bell buoy at
Middle Island Passage, traveling a distance of 2 1/3 miles, and lining up on the Mott
Island radio mast with a true bearing of 240 degrees.

The steel steamer ALGOMA was wrecked at Greenstone Rock, Mott Island, on the
north end of Isle Royale in November 1885. It blundered onto offshore rocks at the
south end of the 1-1/2-mile island and was subsequently driven onto the rugged
and exposed shoreline by heavy seas and easterly winds of gale force. Because the
shoreline is studded with irregular ledges and rocks, the ship's steel hull broke up
immediately, and even the stern portion, which remained relatively intact, rested on
an uneven bed of pinnacles and ridges. The ship's upper works were entirely
shattered by the breaking seas, and driven into three narrow coves. There is no
shelter at the site from easterly or southerly winds, which enjoy a clear sweep of
the open Lake for a fetch of anywhere from 50 to as much as 200 miles.

In the shallower water near the shoreline, three depressions or gullies lead into
deeper water from the three coves and the wreckage of ALGOMA rests principally in
those gullies, separated by shallower rocks and ridges reaching out from shore. The
fractured wreckage was likely pushed into the gullies from the ridge tops by ice
action. The remains of the ship are, as a result, largely found in three main fields.
The remaining wreckage lies dispersed in deeper water immediately offshore,
ranging from 50 to about 150 feet of depth. The inshore portions are from 6 or 8 to
50 feet deep.

An unusual quality about the ALGOMA wreck is that it is broken up in a different
manner than most steel ships. The hull is not so much torn apart as it is
disassembled. The component parts of the vessel are intact for the most part, but
few are attached to anything else. As a result of this, most of the wreckage of the
ship consists of collections of parts that are structural elements, lying in random
groupings as the topographical features of the Lake bottom and natural forces
arrange them. Only in a few places are there assemblies large enough to refer to
as a section of the vessel. The peculiar quality of the ALGOMA wreck is thought to
have resulted from the failure of the fastenings, the steel rivets by which its frames
and plates were held together. It is interesting to note, however, that ALGOMA's
sisters, ALBERTA and ATHABASCA, had long successful careers lasting more than 60
years after ALGOMA's loss; as far as is known, these vessels never had problems
resulting from rivet-failure, and they were broken up for scrap in the late 1940s.
ALGOMA was barely two years old at the time of its disasterous loss.

Historical records indicate that repeated salvage work was done on the ALGOMA
wreck. The ship's machinery, including engines, boilers and auxiliaries, was removed
in 1886. Duluth newspapers mention the removal of large quantities of scrap steel
in 1903 (see Chapter IV). Both of these salvage jobs undoubtedly involved the use
of divers and explosives, but archeologists could not distinguish the effects of

254

dynamiting from those of a century of waves and ice. The tangible evidence of
salvage work lies not so much in the remains of the ship, but rather in what is
missing. There are no machinery parts at the site at all. The boilers, engines,
windlass, and all of the auxiliaries are gone. There is no evidence of anchors,
chains, propeller, or shafting and it must be assumed that all of those elements
were removed. There are few steel rails left from the cargo; the large quantity
known to have been carried aboard was probably removed by the same salvors.
The major machinery is known to have been used in the construction and outfitting
of the steamer MANITOBA in 1889, but it is not clear whether or not that included
all of the ground tackle (anchors and chain, windlass, etc.) and auxiliaries.

The configuration of the bottom near shore is quite dramatic. There are distinct
ridges and gullies, rocky pinnacles, ledges, and holes until a depth of about 50 feet
is reached and then the bottom becomes flatter, with a gentle steady slope
downward. In general, the 50-foot depth lies about 200 feet from shore; the bottom
slopes to 100 feet deep 300 feet from the beach.

The three fields of wreckage nearest the shore have a wide variety of ship parts.
There are angles, bars, beams, flat floors, and hold-pillars from the framing; steel
plates of various thicknesses from the shell; masts, gaffs and tackle from the
rigging; and specialized fittings such as davits, fairleads, gangway-doors, and
cargo-handling gear. Inasmuch as the ship was carrying mixed freight at the time
of its loss, it is speculated that the debris also includes portions of the cargo, but
that premise proved difficult to substantiate. There are also remnants of personal
effects from passengers and crew as well as articles of the ship's outfit, such as
cabin-fittings, china, kitchenware, and engine-room tools liberally distributed about
the heavier items and lying in all of the depressions and cracks in the rocks. Most
of these lighter artifacts are broken by the movement of rocks and ice, or worn by
the abrasion of sand and gravel, especially in the "high-energy zone" of the
shoreline, where the constant action of a century's waves has left it mark.

There are no known shipyard plans of ALGOMA or its 1883 sisters, but shipbuilding
texts of the period offer clues about the details of ALGOMA's design. Most of the
elements of construction and the dimensions of component parts were dictated by
Lloyds' Rules of Ship Construction — strict standards adopted by the steel
shipbuilding industry almost world-wide during the 1870s and 1880s, resulting from
research by United Kingdom shipbuilders, owners, classification societies, and
marine underwriters. The Rules specified appropriate sizes of beams, plates, frames,
etc., according to the length or tonnage of a vessel. Parts of ALGOMA measured at
the wreck site all fit the recommendations of Lloyds' Rules, and the ship's design
seems, as a result, to have been very "standard." The construction shows many
distinctly British features and, although the vessel's sister ships are no longer in
existence, similar features may be observed in the steel steamer KEEWATIN, which
was also built in Scotland for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, at a later date
(1907). The KEEWATIN is preserved as a museum at Saugatuck, Michigan and offers
a very useful comparison for a number of the Isle Royale wrecks.

Besides the rivet-failure that is evident in all parts of the ALGOMA wreck, another
interesting characteristic is the relative simplicity of its framing. All of the framing
members are built up of a few standard parts. It is clear that the steel shipyards of
the 1880s had a very limited field of standard steel shapes to work with, and from a
narrow assortment of sheets, angles and bars they had to produce all of the
complicated shapes and forms necessary to frame a ship. The frames, as a result,
were all built up of sheets cut to the appropriate shapes, with inner and outer edges

255

reinforced by 3x3-inch angles. With those simple components, frames of any
variety could be fabricated and riveted together. Longitudinal stringers and
transverse deck-beams were made of 3x6-inch bulb-angles. Aside from pipes,
which were used for stanchions and pillars, almost every piece of framing on board
seems to have been fabricated from those three basic pieces of steel stock.
Standardized castings were used for fairleads, mooring bitts, davits, fittings, and
machinery parts, but virtually none for the fabric of the hull.

The most northerly of the three fields of wreckage contains several distinct features
of ALGOMA's stern. Among them are the after mast and sections of the ship's
sides, along with much nondescript hull material. This field is nearest to what is
called "Algoma Beach," the small cove pictured in historical views of the wreck
where the whole stern lay for some time after the accident. This field extends from
about 10 to about 60 feet of water.

The second field of wreckage lies about 100 feet west of the first, and includes
more hull parts, fender-strapping from the ship's sides, frames, the gaff from the
after mast, the ship's steel rudder, gangway doors, and much small debris such as
broken crockery; it must be assumed that large quantities of artifacts were removed
from this area by divers in previous years. The site has always been regarded as
rich in artifacts, and this field demonstrates the fact. It lies between the shoreline
in about 30 feet of water.

The third field of wreckage is another 100 feet west of the second. It is also rich in
cultural materials and small ship parts, but contains a large section of the after end
of the bottom, including an assembly of frames, keelson, and steel-plating from
under the engine room. It is one of the most significant portions of wreckage
because it communicates much about the framing scheme of the vessel, and it is
one of the only assemblies left that shows multiple components still fastened
together. The proximity and depth of the frames demonstrates that it came from
the machinery spaces, probably right under the engines. In this same area are also
more gangway-doors, framing, long sections of shell plating, piping, railroad iron,
boat davits, rail stanchions from the hurricane deck, tools, and chinaware. Some
rigging was also observed here, with wire rope and jib-hanks from a staysail,
presumably the one carried on the after mast.

About 150 feet west of the third field of wreckage, a large section of the ship's spar
deck was found lying in about 50 feet of water, sheltered by ridge of rocks. The
piece measured about 35 by 50 feet and consisted of numerous deck beams all tied
together by the steel stringer-plates on either side, and having a portion of the
deck-planking still attached. The section is inverted; the planking lies on the
underside of it. This is the only place where wooden parts of the wreck are still
preserved, as far as is known, and their preservation is probably due to the fact that
the deck-section is inverted, with the heavier steel beams holding the deck-planks
in place. The deck section showed curvature at its sides, suggestive of the hull's
shape near the bow. If this piece proves to be from the bow, it would be the only
portion of the forward half of the ship found in shallow water. All other wreckage
in the three nearby fields is presumed to have come from the midships or stern
sections of the ship. There are many distinctly stern features found there, and a
careful examination revealed no definite bow features at all.

The location of the forward half of ALGOMA has puzzled divers and historians for
decades, because it is clear that all of the wreckage found along the shore to date
consists of stern features. Field work at the site during the 1985 field season

256

included the use of remote video equipments that enabled archeologists to examine
a large area of the bottom to a depth of 450 feet of water in search of the ship's
bow. The search turned up no evidence whatsoever of the missing half of the ship,
and so the mystery deepened. Some effort was made by sport divers and
volunteers to search a large area to the west of the three known fields of wreckage,
but nothing of the bow was found there, either, although wind conditions at the
time of the 1885 accident suggested that buoyant portions of the wreck would have
likely drifted in that direction.

Diving on the wreck during 1986 permitted re-examination of deeper portions of the
site, and video tapes were made of several features in 120 feet of water in scattered
locations directly offshore of the three shallower fields Several large sections of
hull-plating were observed there that were indistinguishable from pieces found in
the shallower locations. One section, however, proved to be a large piece of
vertical bulkhead, with distinctive vertical stiffeners on one side and horizontal
stiffeners on the other side. Inasmuch as the entire stern of the ship is known to
have been either broken up along the shore or salvaged commercially, no section of
bulkhead as large as this could have migrated from there to deeper water. That
suggests, therefore, that the bulkhead must have come from the bow half of the
ship, and that the entire bow must have broken up like the remainder of the wreck,
and not drifted down the shore from the site of the stranding at all, which supports
some of the observations based on historical documentation in Chapter IV.

The deeper part of the site also contains elements of the ship's superstructure,
some of it definitely from the forward portion of the ship. The galley stack, with a
distinctive weather cap, appears in historic photographs just abaft the ship's
pilothouse — the stack has been seen lying with the deeper pieces of wreckage.
The forward mast is there, too, and at least one of the ship's wooden lifeboats. All
of these elements are removed by several hundred feet from the deck section
believed to have come from the forward part of the ship, and there is no clear
explanation for their having become so far separated. It is possible that the deck
section retained some buoyancy with the wooden planking attached, and that it
simply floated ashore. There have been no other features found in the deeper water
that can be definitely attributed to the bow of the ship, such as anchor windlass,
anchors, or chains, pilothouse equipment, or the stem or hawse pipes, all large and
durable pieces that should have survived. Some may yet be found, but it is likely
that the reusable items were recovered by salvors. Sport divers who visited the site
during the 1960s may provide some clues, but it is highly unlikely that the removal
of such heavy materials could be attributed to their activity. It is just as unlikely
that such easily recognized features could have escaped discovery if they were still
at the site.

A more thorough examination of the ALGOMA wreck site will undoubtedly provide
more clues about the events that followed the ship's loss in 1885, and explain the
present dispersion and condition of the wreckage. A site map and more complete
documentation would be useful because the wreck is so randomly dispersed,
because so may of the features are not easily recognized by most lay divers, and
because the orientation of the component parts is so confusing. It seems likely, in
spite of further study, however, that much of ALGOMA's story will remain a mystery.

257

Fig. 5.24. Sample portion of ALGOMA wreckage field. Drawing by Larry Nordby.

258

MONARCH: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Site Location

MONARCH is directly offshore on the west side of the northeast point of Isle
Royale. The northeast point on the island is known as Blake Point, and the area
immediately onshore from the site is known as The Palisades. MONARCH is 1.2
statute miles from Locke Point on a true bearing of 76 degrees. The site is on a
true bearing of 84 degrees from the starboard-hand nun buoy off Locke Point and
251 degrees true from Blake Point Light. The magnetic bearing is 255 degrees
(compass) from the site to Locke Point and 90 degrees (compass) from the Locke
Point Buoy to the Site. The site can be readily located in the water by rounding the
Locke Point starboard-hand nun buoy and setting a course of 90 degrees (compass)
to The Palisades and lining up on the characteristic features of the cliff. The site is
located at 48°11'20"N and 88°26'3"W.

Site Description

If one has viewed many wooden shipwrecks splayed open on the bottom, and
especially if one has recently seen the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site, the first
reaction on seeing MONARCH might well be: "So where are the knees?" There are
various substitutions for hanging knees in marine architecture but, when present,
these old friends provide quick and easy indicators for identifying hull sides and
their, approximate location on the original vessel.

Other diagnostic features of structural elements must be used to identify and
position hull sections. The knees familiar on the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site are
replaced by beam shelves on MONARCH. Such comparisons and contrasts are
informative of the changes and development of marine architecture that occurred
during the time period represented by the wooden ships of Isle Royale.

The wreck of MONARCH begins in less than 20 feet of water in front of The
Palisades area and extends in a generally westerly direction to a depth of over 70
feet at the stern section of the hull (Fig. 5.27). The structural remains of the vessel
within the central wreck concentration consist of at least 15 elements (Fig. 5.25).
The principal site scatter covers an area of about 1.5 acres. The arrangement of the
components gives the appearance of a vessel that has "opened up" and separated
along lines of structural weakness. Components have shifted from their proper
alignment, and may reflect the activities of the 1908 salvage operations, as well as
natural site formation processes.

Large disarticulated portions of hull lie near the major bottom piece with the
multiple keelson structures exposed. The engine mounts and shaft bearings are
visible where salvagers have relieved them of the weight of the triple-expansion
engine they once supported. The boilers, propeller and most other salvageable
steam machinery were also removed by contemporary wrecking crews.

What is not immediately apparent from examining the site first hand is how much of
the ship is missing in the known wreckage field. Much as in the case of the
CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site, one feels an enormous "presence" from the massive
wooden timbers, and the site assumes a maze-like quality when the farthest one
can see is 20-30 feet. The site is only turned into an understandable entity when
subjected to the measuring tapes and protractors of an underwater mapping
operation.

259

When the wreck material is reconstituted on paper into a ship, it becomes evident
that the better part of the bow section, some 100 feet of hull and 60 feet of
starboard side, are not represented on the site. The parts missing on the site, except
the portion of port bow, are roughly equivalent to the portion sticking above the
water surface in the historic photographs (Figs. 4.9, 4.10). Spurred on by the
knowledge gained of how much ship was missing from the map, Park Service divers
in 1982 discovered a previously unknown wreckage trail extending north and
northeast of the site. Significant portions of wreckage scattered over a half mile in
that direction, and to depths of at least 150 feet, have now been located. No
attempt was made to develop a detailed map of this scatter, because the depths
and extent of the material distribution would make it too time-consuming to study
for the information returns gained. Further exploration dives should be productive
and add to the what is known about this site.

Hull Architecture

The hull remains of MONARCH are an interesting and valuable example of the
maritime architecture of wooden Great Lakes passenger/package freight vessels, and
represent the refinements of a long tradition of wooden shipbuilding in the region.
The heavily constructed oak hull produced a strong, rigid vessel that incorporated a
combination of iron reinforcing-systems.

The largest single element on the wreck site is the bottom of the hull. It is 155 feet
long and extends from the aft deadwood, just forward of the sternpost in 70 feet of
water, shoreward to a point about 20 feet deep. An anchor is located just off the
farthest extension of the port bilge keelson.

The bottom contains a centerline keelson, four side keelsons (two port and two
starboard) and the bilge keelson on each side. The centerline and bilge keelsons
are heavily strengthened, and made up of multiple elements.

The double futtock frames are 10x12 inches and set on 24-inch centers. Ceiling
planking from the turn of the bilge to the lower edge of the sheer strap below the
main deck is 4x8 inches. The center keelson was constructed of 14x14-inch timber,
and the sister keelsons, two on each side, are 11x14 inches and 12x11 inches, the
smaller outboard. The 2-inch reduction of the outboard sister keelson provided a
step for the transverse planks that made a flat floor in the cargo hold on each side
of the centerline keelson to the bilge.

The side keelsons are 14x11 inches and 12x11 inches. The bilge keelson contains
three elements: a 12x1 1-inch keelson with an 11-inch wide and a 16-inch wide
ceiling plank reinforcing the turn of the bilge.

The center keelson was capped with two planks laid on edge that tied together the
base of the 8x8-inch centerline stanchions. The stanchions were secured at the
base with through bolts, some of which are still in place. The keelsons were joined
by hooked scarfs.

The side keelsons were capped by a plank somewhat narrower than the keelson.
This arrangement provided a support for the hold floorboards, some of which are
still in place. A bilge limber hatch was located about a third of the distance forward
from the stern on the port side. This hatch was the access to the bilge pump
intake, which was found intact with the strainer (rosebox) still in place.

260

The aftermost feature of the stern portion of the bottom is the deadwood, which
reinforced the sternpost. The iron fasteners that secured the planking of the stern to
the deadwood are in place. The sternpost itself is missing, as are other hull timbers
that formed the stern and fantail. A piece of the fantail was located, and is number
9 in Figure 5.25.

The rudder has not been located. The only other construction element connected
with the stern was a heavy iron-reinforced timber, which is the rudder shoe (this
piece is not depicted on the map, Fig. 5.25, but is shown in Fig. 5.37). The rudder
shoe was attached to the sternpost and supported the base of the rudder.

A portion of the starboard side of the hull was found lying outboard side up and is
identified as number 2 on the map. Examination of the structure showed it to have
collapsed inward with the edge that would have been attached near the bilge line
located away from the hull. The hull broke longitudinally on the starboard side
close to the bilge line above the bilge keelson and just below the gangways on the
upper edge. The sheer strap can be seen on the edge closest to the hull in its
current position. A portion of a rub rail is located on the forward edge of this
section, which indicates that it is a forward portion of the hull. In the historical
photographs of the vessel, this rub rail can be seen extending from the stem part
way to the stern, and its presence gives the structural location of this portion of
hull. There are iron hull patches on this hull section.

Sections 3 and 5 are similar and probably from the same location on the hull. The
notable feature of these pieces is the half-round, canvas-covered railing on the
edge farthest from the hull. White paint is still visible on this rail. The rail was
originally located on the inboard side at the cabin deck level, and is the top of the
gunwale. Both pieces are inboard side up and stripped of both exterior and interior
planks.

Section 4 is a piece of hull lying outboard side up. The possibility of it being a
section of decking is discounted because the paired timbers are set the same
distance apart as the hull frames, clearly indicating it is hull construction.

Section 6 is the starboard stern. The piece is lying inboard side up, and on it can
be seen two of the iron hull-support members: the sheer strap and the stern
terminus of the truncated iron arch. Together, section 1 and section 6 represent
about 195 feet of the starboard side from the turn of the bilge to the main deck
level. There is more of the starboard side of the hull than hull bottom present on
site.

The piece of decking (Number 7) lying across the stern between the thrust-bearing
mount and stern shaft-bearing is part of the cabin (upper) deck, and was from the
area above the coal bunkers. The identifying characteristics of this piece are three
round holes visible in the port side (north) of the segment. Iron rings with the
same diameter as these holes were located on site (Fig. 5.32). The rings were
constructed to support two covers. Examination of the artifact concentration in the
vicinity produced examples of the two covers that fit inside the rings, indicating
they were coal scuttles. The smaller was an iron grate, and the larger was solid,
much like a man-hole cover. The top cover would have been flush with the deck
when in place. Removed, the coal bunkers could be vented through the inner grate.

261

Hull section 8 is the port stern, which mates to the starboard hull piece (12) and the
deadwood. It is lying inboard side up. The position of this piece and the general
configuration of the large hull sections give the appearance that the stern may have
been pulled apart. The separation may be the result of a natural break as the hull
"relaxed", but it also may reflect salvage activities to ease engine removal. The
stern may have been pulled apart by tugs, which explains the displacement of the
100 foot long starboard section of the stern. Section 9 is a portion of the fantail
construction.

Section 10 is part of the stern crew quarters that would have been between the
main and cabin deck aft. This section is of lighter construction than other segments
of the hull, and is pierced by two port hole openings. The port holes have been
removed. Port holes were only found on the stern of the vessel after the
modifications to the pilot house and lengthening of the Texas deck. Earlier
photographs taken prior to the modifications show square windows in the aft crew
quarters.

Near Section 10, off the port side of the hull, is the main artifact concentration. A
bath tub is indicated on the drawing because this feature is easily recognizable to
sport divers, and, in fact, it has become the subject of countless photographs with
the predictable "diver-in-tub" artistic composition. The area was photographed and
video taped to serve as a base line for monitoring future artifact attrition.

Component Number 1 1 is a portion of the starboard hull side and is lying on top of
the port side of the hull, outboard side up. There are two side cargo-hatches, or
gangways, located in this section. The two gangways indicate this hull segment is
from the forward hull side under the arch.

Component 12 is the port side and clearly shows the arch and sheer strap
assembly. The piece is positioned nearly parallel to where it would have been
attached, and it is inboard side up. The section broke just below the metal sheer
strap, leaving a few feet of hull side above the turn of the bilge on the port side.
One section of hull in the forward area (Number 13) is outboard side up. This hull
section must have been in place prior to the separation of the port side from the
bottom. This section of the hull may be a portion of the bow that was broken away
soon after the wreck. There are gouged sections on the hull planks that may be the
result of the initial wreck event. It is unlikely that the gouges were caused by
post-depositional ice movement because none of the structure around the damaged
planks show any similar damage.

The remaining two sections, 14 and 15, are from the bow. The larger is a 40-foot
section of the whole port bow assembly. The straight timbers of the fore portion
were part of the stem post. The curved timbers to the right articulated with the
bow deadwood and centerline keelson. An important feature of Section 14 is the
forward junction and tie-in of the arch support and sheer strap.

The triangular piece lying off the forward edge of the bow section is a deck hook.
The indicators of the deck hook are the two half-round indentations to the rear of
the piece They were probably cut to fit windlass mounts. A similar section can be
observed on the fore deck of AMERICA. This structure is inverted.

Parts of the vessel structure that are not represented in the site remains are the
upper cabins, pilot house and decking of the vessel. The only trace of the cabin
work located was some metal deck railing found in the forward portion of the

262

bottom. There are no indications of the transverse beams of the two decks; they
seem to have been completely stripped out.

Hull Support

The Insurance Underwriters' Vessel List (1890) referred to MONARCH'S hull as having
"oak construction strongly reinforced with iron." MONARCH was indeed "strongly
reinforced with iron", with three principal iron hull components: the main arch ("hog
truss" or "truncated" arch on both sides of the hull), the sheer strap (below the main
deck level), and the gunwale girder that ran along the promenade or cabin deck
level.

The main arch is attached to both the bow and stern deadwood. For the remainder
of its span, the arch is attached to the vertical frames that run from the keel to the
gunwale. This is a much heavier design than found on most contemporary vessels.
Frequently, only every other, or even every fourth frame ran the full height to tie
into the arch.

MONARCH'S iron or steel arch was composed of 3/4-inch thick stock, 36 inches
wide. Prior to the use of iron or steel for the arch, they were constructed entirely
of wood. Earlier arches were composed of several layers of heavy oak timbers with
mortices for the vertical frames. The metal arch reinforcing of MONARCH is on both
sides of the hull frames. Where the arch enters the hull, it is beneath the hull
planks. Portions of the arch may be seen above the level of the promenade or
cabin deck in Figures 4.7 and 4.8. The arch is constructed of iron and runs along
both the inside and outside of the vertical frames. Its shape is slightly flattened and
extends just above the deck rail, and thus sometimes referred to as a "truncated"
arch.

It may be that the metal reinforcing in the hull of MONARCH was steel, rather than
iron. UNITED EMPIRE was reported to have had steel arches (Chicago Tribune March
23, 1883; May 21, 1883; Chicago Times May 27, 1883). It is likely that MONARCH,
which was built later, did as well. As of the time of the field work on MONARCH,
there was no easy method to determine the composition of metal underwater.
Contemporary accounts, like modern ones, often used iron and steel
interchangeably, and are not reliable. "Iron" or "ferrous" are used in this report with
the realization that the material referred to may be steel. When there is a high
certainty that steel is used, it will be so labeled.

There apparently was a box girder arrangement at the level of the cabin deck rail.
This girder is made up of two iron plates that run from the stern to the arch, and
from the bow to the arch, forming a continuous iron-clad deck rail. This girder
provided additional longitudinal strength.

The sheer strap ran the length of the hull inside the frames under the main deck
level. This feature is vis:ble on hull sections 6 and 12 in Figure 5.25. This member,
unlike the others, is made of a single layer of iron sheeting, riveted together and
tied to the inboard side of the vertical frames (Fig. 5.31). The material seems to be
the same stock as the main arch: 3/4-inch thick and 36 inches wide. Two widths
have been riveted together to give a sheer strap width of about 72 inches.

An inside framing of timbers tied the top and bottom of the sheer strap into the
frames, and a vertical frame was laid over the the joints of the iron sheets making
up the strap on every fourth frame. This detail can be seen in the site map, and

263

also in Figure 5.31. The details of the forward junction of the arch and sheer strap
are located on the port bow section, segment 14.

There is no evidence of the sheer strap on the outside of the hull. It has been
suggested that this member was included in the ship construction for protection
from ice, but that was not the case. This strap is on the inside of the frames above
the normal water line, and the hull was planked with 4-inch thick oak hull planks.

The three support systems provided a particularly strong, rigid hull. This is reflected
on the wreck site by the large size and structural integrity of the various hull
elements that have survived.

Iron was used in two additional instances within the MONARCH hull. The centerline
stanchions were tied together with iron strap for additional longitudinal strength.
These stanchions may be seen on the site map (Fig. 5.25), and the straps appear as
the long ribbon-like element running along the inner port edge of the hull bottom.
The stanchions were torn out, and some are held up above the bottom, still
supported by the iron strapping that ran along the upper portion of the port and
starboard edge of the timbers. The stanchions are on 4-foot centers, except in the
stern section where they are closer together, and may have been used as additional
support for the boiler deck. The angles that were made into the strap suggest it
ran from the aft deadwood, up under the boiler deck and along the underside of the
main deck beams to be tied into the bow. The bow section of the stanchions has
not been found and was probably torn off with the bow when the ship broke during
the wreck.

Another major use of iron in MONARCH'S construction was to line the boiler room.
A section of this lining may be seen in Figure 5.36. The practice was fairly common
on Great Lakes steamers as a precaution against fire. A similar section of sheeting
was located on CHISHOLM (Fig. 5.1).

Propulsion Elements

The stern portion of the hull remains is particularly interesting because the engine
and machinery mountings are still in place. The largest feature is the engine mount
or bedplate. It is made of cast iron and attached to the large engine bed timbers
built into the floor frames (Figs. 5.28, 5.29).

Apparently the engine was removed with little difficulty by the 1908 salvors. It was
simply unbolted from its bedplate. The threads on the mounting bolts show little
damage and are still clearly visible. One of the most obvious features of the engine
mount is the main shaft bearing to the stern of the mount.

Proceeding along the drive train toward the stern, another machinery mount is
visible. The mount is a very large, single timber with four holes (Fig. 5.25, 5.30).
This is the mount for the thrust bearing. A thrust bearing was necessary to
minimize the pressure against the internal crankshaft bearings of the engine and the
engine mounts. The thrust bearing transmitted the push of the screw to the hull
through this heavily constructed feature. The thrust bearing, a high-cost and
reusable item, must have been salvaged with the engine and shaft. A second shaft
bearing is located aft of the thrust-bearing mount. Thrust bearings may be easily
observed on GLENLYON and CHISHOLM (Figs. 5.43, 5.20). The GLENLYON bearing is
a multi-collar type and that of CHISHOLM the earlier single-collar type.

264

Near the hull, in the area off the engine mount, a 5-foot long, upright iron pipe is
located (Fig. 5.34). The pipe is riveted together and connected to a box-like,
through-hull fitting. This is the overboard discharge for the circulating pump of the
condenser. An intact example may be seen on the port side of the engine room of
AMERICA.

Auxiliary Machinery

In the engine room area, a manually operated, double-acting water pump is located
(Fig. 5.35). This would have multiple uses aboard a vessel like MONARCH. The
pump was used as an auxiliary feed pump for the boilers, a fire pump or an
emergency bilge pump. A wooden handle was inserted through the top allowing
two people to operate the pump. This pump is very similar to one located on the
bow of AMERICA.

This artifact concentration area also contains machinery, including a water pump
with a flywheel. An example of the cargo winches found on the site is visible in
Figure 5.32. The winches were mounted along the centerline above the main deck.
An iron A-frame supported the end opposite the large iron roller. The winches were
mounted in pairs above the gangways, and were friction turned by a line shaft with
a smaller friction roller that fit between the iron rollers of the two cargo winches.
They were used to lower and raise package freight from the main deck to the hold.
Several wraps of rope were passed around the slowly turning hardwood roller that
functioned as a friction drum. A long portion of the line shaft with the smaller
rollers was also located within the hull structure.

The 14-inch diameter wooden friction-drums were 6 feet 8 inches long and turned
on a 3.5-inch diameter shaft. A six-spoke wheel 2 feet 8 inches in diameter was
still attached to one end of the drum. The spoked wheel, which was turned by a
friction drum mounted on a long shaft, was made in two pieces. The inner section
appeared to be a casting that included the spokes. The 9-inch outer, flat rim was
attached by rivets.

In Figure 5.33 (left center) a portion of a steam radiator may be seen. Great Lakes
vessels used boiler steam piped throughout the living and working quarters for
heat. Steam radiators, much like ones used in buildings, were the local heat
generators. Similar intact examples containing three elements were located on
AMERICA. One intact specimen is in the social hall of AMERICA.

Cargo

The assemblage of artifacts in the stern area is interesting and informative. Cargo,
machinery, and ship's fittings are found in close proximity. Figure 5.33 shows some
of the cargo and fittings. Five boxes, containing either rivets or threaded bolts, are
still intact. The bolts and rivets have corroded together to form a solid mass the
shape of the packing box. Broken China and brown bottles are strewn over the
area. The brown bottles are of the type frequently used for beer, but curiously,
some of these are packed completely full of grain and stoppered with cotton (Figs.
5.33, 5.38). There has been some speculation that these were beer bottles of the
salvors that were somehow filled with grain. It is more likely the bottles contained
grain samples. It has also been suggested that the samples were seed grain. Most
likely the bottles contain samples of the cargo grain.

265

Formation Processes

The remains give some indication of the wrecking process. The vessel was
apparently listing to port on the bottom as the breakup occurred. Most of the
artifacts and sections are on the port side, which is the deeper side of the hull. The
hull sides broke away from the bottom higher above the bilge line on the port side,
and the side left in place served to trap many artifacts on the port side of the hull.
The extent and nature of the salvor's activities are not known, but the stern area
appears to have been separated and moved with the aid of surface vessels.

266

SHORELINE

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267

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Patrick Labadie.

268

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Fig. 5.27. Top photo is of Palisades Cliff in the area where MONARCH struck. The
remains of MONARCH visible on the side scan sonar printout are arranged in this
graphic to show how they lie on the steeply sloping shoreline below the cliffs. NPS
photo by Jerry Livingston.

269

Fig. 5.28-5.29. Two views of the engine mount and main bearing ol
NPS photos by Larry Murphy.

10NARCH.

270

Fig. 5.30. Illustrator Jerry Livingston drawing details of thrust bearing mount,
looking toward the stern. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.31. Forward end of starboard stern section of MONARCH. This section is
inboard up with the metal sheer strake clearly visible. The photo is looking aft. NPS
photo by Larry Murphy.

271

Fig. 5.32. Scattered wreckage of MONARCH off the port side of the hull In the
center are hardwood cargo winches and two iron rings that were coal scuttle hatch
coamings. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.33. Artifact scatter off the port side of the MONARCH hull. There are four
boxes of cargo in the right center. The contents were rivets and bolts. Bottles and
chains are also shown in lower right. To the left is a portion of the ship's steam
radiator. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

272

Fig. 5.34.
Murphy.

Overboard discharge pipe for the condenser. NPS photo by Larry

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Fig. 5.35. Manually operated water pump. These pumps were used as bilge pumps
or fire pumps. A similar pump is located in-place on the bow of AMERICA. NPS
photo by Larry Murphy.

273

Fig. 5.36. Metal sheeting likely associated with boiler room of MONARCH. NPS
photo by Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.37. Timbers heavily reinforced with metal from near the stern of MONARCH.
This portion is the rudder skeg that supported the lower end of the rudder. NPS
photo by Larry Murphy.

274

Fig. 5.38. Bottles in the area of cargo concentration on MONARCH. Many of these
bottles were filled with grain and stoppered with cotton. NPS photo by Larry
Murphy.

Fig. 5.39. Hull structure and brass fixtures in the rarely visited portion of MONARCH
at a depth of 130 feet. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

275

GLENLYON: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Site Location

GLENLYON is on a shallow reef, known as Glenlyon Shoal, north of Menangerie
Island on the south side of Isle Royale near Siskiwit Bay. The charted vessel
position is 0.7 statute miles from the Menangerie Island light on a true bearing of 62
degrees. It is on a true bearing of 169 degrees from the western point of Schooner
Island and 124 degrees true from the starboard-hand nun buoy (N"2") in the Malone
Bay entrance channel. The site can be located by running a course of 169 degrees
true from the west end of Schooner Island a distance of 2.2 statute miles.
GLENLYON is at 47°57'8"N and 88°44'53"W.

The wreck site is an exposed and treacherous ridge of submerged rocks one-half
mile northeast of Menagerie Island Lighthouse on Isle Royale's easterly side. The
rocks are the northernmost features of a ridge that runs eight miles in a
southwest-to-northeast direction from Houghton Point and includes Menagerie,
Long, Castle, Siskiwit and Paul Islands, plus a long string of reefs and shoals. The
whole string encloses Siskiwit Bay and protects its waters from all but northeast
winds.

Site Description and Analysis

GLENLYON came to rest astride of the shoal, on an apparent heading of about 255
degrees in November 1924. The wreckage lies in two principal fields; the bow lies
inside the shoal ridge and the stern on the seaward. Parts of the fragmented hull
are spread along a linear distance of more than 900 feet, with smaller pieces
somewhat further afield. In general, all of the propulsion machinery lies in shallow
water associated with the remains of the stern, on the seaward side of the reef.
The majority of the wreckage lies in less than 50 feet of water; much of it can be
seen from the surface under the right conditions of lighting and water clarity (Fig.
5.40).

Most elements of the wreck are easily identified despite the disarticulated nature of
the remains, because most parts, although greatly transformed in appearance, are
not far removed from their structural location in the vessel. Bow features lie at one
end of the field and stern features at the other. Historical documentation indicates
there were no large-scale commercial salvage operations on the wreck. No
significant portions of the vessel were noted as missing from the site. The only
contemporary salvage was directed toward removal of the cargo of wheat. No trace
of grain could be found during the field work at the site.

The stern of GLENLYON rests seaward, or to the east of the shoal which bears its
name, in depths varying from about 20 to over 100 feet. Furthest from the shoal
(and in deepest water) are the ship's aftermast and small portions of the hull from
the stern, lying about 100 feet east of the larger portions of the stern. In this area
is a small steel structure, which may be a stern deck house that was added in 1918
(Canadian Railway and Marine World 1918:126).

Nearer the shoal in shallower water is a field of wreckage covering an area 100 feet
wide and 300 feet long, and including what is essentially the whole after end of the
ship. At its northern extremity, the field includes heavy but discrete items from the
fantail of GLENLYON, such as a spare propeller-blade, cast iron mooring bitts, a
deck capstan with the drive shaft attached, and the twisted remains of the fantail

276

itself; the rudder, its shaft and the bearing-collar are still held in the tangled steel of
the fantail's shell plating.

Moving up the reef face, the next section of wreckage is the most impressive single
piece, and it consists of the whole engine-room section of the bottom, with keel
and frames to the margin-plate at the turn of the bilge, the main engine and several
auxiliaries, the tailshaft and propeller, and a large section of the port side. A smaller
portion of the starboard hull side is present to the north of the engine. Prior to the
1985 field work, an intact port hole was observed on the port hull side below the
engine. The port hole glass and storm cover were removed by looters in either
1984 or early 1985.

From a diver's perspective, the engine is massive, and it towers above the
crankshaft in a jumble of huge castings and forgings. The columns that once
supported the huge cylinder-chest have been broken. As a result, the
cylinder-chest is lying collapsed onto the crankshaft, and all of the connecting rods
are bent out of shape. The cylinder-chest lies over at an angle of about 90
degrees from vertical, leaning to the port side.

The thrust bearing with its four collars is visible directly to the stern of the engine
(Figs. 5.42, 5.43). The propeller shaft has been broken, and the tailshaft and
propeller are twisted about 30 degrees out of line to the port. This twist may be
the result of the engine block and hull bottom assemble sliding down the reef and
bending the shaft The cylinder chest is over some of the port side of the hull,
indicating the hull had collapsed before the engine moved to its present location.
Two of the four blades of the iron propeller have been sheared off at the hub, and a
third blade has been broken in half. It is not clear whether they were broken off
when the ship struck the reef or at some time afterward The missing portions of
the propeller blades were not found at the site. It is most likely that the blades
were broken during the wreck event.

The engine is a direct-acting, inverted, vertical, triple-expansion steam type, which
was developed in the mid-1880s and introduced to the Lakes in the steel steamer
CAMBRIA in 1886. This design became the standard for most commercial steam
vessels everywhere between 1890 and about 1930. In the remains of GLENLYON,
the three cylinder-heads, with diameters of 20, 32 and 54 inches may be clearly
distinguished (Figs. 5.42, 5.44, 5,45). A large air-pump was run off the moving
connecting rods, and still attached to the starboard side of the engine. The
pocketed jacking gear used to turn the engine during repairs is also notable (Fig.
5.42). The large size of the gear indicates it may have also served as a flywheel.

Several other auxiliaries lie in close proximity to the engine in the chaotic scatter of
the engine-room debris; among them are the steering engine, which the ship's
construction plans show on the main deck just aft of the engine-room bulkhead;
various steam pumps for sanitary water, boiler feed, ballast water, bilge suction, and
fire fighting; the refrigeration compressor or "ice-machine"; the electrical generator
("light plant"); and numerous tools and parts. Most of the apparatus appears whole,
relatively undamaged, and gives the impression it would be easily operable. The
engine room remains lie heaped in a 50-foot long pile. The engine and engine
room are in a position that affords a remarkable opportunity for a detailed study of
early-Twentieth Century steam technology on the Great Lakes.

Alongside the engine-room wreckage is a 70-foot section of the ship's hull that
formed the port side of the machinery spaces, from the afterpeak bulkhead to the

277

boiler room. It is pierced with several through-hull fittings for water intakes and
ballast discharge, which are all lying exposed; the hull section is inboard up. On the
reef directly below the low pressure cylinder head is an overboard discharge valve
and pipe, much like the one remaining upright on the site of MONARCH (Fig. 5.34).

Near this section are several other sections of shell plating, bulkheads, and decking
from the after end of the ship, and a very heavy length of iron pipe, which seems to
have been the main steam line from the boilers to the throttle valve on the engine;
the measurements correspond to that element in the vessel's original shipyard
drawings. Sections of ballast piping may also be seen in the vicinity; they are
similarly large, but of a lighter gauge of pipe.

Further to the west, but still on the seaward side of the ridge, are two more areas
of hull wreckage. The first consists of many sections of bottom and side plating
and frames, and the second is an 80-foot length of the spar deck from the
starboard side, with a pair of mooring bitts still standing near the outboard edge.
The decking is presumed to have come from just forward of the boiler-house,
where such a pair of bitts are shown on the vessel's plans.

In the shallower water right on the reef ridge lie the ship's two water-tube boilers,
one entirely fragmented and the second with its shell torn off, but with the furnaces,
smoke chests, tubes and sheets all standing intact. The remains of the latter boiler
stand above the reef and reach to within 10 feet of the surface. This boiler is
probably the shallowest piece of wreckage on the site, and its weight and bulk, is
substantial enough that visiting dive charter boats use this feature as a convenient
mooring aid.

On the inside (west side) of the ridge that forms Glenlyon Shoal is the forward
portion of the ship, from all appearances considerably more than half of the length
of the hull. As one swims to what would have been the starboard side of the
vessel along a wreckage trail extending into deeper water, deep gouges become
apparent in the smooth rock face of the ravine. It is obvious that those scars are
not a result of the initial impact, because they are too deep (below the waterline of
the original vessel) and are probably a function of ice moving pieces of wreckage
around during the winter. At some points, rusted bolts can be found in these
cracks. This forward portion of the wreck extends over 600 feet of Lake bottom, but
the greatest part of it consists of one mass about 300 feet square. Spread here are
sections of bottom, side and deck; beams, hold pillars (stanchions), frames, piping,
angles and shell plating. One steel mast lies draped across about 120 feet of
debris, twisted grotesquely so that it is no longer easily recognized. There are also
heavy steel gangway-doors and the davits that were used to lift them, 'tween-decks
cargo winches and the line shafts to which they were connected and deck
machinery from the spar deck. The forecastle and forepeak portion of the bow (Fig.
5.41) lies relatively intact for about 30 feet of its length, with the immense steam
windlass still firmly rooted in place. The chains are paid out across the windlass
and through the hawse-eyes to a pair of stockless anchors. The chain links
measure 6x9 inches. A steam capstan also lies nearby, as does a mooring winch,
both remnants of the forecastle deck above the windlass room. At least three pairs
of bitts are also lying within 50 feet of the site, more parts of the forecastle deck.

Some of the plating and trim from around the bow illustrate unusual attention to
fine craftsmanship, they have a yacht-like quality about them, in spite of husky
businesslike proportions. Some historians observed that the Wheeler shipyard failed
because of its particularly costly craftsmanship and its uncompromising standards.

278

Comparison of GLENLYON with other steel ships at Isle Royale tends to support that
claim, although GLENLYON was built 15 years earlier than the other steel freighters
there, and its workmanship may be more representative of 1890s standards than it
is of any particular shipyard's; when compared with other Isle Royale wrecks,
though, it is most reminiscent of ALGOMA's Scottish artistry, and contrasts
perceptibly with the utilitarian style of EMPEROR, KAMLOOPS, and CONGDON.

Near the wreckage of the forecastle there is a single intact cabin structure standing
upright amidst literally thousands of tons of ship parts. The cabin appears to be
part of the Texas or officers' quarters from abaft the pilothouse. There is no simple
explanation for its survival, as it is of far lighter construction than the portions of
broken hull around it. This cabin was apparently added in 1918 (Canadian Railway
and Marine World 1918:126) for officers accommodations. Its separation from the
surrounding wreckage may be the result of being relatively lightly attached to the
structure, which enable it to separate as a unit. The cabin now contains no artifacts
and the portholes have been removed.

Continuing in a southwesterly direction, other sections of the ship's hull may be
found as much as 300 feet beyond the large concentration. The large field lies
under a pair of ledges, but the remainder is spread across a flatter rock bottom.
Recognizable pieces of structure include identifiable portions of side, with shell
plating, vertical frames, and distinctive longitudinal stringers; spar decking, in some
cases with mooring bitts on it; and double-bottoms. This scattered material
probably came from the midships portion of the hull that lay originally on the
shallower part of the reef.

Site Formation Processes

The extreme distance between features of the GLENLYON wreck proved to be 960
feet; the ship measured only 345 feet in length. The condition and orientation of
the wreck is almost certainly a result of the movement of ice floes over the site.
Historic accounts describe the ship lying on the shoal and slowly beginning to break
up. Witnesses say that the decks rose amidships, which indicated that the ship's
bottom was caving in, and with rigid vertical I-beam stanchions running down the
centerline, it forced the decks up. Not long afterward, the ship's back broke just
forward of the boilerhouse, and the integrity of the hull failed. Once the ship broke,
the two halves began to settle on either side of the reef, the bow to the inside and
the stern to the outside; the heavy boilers settled out into the shallow water on the
rocks, along with portions of the collapsed midships section of the hull. Those
lighter parts of the hull that lie in the shallowest water were the easiest moved by
drifting ice, and they are the ones that seem to have been carried farthest. The
bow and stern portions of the ship ended up somewhat protected from the ice by
the rocky ledges against which they came to rest, and they have consequently move
little since the sinking. Considering the alignment of the islands and shoals in the
Menagerie group, there is only one direction in which ice could logically drift, and
that is toward the southwest. It is logical to assume that any further, undiscovered
parts of GLENLYON lie in that direction, probably consisting of the lightest parts of
the ship's fabric or those that came to rest in the shallowest part of the shoal.

The fractures of the hull structure may also be the result of decades of ice action.
Many of the steel shell-plates have simply been torn apart. Some failure has been
along seam lines, but much is through the plates. Other than ALGOMA, the
wreckage of GLENLYON is the only metal wreck of Isle Royale that has been
completely broken up. Other wrecks have not been disarticulated to the extent of

279

GLENLYON. GLENLYON is also the shallowest of the metal wrecks, except for the
bow portion of COX that is also severely fractured and dispersed. The relatively
small size of the structural remains of these two wrecks reflect markedly the
powerful destructive forces active in the shallow waters of Lake Superior.

Another aspect to be considered in the fracturing of the Isle Royale vessels is the
variation of steel used. A comparative metallurgical analysis of the steel
compounds used in construction coupled with the nature of natural impacts would
give insight into the use-lives of vessel hulls of the Lakes for periods represented
by the Isle Royale shipwrecks.

280

Fig. 5.40.
GLENLYON

ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK

National Park Service

Submerged Cultural Resources Unit

PlanlntAtrlc view

Depths In Hah

281

Fig. 5.42. Archeologist Dan Lenihan examining the triple-expansion engine of
GLENLYON. The engine lies on its port side in 30 feet of water at GLenlyon Shoals.
Photo by Mitch Kezar.

Fig. 5.43. Detail photo of the multiple-collar thrust bearing of GLENLYON.
photo by Larry Murphy.

NPS

283

I
1/1

- 1«

: i o°

Fig. 5.44-5.45. Views of GLENLYON steam engine and main shaft from the top. IMPS
photo by Larry Murphy and Mylar field drawing by Jerry Livingston.

284

AMERICA: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Site Location

AMERICA is in the channel between Thompson Island and the main island, known as
North Gap, out of Washington Harbor at the south end of Isle Royale. The vessel is
0.7 statute miles from the northeast tip of Grace Island on a true bearing of 331
degrees. The vessel is marked by a privately maintained obstruction buoy in North
Gap channel. AMERICA can be located in the channel by rounding the northeast end
of Thompson Island entering Washington Harbor, using the white daymark beacon
on Thompson as a point of reference, on a true bearing of 119 degrees and
traveling a distance of 0.2 statute miles. The position of AMERICA is 47°53'39"N
and 89°13'15"W .

Site Description and Analysis

The wreck event that resulted in AMERICA finding a final resting place against a
steep underwater cliff in the channel to Washington Harbor is well documented.
Considerable changes in the vessel remains have occurred due to both natural and
cultural transformational processes; but, in a comparative sense, AMERICA is a very
intact and accessible shipwreck. Sport divers have devoted more dives, by far, to
the exploration of AMERICA than any other site at Isle Royale. It is renowned well
beyond the regional diving population as a spectacular dive.

The heavy recreational activities have contributed significantly to site
transformational process. Normally, contemporary salvage is the major source of
human-induced change to a historic wreck site occurring after the initial sinking. In
the case of AMERICA, both initial salvage efforts and later attempts to raise the hull
resulted in some notable effects on the site, but slow vandalism over the years by
sport divers before the Park asserted management control has resulted in the vessel
being largely stripped of portable artifacts.

The most visually dramatic post-depositional effects on the site, however, were a
function of natural forces at play on the wreck over the years. Major ice build-up in
Washington Harbor and North Gap channel has torn away or crushed the majority of
bow superstructure and the forward hull above the main deck level. The bow is just
under the surface and the lowest point of the stern is in 75 feet of water. Impact
from ice is apparent to a depth of at least 30 feet (Fig. 5.46).

Post-depositional effects accounting for the major structural changes to the the
vessel are from ice damage. There is also evidence of purposeful modification from
salvage efforts. The vessel's archeological value has been considerably diminished
by removal of portable artifacts by sport divers.

The hull of AMERICA has both a stern and port list. Measurements of the hull-list
angle were taken at various points on the ship. Readings were taken with a small
plumbline and 180-degree protractor affixed to a square, plastic slate. The device
provided a direct reading of degrees of slant angle from vertical. The stern list is
between 21 and 24 degrees, and seems to be somewhat more pronounced at the
bow, where there is a 26-degree port list, a result of the combination of bottom
topography and a 2-foot 8-inch deadrise in the hull.

285

A swim over the hull from bow to stern brings many features into view (Fig 5.47).
The windlass is the most imposing of the shallower deck features. Historical
records indicate the steam powered windlass is the original.

The windlass has two friction drums or warping-ends on each side. These were
used to tighten the mooring lines. Two horizontal mooring pipes, which are parallel
to the deck and extend through the hull and resemble the hawse pipes, are located
forward of the windlass. The mooring lines were run through the pipes and
wrapped around the slowly turning friction drums to move the ship along the dock,
or tighten the lines. The loose band toward the center of the windlass from the
warping ends around the cylinder is the brake.

The windlass was enclosed on the main deck just forward of the saloon deck and
pilot house. Ice damage has removed the forward structures and wooden portion of
the side of the hull. Forward of the windlass is a small hatch at the forepeak. This
is the chain locker in which the anchor cable was kept. AMERICA carried two
anchors of 2,100 pounds and 1,900 pounds. The 1928 Hull Inspection recorded that
both anchors were fitted with 60 fathoms (360 feet) of anchor chain. The 1965
salvors reported 200 fathoms of anchor chain in the chain locker (Marshall Salvage
Report to Carlock Dec. 3, 1965, on file Isle Royale National Park). Apparently the
salvors removed the chain; the locker is now empty. There is no record as to the
present location of the anchors, which were removed by the Corps of Engineers
during WWII (J.R. Marshall 1974, 1986 interview with Holden; Capt. Alfred Sorenson
1982 interview with Labadie).

On the port side just forward of the windlass is a double-acting pump. This pump
was mentioned in the 1928 Hull Inspection report and was termed a fire pump. A
similar pump was located on the site of MONARCH (Fig 5.35).

The pilot house and forward cabins were removed by ice. It is uncertain how far
toward the stern ice impact to the cabin and boat deck went prior to the abortive
1965 salvage operations. The salvor's reports indicate they removed much of the
superstructure. The report states they removed "a great deal of the damaged
superstructure .... A large portion of the damaged second deck ... opening the area
over the engine ... and the area around the opening ... has been shored" (Duluth
News Tribune Oct. 25, 1965).

Although AMERICA was originally rigged to carry 6 lifeboats, only five were required
in its later years of operation. The lifeboats were metal and about 20 feet long, 6
feet in breadth and 2 1/2 feet in depth, capable of carrying about 18-20 people. In
1928, the Hull Inspector ordered a rail be constructed where the sixth lifeboat had
been carried. The davits were attached to the cabin deck. It is assumed from the
location of a loose davit discovered on the cabin deck that the fifth lifeboat was
carried on the starboard side, which means the added railing was on the port.

There is a raised skylight on the boat deck measuring 12 feet long and 7 feet wide
at the stern and 9 feet wide at the forward edge, and about 2 feet high. The
openings in the side of the skylight are open, and there are no indications that they
ever contained glass. Aft of the skylight is a 4 1/2-foot opening that was the
stairway down to the cabin deck. Originally, there was a spiral staircase, which was
replaced by a stairway in the 1911 alterations. Just forward of the hatch is a round
opening for the galley stack, which now contains the corrugated air-lift pipe left by
the 1965 salvors. This pipe extends down into the storage room aft of the galley,
which is below the main deck.

286

Below the skylight of the boat deck is the promenade area of the cabin deck. This
was an open area and contains the emergency tiller. The steering quadrant was
below on the main deck. The aftmost cabins were just forward of the skylight, and
there was a set of double doorways that opened out onto the promenade space.
Unfortunately, little of the cabin structure remains on the starboard side; however,
there is a bit more of the cabin structure on the port side. The interior has been
mostly cleared away. Each cabin had a square window, some of which can be seen
on the port side of the hull on the cabin-deck level. One window remains on the
starboard; the superstructure is broken at the second cabin window from the stern.

Forward of the skylight is a set of stairs that is partially blocked with sections of the
cabin deck (Fig. 5.49). Descending these steps, which have become popularly known
as the "ball room stairway", one enters the social hall. The social hall is mostly
empty, only containing a steam radiator in the aft starboard corner. The floor of the
social hall is cement and scored to resemble flagstone. Above the radiator is a
window into the purser's office. There is a heavy silt accumulation in the purser's
office, but the bulkhead-mounted counting boxes can still be seen (Fig. 5.50).

Directly toward the stern of the social hall is a double doorway that leads into the
dining room. The doorway to the left is the purser's office.

The dining room is on the main deck at the stern and is a little over 25 feet long.
Circular dining tables were mounted on the stanchions. On the forward port side is
the pantry with a door that opens into the dining area. The door to the purser's
office is on the starboard in the hall leading to the dining room from the social hall
at the base of the main stairway.

Surrounding the dining room and social hall area is a narrow walkway extending
from the stern to forward of the engine. Two toilets are in the stern on each side
of the ship, aft of the dining room. There were double doors leading from the
social hall to the walkway, and single doors leading from the dining room on each
side near the stern. Some of the doors may be seen in the wreckage on the port
side of the hull just inside the gangway and on the Lake bottom off the port side.
The double doors were aligned with the aftmost gangways in the hull and were
used to provision the galley, which is below the dining room.

The starboard aft gangway is blocked by a vertically-hinged hatch, which could be
partially opened for ventilation and viewing. The forward gangways were covered
by hatch covers held on place by 4x5-inch strongbacks, the slots for which can be
seen attached to the gangway frames in the forward gangways.

The bulkhead of the dining room has square windows, and the hull had port holes.
All the port holes have been removed from the hull. The port holes in the aft
section of the hull open into the walkway, except for the two that open into the
heads.

The stairs to the galley are directly under the stairs in the social hall. These narrow
steps are steep, but they can easily be negotiated by a diver. There are cabins or
pantries on both sides of the hall leading to the galley. Originally the ones on the
right as the stairs are descended (port side of the hull) were cabins intended for
service personnel. The ones on the left were for storage. In the deck of the hall
there is a small open hatch that is an access to the shaft bearing.

287

AMERICA as originally built, and before the 1911 lengthening and alterations, had the
galley, refrigerator, and crew's mess forward. The passenger dining room was also
forward up on the promenade deck. Presumably the galley and dining area were
moved aft during the major alterations done in 1911. The 18 feet of length were
added forward of the boilers, and would have altered the original spaces. In
addition to the length, another gangway was installed.

The galley contains the stove on the aft bulkhead, sinks, counters and shelves. In
the aft bulkhead is a doorway leading into a storage room. The end of the air-lift
pipe, which is visible on the boat deck, can be seen in this storage room. This
store room became known as the "forbidden room" after a diving fatality occurred
there in 1976 (see Chapter VII). The door of this store room was wedged partly
open, and it was implicated in the fatality. The investigation assumed the diver had
entered the room and became disoriented during a silt-out and was unable to exit
the narrow opening. The "forbidden room" became a focal point for many divers,
some of whom undoubtedly pushed their limits passing through the narrow open
doorway into the silt-laden room. In 1983, after consultation with the
Superintendent of Isle Royale National Park, SCRU personnel removed the door to
decrease the danger to visiting divers. The door was removed by prying up on the
bottom edge with a lever, lifting the door off its hinges and letting it fall inward,
where it remains.

On the other side of the bulkhead of the galley area and social hall are the engine
spaces. There is a passageway through the bulkhead at the top of the galley stairs.
Directly on the other side was a 4-foot wide hallway with a doorway on the
starboard side that was one of the normal accesses to the engine spaces. The
other was forward on the same side opposite the high pressure cylinder. The
missing bulkheads of the engine spaces were evidently removed by the 1965
salvors.

Bulkheads exist for what once were the chief engineer and assistant engineer cabins
on the starboard side of the engine. In addition, the baggage room and stewards'
quarters bulkheads are partially intact.

The engine room of AMERICA is a remarkable example of turn-of-the-century Great
Lakes marine engineering, and offers a well-preserved, three-dimensional display of
engineering details mostly unavailable from written documents of the period. The
virtually complete engine room is fully plumbed, with asbestos insulation still
present on most of the pipes. All accessories, valves, and some of the steam gages
remain. A swim through the engine room is a step into the technological past,
without the filters of restoration or interpretation. An understanding of AMERICA'S
engine room is informative and helpful in understanding the machinery remains of
the more broken up vessels of Isle Royale. It is also a useful place to start in
developing an understanding of the much larger and more complex machinery
spaces of the larger intact vessels of Isle Royale. EMPEROR, for example is a much
larger and more complex version of AMERICA'S engine room.

The engine room of AMERICA can be entered by dropping feet-first through the
grated walkway near the forward port corner of the engine. A brief description of
the machinery and larger features will be discussed as if one immediately faced the
stern on the port side of the engine and continued in a circular route around the
stern of the engine and forward up the starboard side.

288

The most imposing sight as one reaches the bottom and faces the stern is the large
silver-painted pipe that must be passed. This pipe is the overboard discharge for
the condenser and is connected to the outside hull through a discharge valve. An
example of this arrangement can be viewed on MONARCH (Fig. 5.34). The
condenser is the large rectangular-shaped feature on the port side of the engine.
There is a similar pipe that goes between the condenser and the low pressure
cylinder of the engine. This is the eduction pipe and routes the used steam from
the engine to the condenser.

Immediately to the right is a dual-acting, steam-driven water pump. The 1928
boiler inspection report describes the pumps of AMERICA as having a 4-inch
diameter and 8-inch stroke. This is the bilge pump, and it may have been the last
piece of machinery operated on the vessel. The bilge pump was overcome by the
rapidly rising water from the pierced hull as the ship sank. The long hole in the hull
that sank the ship is in the vicinity of the engine and boiler spaces and can be
viewed on the outside of the hull at the turn of the bilge on the starboard side. On
the inside, just below the bilge pump near the very bottom of the hull, is the bilge
injection pipe and the sieve-like rose box. Also in this area are the injection pipe
and valve for the condenser. The larger valves close to the bottom of the hull near
the forward of the engine are seacocks.

Proceeding toward the stern the electric generator or dynamo is on the right and
just ahead is the switch and fuse panel. The generator supplied the ship's electric
power and was controlled by the knife switches on the switchboard. Many of the
switches have been removed as souvenirs.

At the stern of the engine, the shaft connection can be seen. Along the stern
bulkhead are broken shelves and racks for spare parts and tools. Around the engine
on the starboard hull is another pump. On the engine cylinder casing is painted an
American flag. Historical documentation indicates the crew of AMERICA were well
known as a competent and proud bunch. The fact that they painted the flag on the
engine reflects this contemporary characterization of them. A comparative study of
the mechanical revisions and decorative embellishments done by engine crews on
the various Great Lakes vessels could tell us much about the behavior of people in
a completely technological work environment, if approached from an anthropological
perspective. The Great Lakes is one of the few places that have an environment
conducive to the preservation of this kind of information.

The engine controls are on the starboard side of the engine, and the engine was
operated from that side. There are two additional pumps on the forward
engine-room bulkhead that separates the engine spaces from the boiler room.
These pumps are the boiler pumps, one the main and the other the auxiliary. Above
the starboard pump is a control panel containing valves and gages for boiler feed.
The remaining valve handles on the 7 pipes were painted red. Above the feed
pumps and the feed-water control panel is the main steam-gage panel with holes
to mount 6 gages. Again, this panel, which is often looked at by the engineers, has
been decorated with a hand-painted star and was outlined in red. Egress from the
engine room is the same location as the entrance.

Going out of the engine spaces and proceeding forward brings the boiler room into
view. The boilers are intact, they did not explode as the vessel sank. There is no
breeching present, and the stack, pilot house, texas and cabin decks are missing
forward of the boiler room. Only a few beams and frames exist above the engine
room.

289

The stack was removed by the 1965 salvors. Their salvage report to the Park

superintendent gives the following information:

The remains of the ship's funnel, weighing some seven tons, were
severed from the boilers with a cutting torch, and with the assistance
of the cruiser, drifted over the side. This exposed the steel room over
the engine and boilers.

On the port side directly forward of the engine are the remains of a Ford Model T
truck that was being transported as cargo. The vehicle is hardly recognizable after
being stripped by divers. Intermixed in the wreckage on the port side forward of
the Model T is a hardwood roller with an iron wheel attached. Nearby is a leather
belt of the same width as the iron wheel attached to the roller. This wood and iron
roller is identical to the friction drums located on MONARCH (Fig. 5.32). They were
used to handle cargo. A rope was passed around the slowly-turning hardwood
drum, and cargo was lowered into or raised from the hold. The leather belt is a
conveyor belt and was undoubtedly used to drive the drum, probably by an electric
motor. The drums were turned by a shaft running fore-and-aft.

Forward of the boiler spaces is the coal bunker, still containing coal. The coal
scuttles, which are round insertions into the deck, can be seen in the diagram on
the starboard side. The port scuttle is hidden under the deck wreckage. Nearby is
a hatch cover. This is not original, but constructed and left by the 1965 salvors.
Across the deck in the port wreckage are three corrugated pipes, one with a small
hatch cover still attached. These were also part of the 1965 salvage efforts.

There is a 5 foot by 6 foot 4-inch hatch on the centerline forward of the coal
bunker. This was a cargo hold. On the bottom of the hold is tar that has spilled
out of buckets, some of which are still present. There are also packing-box
remains, but most everything else has been removed.

There is another similar hatch about 12 feet forward of the cargo hold. This was
the hatch access to the crews quarters, and there are stairs leading down. The
wooden crew's bunks remain. The smaller hatch that is off-center to the port also
leads to the crew's quarters. This hatch, which may have been originally a vent or
dumbwaiter before the 1911 alterations, is a vent and exit for the crew quarters.

One additional piece of AMERICA wreckage has recently been located. In October
1984, Park Ranger Ken Vrana and seaplane pilot Tom Wunderlich observed what
appeared to be a piece of a vessel's pilot house on the side of Washington Harbor
opposite the hulk of AMERICA. Closer inspection by Park staff indicated what is
probably the roof of AMERICA'S pilot house at a depth of 15 feet. They report it
being 10 x 12 feet with a 2-foot square "manhole" on top.

290

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Fiq. 5.48. IMPS SCRU diver Ken Vrana examines the fine-lined bow of AMERICA.

Photo by Mitch Kezar.

293

Fig. 5.49. View up the main stair case from the floor of the social hall. The stairs
are partially blocked by collapsed stern cabin bulkheads. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 5.50. View of the purser's cabin showing file boxes and silt accumulation — a
potential diving hazard encountered in the interior of AMERICA. The purser's cabin
was directly aft of the social hall. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

294

GEORGE M. COX: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Site Location

The wrecks CUMBERLAND, CHISHOLM, and COX are on a shallow reef southwest of
Rock of Ages lighthouse on the south end of Isle Royale. The vessels are within a
square, 3,000-feet on a side, with its geographic center at 47°51'28"N and
89°19'32"W. The center is 3.9 statute miles from the starboard-hand nun buoy at
Cumberland Point on a true bearing of 275 degrees. It is 336 degrees true from the
starboard-hand nun buoy southwest of Rock of Ages lighthouse and 222 degrees
from the lighthouse a distance of 4,000 feet (useful for chart plot). On-site location
is best using North Rock: the site is 258 degrees true, 2.4 statue miles from the
rock. The wreck of the passenger steamer GEORGE M. COX lies less than a mile
east of the CUMBERLAND/CHISHOLM site on a separate ridge of Rock of Ages Reef,
just south of the southernmost tip of Isle Royale, in depths ranging from 15 to
approximately 85 feet.

Site Description

The wreckage lies in two main fields, with the bow half of the ship scattered on a
flat shoal, and the nearly-intact stern portion on the side of a gently sloping ridge
about 150 feet southeast (Fig. 5.51). None of the superstructure remains in the
shallower water, but some of the upper deck framing may be seen in the deeper
water associated with the stern wreckage.

The bow portion of the ship has been fragmented by the action of waves and ice,
so that it now covers a field approximately 350 feet in length, with some sections of
hull another 200 feet away to the east. Most of the bow lies in shallow water,
varying from 15 to little more than 25 feet in depth, although smaller portions have
been swept from the shoal into deeper water surrounding it — probably the result
of drifting ice or currents. Relatively strong currents, which swept over the reef in a
southwest-to-northeast direction, were observed during field work at the site.

Historical photographs show COX perched on the reef with its bow high in the air
and its stern underwater (Fig. 4.20, 4.21). Island residents and commercial fishermen
reported that the ship rested in that position for many days before the strain broke
the ship's back, and the hull was broken cleanly in two just forward of the boilers.
When the delicate equilibrium that held the ship on the rocks was destroyed, the
stern began a slide backward into deeper water, and the bow settled on the reef to
begin its collapse and disintegration.

Before the ship broke up, wholesale scavenging was done on board, including the
removal of bedding, foodstuffs, hardware, and tackle by local fishermen and others
(see Chapter IV). Heavier equipment was removed by commercial salvors. The
ship's ten metal lifeboats were among the items removed at this time. An
examination of the wreck site indicates that other more extensive salvage was also
attempted, although its extent is not clear from either historical documentation or
observations on the site. Heavy cables may be seen, for example, around the ship's
four Scotch boilers, and it appears that there was some effort to raise them. It is
not known when this attempt was made, but it could have been in May 1933, when
the salvage tug STRATHBUOY was on site (New York Times May 29, 1933). There is
also a large wooden timber associated with heavy cable in the wreckage of the

295

bow, and it may be inferred that this is a remnant of some commercial salvage
work. The timber is about 16 feet long and 6x10 inches in cross section, with iron
work at one end. It appears to be a boom from some sort of derrick. Aside from
those two elements, there is little tangible evidence of large-scale salvage work on
the wreck, and the orientation and condition of the wreck may be attributed entirely
to natural causes. The exception is the removal of smaller artifacts by sport divers,
which has been noticeably thorough. Virtually none of the thousands of fittings and
furnishings associated with the passenger and crew quarters can be found on the
site.

The array of wreckage on the reef offers some fascinating insights into the ship's
structural characteristics and into the circumstances of its loss. Probably the first,
most obvious, and most enduring impression of the ship is its very light
construction. The structural elements are all lightly built by comparison with other
ships of the Isle Royale population, although contemporary accounts considered it to
be heavily built, and one of the strongest vessels of its class afloat (Marine
Engineering 1901:458-460). It would be of considerable interest to compare COX
with contemporary vessels not considered heavily-built.

The frames of COX are small in cross-sectional dimension, the keel is built up of
light steel plates, and the floors are very narrow. The shell plating is
correspondingly thin. Everything about the hull construction suggests a smaller
vessel than COX. Indeed, the ship originally was smaller. It was built 233 feet in
length, and later lengthened to 259 feet in 1908; it was originally fitted with two
decks, and was later given a third.

All indications are that COX was originally built for speed. The hull form was a
deep "V" configuration with considerable deadrise, much like in a yacht. The ship
was clearly designed for speed and not for carrying capacity, and it had unusually
fine lines as a result. The desire for speed is further evidenced by the four large
boilers, which were more than adequate for a 259-foot craft, and unusually powerful
for the ship's original 233-foot dimension. In the first six weeks of operation, the
vessel broke the record for the run between St. Joseph, Michigan and Chicago. The
average speed was 19 3/4 miles per hour, which gave it a ranking of the one of the
fastest boats on the Lakes (Ibid.).

The ship's design had nothing to do with its running up on Rock of Ages Reef, but it
certainly contributed to the vessel's loss as a result of that incident. Major portions
of COX's hull bottom may be seen on the reef, and much of it shows clear evidence
of contact with the rocks. The bar keel, which extends 7-ins. below the ship's
bottom, is made up of several plates riveted together. The keel is folded over at
right angles to starboard for a distance of at least 50 feet where the ship slid onto
the reef. The ship's bottom is dished and ruptured on the port side where it
apparently ran over the rocks. It must have caused immediate and massive
flooding. One section of the bottom along the centerline is caved in more than a
foot, perhaps the point on which the vessel balanced so precariously before it broke
in half. This section of bottom appears to have articulated with the section of the
hull under the boilers, which is either fragmented or missing.

The forepeak section of the bow, about 20 feet in length, lies near the shallowest
part of the reef, largely intact to the collision bulkhead (Fig. 5.52). The ship's
distinctively oversized hawse eyes are both there, although the starboard one, along
with the attached hawse pipe, has been wrenched away from the shell plating. Both
anchor chains run through the hawse eyes to their respective anchors, which lie

296

close by. It was reported that the original Baldt stockless anchors of COX each
weighed 2,840 pounds (Marine Engineering 1901:458-460). The anchors are painted
white, like the rest of COX, but there are also conspicuous traces of the ship's
original emerald-green paint underneath, remnants of the old Graham & Morton
era. COX's windlass is also lying 12 to 15 feet from the section of forepeak, in
close association with the chains.

The forepeak stands about 45 degrees from vertical, and the lower portions of it are
buried in gravel and rocks so that none of the forefoot can be seen. There would
be some value in examining the extreme forward part of the ship's keel to
determine exactly where the bow impacted with the shoal when COX grounded.
From all appearances, the first impact occurred just a few feet aft of the forefoot,
and the ship seems to have glided swiftly up a gradual slope to wedge itself firmly
on the rocks. It was reported that the ship was doing at least 10 miles per hour
when it hit the reef (Daily Mining Gazette May 30, 1933). The inertia drove the ship
well up on the reef.

An effort was made to establish the location of the ship's impact, and a shallow
depression was found in the reef, which was about 30 feet to starboard (east) of the
present day fore-and-aft axis of the stern portion of the wreck. There is reason to
believe that the ship slid up into that depression when it ran aground, because the
water on either side of the depression is too shallow to have admitted the ship
without a terrible impact. Furthermore, numerous rivets from the ship's hull were
found wedged in the cracks and crevices in the rocks of the depressed area, while
none were observed on the rocks on either side. No gouged marks were found in
the rock, however, which would have further substantiated the impact location.

The wreckage strewn in the shallow area on the flat of the shoal appears to
represent the entire forward half of COX, including the forepeak, keel and associated
deep floors, the bottom, and the sides of the hull. At least ten discrete pieces of
wreckage may be attributed to that part of the ship, varying from about 10 feet
square to more than 70 feet in length.

Among the large sections of shell plating and frames is also a field of wreckage and
debris extending nearly 100 feet in length, which includes steel pipes, columns,
beams, angle-bars, cables, and nondescript pieces. There are also machinery parts,
some evidently associated with a large freight elevator known to have been installed
in the ship. Although few of the pieces are joined together, many can be identified
from COX's original builder's plans. The "midshipsection" of the builder's plans
illustrates 7-inch diameter pipe hold-stanchions under the main deck, 6-inch
I-beams supporting transverse deck beams and "Z-bar" frames made up of steel
angles. Components of each description were observed in the scattered debris on
the shoal, and it may be assumed that they represent the framing of the whole
forward half of the ship, which has been slowly and relentlessly disassembled by
more than 50 years of natural site processes.

This portion of the bow wreckage is interesting because of the diversity of the
remains lying there, and because of its easy access; the central concentration of
remains, dubbed the "junk-yard" by sport divers, lies in about 20 feet of water. It
must have been staggering in its profusion, rich with the artifacts sifted by gravity
from COX's salons and cabin, before it was picked over by divers and swept of its
lighter debris by decades of currents, waves and ice floes.

297

Some of the debris in the area may be from cargo carried by the ship, as it is
difficult to attribute some of it to the ship's structure. Virtually nothing is known,
however, about the nature and extent of cargo carried by COX on its last voyage. It
is known to have carried large cargoes in its earlier days, and inasmuch as it was
given a freight elevator during its 1932 reconstruction, it may be assumed that it
was intended to carry heavy freight in its last role, too.

The stern portion of the COX wreck consists of a little more than one-half of the
ship's 259-foot length, lying substantially intact on a gently sloping bedrock bottom
(Figs. 5.54, 5.58). The ship lies on its port side, with a huge mass of tangled
structural debris alongside on the port side and forward of the hull. The wreckage
scatter includes machinery, structural elements from the hull, and portions of
superstructure and rigging. The dominant feature at the site is the ship's hull, which
is impressive in its dimension, but still betrays a certain fragile quality by the extent
of its distortion and the nature of its damage. There is also a distinct grace about
the form and proportion of the stern, where there is enough integrity of the ship left
to preserve some of its original beauty.

The stern measures 140 feet in length, and there are other sections alongside and
underneath it which are 30 or 40 feet long. The keel is preserved unbroken, but the
hull around it is twisted almost ninety degrees, so that it is almost inverted at the
fantail and nearly at right angles to the bottom at its forward extremity; specifically,
the angles rotate from 195 degrees at the fantail to 290 degrees at the forward
end. There. are huge tears in the hull as a result of the exaggerated torsion (Fig.
5.53). The tears correspond to structural features within the hull. One tear extends
longitudinally for 70 feet, just to the starboard side of the keel, and another runs
transversely about 20 feet from the rail to the keel, along the line of the afterpeak
bulkhead. The longitudinal tear exposes the entire length of the propeller shaft, and
the propeller itself has been wrenched from the stern-bearing. The propeller is
displaced in a forward direction about 20 feet from its proper location, and although
this was not confirmed by field observation, it leads to the conclusion that the
engine has been torn from its foundation in the hull, and also lies some 20 feet
forward of where it should be. Some displacement of the engine was observed by
the commercial salvors who visited the wreck in 1933: "the bottom of the steamer
was torn out, the engines jolted from their moorings and the vessel is listing toward
deep water ...." (New York Times May 29, 1933).

Site Formation Processes

When the condition and orientation of the hull are compared with physical aspects
of the Lake bottom in the vicinity of the wreck, they suggest a sequence of events
that would explain many of the seemingly unconnected details. A process can be
identified that leads from the historical photographs of the wreck event to the
conditions observed during the recent field work.

Photographs and historical research show that GEORGE M. COX rested on the reef
approximately amidships following its stranding, with its stern under water and a list
of about 10 degrees to port. A search of the reef led to a 10-foot deep spot in the
middle of a 6-foot shoal, and there is some possibility that COX struck the sloping
side of this ridge, to be tunneled into the 10-foot groove or depression by its
momentum. With its bottom badly torn, it filled quickly, and because it rested just
forward of amidships, the stern settled, lifting the bow high out of the water. The
unsupported weight of the bow caused the hull to fail at the point where it rested
on the reef; the immense tension on its structure would have focused at the sheer

298

strakes, the bands of steel shell plate running along the ship's side just under the
deck line. A historical photograph shows the hull failure to have been just forward
of the boilers or almost precisely amidships. The bow settled on its port side in the
shallow trough formed by the upper surface of the reef, and it went to pieces there,
probably not long after the hull broke. The same photograph showing the ship
broken in half does not show any sign of the bow portion in the shallow water
nearby.

The stern half of the ship stood briefly on the slope of the reef, with its forward end
resting in just a few feet of water and the aftermost portion jammed into the
bottom supporting the whole weight of the wreck. Storm action caused the wreck
to begin shifting, and it soon began to descend the slope astern of it. With the
weight of the whole wreck borne by the projecting shapes at the stern, the
propeller, rudder shoe and stern frame were all torn away as the ship moved
backward down the rocky surface and turned slowly onto its port side, in the
direction it was originally forced by the wreck event. Several parts torn loose in the
descent indicate the wreck moved more than 100 feet astern in the process, and
about 30 feet to port as it rotated onto its side. The rudder shoe, for example, lies
almost exactly 120 feet forward of its proper hull location, and under the starboard
side of the wreck; the railings from the upper deck at the stern lie in the same area,
and fully 150 feet forward of their original location on the stern of the ship (Fig.
5.51). Both seem to have been torn off while the wreck lay some 120 feet forward
of its present position and slightly to starboard. It was also during the backward
slide that the propeller and shaft were forced through the bottom of the hull,
leaving the terrible rent that is so dominant a feature of the ship's bottom today,
and undoubtedly wrenching the engine from its mounts. Some historical accounts
assert that the ship's engines were torn loose by the impact of striking the reef, but
this seems unlikely, and certainly the long tear in the bottom plates did not occur at
that time.

The ship's four Scotch boilers (Figs. 5.55, 5.57) lie just forward of the after section
of the hull, and their support cradles or "saddles" lie still further up the slope, some
as much as 30 feet away. Curiously, all four of the boilers are upright, in spite of
the fact that the stern portion of the wreck lies on its side. It appears that the
section of ship's bottom, which supported the boilers, is completely broken up. The
bottom of the hull may have been broken during the wreck event, and later by the
weight of the boilers bearing down on the hull as the stern section moved down
slope.

Evidently, there was an effort to salvage the boilers, which would explain the steel
cable around the boilers at the site, as well as why the boilers are upright and the
hull that contained them is on the port side. A section of bottom, with centerline
keelson structure intact, was found lying a considerable distance from the boilers on
the opposite (or east) side of the reef, in about 70 feet of water; inasmuch as it
contained through-hull fittings that appear to have been associated with the boilers,
it seems likely that it was the section of the bottom between the bow and the stern
that supported the boilers. It is not known how this section of bottom became so
far removed from the remainder of the wreckage, but the possibility cannot be
discounted that the wreck was blown up by commercial salvagers to free up the
boilers for salvage, although such an attempt was clearly unsuccessful. There was
no other indications of explosion observed.

COX's superstructure was apparently relatively intact until the wreck came to rest in
its present position, because the remains of the deck structures lie around the stern

299

wreckage, very near their appropriate locations. Even the remains of the
smokestack can be seen just to the port side of the wreck, lying flattened on the
bottom amid the shambles that were the cabins. Boat davits and other portions of
the superstructure are easily distinguished in the same large field of wreckage. This
appears to be the only Isle Royale wreck site with such extensive remains of
wooden superstructure, although CUMBERLAND, MONARCH, ALGOMA, HENRY
CHISHOLM and AMERICA all had similar wooden cabins.

On the opposite side of the reef, at the foot of an abrupt drop off and in a long
gully nearby, are other portions of COX wreckage, including several steel tanks, a
gangway door, sections of the ship's side, and the one short section of bottom
possibly associated with the boiler spaces, which may have come from the missing
section of hull amidships. A part of the bulwark from the forecastle also lies there.
Ice movement is the likely mechanism of movement for the structural elements
located in this gully. Wooden framing members were observed that did not belong
to COX at all, but had the characteristics of HENRY CHISHOLM's hull construction.
The distinctive shapes of the frames distinguished them as having come from a
ship's bow (Fig. 5.59). The attributes of the frames closely match those of
CHISHOLM and indicate the bow may have been completely disarticulated. Other
wreckage is suspected to lie between the two sites, perhaps including portions of
CUMBERLAND'S missing bow.

300

-g :*vm ' +

■r*- .* «!^c* -

Fig. 5.54. Larry Murphy drops through starboard stern gangway to examine interior
of COX. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 5.55. Steam drums atop Scotch boilers of COX. Steam drums were not
common features on Lakes craft. NPS photo by Larry Murphy

303

Fig. 5.56. Interior of COX aft of engine spaces. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 5.57. COX boilers with nylon base line used for site mapping operations in
place. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

304

Fig. 5.58. Field drawing, artist's perspective of stern of GEORGE M. COX. Drawing
by H. Thorn McGrath.

Fig. 5.59. Ship knee located in a deep water ravine near the bow of COX.
element is evidently from CHISHOLM. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

This

305

CHESTER A. CONGDON: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Site Location

CHESTER A. CONGDON is on a shallow reef, known as Congdon Shoal, south of
Canoe Rocks at the northeast end of Isle Royale. The charted position of the vessel
is 2.0 statute miles from Hill Point on a true bearing of 14 degrees. It is 279
degrees true from the starboard-hand nun buoy at Locke Point and 271 degrees true
from Blake Point Light. The site can be located in water by rounding Blake Point
and setting a course of 271 degrees true and traveling a distance of 4.3 statute
miles. CONGDON is located at 48°11'36"N, 88°30'52"W.

Site Description

The site of CHESTER A. CONGDON offers numerous exceptional exploratory dives to
visitors and students of Lakes vessel technology alike. An interesting swim can be
made from the bow (Fig. 5.60), over the wreckage field to the top of Congdon Shoal,
and then to the stern (Fig. 5.61). Elements from the hull and deck that contained
the first 9 hatches lead up from the bow and across the top of the reef. Many of
the shallower fragments show evidence of ice and wave impact in addition to the
torn plates from the wreck event. There are bottom sections that show the
scalloped shell plates, which appear as if they were draped over the frames, typical
of grounding damage and heavy ice impact.

The aft section can be followed down to the engine room and stern cabins. The
stern is laying at a very steep angle and drops quickly to 180 feet of depth. There
was no contemporary salvage on the stern. The only removal of material has been
done through the actions of sport divers.

The bow can be penetrated through a number of entrances. The pilot house and
forecastle deck cabins can be entered through the doors along both sides. The
room below and forward of the pilot house is the sitting room, with the captain's
quarters aft. The captain's office and living quarters can be entered on the
forecastle deck. Much of the panelling is intact. The pilot house has narrow oak
strips on the walls and a white-painted ceiling. The captain's quarters and the
private quarters on the spar deck were walled with quartered oak.

The windlass room can be entered easily through the salvage hole in the deck. The
hole, although it looks much like a hatch, is the result of salvage operations to
remove the windlass. On the port side of the bow deck, the frame for the stairs
leading into the windlass rooms can be seen. In the windlass room, the forward
mounts for the windlass are in place. The chocks and bitts are also present.

Moving aft, the owner's staterooms and private quarters can be seen. This area, like
the rest of the bow, was completely salvaged, but the bulkheads and some fittings
are left. Immediately below on the lower deck, are the chain locker forward, the
dunnage and lamp room on the starboard, the hall and forward crew quarters on the
port.

CONGDON is an important and impressive site. It offers a relatively safe dive on the
bow, where there are few portable artifacts. Divers wishing to penetrate the wreck
can do so in the pilot house and forecastle cabin. Deeper penetrations are more
serious. The bow section can withstand heavy diver visitation with little additional

306

impact. The mooring buoy should allow this to be done with a relatively high
degree of safety.

The stern section, however, should be treated somewhat differently. The stern is a
serious dive by any standards, and heavy diving may increase the attrition of
portable artifacts that remain in the undisturbed engine and cabin areas. The
CONGDON stern, along with KAMLOOPS, are the least dived sites in Isle Royale and,
consequently, the best preserved — a result of their inaccessibility due to depth.
Neither of these sites should be buoyed, and diving on them should not be
encouraged.

Site Analysis and Formation Processes

CONGDON, lost in November 1918, is the largest sunken vessel known in the waters
of Isle Royale. The 532-foot vessel was lost in dense fog while making a timed run
from Thunder Cape to Passage Island. Historic accounts indicate the ship hit the
southern reef of Canoe Rocks at a speed of 9 knots (see Chapter IV).

The shoal that is now the resting place for the bulk freighter rises from 180 feet
deep on the seaward side to a narrow point of solid rock, which is just under the
surface. The reef drops quickly on the shoreward side to 110 feet deep. The ship
apparently hit the southern edge of the shoal in 18 to 20 feet of water near the
bow, with the stern over the deep water on the seaward side.

The first reports of damage stated that the forepeak, number 1 and 2 starboard
tanks and number 1 port tank were full of water (Cleveland Plain Dealer, Nov. 8,
1918). The initial assessment was that the vessel could be freed, if the cargo was
removed. These reports indicate that the original hull damage was not severe,
probably only shearing of rivets and opening of seams in the bottom of the hull.
Had there been significant distortion of the hull, more involved salvage operations
than lighterage would have been initially discussed. Only lightering tugs and barges
were involved in the first salvage attempt.

Unfortunately, a southeast gale interrupted the lightering operations. After a day of
55 miles per hour winds, the stern section broke and sank in deep water. After
sinking, the stern was still attached to the bow section along the hull on the
starboard side and deck plate, although the port side had been fractured. The stern
hull section listed to starboard as it sank (Fig. 4.24)). The tearing of the hull was
undoubtedly the result of the working of the still-bouyant stern section (some 400
feet of the hull) as it was buffeted by the waves created by the gale. The bow
section was solidly aground, with the increased deadweight of the water in its
flooded forward tanks. The first two tanks extended below the number 1 hatch (to
frame 29). During the storm, the stern section acted much like a lever moved by
the waves, which tore the port shell plates aft of the number-six hatch.

Historical accounts indicate the bow remained above the water for only a short
period (Figs. 4.23, 4.24, 4.25). By the end of November, the bow was reported to be
in 50 feet of water, but salvage of forward-end machinery had already been made
(Fort William Daily Times Journal Nov. 29, 1918; Lake Carriers Association
1918:142-143). Examination of the bow section shows a virtually complete salvage
operation, one that undoubtedly was conducted before the bow submerged. All
machinery, steering and navigation gear, windlass, chains and anchors — even the
sinks, tubs and toilets were removed. A large, rectangular hole was cut in the
forward deck to remove the capstan and lift out the windlass. Considering that only

307

gas cutting-technology available at the time, there can be little doubt that this hole
in the forward deck-plate was cut before the deck was submerged.

The bow section of CONGDON sank upright at the base of a steep cliff with the
stempost facing upslope, tilted up at an angle of 59 degrees and about 35 degrees
to starboard, in 60 feet of water (Fig. 5.60). The aft portion is 110 feet deep. The
bow gives the appearance of having been cleaved from the rest of the vessel and is
a singularly spectacular sight for divers.

Evidence of the sequence of events that led to the deposition of CONGDON's bow in
such an unlikely position is to be found in the general area, and on the bow itself.
Steel hull construction techniques also contributed to the formation of this site.

The bow section is comprised of the first 24 frames of the ship. At frame 24, the
blueprints show a reinforced, water-tight bulkhead from the keel to the forecastle
deck at the aft end of the forward cabins. This tended to form the forward section
of the vessel into a strong, integral unit.

After the stern sank in the gale two days after the wreck, the bow section was
attached to the stern primarily along the bottom and lower side on the starboard
side. The contemporary photographs show that both the port and starboard hull
sides were severed, the port side at hatch 6, and the starboard, aft of hatch 9. The
port side of the hull is raised in the air indicating that the rupture is complete on
that side and that the separation extends to, and probably through the hull bottom
on that side. The principal attachment appears to be along the lower starboard
side. There were probably stress cracks along the bottom and sides of the forward
part as a result of the levering of the stern section prior to its sinking.

In the absence of historical documentation on the activities of the salvors, the
separation of the bow portion must be considered as the result of natural forces.
Although the bow was accessible and cutting torches were used to salvage the
windlass, there is no indication that the salvors attempted to recover the bow
portion intact.

A possible sequence of depositional events can be constructed based on the
material remains. The port side separated first, with the bottom buckling and
separating as the heavy bow portion began to sink. As the bow unit sank and
began to slide down the steep underwater cliff, the port shell plates forward of the
number 6 hatch (around frame 48) were torn loose from the port bow, both along
the side of the hull and the bottom. Construction elements that can be attributed to
this section of the ship can be seen on the top of the reef and along the slope
above the bow to the north of the stem. As the bow gathered momentum, the
starboard side remained attached to the stern long enough to turn the bow to the
starboard as it moved downslope. The bow separated from the restraining
starboard hull remnants and slid stern first down the cliff. Because of the last
attachment of the hull being along the starboard side, and the configuration of the
rock face, the bow portion shifted to the south as it descended.

Examination of the aft portion of the bow section reflects the events as described.
Along the port side (Fig. 5.66), the hull plates are sharply bent toward starboard. On
the starboard side, the torn plates are bent both starboard and forward. There is a
puncture on the starboard side of the bow that evidently is the result of detached
hull elements sliding down the slope sometime after the bow had reached the

308

bottom of the incline. Later, the starboard deck stringer plate and shell plates,
including sections of the bottom, moved down the hill to their present location.

There is impact damage on the stempost of CONGDON. The depression is 6 feet
long, deep enough to displace the first two frames and crumple the shell plates.
The stem is folded over to starboard. The area begins below the water line at the
level of the lower hold-stringer. Although the damage is severe, it does not appear
to have ruptured the plate seams. It seems unlikely that this damage was caused
during the initial impact with the reef. If it had been, it would be expected that
there would be further damage to the bow as the inertia of the ship forced the bow
up and over the obstruction responsible for the stem damage. The forefoot of the
bow is undamaged, indicating it did not come in contact with the reef.

There are at least two possible explanations for the damage to the stem. It may
have occurred earlier in the operating season, a result of a slow-moving contact
with an obstruction. The damage was not severe enough to require immediate
repair, but probably would have been repaired during the winter layover.

The second possibility is that the stem damage was done as the bow section
moved down the steep slope during its sinking. If this is the case, the impact may
have contributed to the turning of the bow and tearing of still-attached shell plates
as the bow slid along the submerged cliff face. It is possible that further
examination, mapping and identification of the hull fragments between the bow and
stern section will lead to a more complete understanding of the wreck event and
depositional sequence for this site.

309

Fig. 5.60. CONGDON bow, artist's perspective. Drawing by Jerry Livingston.

310

•a <i°o %

Fig. 5.61. Drawing depicting the relationship of bow and stern of CHESTER A
CONGDON on Congdon Shoal. Drawing by Jerry Livingston.

311

EMPEROR/DUNELM: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

EMPEROR and DUNELM, because of their proximity, will be treated together as two
components of a single site.

The site lies to the northeast of CONGDON on Canoe Rocks. EMPEROR is the
second largest and most recent of the 10 major shipwrecks of Isle Royale. DUNELM
was a stranding, and little remains to mark the site.

Site Location

EMPEROR is resting on the northeast end of Canoe Rocks located at the northeast
end of Isle Royale. The charted position of the vessel is 1.9 statute miles from the
starboard-hand nun buoy at Locke Point on a true bearing of 298 degrees. The site
is 33 degrees true from Hill Point and 281 degrees true from Blake Point Light. The
site can be located by rounding Blake Point and setting a course of 281 degrees
true and traveling a distance of 3.5 statute miles. The vessel location is 48°12'02"N
and 88°29'30"W. Historical coordinates were telegraphed to the Ottawa Department
of Transport on June 4, 1947. These were given as: 48°14'06"N and 88°28'24"W.
About 100 yards east of the EMPEROR bow are remains that are ascribed to the
DUNELM stranding incident.

Site Description

The stranding of DUNELM was the earliest of the known disasters (1910) that have
left a material record on Canoe Rocks. The steel package freighter, like the other
vessels of Canoe Rocks and vicinity, was downbound from Port Arthur. The
freighter, carrying a cargo of wheat and flour, ran aground on the rocks during a
December snowstorm. Salvors were summoned after the owners gave the ship up
as lost. The Canadian Towing and Wrecking Company secured a "no cure-no pay"
contract from the underwriters and eventually managed to free the vessel, despite
heavy seas and severe cold.

What is probably the site of DUNELM's stranding was located in 1982 by members
of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit northeast of the bow of EMPEROR on
Canoe Rocks. The two anchors, chain cable and lifeboat frame (Fig. 5.73) are all that
mark the site.

It is not clear why the anchors and cable remain on the site. A prudent captain
would surely have dropped anchors after grounding to ensure the distressed vessel
did not sink and slide off into deeper water. The contemporary newspaper accounts
state that there was concern that the waves would push the stranded vessel, with
14 feet of water in the engine room, off the reef into deep water (Detroit Free Press
Dec. 21, 1910). The anchors and chain cable appear to have been dumped, rather
than set. Anchors and cable are usually items that are salvaged because of the
high resale value. There is no indication in the historical record located of the
reason for the salvors leaving the anchors on site. An explanation may be that the
anchors and cables were dropped to lighten the ship. Follow up docmentation dives
were conducted by volunteer Scott McWilliam and Park Ranger Ken Vrana in 1984.
Following is an excerpt from their dive records.

The anchor stocks are six inches wide and tapered, being 12 inches
deep at the base and 8 inches deep at the top. A large pile of chain
lies around the anchors and the payed-out chain runs approximately
30 degrees from the anchors.

312

The only other material remains in association with the anchors is the frame of
what is most probably a lifeboat. The origin of the lifeboat remains is unknown. It
is unlikely the frame is from EMPEROR. Historical documentation indicates there
were two wooden lifeboats carried on EMPEROR, one port and one starboard on the
stern boat deck. Two life boats associated with EMPEROR were reported found in
Todd Harbor soon after the wreck (Toronto Evening Telegram June 26, 1947). One
of these boats is reportedly sunk in Pickett Bay and the other southwest of the NPS
campground. Again, McWilliam's description from the 1984 dive:

The writer measured the lifeboat from stem to stern and found it to
be 22 feet 6 inches in length. A second piece of lifeboat was
measured at the gunwale and found to be 14 feet 10 inches in length
and the attached portion of hull 3 feet 2 inches at the widest point
from the gunwale towards the keel. Flakes of white paint could still,
upon close examination, be found.

The argument could be made that the anchors and lifeboat remains are not from
DUNELM at all, but related to some other unrecorded wreck event. Although that is
certainly possible, the fact that historical photographs of DUNELM aground and
being towed (Figs. 4.29, 4.30), show the lifeboats and anchors missing adds strong
support for them being related to that ship. This hypothesis is further strengthened
by the fact that all anchors and lifeboats associated with the nearby EMPEROR are
accounted for.

EMPEROR is one of the most dived sites of Isle Royale. Stinson (1980:15) rates the
site as the third most visited shipwreck in the Park, however recent review by Vrana
(Chapter VII) of Park diving-visitor registrations for the years 1980-85 indicate
EMPEROR is the second most dived site behind AMERICA. The continued popularity
of this site can be attributed to the visual impact of this imposing site. The stern
remains are nearly intact, while the bow has been subjected to serious ice impact,
but is still quite recognizable.

The vessel is in two major sections (Fig. 5.62). The bow is in shallow water ranging
from 30 to 80 feet. The intact stern section starts in about 80 feet and goes to a
depth of 150 feet at the propeller. The hull broke just forward of amidships. There
are 17 of the original 30 hatches intact between the stern cabins and the hull
break.

The stem and small portion of the bow is raised upward at a steep angle following
the shallowing rock cliff face. Some of the wreckage appears to have been pushed
beneath other elements, somewhat in an accordion fashion, although probably the
result of collapsing, rather than occurring during the wreck event, according to
historical accounts. The spar deck and forecastle deck are missing. Along with the
deck structure, all traces of cabins, furnishings, head fixtures and artifacts are gone.
This is a remarkable amount of material to have been removed from the site,
whether from natural or cultural agents. There is also no evidence of the captain's
cabin, furnishings, pilot house or rigging to be found among the bow remains. The
unaccounted for material includes at least 8 sinks, 3 tubs and 3 toilets (as indicated
in the blueprints).

The appearance of the bow section today is the result of the wreck event and
natural processes. The structure is flattened and broken. Hulls sides are lying with
hatch coamings on top of the ore. Undoubtedly ice has had the most impact to the
remains. Nearly 4 decades of shelving pack ice riding over the rocks and shallow

313

portions of the reef are considered to be the agent responsible for the structural
breakage present.

The windlass and chain locker are present in the bow wreckage (Fig. 5.64). The
windlass was mounted on the main deck, beneath the forward crew's quarters. The
starboard anchor is still shipped, although it has slipped out of the pocket. The port
anchor looks as if the windlass disengaged and the anchor fell to the bottom.
Neither anchor was intentionally dropped during the wreck event, according to
historical accounts. Original specifications called for two 7000-pound anchors and
180 fathoms of 2 1/4-inch (diameter) chain cable. Presumably, the original anchors
and cable are the ones on site. Additionally the vessel carried a 2800-pound kedge
anchor, which has not been located.

There are two tank-like structures mounted inside below decks on the hull that may
be seen. Their function is unknown. In the vicinity there are 5 and 6-inch diameter
air-supply pipes and 2-inch pipes for forward water service.

The deck winches are still mounted on the twisted, nearly vertical deck. These
steam operated deck winches were used as mooring winches and also to open and
close the telescoping hatch covers. Near the port bitts, there is a square deck
hatch that allowed access to the number 1 tank.

There are 5 fairly intact hatches aft of the bow structure (Fig. 5.62). The holds still
contain the reddish Steep Rock Mine ore (Fig. 5.63). The hull sides have collapsed
and the port side is twisted. Roller chocks and bitts are located on the spar deck
level. The roller chocks were mounted on the outside edge of the deck and the
bitts were even with and just forward of the edges of the forward hatch.

Within the port hull side wires can be seen running longitudinally within the
lightening holes of the frames. These wires connected the mate's and engineer's
telegraphs forward in the pilot house with those in the engine spaces. The whistle
wires were also within this wire bundle.

The partially intact stern is an unforgettable diving experience. As one descends the
buoy line, which is attached to a pad eye near the forward edge of the stern cabin
roof, the ship's form materializes and the ventilators come into view. The larger
pair forward vent the boiler room, the medium sized ones open into the engine area
and the smaller vents go to the galley and crew areas. There is a small deck
structure also on the roof. Aft, the stern steering wheel is, unfortunately, missing.

Other features visible on the cabin roof include the engine skylight, which was
probably blown out during the sinking, and the coal bunker. The coal bunker
extends along the front of the stern cabin. The galley coal was carried in the
smaller bin on the port side. It is curious that the ship left port with a
partially-filled coal bunker.

As one descends over the forward edge of the bunker and roof that covers the aft
deck winches the vessel name may be viewed. EMPEROR is painted in black letters
on a white background along the forward overhang of the roof (Fig. 5.68).

Forward of the winches is hatch 30. The hatch covers were metal, and there were
no canvas covers over the hatches. The battens are mostly intact. The corners of
some of the hatches have been bent upwards, a result of the escaping air as the
ship sank.

314

The stern is lying at an angle of 23 degrees from vertical with a 3-degree port list.
The mast has bent to the stern to 29 degrees from its normal stern rake of about 8
degrees, and shifted to 18 degrees to port (Fig. 5.65). The shifting of the mast is
most likely the result of the practice of using the top of the mast as a convenient
mooring location for dive boats. For many years a line with a buoy was attached to
the top of the mast and a dive boat, sometimes several, would use it for a mooring
line. The use of the permanent NPS mooring line will prevent further damage to the
mast.

The stern cabin may be entered or viewed through the windows and doorways (Figs.
5.70, 5.71). There is no glass anywhere, presumably blown out when the ship sank.
On the port side the forward cabin contains 6 bunks and was the quarters for the
deck hands. Proceeding to the stern, one can view the crew's dining room, kitchen
and pantry areas. (Lake boats often do not follow the nautical terminology familiar
to oceanic vessels.) Cooks' quarters were the aft-most cabin. On the stern the two
spare prop blades are in place inside the bulwark (Fig. 5.69). The stern winch,
emergency tiller and bitts are present.

Continuing around the stern to the starboard side, one can view the the aft-most
cabin, which was a private dining area, with the officer's dining room forward. Both
had two windows and a single doorway. A cabin with two bunks on the stern
bulkhead is forward of the officer's mess and aft of the bathroom. Forward of the
bathroom is the engine room entrance, the first engineer's cabin with a single bunk
and the second engineer's cabin with two bunks on the stern bulkhead. The forward
cabin with four bunks was shared by the four firemen (Fig. 5.66). Three firemen
were lost in the wreck.

The engine room may be entered through the skylight. The emergency wheel and
throttle are intact (Fig. 5. 72). The engine room is an important collection of a
working engine room of a ship with nearly four decades of alterations and revision
by the numerous crews that worked the vessel. This is a rich opportunity to collect
data relevant to the anthropological questions concerning the interactions of people
and a technological environment. The engine room of EMPEROR will provide a rich
source of data for those in the future interested in such questions, as well as those
of a historical nature. It is important that attrition and impact be limited in the
machinery spaces of EMPEROR.

Site Formation Processes

There are remains of 8 hatches between the relatively intact 5 forward hatches and
the intact stern portion of the hull. This mid-ship section of the hull is clearly the
most damaged.

The principal factors for this heavily damaged section are a combination of wreck
events and natural features and processes. The general configuration is a result of
the heavily damaged hull bottom settling on the contours of the rock cliff face. The
dense, heavy cargo weighted down the floors as the hull sides twisted and broke in
a seemingly haphazard way. The hull beams are torn, and some appear to be
missing from the wreck concentration. Beam ends probably became detached
during the wreck, and the collapse of the hull sides reflected the nature of the
bottom damage as the ship ground to a halt.

315

The historical documentation, of which the Preliminary Inquiry (conducted by Capt.
W.N. Morrison June 6, 1947) is the most useful, gives some indication of the wreck
events pertinent to the site formation process. The following is summarized from
that document, which contains the testimony of 10 of the surviving crew members
and officers. Most agree on the basic wreck sequence.

EMPEROR was underway at a normal running speed of about 1 1 knots when it
struck Canoe Rocks. There was an initial "jar" and the ship continued to scrape
along the rock for a short period. The Chief Engineer reported that the initial crash
woke him up and he found the second engineer had shut off the engine because he
had lost the the shaft or wheel; i.e., damaged the prop. The chief tried to turn the
shaft with the engine, but there was no resistance. Immediately, the forward portion
of the vessel began to settle. Indications are that there was an initial jolt and the
ship continued sliding along or over rocks. It is not clear how long this occurred,
but one testimony said "4 or 5 minutes, maybe longer, before coming to a complete
stop." There was one report that stated there was a slight starboard list. About 20
minutes later the stern sank rapidly. The stern section broke and may have rolled
to starboard and then to port as it sank.

Reconciling the testimony of the survivors and the material record gives an
indication to what likely occurred during the wreck event. Additionally, historical
photographs e.g., Detroit Free Press June 11, 1947) show the bow sank in just over
50 feet of water. The bottom of the pilot house was under water, indicating a
50-foot water depth.

The first contact with the Canoe Rocks reef must have been at the very stern. The
ship came close enough to the reef to cause the initial "jar" and shear off the
propellor blades. Investigations of the screw of EMPEROR reveal that the hub is
bare; the blades have been sheared off (Scott McWilliam personal communication).
This explains why the chief engineer had no resistance on the shaft when he
attempted to restart the engine. It is interesting to note the contact with the reef
was such that the rudder was not unshipped as is usual in wrecks. In fact, the
rudder shoe does not appear to be bent at all, indicating there was no contact with
the reef. The prop blades were sheared off and probably remain in the location of
initial contact, yet to be found.

At the initial contact with the reef, the ship, which had now lost power, began to
slow rapidly. Survivors said they heard the sound of the hull scraping along the
rocks for some time, apparently minutes. When the ship stopped and rapidly began
to sink, it went down bow first, indicating a side, rather than bow contact with the
reef. The stern does not seem heavily damaged, so the hull must have been in
contact with the reef in the area of hatches 6-13, the area of most damage.

Observations of the hull damage, which occurs mostly in the vicinity of hatches
6-13 from the bow, point to an initial contact with the reef along the starboard side,
rather than a bow-on ramming of the rocks. A surprising aspect of the survivors
testimony is the indication that the wreck was a series of jolts and scrapes, hardly
what one would expect from the impact of a 525-foot vessel carrying more than
10,000 tons of iron ore moving in excess of 11 knots smacking into a rock reef. If
the ship had hit in the bow the inertia would have carried it up onto the reef, and it
could not have begun to sink in 50 feet of water. None of the survivors reported
any shift to the stern as the vessel sank. According to testimony the pilot house
was visible from the lifeboats as the survivors rowed away.

316

The evidence points to EMPEROR hitting Canoe Rocks on the starboard side of the
hull with a glancing blow. The pilot error responsible for the wreck was a course
change, which should have taken place at Trowbridge Light, being executed late.
When the downbound course is plotted on a chart, it is evident that the later the
change takes place, the more parallel the ship's course becomes to Canoe Rocks.
The hull must have hit the rocks with a glancing blow to damage the prop blades
first, and then sink bow first.

The hull broke as it sank, and, considering the relationship of the main hull pieces, it
shifted to starboard. The rolling of the stern reported by some survivors is
evidence that this occurred during the wreck event. The separated hull sides are
closer together on the starboard side than on the port.

The breakup of the hull on the surface after the bow was down indicates some of
the forces at work on the hull. The break happened after the hull was opened up
sufficiently to rapidly sink the vessel. The hull bottom must have been nearly
severed, putting the deck under considerable compression as the bow sank while
the stern was still afloat. Some of the deck beams in the main damage area have
been broken through the bracket plate on the port side. The rolling of the ship, and
the hull twisting it represents, put tremendous torsion force on the hull. This force
is evident in the way the hull sides in the main damage area are twisted both in-
and outward. The hull sides tended to collapse after the support of the deck beams
was removed.

The stack of EMPEROR was probably loosened as the stern twisted and sank. The
stack is still attached and lying to port. It fell with sufficient force to partially
collapse the roof and port bulkhead of the stern cabin (Fig. 5.67).

There is a crack in the bulkhead between the boiler and engine spaces. This, along
with some of the natural collapse of wooden cabin bulkheads, has led some to add
credence to the story of the boilers exploding. The boilers are intact. The
common-sense notion that hot boilers explode when submerged in cold water has
not been substantiated in the wrecks of Isle Royale. The boiler of CUMBERLAND is
damaged, but the damage does not appear to be the result of an explosion. One of
GLENLYON's boilers is broken up, as is much of the steel hull. The other does not
appear to have exploded.

The notion of exploding boilers on sinking steamers has been around for a long
time. It was reported by at least one survivor that the boilers of EMPEROR exploded
(the night steward in Montreal Gazette June 5, 1947, see Chapter IV). The rapid
quenching of the hot boilers and fires would probably sound like an explosion in the
midst of the stress of a shipwreck. Observations of the boilers themselves indicate
this actually rarely, if ever, happens. In the case of EMPEROR, testimony by W.
Gallagher and Engineer on duty when the wreck occurred, indicated that the boiler
steam was "practically at the blow-off stage," and direct observation of the boilers
of EMPEROR confirm they did not explode.

The fact that boilers rarely explode during shipwrecks was also noted in the Lake

Carrier's Association bulletin (1938:7):

That boilers do not explode [during a shipwreck] has been known to Lake
seamen ... for years. Any number of steamers that comprised the old
wooden fleet, submerged in rather shallow water were found, when raised, to
have boilers intact. In recent years we have had several marked examples [of
the same thing] furnished by steel bulk freighters ....

317

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Fig. 5.63. Dan Lenihan examining the cargo of EMPEROR. The ship was loaded with
more than 10,000 tons of Steep Rock Mine ore. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.64.
Murphy.

Dan Lenihan recording the windlass of EMPEROR. NPS photo by Larry

319

Fig. 5.65. Larry Murphy ascending the stern mast of EMPEROR. Mast has shifted to
the stern and to port as a result of mooring dive boats to it. Port list is visible in
photo. NPS photo by John Brooks.

320

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Fig. 5.66. View into the firemen's cabin, which is forward on the starboard side of
the stern. There were three firemen lost in the wreck of EMPEROR. NPS photo by
Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.67. Stern cabin of EMPEROR showing compression of the bulkhead as a result
of the collapse of the stack. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

321

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Fig. 5.68. Video operations operations on stern cabin of EMPEROR. Video diver
Larry Murphy. NPS photo by Dan Lenihan.

Fig. 5.69. Dan Lenihan examining the spare prop blades on the stern of EMPEROR
NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

322

Fig. 5.70. Starboard stern cabins of EMPEROR, showing the state of preservation of
Lake Superior shipwrecks. NPS photo by Larry Murphy.

Fig. 5.71.
Carrell.

Bunks inside the starboard stern cabin of EMPEROR. NPS photo by Toni

323

Fig. 5.72. Auxiliary controls of EMPEROR in engine room. NPS photo by John
Brooks.

324

CANOE ROCK'S SHOAL

FRAGMENTS OF WIRE ROPE ON TOP OF REEF

Fig. 5.73. DUNELM stranding site. Drawing by Scott McWilliam.

325

KAMLOOPS: SITE DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Site Location

KAMLOOPS is directly offshore from Kamloops Point (12 o'clock Point on older
charts) on the north side of Isle Royale at the north end of Todd Harbor. The
vessel's location is at 48°5'6"N and 88°45'53"W, which is 1.8 statute miles from the
western tip of Hawk Island on a true bearing of 232 degrees.

Site Description and Analysis

As indicated in the historical record section of this report, the wreck site of
KAMLOOPS is more shrouded in mystery than any other wreck at Isle Royale. It is a
classic case of "went missing," where a vessel disappears during a storm leaving no
survivors. Bodies were eventually found at Isle Royale and speculation, ranging
from reasoned to wild, abounded for many years, but it became clear over the years
that the historical record itself is never going to satisfactorily answer the question
of what happened to KAMLOOPS. In August 1977, this became a question for
historical archeology when KAMLOOPS was discovered by sport divers off of Twelve
O'Clock Point at Isle Royale. There is now a material record to work with and, much
as in the case of a pathologist working on the remains of what had been a missing
person, the archeologists adopted the role of sleuth; inevitably balancing written and
oral perceptions of the past (history) with the hard facts of what can be seen,
measured, and felt.

So far, due to logistic and safety problems inherent in diving a site the depth of
KAMLOOPS (the wreck lies at a depth ranging from 180 to 260 feet), we have only
been able to attain tantalizing glimpses of the remains, but already they have been
sufficient to permit rejection of several theories of what happened to the ship, and
have suggested several new areas of inquiry. Let us review the major implications
of the historic record that have bearing on reconstruction of the wreck event.

KAMLOOPS was last seen by those who lived to report their observations December
4, 1927. Three people saw KAMLOOPS from the bridge of QUEDOC, another Lake
vessel that was itself in peril from sea and weather conditions. It was several
months later that flotsam associated with the ship began to be recorded at Isle
Royale These residues included human bodies, life jackets, portions of a lifeboat, and
significantly, some pieces of spars that would have indicated that the ship itself, and
not just a lifeboat full of survivors, had played out a final drama at or near Isle
Royale. There is also a second-hand oral history account by a fisherman friend of
Roy Oberg that the fog whistles could be heard blowing all night at the end of the
island when the ship went missing (Roy Oberg personal communication to Labadie).
Although this oral account may sound weak on the face of it, the authors of this
volume have learned to take very seriously the oral accounts of Isle Royale "old
timers." At least equal weight is given to their memories as is accorded to
accounts of contemporary newspapers.

This still leaves the archeologist with only a few hard pieces of evidence. One
knows from history that a ship went down, but that leaves the questions of where,
when, and how. The where question was solved by empirical observations of sport
divers in 1977. This reinforced earlier empirical observations by fisherman Milford
Johnson Sr. that his nets were being caught in wreckage off of Twelve O'Clock Point
and by Roy Oberg that his bottom scanner was indicating what looked like a
shipwreck in the same area.

326

The question of when is not so easily dealt with, because any number of scenarios
could have resulted in bodies and some spars being found at Isle Royale. Did the
vessel go down in the violence of the storm? Did it lose power for some reason
and drift into the island? Did it capsize from ice build up, or drift into the shelf ice
and stay afloat near Twelve O'Clock Point for days, weeks or months?

The following are empirical observations made by the research team based on
interviews with sport divers, deployment of remote operated vehicles in an
NPS/National Geographic joint venture in 1986, and from personal observations of
NPS divers who have briefly visited the site on several occasions. These will be
treated as a material-evidence chain.

The largely intact vessel lies on its starboard site 400 feet from Kamloops Point with
the bow pointing about 270 degrees on a magnetic compass bearing (Fig. 5.74).

Beginning from the stern, the following relevant factors have been noted. First we
will consider those observations made by researchers through the eyes of the
remote operated vehicle (ROV), which is our most reliable source.

1. Debris from the wreck, consisting of portions of the deck-cargo, was found two
or three hundred feet shoreward of the ship, indicating it capsized there before
settling in deeper water. The debris lies at the foot of a ten-foot deep ridge, but
there is no solid evidence at this time the ship struck that spot.

2. The rudder and propeller do not seem to be damaged. The rudder is on the
centerline and properly fastened at top and bottom, and there is no damage to the
shoe. There is about 15-degree angle on rudder to starboard, but no evidence of
grounding in this part of the ship.

3. Several of the scuppers in the stern had rubber hoses in them, probably
indicating anticipation of a hard freeze. Hoses were ordinarily put in scupper pipes
at time of winter lay-up to prevent bursting from extreme cold.

4. Davits on both sides were found empty; the port (upper side of wreck) davit has
chocks still in place, some of the tackle still hanging in davits, guy-wires are also
hanging. Both starboard davits are also empty, but the starboard life boat chocks
are knocked down, indicating the probability that the starboard boat was
intentionally launched. Historical records indicate that one boat was found near
shore following the ship's loss, evidently the starboard one. The assumed port boat
lies in about 230 feet of water near the wreck, where it seems to have fallen from
the davits after the sinking. Because the ship appears to have rolled and slid down
the slope on its starboard side, it may have had a starboard list for some time
before its loss, which would have precluded use of its port lifeboat.

5. ROV entered and explored bunker or coal chute (not absolutely certain which of
the two), but did not observe stack breeching at deck-level; the smokestack has
been reported missing, but we were not able to confirm this. We observed coal in
bunker or chute, which indicates that the vessel did not run out of fuel.

6. Several engine-room skylights were found opened, apparently by divers, and
appear propped open on lower (starboard) side while held open by gravity on port
(upper) side (Fig. 5.75). The skylight over officers' mess also reported accessible by
divers, although this was not observed.

327

7. At least one door was found open on the port side of the after deck house,
probably an entry to the pantry or icebox.

8. The engine seems intact from ROV observations, although the chain fall was
missing from the traverse bar which is used for lifting the pistons. Cylinder heads
were observed, but at this point there is a very tantalizing clue that could not be
positively confirmed. At the extreme end of the field of vision of the remote
operated vehicle, it appeared that the head may have been removed from the high
pressure cylinder, leaving the bare studs exposed. Many reruns of the videotape of
this portion of the ROV dive did not result in agreement on this observation by all
the team. The importance of this point will be made clear in the analysis presented
later in this discussion.

9. One human body was confirmed present in the engine room by the ROV.
Reliable accounts by sport divers indicate there are more, with the number varying
from two to five. The body observed and filmed by the robot vehicle seems to be
in a sopafied state. This could not be confirmed by touch, but the appearance is
white and appears textured. Adipocere formation is common for submerged
corpses. This is a process in which soft tissues are converted into a soft
waxy-type substance, frequently compared to soap. That this condition should still
be noted after fifty years is remarkable, but apparently not unique, in the Great
Lakes, since at least one other case on an Isle Royale shipwreck is known. Again,
there is not convergence from viewers of the tape regarding the issue of whether or
not the clothing has survived intact. Although common sense would suggest this to
be the case, and some divers have reported that at least one of the individuals was
wearing bib overalls, this is not confirmed by the ROV. It is clear, however, that
decomposition was variable, neither the head nor feet remain on the corpse. The
tibia and fibula of the legs extend out from the generic white mass of the body.

10. Divers have secured the emergency steering wheel with a padlock and chain
(Fig. 5.76); lamps and compass are missing from after binnacle, although the hood is
in place and appears not to have been tampered with.

11. Examination of the ship's hull near the bow shows serious damage to shell
plating at the turn of the bilge on the port side, extending approximately fifty feet
from approximately 65 to frame 50. The damage consists of dished and buckled
plates and collapsed frames. The flat of the ship's bottom was not observed, but
the damage did not appear to extend inward to the bottom. Although the damage
was substantial, no ruptured plates were observed; the damage seen could account
for leaks, but more than likely not massive flooding; other more serious hull damage
is suspected. Inasmuch as the ship heeled over to starboard, damage on that side
seems probable; this is further supported by the launch of the starboard boat, which
suggests a starboard list, and therefore flooding on that side.

12. Portions of the ship's port side were viewed, and the freight gangways
examined. Those observed were still secured and presumed to be watertight. Stern
details were also examined, including the propeller and rudder, and then the hull
was viewed for some distance forward of the stern. Damage to the shell plating was
observed at the turn of the bilge on the port side, extending from approximately 18
to frame 32. The damage was similar to that found at the forward end, consisting
of stove-in plates and frames forced in about a foot or two. No actual ruptures in
the shell plates were observed. Some corrugation of bottom-plating appeared
possible in the area, but was not confirmed.

328

13. Working toward the bow, little additional hull data was gathered, but the
Mini-Rover was able to do a relatively thorough search of the forecastle and
associated superstructure. The ship's pilothouse is missing, and it appears to have
gone to pieces when the ship went down. Historical accounts indicate portions of
the structure were found near the shore. The false-floor and all of the instruments
were also missing, except for a single vertical stanchion in the center of the
pilothouse, the framing for a stairway at the starboard-side after corner of the
house, a spotlight from the roof, and a wood storage-box of uncertain use that was
outside the house on the port side; both bridge wings are still in place. Lower
portions of the superstructure appear undamaged; the texas deck was examined on
the port side. Deck details, such as a sounding reel, mooring bitts, and rail
stanchions, were observed. Examination of the structures offered no obvious clues
about the vessel's loss.

14. Several features were observed indicating attrition from use by sport divers.
Portions of the cargo had been stacked on the side of the ship, probably in
preparation for removal (quart and gallon cans of paint in two crates), and the ship's
two port-side navigation lamps were removed. It is not clear whether the
navigation instruments were removed from the pilothouse, or were lost at the time
of the sinking.

15. Examination of hull at the forward end also n ealed a plume of mud covering
stem and anchor-pockets, preventing the observation of anchors or chains. Several
of the portholes in the port side of the forecastle were found opened, presumably
as a result of storm damage; fastners for the covers were seen inside, and while
they did not appear broken or distorted out of shape, it is not thought likely that the
ports were opened intentionally. The letter "K" was also viewed on the ship's port
bow, painted in white.

There are two other observations about the KAMLOOPS site that were made by
sport divers, but not confirmed by this research team. If true, they may have a
great deal of bearing on the reconstruction of the wreck event. The first is that at
least one bow anchor chain comes out of the mud in which KAMLOOPS bow is
buried and extends seaward some distance. The second is that when found by
divers the ship's engine room telegraph was set to "Finished with Engines" (both
ordered and answered in this position), which indicates that the machinery was
totally shut down at time of loss.

Analysis

The above empirical observations can now be used as a chain of evidence in
concert with the historical record to allow a much more educated discussion of the
KAMLOOPS wreck event and the formulation of hypotheses that accommodate the
most reliable aspects of the historical and material records.

1. Inasmuch as the ship lies at least fifteen miles from the nearest point where it
would have been safe under prevailing conditions, it must be assumed that it was
disabled at the time of its loss and not under command. No experienced mariner
would have purposely navigated a ship to that vicinity with northwest winds at gale
force coupled with poor visibility. The nearest shelter would have been either in
Thunder Bay or back behind the island via Blake Point.

329

If the ship was disabled and drifting, its anchors should have been down;
confirmation of the disposition of its anchors would provide valuable clues about
the ship's condition at the time of its loss. Divers have reported that the ship's
telegraph also shows evidence of the machinery being shut down (in "Finished with
Engines" position); this, too, would substantiate the ship was disabled for some time
before its loss. It would have been suicidal to let the ship lie so near a lee shore in
the prevailing gale, if it could have possibly worked its way into open water.

2. If the steamer's high-pressure cylinder head was, in fact, removed, it would
answer a basic question about the ship's loss: it would establish beyond a doubt
that the ship was broken down from some hours before sinking, and it would
explain why it ended up off Twelve O'Clock Point in so vulnerable and exposed a
position. It would also suggest why some of the crew were at work in the engine
room when the ship foundered. It would not explain the bottom damage.

Damage to the ship's hull is not surprising, but the nature of the damage observed
is not easily explained. It is clear that the ship struck bottom, and it would be easy
to conclude that it struck the ten-foot spot only a few hundred feet from where it
rests, but that appears to conflict with the material record. The ship lies with its
bow "upwind" relative to the conditions at the time of its loss, and probably at
anchor. If its bow was kept into the wind (as any responsible master would have
done), then it would have struck the shoal stern-first. We know that did not
happen, as is evidenced by the sound condition of its rudder and shoe. To have
struck on its port side, it would have come ashore bow-on or nearly broadside.
That could have been done only if the anchors were not out, which seems unlikely.
The probability is, then, that it struck somewhere else. If it can be assumed that
KAMLOOPS struck subsequent to a breakdown, then the only place it could have
struck is upwind, or some twenty miles away in the Welcome Islands.

The evidence seems to suggest that KAMLOOPS battled the storm all the way
across Lake Superior, but suffered some disabling accident to its engine, perhaps to
the high-pressure cylinder, just as it reached the safety of Thunder Bay. It appears
to have drifted into shoal water, damaging its port side so that it began leaking and
developing a starboard list. In that condition and with its pumps going, it drifted
downwind all the way to Isle Royale's windward shore, all the time with its anchors
down. It would have fetched up just short of the rocks, apparently settling deeper
and deeper. With daylight, a portion of the crew seems to have been put ashore on
the starboard boat, while the engineer and a few others stayed aboard to pump and
attempt whatever repairs were possible. Fishermen reported hearing distress
whistles blowing all through the second night (see Chapter IV). After lying off the
north shore of the island for some hours, the ship seems to have flooded so much
that it finally laid over on its side and went down by the bow, plunging down the
underwater slope and into the mud. The smokestack is probably alongside the
wreck in the debris field. This conjectural sequence explains what is known of the
vessel's loss and its present condition.

In addition to the richer understanding of the vessel itself and the wreck process,
several other remarks can be made from the archeological investigation that deal
with past depositional processes and Park management considerations.

KAMLOOPS bears dramatic testimony to the preservation potential of deep
shipwrecks in Lake Superior. The condition of inorganic and organic remains is
astounding, significantly superior to what one may expect of the same ship and
associated materials if they had never been lost, but tied to a dock in Duluth for

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fifty years. The siltation over the site is minimal, and apparently constant. The only
active impacts to the site as an archeological/historical entity is the removal of
certain enticing objects by sport divers.

One aspect of the past wreck natural deterioration process noted, but not expected,
was the ridges of oxidization that nppeared most dramatically on the ship's
propeller. This phenomenon may be evident on other metal shipwrecks in fresh
water, but none of the authors of this volume have recalled seeing this in the field
or in the literature. The only exceptions are observations made during deep dives
on TITANIC, where these rivulets of oxidation formed dramatic displays and were
called "rusticles" by the Woods Hole research team.

KAMLOOPS is, in the archeological sense, a treasure trove, since it composes not
only an intriguing remnant of an historic event in Lakes history but because it
contains a cross section of material culture that represents a synchronic snapshot
of contemporary life in the region. "Package freight" is precious to the archeologist
because it is a random reflection of subsistence needs. It is an intriguing place to
dive, but there is some indication that its value as a time capsule for future
generations will continue to diminish unless some restrictions are placed on access.

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Fig. 5.74. a. KAMLOOPS, artists' perspective. Composite drawing by C. Patrick
Labadie, Scott McWilliam, Jerry Livingston.

Fig. 5.74. b. KAMLOOPS, artist perspective. Drawing by Scott Mcwilliam.

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Fig. 5.75. KAMLOOPS' engine room skylights. ROV photo by Emory Kristof courtesy
of National Geographic Society.

Fig. 5.76. KAMLOOPS' stern wheel showing chain placed by sport divers. ROV photo
by Emory Kristof courtesy of National Geographic Society.

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CHAPTER VI. UNDERWATER COMPONENTS OF LAND-BASED SITES
AND OTHER SUBMERGED CULTURAL RESOURCES

Introduction

As the title implies, this chapter is devoted to a discussion of non-shipwreck sites.
More specifically, the sites are water-related locations of human activity that,
through accident or design, have cultural remains both underwater and on land.
These maritime-based sites with their underwater components are an integral part
of the history of Isle Royale. Since nearly every human endeavor at Isle Royale
involved interaction with water, an investigation and discussion of only shipwrecks
would present an incomplete picture of the island's full range of submerged cultural
resources.

With that in mind, an effort was made during each of the five field sessions to
examine underwater components of land-based sites and to include an overview of
that class of resource in this chapter. The review presented here is intended to be
neither comprehensive nor exhaustive, but representative.

Prehistoric sites were not included in this study because, to date, no prehistoric
terrestrial sites with underwater components have been identified on Isle Royale
One isolated find of a prehistoric pot did occur in 1985 and is discussed in this
chapter. Also it should be understood that this project was intended for
documentation and evaluation of known sites; survey for new sites, of any type, was
not a primary research objective.

Since the inception of the research at Isle Royale, Park managers have provided
support for all aspects of the project, including the work on the underwater
components of land-based sites. Assistance included boat and personnel support
as well as access to research materials. Park staff interest in, and concern about,
non-shipwreck sites has increased steadily. In the Spring of 1986 an order was
issued by Superintendent Thomas Hobbs prohibiting diving on all land-associated
underwater archeological sites (Superintendent's Orders, April, 1986). Investigation
of any sort, including that done by professional researchers, can only be undertaken
after obtaining special permission from the Superintendent. These sites were closed
in order to provide maximum protection to fragile cultural remains. This order
clearly demonstrates the continuing commitment of Park administrators to a
program of comprehensive cultural resources management.

This chapter is organized into three major sections, a historical overview,
discussions of individual sites investigated, and other known or suspected sites
including a brief discussion of vernacular watercraft found around Isle Royale. The
overview focuses on the range of human activities on the island from early historic
exploitation up through present-day government-sponsored programs. It is
designed to provide the historical context necessary to both evaluate and to
understand the role that these human activities played in the story of Isle Royale

335

National Park and to outline the potential range of physical remains that may be
found.

The discussion of the individual sites includes an examination of contemporary and
Service-related impacts. National Park Service operations and the underlying
management concept of maintaining the park as a wilderness area have affected the
island and its cultural resources. Understanding the impacts to these sites is
necessary for site analysis, evaluation, and interpretation. A brief historical
background and description is provided for each site, along with a discussion of the
physical remains located on land and underwater. Lastly, a discussion of research
potential and management recommendations are provided.

The last section of this chapter is devoted to those sites where only a brief
reconnaissance was conducted, to those areas around the island where research
should be conducted to determine the presence/absence of cultural remains, and to
a discussion of specific examples of small craft remains known to exist around the
island.

Historical Overview

This section is presented in a loose chronological order by activity The discussion
of individual sites, which follows the overview, is similarly organized. The historic
era of fur trade began on Lake Superior in the middle 1600s and continued well into
the mid-1800s. Documentation from the Northwest Fur Company provides evidence
of fur trade on Isle Royale by 1800. Commercial fishing gained prominence in Lake
Superior and on Isle Royale in the early 1830s and continues, on a very limited
basis, on Isle Royale today. Lake Superior copper was well known to prehistoric
Indian populations and there is evidence to suggest that Isle Royale may have been
mined as early as 2500 B.C. However, the historic era of mining on the island began
in the early 1840s and continued intermittently until 1894. Lumbering occurred on a
comparatively small scale on the island from 1874 to 1936, mostly in association
with mining operations in the late 1800s. Tourism to Isle Royale began on a very
limited basis in the 1860s. By 1900 it was becoming well organized and a number
of established resorts were scattered around the island. Today it is the major
human endeavor on Isle Royale. Finally, government-sponsored programs, such as
the U.S. Light-House Service establishment of the first lighthouse on Isle Royale in
1855 and the involvement of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early
development of the fledgling national park from 1935 to 1941, have had a lasting
and deep impact on the island.

Fur Trade

French exploration and trade into Lake Superior began as early as the 1630s. The
route to the interior followed the Mississippi, the St. Croix, and the Brule to the
western end of the lake. The first reference to "Lac Superieur" was the Jesuit
Relation of 1647-48:

Other Algonkins [live] still farther away, on the shore of another lake ...
[which] before mingling its waters with those of our mer douce [Lake
Huron], rolls over a fall [sault] that gives its name to these peoples
[Saulteurs or Ojibwa], who come here during the fishing season. This
superior lake extends toward the Northwest .... (in Nute 1944:21).

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By 1658 the first fairly accurate map of the entire lake was available to French
explorers, traders and missionaries. Isle Royale, called Isle Minong at this time, was
well known and prominently displayed on these early maps.

Des Groseilliers and Radisson were the first to demonstrate the economic profit of
trading in furs from the Lake Superior region. These two explorers had visited the
interior on several occasions and in the summer of 1660 returned to New France
with a cargo of furs that saved New France from economic ruin (Beckles 1900:14).
Following the lead of Des Groseilliers and Radisson, other explorers and traders
quickly began exporting beaver pelts to Montreal and Quebec.

Although Des Groseilliers and Radisson made every effort to demonstrate that the
best route to the north and west of Lake Superior, and therefore the best furs, was
through Hudson Bay and not through Lake Superior, they were ignored by officials in
France and New France. In frustration, they turned to the English who, in turn,
founded the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, in direct competition with the French.

Much of the early French fur trade centered around the foot of Chequamegon Bay,
and on the south shore of Madeline Island, in the present day Apostle Islands. By
1689, La Pointe, the location of a large Chippewa village and the site of Radisson's
and Des Groseilliers' cabin of 1660, had become a major French trading center of
Lake Superior (Nute 1944:31-32). In the meantime the English, using Radisson's and
Des Groseilliers' route through Hudson Bay, had penetrated as far west as Mackinac,
competing for both furs and the loyalties of the western Indian tribes.

The declaration of war between France and Great Britian in 1689 nearly brought the
western fur trade to a halt. It wasn't until 1693 that trade begin again in earnest.
At that time Duluth, Le Sueur, and Perrot had won the confidence and assistance of
several of the western Indian tribes; the result was a flood of furs on the market. In
1696 the King of France revoked all fur trade licenses and effectively put an end to
the French age of exploration and trade in their western empire (Innis 1930).

The treaty of 1713 between France and Great Britian merely finalized a policy that
had begun in 1696 and effectively turned much of the fur trade over to the Hudson's
Bay Company. Over the next 10 years three French posts were established around
Lake Superior in an effort to maintain a small flow of furs to the east and some
measure of control in the region. However, by the end of the French and Indian
wars, the last of the French outposts had surrendered and the British had control of
Superior (Nute 1944:33-36). From 1763 to 1783 the British dominated Lake Superior,
even though it had been divided up between Great Britian and the United States.
During this period British fur trade on Superior reached its peak. It was also during
this period that Grand Portage was re-established by the British as a major trading
post.

American influence on Lake Superior was tenuous in the early 1800s. The republic
was seeking control of the Indian tribes that were economically and militarily tied to
the British. The United States needed a trade system able to compete with the
large British companies in order to take advantage of Indian trade dependence. In
1808, John Jacob Astor, a veteran of the fur business, received a letter from
President Jefferson telling him that the federal government would assist American
traders in every way possible in order to drive "foreign competition from this side of
the Mississippi ... [in order to get the] whole of the fur business passed into the
hands of our citizens" (Jefferson to Astor, April 13, 1808, in Humins 1985:24). That

337

same year Astor founded the American Fur Company and set about to develop
direct competition with the British.

Astor pressed his advantage and established operations at Mackinac Island and in
the Pacific Northwest. This brought Astor into direct competition with the North
West Company, a British-Scottish-Canadian amalgamation of partners and firms. By
the time of the War of 1812, Astor had moved into a partnership with the North
West Company and the small Michilimackinac Company, forming the South West
Company. With the merger also came the North West Company's French-Canadian
voyageurs, guides, and interpreters who had the skills necessary to navigate and
survive in the interior, and who knew the Lake Superior country better than any
other traders (Nute 1944:37-43). The South West Company had access to the
British-held Hudson's Bay route to the east so Astor's fur trade operation flourished
throughout the war (Humins 1985:24-25).

As early as 1806, the North West Company was running two schooners on Lake
Superior in connection with their fur trade operations. In 1812 two additional
schooners, appropriately named FUR TRADER and RECOVERY, were launched
(Swineford 1876:1). At the outbreak of the War of 1812 the schooner RECOVERY
was cached in one of the inlets on the north shore of Isle Royale (Lumby 1974:19).
The vessel's captain, reported to have been Robert McCargo, worked for the North
West Company from 1812-1815 (Lee 1983); presumably the bay that now bears
McCargo's name was RECOVERY'S hiding place.

Letters of the American Fur Company allude to North West Fur Company Metis and
Ojibwa laborers fishing, and probably hunting, on Isle Royale. Lyman W. Warren's
letter to Ramsay Crooks is the most direct mention of the North West Fur
Company's operations on the island:

... Among Mr. Chapmann's crew here [at LaPointe] there is an old man
who tells me that he knew the place well. He says the island is large,
say 50 or 60 miles. The indians used to make their hunts there on
account of the great quantity of Beaver and Reindeer [Caribou]. It is
[also] the place where the N West Co used to make their fishing for
Fort William. ... Some information might be obtained from Capt.
McCargo (American Fur Company Letters 1834-1835; Warren to
Crooks, February 16, 1834.)

Competition for the fur trade during and immediately following the war continued to
be fierce. In 1816, largely through Astor's influence, an act was passed by Congress
prohibiting foreigners from trading in American territory. Astor used the law to gain
control of the South West Company in 1817, and immediately reorganized and
renamed it the American Fur Company. Ramsay Crooks and Robert Stuart were put
in charge of field operations, and the company moved to monopolize the fur trade
in the Great Lakes region (Humins 1985:26). In 1819 Crooks wrote to Astor telling
him that their rivals at Mackinac and Sault Ste. Marie were crippled and that traders
at Green Bay, Chicago, and Prairie du Chein were coming under company control
(Crooks to Astor December 4, 1819, in Humins 1985:29). During the 1820s the
American Fur Company dominated the fur trade in the region.

As early as 1823, the American Fur Company began looking at Isle Royale as a
possible base for future operations. After Crooks and Stuart assumed control of the
company in 1834, several posts were established on the island, not for fur trade
operations however, but for fishing. An agreement between the American Fur
Company and the British-held Hudson's Bay Company limited the American Fur

338

Company to fishing only while allowing trapping by the Hudson's Bay Company from
1833 to 1847 along the Northshore (Nute 1944:48, Humins 1985).

References to North West Company activities on the island can be found in the
American Fur Company Letter Archives (1834-1835). Indian and French-Canadian
employees of the company knew Isle Royale well; the island was also well known to
British fur traders. For almost a century first the French voyageur and then the
British trapper navigated both Lake Superior's southern and northern shorelines,
fishing and trapping among its many islands.

The full extent of fur trading on Isle Royale can only be surmised. Alfred C. Lane
(1898:3) discussed several fur trade posts, while C. C. Adams (1909:389-390) was
concerned about the impact fur trade had on the island's ecology.

The location of the old trading posts is of interest because of their
relation to mammal remains, such as antlers, which have been, and
may be again found. Dr. Lane cites the location of several of these
posts and others are given in the U.S. Land Office map by Ives; these
different posts were located as follows:

1. Near Washington Harbor, Sec. 2, T63N, R39W, American Fur Co.

2. Head of Siskowit Bay, Sec. 2, T63N, R37W, American Fur Co.
Trading post and fishery.

3. On the south shore of Siskowit Bay, Sec. 35, T64N, R37W,
American Fur Co. Trading post and fishery.

4. Near Hay Bay, Sec. 24, T64N, R37W, Hudson Bay Co.

5. On the north shore of Fish Island [Belle Isle], Sec. 35, T67N,
R34W, American Fur Co. Trading and fishing post.

6. Near Card Point, (cf. Lane, '98 p. 3).

It would be of considerable interest if the records of the fur
companies could be examined for information bearing upon the
original mammal fauna of the island (Adams 1901:389-390).

Isle Royale, presumably having limited numbers of prime fur-bearing animals
suitable for the fur trade, could have been trapped out in a few seasons during the
North West Company era. Camp sites would, at most, have been seasonal in nature
and very likely limited to a few individuals. Possible evidence of the presence of fur
traders in the late 1700s and early 1800s on Isle Royale was found underwater at
Cemetery Island; no sites have as yet been identified on land. It is possible that
evidence of fur trade activities might be found only underwater due to limited
contact of this type on Isle Royale. Identification and study of these sites could
provide insights into a short-term, seasonal, narrowly defined activity that is an
under-represented site type on Isle Royale.

Fishing

Lake Superior was an active center of fishing from the earliest days of human
habitation. The main reason for the development of Indian villages at Sault Ste.
Marie and other locations ringing the Lake was the ready availability of fish.
Travelers to the Sault invariably mention in their letters and diaries not only the skill
of the Indian fishermen but also the excellence of the trout and whitefish they
caught (Nute 1944:172).

339

Commercial fishing on Lake Superior was proposed as early as 1823 by Robert
Stuart, an agent of the American Fur Company. In that year Stuart wrote to Ramsay
Crooks "recommending that a plan be evolved for exchanging Lake Superior
whitefish for the corn, cheese, lard and other provisions which the company bought
in large quantities in Ohio" (Nute 1944:173). No action was taken on Stuart's
proposition until 1834, when Crooks wrote of his hopes of adding Lake Superior
fishing to the newly reorganized American Fur Company.

Active exploration of Lake Superior for good fishing grounds by the American Fur
Company occurred between 1835 and 1837. Isle Royale received particular attention
from Crooks. He wrote to one of his agents, Gabriele Franchere, to look at "a large
island not far from and directly opposite Point Quiwinan", that is, Isle Royale, as a
possible fishery (Nute 1944:174). Shortly thereafter, Crooks further instructed
William Aitken, the company trader in charge of the Fond du Lac area to carefully
examine the north shore and to make:

A visit to Isle Royale, if practicable for you to go entirely round it, and
examine it well ... [to] better enable us to determine where we ought
to place permanent posts for the fisheries (Crooks 1835 in Nute
1944:175).

Fisheries were established by the American Fur Company at Grand Portage, La
Pointe, Sault St. Marie and Isle Royale between 1835 and 1837. While the first
American Fur Company fishery on Isle Royale was established at Fish Island [Belle
Isle] in 1837, the Northwest Fur Company had fished Isle Royale prior to 1800.
Archeological evidence suggests that the Northwest Fur Company, referred to in a
letter by Crooks in 1835, had a fishing station on the north shore of Isle Royale,
possibly on Amygdaloid Island or Belle Isle (American Fur Company Letters
1884-35). There is also documentary evidence of a North West Fur Company fishery
operation in Siskiwit Bay:

When Mr. Aitkin was here he mentioned to me some information he
had obtained from somebody in Fond du Lac who had been in the N.
W. Co. service relating to a remarkable good Whitefish fishery on the
"milieu" or "millions" Island .... It is the place where the N West Co
used to make their fishing for Fort William. There is an excellent
harbor for the vessel and it is there where the largest Whitefish are
caught in Lake Superior .... (Lyman W. Warren to Ramsey Crooks,
February 16, 1834).

The Isle Royale fisheries were the most productive operated by the American Fur
Company. The first two fisheries were established on Belle Isle and Checker Point
(1837). By the time of Franchere's visit in 1839, several additional fisheries had been
established at Card Point on Grace Island, the general area around Hay Bay, Rock
Harbor near the Siskowit Mine, Merritt Island and Grassy Point, and the Paul Islands.
The locations of these fisheries were discussed by Franchere in the journal of his
voyage on BREWSTER in 1839 and documented by Ives in his survey of 1847.

Between 1837 and 1841, the fisheries of Isle Royale produced 2,000 barrels annually,
from all of the stations, while the Grand Portage station's annual production was
only 300 to 500 barrels. By 1839 nearly 5,000 barrels of fish were coming out of the
Lake Superior fisheries. An overabundance of farm produce and limited sales after
1839, resulted in the collapse of the fishing industry. The American Fur Company
was forced to quit the fishing business in 1842 and closed all of its fisheries in Lake
Superior that same year (Humins 1985).

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Fishing on Isle Royale did not cease with the abandonment of the fisheries by the
American Fur Company. Ives reported observing independent fishermen occupying
many of the fur company stations during his 1847 survey. Independent fishermen
continued to pursue their activity on Isle Royale throughout the 1850s and 1860s.
Wright Island and Belle Isle were permanently occupied by fishermen as early as
1866, and at that time the Washington Harbor area was producing 1500 barrels
(Glenn Merritt oral history tape). Lake Superior experienced a boom in commercial
fishing by 1880. The Bayfield fisheries employed more than 250 men and more than
300,000 pounds of fish were caught and processed from the western end of the
Lake (Nute 1944:181-183). Fishermen from Bayfield, Duluth and Houghton camped
and fished around Isle Royale, and contributed thousands of barrels of fish each
season to the market (Rakestraw 1967a:9)

Commercial fishing in Lake Superior and around Isle Royale flourished until the
1920s. Grace Lee Nute summarized the decline of Lake Superior fishing in the
1920s:

From a commercial point of view the Whitefish had become virtually
extinct along the American shore and was present in appreciable
numbers only around the Apostle Islands and in the vicinity of
Whitefish Bay. The catch of 1922 was only 380,000 pounds ... in 1885
... it had been 4,571,000 pounds. Trout had increased ... to 4,954,000 in
1903, and then declined to 2,833,000 in 1922 .... Whitefish was being
caught in only a few spots along the Canadian shore [in 1922]. [They]
had dwindled to an alarming extent. Laws regulating the mesh size of
gill nets and establishing closed seasons were chaotic and missed
their purposes because adjoining areas varied so completely (Nute
1944:185-186).

Isle Royale fishing suffered the same problems as the rest of the Lake. As fishing
declined, many abandoned their traditional way of life on Isle Royale and adopted
new occupations. The establishment of a national park on Isle Royale further
reduced the numbers of commercial fishermen on the island.

When the National Park Service established Isle Royale as a park there were
approximately 45 fishermen scattered around the island. Initially, there was little
sympathy from the National Park Service for permitting the fishermen to remain.
Eventually, however, the Service began to appreciate them.

The fishermen shacks and occupants are definitely a part of the Isle
Royale picture, and with certain minor restrictions will not interfere
with fishing by Park visitors (Shevlin 1937:6).

They are excellent guides for park visitors, reliable as fire fighters or
workers when employed by the Park Service, and their presence on
the Island is, in my judgment, an asset (Baggley to Director, July 28,
1937).

The conflict between commercial fishing interests and the traditional administration
of National Parks, that permitted commercial activities only related to official
functions, remained unresolved until the 1940s. In the interim, Baggley made
informal arrangements with the fishermen.

They all had to receive permits, establish Michigan residency, and pay
rental fees on buildings, docks, and other government-owned
facilities. No new owners were allowed into the business, although
sons could carry on their fathers' work. Similarly, no expansion could

341

take place. The companies that bought the fish continued under
special permit. Finally, fishermen were allowed to operate as guides
under NPS control (Baggley 1937, in Little 1978:172.)

... for long range purposes, Baggley suggested that only 20 to 30
resident families be granted fishing privileges. They would be
required to comply with all regulations and encouraged to improve
their properties with salvage materials. He recommended that all
operations "remain primitive in character and not be expanded or
mechanized." Finally, he suggested that sanitation and maintenance
standards be set and enforced (Little 1978:176).

In June, 1945, the Department of the Interior published regulations dealing with the
commercial fishing on the island that closely mirrored Baggley's recommendations
(National Park Service 1945). The regulations enabled fishermen and their children
to remain in business on a long-range basis.

The appearance of the sea lamprey in the early 1950s was a blow to commercial
trout fishing in Lake Superior. The lamprey had no natural predator in the lake so it
was able to multiply unchecked, to the detriment of the trout population. As a
result of the restrictions placed on catching trout, fishermen shifted to herring,
which required more preparation than trout and sold at a cheaper price. The
combination of general decline in fish populations in the lake, restrictions on trout,
and low herring prices, resulted in economic hardship for many Lake Superior
fishermen.

Isle Royale fishermen were also affected by the lamprey. Commercial fishing for
lake trout was severely curtailed around Isle Royal because of the rapid decline of
the species. At one point in the early 1960s only one fishery on the island was
permitted to take trout, and those were collected for sample purposes (Rakestraw
1968:23). It was not until the mid-1960s that a solution to the lamprey problem was
found. A chemical, placed in lamprey spawning grounds, killed the parasitic eel but
did not adversely affect commercial fish. By 1967 the numbers of lake trout had
increased sufficiently to allow fishing for the species under a strict quota system.
At that time there were only six active fisheries on Isle Royale (Rakestraw 1968:23).

Today only three families still hold fishing permits for Isle Royale, none of which are
commercial licenses. Trout fishing around the island, other than for sport, is limited
to the gathering of fish for research by the federal and state fisheries biologists in
an effort to improve management and protection of the species.

Fishing operations around Isle Royale span nearly a 200 year period that began with
the Northwest Fur Company's exploitation of the north shore of the island prior to
1800 and continues up to the present day, with the seasonal occupation by fishing
families with research permits. Nearly all of the settlements, particularly after the
1850s, had crib docks, a necessity around the island to facilitate loading and
unloading of fish catches, supplies, and people. The range of materials that could
have been lost or purposely thrown away directly offshore of the fishing stations
include everything from old, unusable equipment, to fish barrels and later boxes,
pickling jars, hand tools, small boats, anchors, household items, clothing, food tins,
and snuff jars, to name a few. These items can provide a unique insight into the
daily lives of the earliest commercial fishermen on Isle Royale through the last
commercial fishing families on the island.

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These sites represent a unique opportunity to study the diachronic progression of a
narrowly defined activity, in a small community of people, from its simple
beginnings, through its heyday on the island and in Lake Superior, and its
subsequent decline.

Mining

Exploitation of copper veins in the upper Great Lakes region by prehistoric Indian
populations probably occurred as early as 2500 B.C. (Bastian 1961, 1963; Barrett
1926; Crane and Griffin 1961; and Dustin 1930). Artifacts of copper, traced by
mineralogical analysis to the Great Lakes, have been found in both in New England
and south into the Mississippi valley (Fitting 1970).

Prehistoric mining on Isle Royale is also likely to have occurred as early as 2500
B.C. Evidence collected by Bastian suggests that there may be 100 fissure and 1500
to 2000 prehistoric lode mines on Isle Royale alone (Bastian 1 96 1 :i).

When French explorers entered the upper Lakes region in the middle 1600s, they
were told stories of widespread copper deposits. As early as 1660 the French were
aware of the existence of copper in the Lake Superior region (Boucher 1664, in
Canadian Royal Society Proceedings 1896:99-168). In 1665 the Jesuit priest Claude
Allouez was instructed to look for copper when he visited the lake. When
describing Lake Superior and the surrounding country, he stated:

... farther to the west, on the same North side, is found the Island
which is most famous for copper, and is called Minong; this is the one
in which the savages have told many people, the metal exists in
abundance, and in many places. ... It happens frequently that pieces of
copper are found, weighing from ten to twenty pounds. I have seen
several such pieces in the hands of savages; and since they are
superstitious, they esteem them as divinities, or as presents given to
them to promote their happiness by the gods who dwell beneath the
waters (Jesuit Relations, Vol. LIV, in Hakala 1955:11)

The emphasis on the fur trade in the upper Lakes, hostilities with the Indians, and
the difficulty of reaching and then mining the copper, retarded exploitation of this
resource. It was not forgotten, however. In 1710 the Intendant of New France, as
the region was then called, wrote:

It is almost certain that there are copper mines on the borders of this
lake [Superior] and in the islands within its extent. There are found in
the sand pieces of this metal, which the savages make into daggers
for their own use .... They claim that the island Minong and small
islets in the lake are entirely of copper (New York Collections
Documents, ix, 865, in Hakala 1955:14).

It was not until 1727, however, that the French were able to set up and operate
copper mines in the upper Lakes. In 1733 La Ronde built a small vessel at the Sault
for copper transport and mined copper at Ontonagon, Black River, and at the mouth
of St. Anne's River [Iron River]. Indian wars and problems with the British prevented
the French from further pursuing copper exploitation through the early 1760s. In
1763, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the French signed over their lands to
the British.

The British began active exploitation of the northeast coast of the Lake Superior
region by 1769. Mine cave-ins and diminished returns resulted in a cessation of

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operations in 1772. It wasn't until the 1830s that interest in copper mining began
again. Douglass Houghton published a report in 1841 describing the copper
deposits on the south shore of Lake Superior. The first modern copper mining on
Lake Superior was conducted by the Pittsburgh and Lake Superior Mining Company,
near Copper Harbor, in 1844 (Nute 1944:165).

Mining on Isle Royale began in earnest shortly after the opening of the Keweenaw
mines, although the presence of copper on the island was well known prior to the
mid-1840s. By 1846 several mines had been established on the island at various
locations. The Smithwick Mine was opened in 1843 to the east of the present Rock
Harbor marina. About the same time Philo Scoville opened a mine inside the fingers
of the point that now bears his name. The Siskowit Mining Company carried out
explorations on the island in 1844, but did not sink a shaft in Rock Harbor until
1846. Later this same company explored the north shore from Washington Harbor
to McCargoe Cove and opened a silver and copper mine near McCargoe Cove. The
American Exploring, Mining, and Manufacturing Company conducted explorations on
Amygdaloid Island in 1846. Later this company may have been reorganized into the
Amygdaloid and Isle Royale Mining Company with operations north of Minong Ridge.

Several additional mining operations were initiated on the island in 1847. The Ohio
and Isle Royale Company established the town site of Ransom at the western end of
Rock Harbor, the Pittsburg and Isle Royale Company opened a shaft and established
Haytown Mine at Todd Harbor, and the Chicago and Isle Royale Company
established a short-lived settlement in Hugginin Cove. William Ives reported on the
Datolite Mine operations south of Wood Lake (Ives 1847). This operation has been
attributed to both the Ohio and Isle Royale Company and the Amygdaloid and Isle
Royale Mining Company (Rakestraw 1967:36).

By 1850 only the Pittsburg and Isle Royale Company and the Siskowit Mining
Company were still operating. The Pittsburg and Isle Royale Company's last year of
operation was 1853, while the Siskowit Mine continued to operate until 1855, when
it too was closed (Rakestraw 1965:5-8).

It wasn't until 1871 that a resurgence of mining activity occurred on Isle Royale.
While previous operations had been plagued by low profits and poor quality ore
overall, the onset of the Civil War and the need for copper drove prices up
sufficiently to make speculation in the metal profitable.

The North American Mineral Land Company began purchasing land on the island in
1871 and soon owned more than 70,000 acres, comprising much of the island. The
Island Mining Company, backed by Quincy capital as was the North American
Mineral Land Company, was organized in 1873 and established a settlement at the
western end of Siskiwit Bay (Rakestraw 1965:13).

The Minong Ridge area, exploited prehistorically, received attention from three
companies from Detroit, the Minong, the Cove, and the Ancient Mining Companies.
In 1874 the Minong Mining Company and the Cove Mining Company obtained title to
lands along Minong Ridge to Chickenbone Lake from the North American Mineral
Land Company. Eventually all of the lands held by the Cove Mining Company were
obtained by the Minong Mining Company. In 1875 the Minong Mine was established
(Rakestraw 1967:43-48).

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The Saginaw Mining Company began operations in 1877 at the site of an earlier
exploration of the Ohio and Isle Royale Company. By 1879, however, all of the
mines had closed as a result of diminishing production and poor quality ore.

For the next 10 years virtually no mining occurred on the island. In 1889, a British
syndicate, the Isle Royale Land Corporation, purchased a total of 84,000 acres from
both the North American Mineral Land Company and the Minong Mining Company.
In 1890 a subsidiary company, the Wendigo Copper Company was formed to look
for copper in Washington and Todd Harbors. The town of Ghyllbank was established
that same year in Washington Harbor. Despite the use of sophisticated diamond
drills and extensive exploration, copper in sufficient quantities was never found and
the Wendigo Copper Company began selling off its holdings in 1892. A local paper
editorialized:

This ends the last attempt to find a mine on Isle Royale. It is
probable that a million dollars has been spent on this island in
fruitless explorations .... It may safely be said that there are no paying
deposits on the island (Engineering and Mining Journal, 1892, in
Rakestraw 1965:16).

In all, the mines of Isle Royale produced more than 490 tons of refined copper. In
1874, a mass of copper weighing nearly 3 tons was found on the island and
exhibited in the 1876 centennial exposition in Philadelphia. While this may appear
impressive, the majority of the ore found on the island was low grade, and produced
less than one percent of copper per ton mined (Nute 1944:166).

Mining operations on Isle Royale spanned more than 4300 years of intermittent
activity that began with the early Indian populations around 2500 B.C. and continued
until nearly 1900 A.D. Physical evidence of prehistoric exploitation is scattered
across the island. No underwater remains of this early copper mining have yet been
definitively located, although evidence probably exists in the form of submerged pits
with associated stone tools.

Virtually all of the historic mining settlements had crib docks, a necessity to
facilitate the loading of ore and unloading of equipment, supplies and personnel.
The range of materials that may have been lost or discarded immediately offshore
of these settlements would reflect the full range of material culture required to
support industrial operations and to provide the necessities of life for the mining
population. These settlements represent a unique opportunity to examine the
synchronism of early industrial sites in small, isolated communities during both the
early and late 1800s.

Lumbering

Sporadic lumbering and isolated sawmills were operating throughout the Lake
Superior region as early as the 1830s. These mills supplied local markets and were
generally confined to supporting the needs of developing communities. It was not
until the 1840s and 1850s, however, that lumbering in the Great Lakes region began
moving from local supply to a wide spread commercial market. The introduction of
steam-powered mills and other improvements facilitated lumbering on a large scale,
but it was the demand for white pine that was the impetus for market growth. By
the 1870s, supplies of white pine had nearly been exhausted in the eastern states
and companies began looking toward the Lake states to fill their needs. The
demand for white pine came not only from the east, but also from the midwest

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where population centers were rapidly expanding and materials were needed for
construction.

Lumbering followed a similar pattern throughout the region The early centers were
adjacent to the railroads, that is in the lower part of the states, and gradually moved
northward. The period from 1880 to 1925 saw the peak of lumbering activity on
Lake Superior. Logging on the south shore occurred primarily between 1880 and
1900, while the north shore saw the greatest activity during the 1890s.

Upper peninsula lumbering lagged behind the rest of the state, and in comparison
never produced the quantity of lumber that was logged from lower Michigan.
Menominee, Escanaba, Grand Marais, Sault Ste, Marie and Ontonagon were among
the top producers. In 1881, the Ontonagon Lumber Company began large scale
logging and milling, erecting a mill that could produce 200,000 board feet of lumber
and 300,000 shingles daily. The largest single producer in the lower peninsula was
the Diamond Match Company of Grand Haven with a production of 75 million board
feet and 30 million shingles annually (Nute 1944:196).

Lumbering in the Duluth-Superior area reflected the boom-bust cycle of the rest of
the region. While mills were erected and cutting began in the mid-1850s, the
general economic downturn of 1857 nearly brought the market to a halt.
Construction of a railroad to the far west, commencing in Duluth, revitalized the
market in the late 1860s. It was short lived though, and the panic of 1873 deadened
the industry until the 1880s when lumber was again in demand. Between 1880 and
1883, eleven sawmills were constructed in the harbor, however it wasn't until 10
years later that the industry really began to take off. In 1892, fifteen mills were
operating in Duluth alone, with capacities from 5 to 40 million board feet of lumber
annually (Nute 1944:199). The Ashland and Bayfield region had an annual production
of more than 265 million board feet of lumber.

In Houghton County the greatest demand for lumber came from the mining

companies. The Calumet and Hecla Mines ordered 2,600,000 board feet of lumber

and 13,000 railroad ties in one year. As mining boomed in the upper peninsula the
demand for lumber remained steady.

Isle Royale saw limited lumbering in the period between 1870 and 1890, and that
which did occur was in support of mining operations on the island. The Island
Mining Company had a small mill set up in Siskiwit Bay to support Island Mine; the
Minong Mining Company's saw mill, set up in McCargoe Cove, provided lumber for
the mine, the construction of a railroad and a small community. In 1889, the town
of Ghyllbank was established in Washington Harbor as part of the Wendigo Mine
operation. Construction of the island's most elaborate town was accomplished with
timber logged from the western end of the island.

By the early 1900s, the lumber industry was on the decline. In 1899, 462 million
board feet of lumber was shipped from Duluth; that figure dropped to approximately
447 million board feet by 1906. In 1915 it dropped below 200 million board feet and
by 1919 it was below 100 million. By 1923, just over 11 million board feet of lumber
was produced and only one mill was still operating in Duluth in 1925. Portable mills
began taking the place of the large stationary mills. Construction of highways along
the Northshore and the rise of the trucking industry supplanted movement of lumber
by rail or boat. Fires swept through smaller stands of less profitable timber and
slash, leaving charred and unusable land. There were fires on the north shore in
1850, 1878, 1910, every year from 1913 to 1918, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1915 and 1926

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(Nute 1944:204). After 1926 lumbering on a large scale in the Lakes region declined
steadily. Less profitable stands were examined more closely and short-lived camps
were set up in an effort to extract lumber from these areas. By 1940, the cut was
one-tenth of the 1890 cut (Mason 1956:7).

In 1935, the George Mead Lumber Company established a camp at the western end
of Siskiwit Bay on Isle Royale. This was probably the most extensive operation on
the island. The company hired 200 men and constructed more than 17 structures to
support their operations. Roads and a crib dock were built, and logging covered
nearly 15 square miles of the interior. The camp was abandoned in the spring of
1936. At about this same time the CCC entered the Great Lakes region and began
the process of removing slash and charred stumps from previous fires. In 1936, the
first CCC volunteers on Isle Royale had cleaning up slash from the Island Mine and
Mead lumbering operations as a priority.

Lumbering operations on Isle Royale between the 1870s and 1890s supported a
mixed community. Schools, warehouses, offices and boarding houses were built in
centrally located areas and were geared toward long-term operations. Men and
their families often lived year-round on the island. Unlike their turn-of-the-century
predecessors, lumberjacks at the Mead operation were single men residing in
tar-papered shacks scattered throughout the proposed cut area. The main camp
supported only the camp administrator, the foreman, the doctor, nurse, radio
operator, head mechanic, and a few helpers and cooks. The bulk of the laborers
were scattered throughout the cut area, removed from the "comforts of camp life"
(Cochrane 1978:2). The operation was intended to be intensive, short-lived, and
focused strictly on extracting as much timber as possible. The lumberjacks
routinely left only one or two trees standing in an entire cut; that tree was for
protection against charging moose.

While there are obvious differences between the settlements, reflected by their
long- and short-term goals and the social milieu created by the companies, they
were similar insofar as they were small industrial communities functioning in near
isolation. Adaptive strategies aimed at coping with isolation are comparable, i.e. the
construction of support facilities such as docks, warehouses, and offices. However,
the daily routines and the lives of each would have been quite different; the
lumberjacks living in widely-scattered shacks in all-male groups and the
miner-jacks living with their families in a central community. Most of the visible
remains of these communities have been obliterated, although each had extensive
wharfs and other shoreline facilities. The range of materials that may have been
lost or discarded offshore of these communities should reflect the full range of
materials needed to support industrial operations. However, those material remains
that can be associated with the comforts of life should be quite different, or
possibly non-existent from the Mead operation. Comparative analysis of these sites
represents an excellent opportunity to examine processes of adaptation to specific
sets of environmental and social circumstances.

Tourism

Among the earliest literature describing the beauty and wonders of Isle Royale was
John R. St. Johns' "A True Description of the Lake Superior Copper Country",
published in 1846. Johns described the mining development as well as the general
scenery of the island and its recreational possibilities (in Hakala 1955:63). Although
Isle Royale was becoming well known for its beauty, as well as its economic assets,

347

tourist visitation to Isle Royale did not occur with any regularity until late in the
1880s.

Before the turn of the century, John F. Johns operated a small resort business in the
Washington Harbor area, at the western end of Isle Royale. Johns began fishing out
of Washington Harbor in 1885 and shortly thereafter obtained title to two small
islands, i.e. Barnum and Johns Islands. By 1898 he had built several small cabins
and a building for dining and sitting; the Barnums of Duluth were among Johns
regular guests (Hakala 1955:64). Later Johns encouraged William Booth to use a
larger boat on the runs from the mainland to Isle Royale; one that could
accommodate both passengers and fish, and assure guests at the resort.

Edgar Johns, John F. Johns son, relates the following story about the early resort

business in the Washington Harbor area:

... he [John Johns] went up and saw Booth. The Booth Company was
going strong on Lake Superior at that time, so he got Booth to put on
a passenger boat. They used to have only a tug running down there
just hauling fish, no passengers, unless they wanted to stand on deck
and ride in the cold. So Booth, he put on the old T.H. CAMP . He
took her from Bayfield or somewhere over there ... and she was not
more than half the size of the AMERICA, but she had passenger cabins
on top, a certain number. They put her [CAMP] on for a couple of
years Well, she started to bring tourists so then my father got Booth
to take her [CAMP] off and put on a bigger boat ... so they put the old
steamer, the IRON DICKSON (sic) ... and Captain Heckter was the
captain of her ... and he took on Ed Smith as chief mate. And Captain
Smith, he was English ... and his mother was an Indian ... was chief
mate... When Captain Heckter got too old he retired, and Captain
Smith took over, and he ran the AMERICA ....

... Well my father ran that summer resort for a good many years ...
then my father talked to [Walter Singer] about coming into Washington
Harbor. [Singer] said yes ... they were going to bring people back and
forth.

So I've seen my father stand on the dock there ... and tell the purser
"no more people, I can't take them" and the deck would be full of
them up there, wanting to get off .... Well that went on for a number
of years, but my father and mother got too old, they couldn't do it any
longer .... So my father went and talked to Walter H. Singer, and he
said "why don't you take over now, and put a hotel in Washington
Harbor. Well Singer thought it over and he thought it would be a
good idea, so he spent eighty thousand dollars right on the big island
there [Washington Island] .... Singer built a good hotel there, a good
hotel.

1
T.H. CAMP was later lost in what is now Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Her

certificate of enrollment states she was "Lost on Lake Superior, November 16, 1900.

Foundered near Ashland".

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The Singer Hotel, on Washington Island, prospered from 1904 through the mid
teens. During that period, five passenger boats, originating in Port Arthur, Duluth,
Grand Marais, Houghton, Apostle Islands and Saulte Ste. Marie, had Singer's resort
as their destination. The resort accommodated nearly 200 tourists a season during
its peak years of operation (Wolbrink and Walling 1937:15)

Elsewhere on the Isle Royale, other fisherman had similar ideas to Johns and a
number of resorts were established. In addition, by the early 1900s private parties
of campers from Duluth were coming to Isle Royale and staying in the abandoned
Rock Harbor Lighthouse at the other end of the island (Lane 1898).

Gust Mattson established his resort in Tobin Harbor, at the eastern end of Isle
Royale, just after the turn of the century. He operated the resort from 1901 until
1910, when it was sold. Eventually, the property was purchased by the Smith family
who ran it until the 1930s, when it was acquired by the National Park Service (Glen
Merritt, oral history tape).

Tourist Home, located on Davidson Island within Rock Harbor, was established
around 1903 by Eric Johnson. Johnson, like Mattson, was a fisherman by trade.
He had the main house, dining house, and a lot of little 10 by 12
cottages. And I can remember when the AMERICA would come, he
would get the passengers off and the freight and so forth, then he'd
say "Veil, now I t'ink I go build another 10 by 12". So he'd go up on
the island, get some lumber together and build another 10 by 12. He
had a little string of them along the island, little 10 by 12 sleeping
cottages ... (Glenn Merritt, oral history tape).

The Davidson family of St. Paul bought the resort from Johnson and operated it
until sometime in the late teens or early 1920s (Glen Merritt, oral history tape)y By
the time of the Wolbrink and Walling report on resorts, in 1937, the operation was
evidently out of business. It was not covered in their evaluation and was not
mentioned as a defunct operation.

Belle Isle Resort, located on the north shore of Isle Royale, opened its doors in 1914
(Glen Merritt, oral history tape). During the teens and twenties, the resort flourished
and was considered a "going operation" at the time of NPS acquisition in the late
1930s (Wolbrink and Walling 1937:2). Owned and operated by Fred Scofield, the
resort was considered one of the best on the Island.

Commodore Kneutson established a resort along the south shore of Isle Royale, at
Rock Harbor, shortly after the turn of the century. He operated a small camp called
Park Place at the present location of Rock Harbor Lodge (Hakala 1955:64). Kneutson
built a number of small cabins, and the resort enjoyed moderate success.
Kneutson's daughter, Bertha, took over operation of the resort in 1922 and
re-christened it Rock Harbor Lodge (Hakala 1955:64). Bertha Farmer ran a successful
resort, as a sole proprietorship, until it was acquired by the National Park Service in
1938.

The only private club on Isle Royale was located in Washington Harbor. The
buildings were originally constructed by the Wendigo Mining Company in 1889.
Twenty acres of land and several buildings were eventually purchased by Colonel
Charles H. Graves in 1902, and the Washington Club organized. In 1931 the main
club house along with the servants' quarters were destroyed by fire; the club
continued operation until acquired in 1938 by the National Park Service.

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The visitor situation took a turn for the worse when, after acquisition by the
National Park Service, two major resorts on the island slated for continued use, Belle
Isle and Rock Harbor, along with the Windigo Inn, built in 1940, were placed under
the management of Bertha Farmer. Farmer, "a charming hostess", did not take the
same interest in the other resorts as she had in Rock Harbor. When the operation
of the resorts was reviewed by a National Park Service official, it was discovered
that Farmer had violated minimum wage laws, had arranged for sub-contracts
without government approval, was inconsistent in lodging rates, and was serving
meals that were considered mediocre. Problems with the resorts were reduced
when National Park Concessions, Inc., took over management of all of the facilities
in 1942 (Little 1978:152).

Boat transportation from the mainland was a critical element in tourism to Isle
Royale from the very beginning. At one point, between 1910 and the late 1920s,
more than five vessels were making regular trips to Isle Royale, with the various
resorts as their destination. By the time the island was acquired by the National
Park Service, the depression, irregular boat schedules, and the reputation of
dangerous waters had taken its toll on visitation. Although there were three large
pleasure cruisers that visited Isle Royale as an intermediate stop in the early 1940s,
passenger transportation to the island remained irregular. The situation worsened
when the cruisers reduced scheduled runs to the island and, in one case, was lost
in a fire (Little 1978:141-148).

Irregular boat transportation plus the advent of World War II further impacted
tourism to Isle Royale. The Belle Isle Resort and Windigo Inn were both closed in
1943 and were not re-opened until 1946 and 1948, respectively. Belle Isle was
closed down again in 1947 and Windigo Inn was permanently closed in 1972 (Little
1978:153-154). The only resort that continues in operation today on Isle Royale is
Rock Harbor Lodge.

From the late 1890s well into the 1930s, summer residences were established in
scattered locations around Isle Royale. Many of the families purchased small islands
that now bear their names. When Isle Royale was being acquired by the National
Park Service, many of the private land-holders sold their properties outright to the
government. Still others obtained life-leases. Limited tourism, in the form of
life-lease summer residents, continues into the 1980s.

During the heyday of resort operation and tourism on Isle Royale each of the
various lodges and summer residences, of necessity, were forced to construct crib
docks for the loading and unloading of passengers and freight. The docks, at even
the smallest resort and island residence, not only accommodated the many
steamers that briefly stopped, but they also served those visitors who arrived in
privately owned vessels. A less conspicuous use of the dock areas was as a dump
for unwanted items. Without exception, the docks around Isle Royale's resorts and
summer homes became a repository for everything from wash basins and water
pitchers, fine china and tableware, champagne and wine bottles, snuff tins and
perfume bottles, to a variety of personal items taken by travelers on vacation. The
resort docks were also a place where the various passenger boats could easily
dump their discards.

The cultural remains that can be found offshore around the historic resort docks
span a period from the late 1890s through 1952, when the Windigo Inn was closed.
The docks around summer residences contain material remains that extend the

350

continuum up to the 1980s. The materials that are deposited on the bottom
represent both the ordinary and mundane, as well as the lavish and expensive,
which are often overlooked by historians as well as contemporary writers. These
items can provide an insight into the daily lives and personal values of early
fishermen turned resort owners, tourism entrepreneurs, vacationers seeking relief
from allergies and the pressures of the depression and World War II, and those
enjoying new economic wealth and growth following the war. In essence, the
artifacts are clues to the lives of people during a time of rapid social and economic
transition in the first half of the twentieth century.

Government-Sponsored Activities or Projects

Beyond the establishment of the National Park Service on Isle Royale, two
government-related activities share prominence in the history of the island. The
first is the U.S. Light-House Service, later becoming the U.S. Coast Guard, and the
second is the Civilian Conservation Corps. Both had a deep and lasting impact on
the development of Isle Royale.

The following overview of the U.S. Light-House Service on the Great Lakes draws
heavily from O'Brien (1976) unless otherwise indicated.

U.S. Light-House Service: When the first U.S. Congress met in 1789, one of their
earliest actions was the creation of the Light-House Establishment. Responsibility
for the service was delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury. Supervision of the
service alternated between the Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1792), the
Commissioner of the Revenue (1792-1802), back to Treasury (1802-1813), and back
to Revenue (1813-1820). In 1820, Treasury once again assumed the responsibility
for the lighthouses and continued to manage them until 1853.

While it is not clear which lighthouse was the first one established on the Great
Lakes, the U.S. Light-House Establishment made its appearance on the Lakes
sometime between 1809 and 1820. The earliest lighthouses on the Lakes were at
Presque Isle, Buffalo, and Niagara Fort Light (U.S. Light-House Establishment 1866).

In 1851, Congress directed the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint a board to
review the Light-House Service and its activities. The board made a study of the
Service's work and accordingly recommended that the system be completely
reorganized and a permanent supervisory board be established. The creation of a
board was discouraged by Treasury officials, who felt that the appointment of a
single officer would be the most practical. Despite Treasury's recommendation to
the contrary, Congress passed legislation creating the Light-House Board on August
31, 1852 (U.S. Light-House Establishment 1871).

Under the administration of the Light-House Board, the Service was divided into
twelve districts, each with a lighthouse inspector. The Great Lakes became the
tenth and eleventh districts under this system.

Between 1852 and 1859, most of the lighthouses in the United States were refitted
with Fresnel lenses, replacing the earlier Argand lamps and parabolic reflectors. The
use of these lenses not only increased efficiency of the lights but also resulted in a
substantial monetary savings from reduced fuel consumption.

Rock Harbor Lighthouse, along the southern shore of Isle Royale, was constructed
during this period. The lighthouse, completed in 1855, served Lake captains for only

351

four years when the station was temporarily shut down. The light was reactivated
for a short time between 1874 and 1879, when it was permanently deactivated.

By 1865, there were 7 lighthouses on Lake Ontario, 12 on Lake Erie, 2 on Lake St.
Clair, 10 on Lake Huron; 26 on Lake Michigan and 15 on Lake Superior (U.S.
Lighthouse Board 1866).

In addition to lighthouses, the Service was also charged with the management and
construction of lightships. With the exception of a wooden vessel stationed at the
present location of the Waugoshance Lighthouse between 1832-1851, there were no
lightships on the Great Lakes until 1891. The Craig Shipbuilding Company of Toledo,
Ohio, built three wooden screw steamers that year, registered as Lightship Numbers
55, 56, and 57. Numerous lightships followed in rapid succession on the Lakes.

Changes in the Service occurred rapidly during the second half of the 19th century.
The first steam fog signal on Lake Michigan was installed in 1875 and lighthouses
were being built at an ever increasing rate. Two more lighthouses were constructed
off Isle Royale, bringing the island's total to three. Isle Royale Lighthouse, located
on Menagerie Island, was completed in 1875. Passage Island Lighthouse, off the
easterly end of Isle Royale, was finally completed and manned in 1882. The keepers
and their assistants had barely settled into their new positions when uniforms were
introduced. Uniforms for male keepers, masters, mates and engineers of lightship
tenders became mandatory in 1884. In 1886, Congress once again restructured the
Service and re-divided the Great Lakes into three districts. Lake Superior and Lake
Huron became part of the the 11th district.

With the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor in July 1903, the
Light-House Service, Coast and Geodetic Survey and several other agencies
involved in navigation and coastal safety, were transferred to the new department.
From 1903 to 1910, the board form of management, under which the Light-House
Establishment had operated for more than 58 years, came under constant criticism.
The Secretary of Commerce argued that the Light-House Service had grown so
large, that the Board could no longer adequately administer the agency. Finally, in
June, 1910, Congress dissolved the Light-House Board and established the Bureau of
Lighthouses, with an executive head that had clear authority and responsibility for
the management.

The creation of the Bureau of Lighthouses did little to alleviate public criticism of
government waste caused by duplication of duties by several agencies. Among
those that came under fire were the Light-House Service, Steamboat Inspection
Service, and Bureau of Navigation under the Department of Commerce, and the Life
Saving Service, collectors of customs, and Revenue Cutter Service under the
Department of Treasury. All were involved with navigation safety and had many
identical or overlapping responsibilities. Several remedies were proposed including
the merger of the Light-House Service with the Life Saving Service and the
abolishment of the Revenue Cutter Service. Another proposal called for the
consolidation of the three services under Commerce and Labor. A third proposal
recommended the blending of the Life Saving Service with the Revenue Cutter
Service under Treasury. There was no action taken on any of the proposals until
1914, when Congress finally approved the merger of the Life Saving Service with the
Revenue Cutter Service, creating the U.S. Coast Guard.

Another Isle Royale lighthouse was constructed during this tumultuous period. Rock
of Ages Lighthouse, off the western end of the island, was completed in 1908. At

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this time lighthouses continued to be administered by the Bureau of Lighthouses,
under the Department of Commerce and Labor. This organizational hierarchy
remained unchanged until 1939, when the U.S. Coast Guard and the Light-House
Service were merged and the Light-House Service name dropped.

Civilian Conservation Corps: Roosevelt's "New Deal" not only had a widespread
effect on the economic stagnation facing the United States in the early 1930s, but
some of the legislation enacted ultimately resulted in changing the face of our
environment. The Emergency Conservation Work Act, passed by Congress on March
31, 1933, established a voluntary civilian work force. The aim of the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) was to provide employment for young men between the
ages of 18 and 25 (Adams 1940:393), and thus reduce some of the widespread
unemployment plaguing the nation. Salmond summarized the purpose behind the
CCC, "... Franklin D. Roosevelt brought together two wasted resources, young men
and the land, in an attempt to save both" (1967:4-13).

Individuals chosen to participate in the CCC received $30 a month, food, clothing,
lodging, medical attention, transportation to the work camps and, importantly, both
vocational training and academic education (Adams 1940:393). Corps members
volunteered for periods of 6 months and were assigned to specific camps scattered
around the country.

Public works projects undertaken by the CCC can be found in almost every
community across the United States; Michigan was no exception. Fortunately for
the fledgling park, Isle Royale was earmarked to receive some attention. CCC work
began on the island in 1935.

Not everyone was pleased with the prospect of CCC involvement on Isle Royale.

The well-known wildlife expert, Adolph Murie, expressed his concerns regarding the

impact of CCC operations on the fragile Isle Royale environment in a report to the

Department of the Interior in June 1935 (Murie 1935).

True wilderness is more marvelous (and harder to retain) than the
grandiose ... features of our outstanding parks. [Success in the
management of this park would be measured] not by projects
accomplished, but projects sidetracked (Murie 1935).

John J. Little (1978:70-93) discussed the specific activities of the CCC on Isle Royale
in the administrative history of the park. Much of what follows is summarized from
that history, except where otherwise noted.

A National Park Service team, headed by Harold C. Bryant, visited the island in July,
1935, to assess possible CCC projects and to outline a general development plan.
The Bryant report supported many of Murie's proposals, recommending the
prohibition of roads or trails for mechanized vehicles, the exclusion of motor boats
and airplanes from the interior, limitations on visitor access points, an unobtrusive
trail system, maintenance of clean shoreline waters, and the eventual elimination of
commercial fishermen (Bryant 1935:2-4).

In addition to numerous additional general environmental guidelines, the report
recommended several CCC projects, which included the removal of slash, i.e. the
residue from lumbering operations, placement of buoys or markers for the
identification of offshore shipping lanes and safe entrances to harbors, construction
of visitor contact stations and camping shelters, and wildlife management facilities
(Bryant 1935:2-14).

353

In August, 1935, the first CCC volunteers arrived at Isle Royale and set up their base
camp at the head of Siskiwit Bay, at Senter Point. The organizational approach used
for CCC operations on Isle Royale called for Army officers to run the camp while
NPS personnel were in charge of the technical work.

The following year, the CCC established a second camp at Daisy Farm as well as
continuing operations at Camp Siskiwit. The second year of activities was plagued
by bureaucratic rivalry and organizational difficulties. According to Little:

The mere organization of the camps, which began in early June, lasted
for over a month because of alleged poor leadership. The NPS leaders
grew increasingly angry over the failure of the military to release
workers for conservation, visitor, and navigation projects. The short
work season and a growing threat of forest fires, due to an unusually
dry summer, increased their concern. Work began on a few NPS
projects in early July, but forest fires soon interfered.

One of the projects delayed by the rivalry between the Army and NPS was the
implementation of improved fire prevention. Crews were not released from camp
assignments for field duties until July, when the danger of forest fires was at its
peak. The fire prevention program had just gotten under way when the most
extensive fire in Isle Royale's recorded history began on July 28,1936. It burned
nearly 1/3 of the island and required the firefighting efforts of 1200-1600 additional
CCC volunteers to bring it under control. In all, 26,000 acres were destroyed and a
swath of burned timber, from Rock Harbor on the east to nearly Lake Desor on the
west and from Chippewa Harbor on the south to Todd Harbor on north, scarred the
interior landscape.

Ben East, an editor of the Grand Rapids Press and strong supporter of the park,
spent several days in August investigating the extent of the fire and assessing the
effectiveness of CCC crews. Hot temperatures, high winds, the absence of roads,
trails and mechanized equipment, coupled with heavy undergrowth and difficult
terrain contributed to nearly impossible conditions for the firefighters. East reported
that the CCC crews were forced to work 12 hour days, and "were compelled to eat
sandwiches containing maggots, endure mess halls crawling with flies ... and suffer
an epidemic of dysentery in a mild form" (East in Little 1978:100-101). As a result
of the conditions, CCC crew morale and efficiency suffered.

Despite severe hardships, and a decline in morale, once the fire was out and crews
were able to return to their respective camps, quite a bit more work was
accomplished in the 1936 season. An ice house, warehouse, temporary
administrative headquarters, and a utility dock were constructed on Caribou Island.
In addition, nearly 100 CCC volunteers stayed on the island through the winter to
remove fire damaged trees and fallen logs. The absence of military personnel
during the winter, and subsequent efficiency and high morale of the volunteers,
prompted a request for the exclusion of the army in future involvement in Isle
Royale activities. Unfortunately the request was never followed.

CCC work in 1937 followed the pattern of previous years, with the crews involved in
fire-related clean up and various navigational and wildlife projects. The selection of
Mott Island as the permanent headquarters for the island resulted in a heavy
concentration of effort in that area the following year. Officers' living quarters,
temporary office space, a warehouse, and a water storage tank were built in 1938.
In addition, work began on a sanitary system and a dock and pier. Fire hazard

354

removal and trail construction continued at Camp Sisikwit that year. A small crew
working with the United States Lighthouse Service placed numerous navigation
buoys offshore. Crews also developed five "boat" campgrounds, undertook wildlife
surveys, and manned two weather stations for fire protection (CCC Report 1939, in
Little 1978:80-84).

Work at Mott Island headquarters and Senter Point continued in 1939, following the
plans outlined in previous years. The next year, 1940, saw the establishment of
another CCC camp at the west end of the island. Camp Windigo was opened in
early May and work began on expanded visitor facilities. Windigo Inn was
completed by August of that year, supplementing the Rock Harbor center.

Isle Royale's remoteness and the emphasis by NPS officials on maintenance of the
island's wilderness required some changes in the usual operation of CCC camps.
Most camps had access to nearby towns, held dances, and had fields for baseball
and football. The distance to Houghton and unreliable transportation eliminated
most social activities and horeseshoe pitching, hiking, and water sports were
substituted for other group recreational activities. The absence of large buildings
also limited indoor recreational activities. McVey stated that CCC volunteers on Isle
Royale lived spartan lives and were fortunate to be able to leave the island once a
month (Camp Inspection Reports for 1938-1941, in Little 1978:86-88). Fortunately
neither academic nor vocational training were hampered by the island's remote
location. The curriculum included mechanical drawing, radio operation, photography,
typing, nautical skills, American history, math, English, and even beginning French.

CCC projects on Isle Royale terminated in September 1941, with the seasonal
departure of volunteers. The entrance of the United States into World War II,
precipitated by the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, necessitated that
the manpower that had been used for conservation projects now be directed toward
national defense. Congress abolished the Civilian Conservation Corps in June, 1942.

The tangible results of the work performed by CCC volunteers, during their six
seasons on Isle Royale, can be seen today. The construction of trails was held to
strict width and length restrictions and the impact of daily CCC operations on the
wilderness environment was kept to a minimum (Little 1978:92). The CCC
completed badly needed projects and helped to insure the protection of the
wilderness environment in the Park's early developmental stages.

Site Specific Investigations

The following discussion focuses on those individual sites that were investigated by
the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit on a time-available basis. The level of
documentation varied from site to site and was dependent upon strict time
limitations imposed by the examination of the primary research targets, the ten
shipwrecks ringing the island. No consideration was given in advance to the
potential significance of each site as part of the basis for determining the level of
documentation or inclusion in this chapter. Rather, individual sites were selected in
an effort to represent the major activities that occurred on Isle Royale from the
earliest historic exploration period up to the present time. The specific sites
selected for study include the following: Cemetery Island Site; American Fur
Company Fishery at Checker Point; Wright Island Fishery; Star Island Fishery; Minong
Mine Town Site and Docks in McCargoe Cove; Island Mine Town Site, Wharf, and
Powder House in Siskiwit Bay; Ghyllbank Mining/Lumbering Wharf in Washington

355

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356

Harbor; Tobin Harbor Resort; Belle Isle Resort; Passage Island Lighthouse; and the
Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Siskiwit at Senter Point (Fig. 6.1).

Cemetery Island Site

Historical Background and Description: This island takes its name from local
tradition and the small graveyard located on high ground near its center. Almost
nothing is known about the early inhabitants of Cemetery Island, although various
hypotheses have been proposed regarding the origin of the grave sites and who
might have lived in a small cabin once built there.

Eighty-five year old Ingeborg Holte stated in her memoirs, that as a young girl in
her 20s she had asked about the "legend of Cemetery Island," and even then
received answers that were "evasive and noncommittal" (Holte 1984:93). In her
youth the graves were attributed to copper miners and lumberjacks, although the
most accepted rumor was that:

a load of liquor was brought to a nearby mining town, near Ransom
Mine ... [and] there was an unbelievable brawl. Pent-up emotions
surfaced and hatred among a few was so strong, it became a fight to
the finish. ... there were no women or children buried [on the island],
so that [rumor] may be true (Holte 1984:94-95).

It has been stated that while "bad blood" existed between Cornish and Irish miners,
and fights were frequent between them, all weapons were barred (Hakala 1955:30).
Others have speculated that the graves are associated with the Siskowit Mine, which
operated from 1846 to 1855 (Dustin 1946:696; Cellar 1975, Maass 1982), and in fact
the park has recorded the cemetery as a Euro-American burial ground associated
with this mine. The dates on the few remaining grave markers range from 1851 to
1854, corresponding to the period when that mine was functioning. However, Judge
William E. Smith in a letter to Albert Stoll, dated October 2, 1932, stated with
certainty that some of the graves can be attributed to passengers who died when
ALGOMA was lost in 1885. It was further reported that a Captain Robert Ellsworth
of the Michigan Department of Conservation Patrol occasionally visited the island in
the 1920s or 1930s and decorated the grave sites (Hakala 1955:31).

In the 1950s, the grave sites were described as being surrounded by rocks, with the
location of most being indicated by raised ground (Hakala 1955:30). The majority of
the sites were either surrounded by individual picket fences or were marked with
wooden headboards. One original cross and headboard were still present in the
early 1960s (Haber ca. 1962-65). Two of the headboards had the following
information on them:

In the Memory Of
William Hanks of
Coventry who departed
this life on Sept 1 1
1851, Aged 24

Erected in Memory of
Jeremiah Colbert
of Bonmahon County
Waterford, Ireland
Died Oct 18, 1853 Aged 25 years
Also Infant Daughter of
Maurice and Johanna Mickey
Died October 20, 1854

Historically, a small cabin also existed on Cemetery Island. The cabin was located
near the shore, on the southeast side of the island near a small bay. In 1981,
remains of the cabin were found by Cultural Resource Specialist Carol Maass and

357

Park Rangers Ken Vrana and Chuck Dale. Vrana described the remains as consisting
of a portion of the corner constructed of hand-hewn notched logs. It is not clear
whether the graveyard was contemporaneous with the cabin or whether all the
graves are from the same period.

Prior Research: The earliest published reference to Cemetery Island is in Isle Royale
Place Names (Dustin 1946:697-698). Dustin associated the grave sites with the
1850s mining operations at Siskowit Mine and alluded to the ALGOMA disaster. The
next reference to the cemetery appeared in an unpublished manuscript authored by
Park Ranger Robert D. Hakala (1955). Hakala is known to have visited the site at
least on one occasion prior to the completion of his manuscript. The cemetery,
well-known in the 1950s, even appeared on a USGS map in 1957. Gordon Haber, a
seasonal park employee, and Bill Dunmire, then park naturalist, visited the island in
the early 1960s. A brief, handwritten report with accompanying photographs of the
grave sites were produced at that time. Nearly 20 years later the cemetery was
visited again, briefly documented, and given a State of Michigan number during the
archeological survey of Isle Royale (Cellar 1975). None of these individuals
mentioned the remains of a cabin on the island.

Maass, Vrana, and Dale visited the island in 1981, and at that time recorded the
remains of the structure and an offshore refuse area. These features are included in
the Park's unclassified sites inventory. Vrana and Resource Management Specialist
Craig Axtell visited the island again in October, 1983. During an underwater survey
near the existing NPS dock they found additional evidence of a dump on the north
side of the island. In 1986 Vrana returned to the site and took photographs of the
present condition of the graveyard and made a dive on the southeast side refuse
area.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: According to the site report prepared by Cellar in
1975, some excavations had occurred on Cemetery Island about the time the CCC
were at Daisy Farm, circa 1936-1941. Examination of park files does not provide
any details regarding the nature of the excavations, who conducted them, what
artifacts were collected, and what their disposition might have been. The Milwaukee
Public Museum is reported to have conducted work on Isle Royale in the 1930s and
they may have been involved in the excavations on the island (Hruska 1987).

Hakala removed two engraved headboards in September 1950. These are presently
being curated by the park. Haber reported that the original picket fences had been
replaced or repaired by the time of his visit in the early 1960s and that modern
replica crosses and headboards were also present at that time.

Glen DeSautell, a park maintenance worker, visited the island in July, 1981, and
removed an animal shoe and mop head. Both items were turned over to the
cultural resource specialist for inclusion in the park collection. In October of that
year, Vrana and Dale collected two gin case bottles and one "beer" bottle from the
refuse area on the southeast side of the island in approximately six feet of water.
These items are also curated in the park museum collection.

Site Location: Cemetery Island is located inside Rock Harbor Channel at its western
end. The island can be reached by entering Rock Harbor Channel through Middle
Island Passage and traveling northeasterly approximately 1/2 mile (Fig. 6.1). The
historic graveyard is situated near the center of the island, on an area of high
ground. The historic cabin and dump site are on the southeastern side adjacent to
a small bay. Cemetery Island is clearly marked on lake charts. The historic features

358

on the island are in township 64 north, range 34 west, section 23, NE 1/4, SE 1/4
and section 24, NW 1/4, SW 1/4 on the USGS Isle Royale topographic map.

Administrative Status: The historic graveyard on the island is included in the Isle
Royale Cultural Sites Inventory and is registered by the State of Michigan as site
number 20IR42. The site is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A
historic refuse area and cabin site, on the southeast side of the island, were not
recorded with the graveyard. These features were investigated in 1981 by Carol
Maass and were included on the park's undesignated sites inventory as site number
U-24. The second dump site, found in 1983 by Vrana and Axtell, has not been
inventoried.

Research Methodology: A popular account of the loss of a schooner or fish tug off
West Caribou Island was the impetus for the underwater reconnaissance of
Cemetery Island. Park divers had previously tried to locate this vessel without
success. In 1981, Vrana and Dale, also unsuccessful, made a second dive in the
area and, following the natural contours of the channel between West Caribou and
Cemetery Islands, eventually stumbled onto the historic refuse area. Vrana's and
Axtell's dive in 1983 on the north side of the island was for the purpose of
recovering lost property. In the course of their search, they found the second
refuse area. A "record of dive" form was filled out by Vrana that detailed the dive
plan, underwater conditions, purpose of the dive, and the cultural and natural
features encountered (Vrana 1983).

Site Description: The cultural remains on Cemetery Island consist of four major
features: the cemetery, the refuse area offshore on the southeast side, the refuse
area offshore on the north side, and the remains of a small cabin (Fig. 6.2). Overall,
the sites on Cemetery Island appear to have changed little since initial deposition.
The most notable changes, based upon written documentation, photographs, and
personal observations, have occurred at the cabin. In 1981, the remains were
described as consisting of several hand-hewn notched logs forming the corner of
the structure. When the site was revisited in 1986 only scattered timbers could be
located. In addition, the remains of a small wood-burning stove, in the vicinity of
the cabin, existed in 1981; these were not relocated in 1986.

The grave sites are substantially unchanged based upon the descriptions of Halaka
that are more than 30 years old. The majority of the 10 grave sites can still be
identified by raised ground, rocks, headboards or crosses. Picket fences, covered
with moss, encircle several graves that have replica headboards commemorating the
deceased (Fig. 6.3).

The refuse area found offshore on the southeast side of the island, not far from the
location of the cabin, contains a wide variety of remains. The scatter can be traced
approximately 20 linear feet along the shoreline and extends underwater along a
sand shallow between Cemetery Island and West Caribou Island out about 50 feet.
Bottle glass, white stoneware ceramic sherds, enameled tinware, metal fragments,
and broken patent medicine bottles, beer bottles, and cream and blue decorated
china are present (Maass 1982).

The dump area located offshore on the north side of the island, near the present
IMPS dock, is in 10 to 15 feet of water (see Fig. 6.2). Patent medicine bottle
fragments, bottle glass, broken brass ship fittings, oar locks, beer bottles, a slag pile,
and modern refuse is present. No household items were noted (Vrana 1983).

359

Rock Harbor Channel

PRESENT NPS DOCK

Cemetery Island
CEMETERY

West Caribou Island

0 100 200 300 400 560

Fig. 6.2. Cemetery Island Site Map. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 6.3. Graveyard on Cemetery Island. Replica headboards and picket fences were
installed by the National Park Service in the 1950s to commemorate this site. NPS
photo by Ann Belleman.

360

Site Analysis: The picture of Cemetery Island that emerges is one that can be
divided into three discrete time periods of primary use. The dates cluster from the
1770s to the early 1800s, from circa 1846 to 1855, and from 1885 through the early
1900s.

The archeological remains found offshore on the southeast side of the island
provide the strongest evidence to date for fur trade activities on the island. The
presence of several different classes of artifacts supports a post-1770s to early
1800s fur trade contact at this location.

Two intact dark green gin case bottles were collected from the site in 1981 (Fig.
6.4). Bottles of this type first appeared in the mid-1600s and were commonly blown
into a square-sided mold, had nearly a flat base, and a short neck with an everted
lip. These characteristics are shared with the examples from Cemetery Island. This
bottle type varied considerably in size but, because of their flat sides, they could be
carried and housed in cases. This bottle style is frequently referred to as the
"Dutch gin" bottle, reflecting their primary use in the latter half of the 1700s. By the
mid-1700s the square-sided "gin" case bottle tapered toward the base. This style
of bottle represented a very large part of the English bottle output of the 1700s
(Hume 1969:62). The two examples from Cemetery Island appear to have been
blown into a mold; two small circular impressions on the bottom sides providing
this evidence. Both are dark green with glass bubbles, imperfections, and
irregularities in size and thickness of the collar, neck and orifice (Cotter 1968:34).
These characteristics tentatively date the bottles after 1814 but still in the early
1800s.

Examples of a blue transfer-print ware were found off Cemetery Island. Imported
Chinese willow pattern porcelain, a ware with underglaze blue decoration, has been
found in colonial American sites dating prior to 1725. It became increasingly
popular in colonial America, and by 1800 was one of the most common ceramic
types. Based on the Chinese export plate, the English adopted both the process and
the pattern and began production of similar pieces in the latter half of the 1700s
(Hume 1969:127-130, 257-265). English transfer prints were commonly produced by
the 1770s, however "willow pattern" creamware was only manufactured for a
relatively short period, from 1790 to 1800 (Hume 1969); after that date pearlware
dominated the export market until 1820. The origin and typology of the ceramics
found offshore have not been determined to date. Preliminary analysis, however,
places these ceramics between 1770 and 1820. Another household item observed
off the island was enameled tinware; the thicker French variety was popular from
the 1750s through the early 1800s.

All of the above examples, which cluster in the very late 1700s to the early 1800s,
were found on the southeast side of the island, offshore from the remains of a
historic cabin. The location of the cabin, on the southeast side, would provide
excellent protection from wind-driven waves and storms. It is common knowledge
among Isle Royale residents that locating on one of the many smaller islands away
from the main island keeps mosquitos, black flies, and other annoying insects to a
minimum. In addition, the small, shallow cove on Cemetery Island's southeast side
would have provided an easily accessible, safe landing for a small rowing skiff or
canoe, commonly used by trappers.

Cemetery Island is advantageously located near Benson Creek, Forbes Lake, Lake
Benson, and Tobin Creek, all potentially good trapping areas. Only slightly farther
away are Tobin Harbor, Moskey Basin and Lake Richie. This represents an area that

361

Fig. 6.4. Historic "gin" case bottles and a "beer" bottle collected by Park employees
off shore in 6 to 10 feet of water. Isle Royale National Park Museum collection.
NPS photo by Ann Belleman.

Fig. 6.5. Salt glaze ceramics and patent medicine bottles found off Cemetery Island.
NPS photo by Ken Vrana.

362

could be handled by a limited number of trappers. The quantity and variety of
artifacts observed do not support habitation by more than a couple of individuals, or
one individual over a few seasons. The presence of the remains of a cabin suggest
the latter. From 1763 to 1783 British-owned companies dominated Lake Superior fur
trade; these companies employed both French and British trappers. The presence of
English and French maufactured goods on Cemetery Island suggests habitation by
trappers in the latter third of the 1700s, most likely after 1770.

The cabin may still have been in usable condition when both Ransom Mine and
Siskowit Mine were operational (circa 1846 - 1855). The suggestion that the graves
on the island are contemporaneous with these mines is well-founded, based not
only upon the extant replica headboards but also tentative dating of offshore
artifacts. These remains support the hypothesis of at least occasional visits to the
island, above and beyond burial services, between 1840 and the early 1900s. The
bottle pictured in Figure 6.4 was collected from the southeast refuse area, not far
from the gin bottles. This dark brown bottle, bearing a crown insignia, is
representative of a type that indicated government ownership. English bottles, from
the late 1820s through the early 1850s, made for the army and navy were often
identified with a seal (Hume 1969:62). This bottle shows seams from a three-piece
mold, which places its date of manufacture after 1815 (Hume 1969:61). Further, the
photographic clarity of the crown pattern and the precision of its lines suggests this
example was pressed in a mold. Pressed glass became common after the 1820s
(Cotter 1968:32).

Both the north and southeast refuse areas contain remnants of patent medicine
bottles and vials. These were among the most common products of late Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Century glass works. Early types were blown from ordinary bottle
glass and appeared in aquamarine, amber, olive-amber, and olive-green. Clear glass
was used in the later periods. The use of full-size piece-molds became common in
bottle manufacture after 1815. Medicine bottles after that date were often made
from two-piece molds and bore the name of the medicine or manufacturer (Cotter
1968:36). The examples observed off Cemetery Island, one bearing the name "Blood
Bitters", can be tentatively dated after 1815 and more likely after the 1830s. White
stoneware ceramics, tentatively identified as British salt glaze, were found on the
southeast side. This ceramic type was common in the mid 1800s. A nearly intact
cylindrical flat-bottomed jug, similar in appearance to those used to store
'moonshine', along with fragments of other containers are present offshore (Fig.
6.5). The bottles and jug suggest recreational visitation rather than continual
habitation during the Ransom and Siskowit Mining era.

Only circumstantial evidence, however, ties the graves solely to Siskowit Mine. The
north side dump provides evidence of later activity, although again not necessarily
habitation. Items identified by divers Vrana and Axtell included parts of brass port
holes, ship fittings, brass and copper filagree decorative items, and broken blue on
white dinnerware. These materials are similar to those observed on the site of the
ALGOMA disaster, which occurred in 1885. The presence of these artifacts lends
some credence to both Dustin and Smith's suggestions that at least some of the
unmarked graves are associated with that disaster.

Reports of fishermen "despoiling" the bodies of disaster victims were circulated in
the summer of 1886 (Detroit Free Press, August 12, 1886). This theory was
supported, in the press, by the fact that the salvors found the remains of only two
bodies, pinned in the wreckage. The presence of scattered mutilated clothing on
shore, ship fittings and other "articles of value" were also reported to have been

363

found in local fishermen's cabins (Detroit Free Press, August 2, 1886). The

accusations were eventually refuted:

... the story about fishermen plundering the bodies off the wrecked
steamer ALGOMA is all pure bosh, and no one, who ever knew
anything about the habits of the fishermen of Lake Superior, ever
believed [it] for a moment. The report was a cruel slander .... (Duluth
Daily Tribune, August 8, 1886).

What seems more plausible than "the sinking of bodies out in the lake by fishermen"
(Detroit Free Press, August 8, 1886) is the discovery of unidentifiable remains that
were mutilated by natural wave and ice action. The Portage Lake Mining Gazette
reported that "pieces of bodies were found, showing that the waves were
tremendous having dashed them to pieces against the rocks, breaking bones and
crushing bodies like egg shells" (November 26, 1885). Under the circumstances the
representatives of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, the owners of the vessel, may have
chosen to bury these remains on nearby Cemetery Island, in an existing graveyard,
rather than ship them to Canada. In fact one of the company officers, H. M. Kersey,
instructed four fishermen to continue to search for victims and to bury any bodies
they found on the island pending identification in the Spring (Port Arthur Weekly
Sentinel, November 20, 1885). Stories from survivors of the wreck also indicated
that some of the passengers were washed out to the open lake. On November 23,
1885, a party of fishermen returned to Hancock from Isle Royale with four bodies
(Cleveland Leader, November 24, 1885). Of the 60 or so passengers and crew on
ALGOMA at the time of the wreck, only 14 survived. The recovery and identification
of the bodies of passengers was clearly a priority with the company.

Haber reported that two of the graves were indicated by deep depressions (ca.
1962-65). It is possible that these could have been the temporary resting places of
ALGOMA passengers, who were later exhumed for identification.

In any event, there is enough evidence offshore to suggest intermittent use of the
island from the late 1800s through the early 1900s, prior to the presence of the
National Park Service. A deep water dock, built before the 1950s, still exists on the
north side. The informal policy of the National Park Service in the late 1930s, 1940s,
and 1950s appears to have been to replace existing (ie., historic) docks in poor
condition with new docks whenever feasible. The park's dock files do not provide
any information on the presence or absence of a historic dock in that location.
What is present just off of the dock are a variety of artifacts from the first half of
the 1900s, as well as a variety of containers from unknown time periods (Vrana
1983).

Conclusion: Cemetery Island should receive an in-depth survey, off shore, on land,
and in the archives. The cabin and offshore remains are evidence of habitation,
possibly as early as 1770. The possible fur trade use of this location is the first to
be documented on Isle Royale.

The relationship of the cemetery to the historic mining era on Isle Royale is the
most clearly defined archeologically, although it is not without some confusion. The
identification of the names of the deceased on the grave markers, if possible, should
be tied to either the Ransom or Siskowit Mine, in order to clarify the origin of at
least two of the graves.

The evidence presented above regarding the burial of bodies from ALGOMA's
passengers on Cemetery Island is circumstantial, and the conclusions ' purely

364

conjectural. No clear evidence exists, unfortunately, to support or refute the
hypothesis that some of the graves are associated with ALGOMA. The question of
the origin of the unmarked graves on the island is far from resolved.

The presence offshore of ALGOMA-like ship fittings, however, is irrefutable, and
these should be more closely examined and identified. In addition, both submerged
refuse areas and the cabin site should be thoroughly documented and given State of
Michigan site numbers.

American Fur Company Fishery at Checker Point

Historical Background and Description: The historic era of fishing on Lake Superior
moved toward a period of formal organization in 1833 when Ramsay Crooks, the
new president of the American Fur Company, began active investigation of the
potential use of this resource. By 1835, he had written to Gabriel Franchre that the
place where the North West Company had previously obtained fish was "a large
Island not far from and directly opposite Port Quiwinan" (Crooks in Nute 1944:174),
referring to Isle Royale. The following year Crooks instructed William Aitken to visit
Isle Royale and examine it for locations of permanent posts for future fisheries. The
American Fur Company explored Lake Superior between the years 1835 and 1837
and during this period established major fisheries at Grand Portage, La Pointe, Sault
St. Marie, and Isle Royale.

A total of seven fishery stations were established on Isle Royale. They included
locations at Fish Island (now called Belle Isle), Washington Harbor, Rock Harbor,
Merritt's Island, Duncan Bay, Siskiwit Bay and the chain of small islands southeast of
the bay. The major site on the Island was on Siskiwit Bay at Checker Point. This
site was established in 1837 under the direction of Charles Chaboillez. He employed
approximately 25 men as coopers, fishermen, and boatmen. In addition, 9 men,
employed on a contract basis, fished on their own and sold their catch to the
company at a rate of $4 for 200 pounds of fish (Nute 1944:177). During the early
years, the men lived on the island year-round, however after 1839 the fishermen
were transferred to LaPoint during the winter months.

2
Trout, siskowit , whitefish and herring were caught during the fishing season,

which began about the middle of June and continued until mid-November. In 1837,

2,000 barrels of fish were taken from Isle Royale (Nute 1944:177). Fish were salted,

packed in barrels, and picked up from the various stations by the schooners, JOHN

JACOB ASTOR (built 1835), WILLIAM BREWSTER (built 1838), and SISKOWIT (built ca.

1840).

Fishing on Lake Superior was so successful it was necessary to find new markets
for their sale. The Ohio valley, filled with farming communities, and the eastern
states were quickly exploited. However, the same year that the Checker Point
fishery was established the market collapsed. Farmers in the Ohio valley, faced with
an agricultural depression, resisted introduction of a new food. The market did not
improve and, by 1842, the American Fur Company was forced to quit the fishing

2
The spelling of this fish and subsequent use of this name has not been

standardized. It appears as siscowet, siskeweite, siskowet, siskiwit, and siskawitz.

365

business. Fishing continued at the various stations on Isle Royale throughout the
1840s, but was drastically reduced.

Charles Jackson, a U.S. Geological Surveyor, reported fishing operations continuing
on Isle Royale during his reconnaissance of the Island in 1847. Individual fishermen
had occupied former American Fur Company cabins, using them as a base of
operations (Jackson in Hakala 1953:23). By 1848 the Checker Point site had been
officially abandoned by employees of the American Fur Company. However,
continued use of these buildings by independent fishermen was highly likely well
beyond 1848.

The American Fur Company Fishery at Checker Point consisted of eight structures.

Franchere described them in his 1839 journal of his voyage on BREWSTER to Isle

Royale.

The buildings at this place are very good, and comprise one dwelling
house for the resident clerk, one men's house, one coopers shop, one
store house for fish barrels, one large store house, with store attached
to it, and an additional building at the west gable, a long shed south
and continuous to the warehouse, for the storing of salt and lastly,
one fish store house (Franchere 1839).

In 1847 and 1848 William Ives conducted his survey of Isle Royale. At that time the
American Fur Company buildings in Siskiwit Bay were occupied by independent
fishermen. Ives intersected the former AFC fishing station during his survey of the
southern boundary of section 35 (township 64 north, range 37 west).

This place is one of the American Fur Company's trading and fishing
posts. There are three old log houses and one is occupied by
fishermen, N 63 W, 3 chains to it. SW 30 L [links] to an old stone
house. There are about five acres cleared (Ives 1847).

Ives located the buildings 3 chains west along the boundary from the water's edge,
i.e. where the boundary intersects the bay (Fig. 6.6). It is not specified what chain
measurement Ives was using in his description. A surveyor's chain is equal to 66
feet while an engineer's chain is equal to 100 feet. Ives was sent to Isle Royale to
complete a survey of the island, therefore it is reasonable to assume that Ives was
using a surveyor's chain of 66 feet in length. Based upon a 66 foot chain, the
distance of the settlement from the water's edge would have been approximately
198 feet; the stone house would have been approximately 20 feet southwest of the
log houses on the boundary.

There was no need to construct permanent docks or anchorages at the station as
fishing was conducted from barges of oak boards with a flat bottom and blunt ends,
with a rudder and mast. These versatile boats could be beached directly on shore.
Similar, larger boats, were also used to transport barrels of fish from Isle Royale to
Grand Portage and to bring back needed supplies and equipment. Franchere
describes these boats in a letter to Crooks as:

... large flat bottom boats 40 feet in length with a center board, sloop
rigger, deck and a four feet hold to contain about 128 barrels.
(Franchere, August 30, 1839).

Prior Research: The American Fur Company Fishery was documented by a
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology survey in 1961. At that time the
survey team located the remains of a log structure, surrounded by pits,

366

Siskowit Bay*

OLD TRADING

POST AND FISHERY OF

AMERICAN FUR COMPANY

Spelling used by Ives

mile

After Ives 1847

Fig. 6.6. Reproduction of Ives' Survey Plat indicating the location of the "Old Trading
Post and Fishery of the American Fur Company" (Ives 1847).

_M i 1 1 1 1 .i i m m
i

•O

1 2

neter

Feature 1 Detail

Feature Number: 1, 2, 3, 4

after Mass 1984 Measured Sketch Map

Siskiwit Bay

100 0 100 200300

J I L

*00500 Cedars

feet

Swamp

Fig. 6.7. Sketch map of American Fur Company Fishery Site. Feature 1 is a
semi-subterranean structure foundation that is probably the same one located by
the University of Michigan in 1961. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

367

approximately 200 feet southwest of Checker Point and 50 feet from the sandstone
shoreline. No near shore remains were identified by the survey.

Rakestraw reported in 1967 observing a possible cellar and chimney rubble on the
site (1967b:21). No other remains were mentioned.

In 1984 Park Ranger Ken Vrana, Resource Management Specialist Carol Maass and
Submerged Cultural Resources Unit Archeologist Toni Carrell, visited the Checker
Point location in an effort to relocate the log structure and to survey the offshore
area for cultural remains associated with the American Fur Company and
subsequent fishing occupations.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: Checker Point has been heavily impacted by
historic logging operations. Rakestraw observed some of the results of these
impacts:

... there is an old logging road, and the area bears every evidence of
extensive and destructive logging for white pine. The cutting ... was
far beyond that needed for the Island Mine settlement. Since crosscut
saws were used, the cutting occurred after 1880; the decayed
condition of cull logs left in the woods places the cutting before 1930
(1964:7-8).

The Consolidated Power and Paper Company of Wisconsin owned land at the head
of Siskiwit Bay. In 1935, the company began construction of lumbering camps for
the purpose of cutting pulpwood and began cutting timber in the swamp lands. The
Checker Point fishery is located very close to one such swamp. The logging road
that is evident may have been cut by the Wisconsin company.

Mead Lumber Company also had operations in the Checker Point area. Further, the
1936 fire, which destroyed 1/3 of the island's forest, began southwest of the CCC
Camp Siskiwit, not far from Checker Point. Either of these lumbering operations
along with the fire and clean up could have impacted evidence of the American Fur
Company fishery.

Rakestraw asserts (1967b:21) that the sandstone shoreline has receded at least 60
and possibly as much as 100 feet since the 1840s. He goes on to state that if the
buildings were close to the 1840s shoreline, they would have been destroyed as the
beach receded, and he feels that the site has largely been destroyed by wave action
(1967b:21). Rakestraw does not substantiate this hypothesis with any additional
data. Rakestraw also fails to take into consideration Ives' statement that he
intersected the log structures while surveying the southern boundary of section 35,
placing the fishery well away from the shoreline in 1847.

Site Location: The American Fur Company Fishery is located on Checker Point, at
the west end of Siskiwit Bay (Fig. 6.1). It can be reached by traveling west in the
bay, passing the daybeacon on Point Houghton on the port side i.e., south,
paralleling Houghton Ridge, passing the first point after Houghton (Francis Point) and
traveling a distance of approximately 5/8 of a mile to Checker Point. The overall
distance from Houghton Point to Checker Point is approximately 3 3/8 miles.
William Ives, in his 1347 survey of Isle Royale, intersected a log building from the
station on the southern boundary of section 35. The location of the fishery given
by Ives is T64N, R37W, Section 35, S 1/2, SW I/4, SE 1/4, SW 1/4.

368

Administrative Status: The American Fur Company fishery is included in the Isle
Royale National Park Cultural Sites Inventory and is recorded by the State of
Michigan as site number 20IR13. While a lumbering site on Checker Point is listed
as U-44 on a Park maintained list of undesignated sites (Maass 1984). Neither site
is included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research Methodology: Visual walking reconnaissance of the presumed fishery site
location was undertaken by Vrana, Maass and Carrell in June 1984. Remains of a
structure (Feature 1) were located approximately 30 meters (98.4 feet) south of the
sandstone shoreline and approximately 75 meters (246 feet) west of Checker Point
(Fig. 6.7). Swimmer survey of the offshore area was undertaken by Vrana and
Carrell. The survey began at the shore and continued outward to a water depth of
15 feet, approximately 200 feet from the shoreline. An overall distance of 1/4 mile
of offshore area was examined along and around Checker Point.

The surface survey closely corresponded in coverage to the underwater
reconnaissance extending along the edge of the eroded sandstone rock beach, west
of Checker Point, until the beach curves southwest (approximately 1/8 mile) (Fig. 6.8)
and southeast along the pebble beach shoreline, south of Checker Point, to the edge
of a cedar swamp (approximately 1/8 mile). The open area southwest of Feature 1
was examined to the edge of a cedar swamp on the east side and to a stand of
cedars on the west.

Present Site Description: Rakestraw (1967b:21) states he found what "appeared to
be a cellar hole and chimney rubble" approximately 3 chains (198 feet based upon a
surveyor's chain) in from the shoreline. The 1961 survey by the University of
Michigan Museum located the remains of a "log structure" approximately 200 feet
southwest of Checker Point and 50 feet in from Siskiwit Bay.

The 1984 surface reconnaissance by Maass, Vrana and Carrell located 3 features.
The location of Feature 1 (Fig. 6.7) closely corresponds to the location of both the
Michigan Museum and Rakestraw finds, and is probably the same structure.

Feature 1 consists of a 3 meter by 3 meter (9 1/2 feet by 9 1/2 feet) rectangular pit
surrounded by a flat-topped mound (Fig. 6.7). Outside the mound the soil had been
excavated out to a depth of 1 meter (39 inches) to form the surrounding mound.
The northeast wall of the pit is broken by an opening or doorway 80 cm (32 inches)
wide. The distance from the doorway to the sandstone beach is approximately 30
meters (98 feet) on a bearing of 30°. This feature is also approximately 70 meters
(230 feet) west of Checker Point. White spruce are growing on the mound walls and
woody vegetation is growing the 80 cm (32 inch) deep pit. The pit walls are dark
humus and show no evidence of the local sandstone pebbles, chimney rubble or
wall logs.

South of Feature 1 is a large, relatively flat, open area approximately 100 meters
(328 feet) long by 75 meters (246 feet) wide. Heavily browsed aspen suckers, a
scattering of 20-30 year old white spruce and a few 60-80 year old aspens are
present (Fig. 6.9). The sizes of the suckers, spruce and older aspens are similar
within each species, suggesting a similar age for each group.

Feature 2, a large depression, was located southeast of Feature 1 on a bearing of
225 approximately, 9 meters (29 feet) away. The surrounding terrain is generally
flat, while this feature is an irregular square 8 meters (26 feet) on a side by 1.3
meters (4 feet 3 inches) deep.

369

Fig. 6.8. Probable American Fur Company Fishery landing site on the east side of
Checker Point (view to west). This protected location would have afforded easy
access to the fishery buildings. NPS photo by Carol Maass.

Fig. 6.9. View to the south of the large clearing at the location of the American Fur
Company Trading Fishery Post. NPS photo by Carol Maass.

370

Feature 3 is located 50 meters (164 feet) southwest of the pebble beach at Checker
Point, on a bearing of 25°. It consists of a 50 cm (19 inches) high pile of 1 inch
diameter rocks. On the west side of the rock pile is a depression 25 cm (10 inches)
deep by 50 cm square. The rocks in this feature appear to be fire cracked. Due to
the extensive windfall in this area, the full extent of Feature 3 was not determined.

One artifact was located during the walking reconnaissance of the pebble beach
southeast of the point. It is a light aqua blue piece of glass of indeterminate age.
No other artifacts, features, or other remains were located during the offshore,
shoreline, and inland survey.

Site Analysis: The scanty descriptions of the American Fur Company fishery
buildings provide little information as to structure size or inter-relationship, however
some speculation can be made regarding the various features located during the
surface survey.

Feature 1 showed no evidence of a chimney during the 1984 reconnaissance, and
may have been the store house for the filled fish barrels. Its semi-subterranean
configuration would limit fluctuations in temperature and aid in storage of the salted
fish. This structure is probably the same one located by Ives, Rakestraw and the
Michigan survey team.

Feature 2 was probably a dwelling or store house. Franchere describes several
houses, in particular a "large store house with shed attached to it" (Franchere
1839). The 8 by 8 meter (26 x 26 foot) depression would certainly have qualified as
a large store house.

The large clearing south of Feature 1, within which Feature 2 is located, could have
been the site for the remaining buildings, with the exception of the fish house,
which was normally located at the shoreline. In order to construct several buildings
for the fishery, a large clearing would have been required. The clearing observed in
1984, approximately 100 meters (328 feet) long by 75 meters (246 feet) wide, an
area of nearly 2 acres, could have been been the former building sites of the
majority of the fishery buildings. Furthermore, Ives describes the station as being
located in a clearing of 5 acres, not covering an area of 5 acres (1847).

The nearly 2 acre clearing observed in 1984 was very probably the location of the
fishery. The presence of Aspen suckers, intermediate aged Spruce and the 60 to 80
year old Aspen follows a normal species succession for this area, which progresses
from Aspen to Spruce to White Pine. The absence of the White Pine in this location
is explained by the Mead Lumber Company operations in this area around the turn
of the century.

Feature 3, the fire cracked rocks, could be recent and not necessarily associated
with the American Fur Company site.

Conclusion: While no remains of the American Fur Company Fishery activity were
located offshore, there is a good deal of information yet to be gathered from the
land site itself. Several possible building sites were located and it appears that the
site is more intact than Rakestaw surmised in 1967. Further, the location where
SISKOWIT, one of the schooners used by the American Fur Company to transport
fish, moored off Checker Point and eventually lost an anchor while waiting out a

371

storm, is yet to be located. At minimum the fishery should be considered for
nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Wright Island Fishery

Historical Background and Description: Historic fishing around Isle Royale,
particularly in Siskiwit Bay, by first the Northwest Fur Company and later the
American Fur Company has been well documented:

... It is the place where the N West Co used to make their fishing for

Fort William. There is an excellent harbor for the vessels and it is

there where the largest Whitefish are caught in Lake Superior ....

(American Fur Company Letters, Lyman W. Warren to Ramsey Crooks,

February 16, 1834).

The entire Siskiwit Bay region was a highly sought after fishing location. The

location of the American Fur Company's main fishery at Checker Point is further

evidence of the excellent fishing in this area.

Within Siskiwit Bay, Wright Island was a very desirable fish camp; its harbor was
safe with sufficient water depth and its gently sloping silt and gravel bottom made
it easy to both beach small craft and later to build and maintain crib docks. The
two points of land on its west side provided generally level ground upon which to
build seasonal structures and to lay out nets for drying. Most importantly, the
island was close to excellent fishing grounds, with the exception of herring.

The American Fur Company actively sought after and hired Metis and Ojibwa former
employees of the North West Fur Company for their Isle Royale base of operations
(American Fur Company Letters 1834-1835, New York Historical Society Collection).
Cornelius Shaw mentions the continual movement of Indians around Isle Royale
looking for employment as fishermen in the late 1840s (July 13, 1847). Knowledge
of Wright Island's favorable conditions was, undoubtedly, known to both the Metis
and Ojibwa.

The first mining boom on Isle Royale, from 1843 to 1855, brought the first surge in
the population on the island. Among those was Cornelius G. Shaw. Shaw's diary
also makes frequent reference to a Doctor Wright, who was on the island exploring
for copper deposits (Shaw diary 1847). While no direct evidence has been
uncovered to unquestionably tie Dr. Wright to the island, it is a reasonable
assumption that some connection exists. Dustin also suggests a connection
between the English prospector and the island (1946:722).

Fishing activity out of Wright Island is known to have occurred as early as the
1850s. Henry LeSage [a Grand Portage Ojibwa or Metis] had a job stoking the fires
under vats cooking the oil out of siskowits. Ships came once a month to pick up
the barrels of oil, which was then made into a paint base (Ed Holte oral history,
from Cochrane, personal communication 1986). Roy Oberg reported knowing men
who saw the "trypots" used in this operation (Rakestraw 1967b:24). A Captain
Rogers is also reported to have fished out of Wright Island in the 1860s (Rakestraw
1967b:49).

Seasonal residency on the island was taking place by the 1870s (Duluth News
Tribune 1931). Godfrey Vodrey came to Isle Royale in his teens as a part of the
early mining operations at McCargoe Cove, however by 1879 he was fishing out of
Siskiwit Bay. During the summer Vodrey fished out of Wright Island and wintered in
Chippewa Harbor. He continued to fish out of the Wright Island location on a

372

seasonal basis during the 1880s. His rig consisted of "30 boxes, 1,000 hooks" (Lake
Superior Interviews, 1894, National Archives, Washington, D.C.). About this same
period a small enclave of fishermen, and possibly their families and hired hands,
were rendering siskowit and possibly sturgeon on the point of land directly north of
the present-day fishery (Cochrane 1983:7). Frank Vodrey and Rassmuss Loening are
also reported to have fished out of Wright Island during the 1880s (Rakestraw
1967b:49). By 1893 Vodrey is reported to have moved permanently to Chippewa
Harbor, abandoning the Wright Island site, after he became the fish inspector for the
Booth Fishery operation (Glenn Merritt oral history tape, September 25, 1965). In the
1890s both Mike and Sam Johnson were fishing out of Wright Island (Rakestraw
1967b:49).

In 1903 or 1904, the Merritts of Rock Harbor purchased Wright Island. While they
chose not to live on the island, they arranged to lease the island to Sam Johnson.
The terms of the lease provided that Sam Johnson would have sole use of the
island for fishing operations. According to Ingeborg Holte, a fish rendering station
was still located on the northern point when she arrived with her family in 1903
(Timothy Cochrane personal communication, December 1986). The other fishermen
on the island were compelled to move to other locations, abandoning their
residences and associated buildings.

While Sam Johnson may have held the fishing rights, a number of relations joined
him in fishing from Wright Island. Mike Johnson, Sam's brother fished out of this
location until the early 1920s. Mike's sons, Milford and Arnold, followed in the
family tradition and were fishermen on Isle Royale (see Star Island Fishery,
elsewhere in this chapter). Holger Johnson, another of Mike's sons, fished for 40
years out of Chippewa Harbor. Sam's sons, Steve and John S., fished with their
father for a time at various locations. Steve worked with his father until the late
1920s or early 1930s, when he moved to Duluth to help John S. run their father's
fish business, Sam Johnson and Sons (Timothy Cochrane personal communcication,
December 1986). Sam Johnson's daughters, Alice and Ingeborg, married Charlie
Purdy and Ed Holte, respectively. When Ed Holte arrived in 1929, he joined Sam,
Steve, and Charlie Purdy. Purdy fished out of Wright Island until the late 1930s.
Sam Johnson fished out of this location between 1903 and 1941. Ed Holte fished
with his father-in-law until Sam's death in 1941; Holte continued with the help of
hired hands until the lamprey took their toll on the fishing. After the invasion of the
lamprey in the late 1950s, Ingeborg assisted her husband with the fishing. Finally,
Holte worked alone until 1971, when he too died.

Ingeborg continued to run her husband's fishing business with the help of extended
family and hired hands until 1980, when she too stopped. Ingeborg stayed on
Wright Island during the summer months until 1984; since that time her visits have
been shorter and occur irregularly.

Just after the turn of the century, when Sam and Mike Johnson arrived, the present
fishery location looked quite different than it does today. The known buildings at
the site included a residence for Sam Johnson and his family, approximately 200
feet northwest of the present Holte residence; a one-room semi-subterranean
dwelling for Mike Johnson and his family; a fish house and a net house. Other
miscellaneous buildings built by former inhabitants and recently abandoned
dwellings, probably also dotted this area as well as the point on the opposite
shore. The Johnson families, and later the Holte's, built, added on, and tore down
various structures, recycling the lumber into "new" buildings. Some of the lumber

373

used in Wright Island structures "recycled" from the Island Mine town site (Timothy
Cochrane personal communication, December 1986).

Prior Research: The Wright Island Fishery was discussed by Rakestraw in the
manuscript "Post-Columbian History of Isle Royale" (1967b:12-47). Ingeborg Holte
wrote about her life on Wright Island in Ingeborg's Isle Royale (1984). The book is
filled with reminiscences and bits and pieces about the early fishing around Isle
Royale.

In 1984 members of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit briefly visited the
fishery in an effort to document both the remaining buildings and to survey the
offshore area for cultural remains associated with the recent occupation and
previous fishing occupations dating from the middle 1860s.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: Wright Island has been occupied, just about
continuously, by fishermen since the middle 1860s. Various log or frame cottages,
store houses, net houses, fish houses, racks for drying nets, and wharfs or landings,
were likely constructed, destroyed, and their lumber hauled off for other fishing
stations prior to Sam and Mike Johnson's arrival at the turn of the century. The
reuse of building materials was common among the fishermen of Isle Royale.

While Rakestraw stated at the time of his investigations in 1967, that the site did
not look much different than when William Shiras III photographed it in 1920, there
has been considerable change in the buildings and their locations. Sam Johnson
burned the meadow to the northwest of the present buildings on a semi-regular
basis. This burning has destroyed much of the wooden remains of early buildings
(Timothy Cochrane personal communication, December 1986). Two former
structures, a fish house and net house, were torn down by Holte in the 1950s.
Flower and vegetable gardens were put in by the Johnsons and later continued by
the Holtes (Holte 1984). The National Park Service built the existing dock and put in
the grill in the 1950s in exchange for services performed for the Park by the Holte
family.

Site Location: Wright Island is one of a chain of small islands that separates Malone
and Siskiwit Bays on the south side of Isle Royale (Fig. 6.1). The fishery station is
located on a small point of land at the mouth of Hopkins Harbor on the southwest
side of Wright Island (Fig. 6.10). Both the island and the site can be reached by
entering Siskiwit Bay, east of Isle Royale Lighthouse on Menagerie Island, and
traveling toward Malone Bay. The largest island in the chain of islands that run
northeast to southwest across the mouth of Malone Bay is Wright Island; it is also
the westernmost island. Wright Island and Hopkins Harbor are clearly marked on
lake charts. The fishery buildings are located at T64N, R36W, Section 2, NW 1/4, SE
1/4 on the USGS 15 minute Isle Royale topographical map

Administrative Status: The Wright Island Fishery is included in the Isle Royale
National Park interim Cultural Sites Inventory as an undesignated site, number U-36
(Maass 1984). It does not have a State of Michigan number and is not included on
the National Register of Historic Places.

Research Methodology: Visual walking reconnaissance of the fishery site was
undertaken in conjunction with a swimming survey offshore. Four hundred linear
feet of shoreline, directly offshore of the present fishery site, was visually examined
by divers. The shoreline in the bay was also examined approximately 1/8 mile

374

Lake Superior

EARLY FISH RENDERING!

Hopkins Harbor

JOHNSON/
HOLTE FISHERY

CA. 1860 AND/

OR PURDY RESIDENCE

1/2 mile

Fig. 6.10. Overview of Wright Island with the locations of the present fishery and
historic fishing operations. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 6.11. The Johnson/Holte Fishery consists of six structures, including a fish
house and dock (right) and a net house (left) on the shoreline. NPS photo by James
Bradford.

375

beyond the present fishery site, to an area adjacent to an 1860s habitation. In all, a
little better than 1/4 mile of shoreline was examined by divers.

Site Description: The present fishery covers approximately 3/4 of an acre. The site
consists of six structures including the present Holte residence, an early Johnson
dwelling circa 1903, a generator house (formerly a cold smoker), net house, fish
house and outhouse (Fig. 6.11). An existing crib dock in front of the fish house has
been recently repaired. Two additional crib docks, one in front of the net house,
and one around the bay behind the net house, are in deteriorated condition. A trash
dumping area is located immediately behind the Holte residence

Two small fishing boats remain onshore at the site, a herring skiff and a
double-ended gas boat. Numerous miscellaneous items are scattered around the
fishery. They include net floats, a small winch, an engine block, benches, lumber,
tables, a saw, a grill, 55-gallon drums, a bird house, a net reel, fish boxes, canning
jars and bed frames.

Site Analysis: The extended Johnson families are responsible for the construction
of all of the buildings on the site today (Fig. 6.12). They also constructed other
buildings that were torn down, burned or recycled into existing structures (Cochrane
1983:9).

The earliest extant Johnson-built family structure is 35 feet north and west of the
present Holte residence (Fig. 6.13). This dwelling dates from ca. 1903 when Mike
and Sam Johnson moved their families to Wright Island. Built by Mike Johnson for
his family, the original portion of this semi-subterranean building is constructed of
notched logs. The addition of a kitchen on the eastern side, sometime between
1920 and 1930, created an L-shaped dwelling (Cochrane 1983:18). Unlike the
original room, the addition is of frame construction. Cochrane hypothesized that the
irregularity in sizes of the milled lumber suggested that much of it was recycled
from other buildings (1983:18). The entire dwelling is covered with a
tarpaper-covered pitched roof. At some point in the past, possibly when the kitchen
was added, the doorway on the northwest corner was boarded up. This building
shows signs of deterioration and has not been used since 1973 (Timothy Cochrane
personal communication, December 1986).

Immediately behind the Mike Johnson residence is an area of leveled ground where
Sam Johnson had built sleeping cabins sometime prior to 1941. These were torn
down by Holte in the 1950s (Cochrane 1983:16). No evidence of the structures
exists today.

One of the two fishing boats found on the site is lying on shore upside down 20
feet east of the Johnson building (Fig. 6.12). This small fishing vessel, locally
referred to as a herring skiff, is in good condition. The vessel is approximately 16
feet long by 5 feet broad and has a flat transom and pointed bow. The skiff is 8
feet west of a marine railway. The railway, extending 4 feet out into the water and
an additional 15 feet up onto the shore, was used in conjunction with a small winch
to haul the boat up onto the shore. The winch is 5 feet south of the skiff.

Miscellaneous items consisting of two tables, a saw, lumber, benches, net floats, an
engine block, fuel tanks, a grill, a wringer washer and tub, and a water heater are
scattered east of the herring skiff and in front of the Johnson residence.
Examination offshore of the marine railway area revealed a quantity of broken china,
tin cans, and wire rope.

376

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Fig. 6.13. Original Mike Johnson dwelling built in 1903. The use of saddle-notched
logs rather than milled lumber is typical of first generation Swedish-American
construction on Isle Royale. NPS photo by James Bradford.

Fig. 6.14. The present Holte residence, located in the center of the site, has a
commanding view of the bay. The fish house and dock were built in the late
1940s. NPS photo by James Bradford.

378

The original Sam Johnson and family residence was approximately 200 feet
northwest of the Mike Johnson dwelling (Fig. 6.12). Its former location is indicated
only by a roughly square depression. This building may have been burned by Sam
in the course of his irregular burning of the meadow. Later, the Sam Johnson
family abandoned this building and moved into the "little house" that Mike Johnson
had built for his family

The present Holte residence is approximately 80 feet from the shoreline in the
center of the fishery (Fig. 6.14). It was built by Steve Johnson, Ingeborg's brother, in
the mid-1920s for him and his wife to live in. The elder Sam Johnson moved into
the house with his son and daughter-in-law, which was partitioned into three rooms
separated by curtains (Cochrane 1983:9).

This dwelling was remodeled twice, first in the late 1920s adding a wing
perpendicular to the original building, and again in the early 1930s, adding a
shed-roofed bedroom room at the rear of the wing (Fig. 6.12). The front porch was
added in 1935 by Ed Holte for his daughter Karan to play in (Cochrane 1983:15).
The pitch-roofed dwelling, wing, and front porch are all constructed of notched
logs. The shed-roofed rear room is nailed. The roofs are covered with tarpaper.
This structure is in good condition and, at the time of investigation in 1984, was still
used on a seasonal basis by Ingeborg Holte.

The existing fish house is located at the water's edge just over 30 feet in front of
the Mike Johnson house (Fig. 6.14). The fish house, built in the late 1940s, is frame
and plank construction with a pitched roof. This building is built out over the water
and has a U-shaped crib dock immediately in front of it. The building is in
deteriorated condition with the east wall foundation permitting sagging of that side
of the structure, and the roof on the east side having a large hole. The crib dock in
front of the fish house has been partially repaired by the National Park Service for
continued use by government and private vessels. The submerged area inside the
dock contained a variety of remains including paint cans, a barrel hoop, sheet metal,
nylon rope, roofing paper, boards, rails, wooden posts, and an engine piston, items
clearly associated with commercial fishing activity.

The second boat found on shore at the site, a double-ended gas boat, is
approximately 38 feet east of the fish house (Fig. 6.12). This vessel is 17 feet 6
inches long by 7 feet broad and was equipped with a motor amidships; the propeller
drive shaft is still articulated with the motor mount. Named SKIPPER SAM, she was
built in the late 1920s or early 1930s by Charles J. Hill (Reubin Hill's father) of
Larsmont, Minnesota, for Sam Johnson. This gas boat is unusual because it was
built so recently; by the time of its construction double-enders had lost out in favor
of vessels with a flat transom to more readily accommodate outboard motors
(Timothy Cochrane personal communication, December 1986).

Immediately forward of the skiff is another version of a marine railway, two 12 foot
log skids are in place underwater to facilitate beaching the boat. On the vessel's
port side three iron or steel rails, similar to the ones used in the herring boat
railway, are partially buried.

The pitched-roofed net house is located twenty-eight feet beyond the
double-ender. This structure was built at about the same time as the present fish
house, in the late 1940s. The net house is constructed of vertically-laid logs up to
the tops of the windows and doorways (Fig. 6.15). Above that, vertically-laid flat

379

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Bradford.

Fig. 6.16. Artifact scatter off shore partially obscured by thick organic silt deposits.
NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

380

boards are used. The structure is in deteriorated condition; the northwest corner
has slumped off its vertical post footing and the north side of the roof has a hole in
it. The northwest corner is now extending out over the water, which suggests that
some erosion of the shoreline has occurred in this area. Two bed frames and
several canning jars were found scattered around the net house.

Immediately in front of the existing net house are the remains of one of the two
deteriorated crib docks. The dock consists of two, nearly 30 foot logs laying parallel
to shore (Fig. 6.12). Both logs show evidence of rope wear, presumably from being
lashed to other logs in the crib, as well as ax-cut grooves. A number of small
boulders are adjacent to the logs. Offshore the artifact scatter in the area of this
dock included broken crockery, wire rope, flat boards, and tin cans. This dock
serviced a former fish house, torn down by Holte in the late 1940s or early 1950s
(Cochrane 1983:19). Like the former net house, this structure was probably built in
the early 1900s by the Johnson family. No evidence of this former structure was
identified.

Two additional small buildings exist at the fishery site. A generator house is located
between the present Holte residence and the fish house (Fig. 6.12). The frame and
plank structure is shed-roofed and is in generally poor condition with the roof
slipping off of the supporting walls. The structure is 5 feet by 4 feet overall with
the low side of the roof on the north side and the high side on the south. The
second building, an outhouse, is located approximately 40 feet southwest of the
Holte residence.

The third crib dock is located in the inner harbor around the point southeast of the
net house (Fig. 6.12). This dock, in deteriorated condition, consists of two rock-filled
cribs. One of the crib-sections is adjacent to the shore, while the second section is
approximately 35 feet offshore. The crib-sections are 20 feet long by 4 feet 6
inches wide and 9 feet 8 inches long by 4 feet 6 inches wide, respectively. The
offshore crib, completely submerged in three to four feet of water, is without
walkway planks, while the near-shore crib planks are in very poor condition.

Reconnaissance of the offshore area by divers revealed, among other items, the
presence of a quantity of broken crockery, tin cans, leather shoes, a wooden net
float, and enamel cooking utensils and a coffee pot. The artifact scatter in this area
reflecting domestic activities to a greater degree than those artifacts found in the
vicinity of the main dock. The artifact scatter around this dock extends,
uninterrupted, approximately 30 feet beyond the end of the second crib-section and
60 feet to either side of the dock.

Examination of the entire offshore area for cultural remains associated with the
fishery was hampered by the presence of a thick deposit of organically-rich silt. All
observed artifacts were at least partially covered by the silt and hand probing of the
bottom suggested that the deposit is at least 12 inches deep (Fig. 6.16).

An earlier net house was located just east of the crib dock in the inner harbor (Fig.
6.12). This log building, probably built in the early 1900s, was demolished by Holte
in the 1950s (Cochrane 1983:19). No structural remains of this building exist. The
ground surface in the general vicinity of it former location is uniformly flat, with no
obvious elevation changes to indicate the building's precise location.

The small bay on the southwest side of Hopkins Harbor, locally referred to as the
inner harbor, may have also provided refuge for other fisheries. During an offshore

381

reconnaissance of an area approximately 1/8 of a mile beyond the small
deteriorated crib dock the possible remains of another dock were located. A 10
inch diameter cut log, well planted into the deep silt, and a few small boulders were
found in approximately 4 feet of water directly offshore. Rakestraw associates a
dwelling in this area with Captain Rogers "... who boiled down Siskowit for oil ...."
(Rakestraw 1967:24). Cochrane reports that this same location was where Charlie
and Alice Purdy had a residence (Cocharane 1983:8). No remains of any dwellings,
other than a deep pit, presently exist. No other artifacts were located offshore in
the vicinity of this site (Fig. 6.10).

At the time of the Johnson family arrival on Wright Island (circa 1902), other
fishermen had well-established seasonal camps there. These were located
northwest of the present fishery, on the opposite point (Fig. 6.10). This area was
not examined during the survey in 1984. No standing structures from this
occupation presently exist on this point.

Conclusion: Wright Island has been occupied by various fishermen since the 1850s,
and the present fishery location has extant structures that date from the turn of the
century. This long period of occupation presents a unique opportunity for
archeologists to study changes in fishing technology that span more than 130 years
of nearly continuous activity. In 1984, Carol Maass quite appropriately observed that
this site may contain some of the earliest fishing operation information on Isle
Royale, other than the American Fur Company sites. Dr. Tim Cochrane stated that in
addition to its long period of use, Wright Island has been the site of a variety of
types of fishing. Siskowits were rendered there, trout and whitefish salted and put
in barrels there, fish were smoked there, and fresh fish were put on ice there for
shipment. Wright Island fishermen have used hook lines, gill nets, pound nets and
even experimented with seines (Timothy Cochrane personal communication,
December 1986). These operations are representative of the most significant
historic fishing activities on the island. Not surprisingly, the site contains materials
that reflect the dual nature of the activites occurring there, both domestic and
commercial fishing. Analysis of these items can provide insights into the lives and
priorities of fishermen and their families in an isolated location and in a solitary
occupation. It is recommended that the present fishery be added to the State of
Michigan archeological site files and that it be considered for nomination to the
National Register of Historic Places.

Further research at the site may also lead to the discovery of NORTHERN BELLE, a
wooden schooner, reported to have been lost in Hopkins Harbor in 1885 or 1886.
The vessel was built at LaPointe, Wisconsin, in 1877 and was owned by James L.
Malone, assistant keeper at Isle Royale Lighthouse. NORTHERN BELLE may be one of
the oldest documented vessels lost in the Siskiwit Bay area (Holden 1974:106).

Star Island Fishery

Historical Background and Description: Prior to the turn of the century. Two Harbors
attorney Gilbert Jelly purchased Star Island on speculation. Evidently finding that
his investment would not reap anticipated rewards, Jelly sold the island to Fritz and
John E. Johnson (Milford Johnson, Jr. 1986). The half-brothers moved to Star Island
in 1918 and set up their fishery. John and his wife, Lorraine Sawyer, had two
adopted sons, Hugo and Sigfried, while Fritz and his wife, Ida, had two daughters
and a son. The two families lived and worked together at the fishery until 1926,
when Fritz and Ida's son drowned; Fritz left Star Island permanently that year,
moving to Split Rock. John continued to fish from the island until 1936, when he

382

and his family moved to Duluth. Sale of the island to the National Park Service may
have prompted that move.

For two years the fishery sat vacant. After arranging to lease the island from the
Park, in the Spring of 1938 brothers Arnold and Milford Johnson moved to Star
Island. When Milford and his wife, Myrtle, moved to Star Island they had two sons,
Milford Jr. and Frank. Over the next several years five more children were born,
Kenny, Arthur, Mary, Bob, and Norman. Arnold and Olga had a son Ronnie, and a
daughter, Yvonne.

The brothers worked together fishing for herring, trout and whitefish. During the
summer months they took siskowits for eating and smoking. At that time siskowit
was half the price of lean trout and the market for them strong (Myrtle Johnson
1986). In the 1940s, with the boom in tourism at the various resorts, Milford and
Arnold opened a small fishing and rowboat concession. It was advertised as a:
Complete motor launch, rowboat and guide service for guests at Rock
Harbor Lodge, Belle Isle Camp, and Windigo Inn for fishing parties and
trips to scenic points. ... guide leaves boat and accompanies party as
guide on hike .... Fishing tackle is furnished for fishing trips (Johnson
Brothers brochure, ca. 1940).
When Milford Jr. was old enough, he too took parties out trolling. Pete Edison used
his boat and also took fishing parties out for the Johnson's (Milford Johnson, Jr.,
1986). The fishing and rowboat business operated until 1949; closure of the resorts
and decreasing fish catches made continuing impractical.

At points during this time Arnold fished only in the spring and fall, in the summer
he worked for one of the lodges, repaired boats, and ran the concession. Milford,
his son Milford Jr., and hired hand Olli Runnig, ran the fish tug JEFFERY for
siskowits. By 1951, however, decreasing fish catches had forced Arnold Johnson
into another occupation and a move to Two Harbors.

Milford and Myrtle Johnson continued to actively fish out of the Star Island location
for several more years. Sometime in 1955, the Johnsons went to Crystal Cove to
help Emil Anderson pull in his nets when he became ill, Myrtle relates:

I liked it, when I got over here. I said I'd like to be here. And he

[Milford] kinda rode around with it [for a while], then he asked

[Superintendent] Gibbs if we could move over here. And he said,

"yeah, any time you want to" (Myrtle Johnson 1986).

With approval from the Park and the knowledge that the Crystal Cove location would

provide better fishing grounds, in 1956 Milford and Myrtle moved from Star Island.

Following their move, Bob Janke occupied the Star Island location for the 1956

season.

The historical description of the fishery is based upon photographs, interviews, and
site investigations. Almost nothing is known of the appearance of the island prior
to the arrival of Fritz and John. Milford Johson, Jr., identified foundations on the
north side of the island as the remains of an old log cabin, presumably predating

3
Milford and Arnold Johson are not related to Fritz and John E. Johnson. Milford

and Arnold's father, Mike was not related to Fritz and John's father Ed, although they

were contemporaries.

383

Fritz and John, and possibly belonging to the island's former owner Gilbert Jelly
(Milford Johnson Jr. 1986).

During the Fritz and John occupation, the number of buildings on the island
increased dramatically, as borne out by a photograph of the fishery taken in the
early 1930s (Fig. 6.17). The fishery was concentrated on the southwest side of the
island and several buildings, at least two docks, and a couple of activity areas, can
be identified in the photograph. These include: the fish house and small dock
(center), an unidentified structure and small dock (right), the fish tug STANLEY
partially sunk (far right), net reels for drying nets (behind unidentified structure), log
net house (center, behind fish house), residence (left, and behind covered fish tug),
boat pull out (far left), and a tool shed (far left, behind boat pull out).

In 1949, a number of the fishery buildings were photographed by the National Park
Service. The fish house had changed little, with the possible exception of an
addition to the rear of the fish house (Fig. 6.18). The original structure, built of split
logs is markedly different in construction from the rear portion of the building,
constructed using milled lumber. Additionally, the dock had been improved and
raised at least a couple of feet above the level of the lake. The notched log net
house appeared unchanged (Fig. 6.19). Arnold Johnson's residence (Fig. 6.20) was
located on a small point east of the fish house. If present in the Fritz and John
days, this building would have been to the right and just out of the photograph
reproduced as Figure 6.17. The construction date of this structure is unknown,
although it was there by 1949 when it was photographed by NPS personnel.

Milford and Myrtle Johson's residence (Fig. 6.21), present in the 1935 photograph
behind the covered fish tug (left), was remodeled at least once and possibly twice,
eventually taking on a "1" shape (Milford Johnson Jr. 1986). This house is on the
west side of the island, approximately 60 feet behind the concentration of fishery
buildings, and was undoubtedly the residence of either Fritz or John, or both. In
1940 Milford Jr. helped to build a shallow water dock on the west side of the island,
in front of their residence. By 1949, a small storage shed was also present north of
Milford and Myrtle's residence.

During the 1940's, the fishing and rowboat concession was established on the east
side of the island. No buildings are reported to have been built in this area,
although a boat pull out and work area were present (Milford Johnson, Jr. 1986). A
gas dock, present on the north side of the island in Rock Harbor Channel, was
probably built during the 1940s to service the concession launches and the fishery
tugs. Both DETROIT and WINYAH used this dock to off load gas.

Olli Runnig, a hired hand during the 1940s, cleared a small point on the northeast
side of the island. According to Milford Johnson, Jr., Olli used to go there "to get
drunk". The family referred to this area as Oil is Point (Milford Johnson Jr. 1986).

When the fishery was photographed in 1952, one notable change is obvious (Fig.
6.22). Sleeping (tent) cabins are present, behind the fish house and to the east of
the net house. The boat pull out area is more clearly shown in this photo. All
other buildings remain substantially unchanged.

Other features, not specifically identified through photographs or interviews, include
a flower and vegetable garden and a possible outhouse, both in the southwestern
half of the island. Finally, a path circumnavigated the entire island.

384

Fig. 6.17. Star Island Fishery in the early 1930s during the John Johnson occupation
(view looking north-northeast). The fish tug STANLEY is partially submerged at the
far right. NPS photo by E. C. Greyer.

Fig. 6.18. Rear of fish house showing addition. The original structure, built of split
logs is markedly different in construction than the rear portion using milled lumber.
NPS photo by C. R. Humberger, 1949.

385

Fig. 6.19. The net house is constructed using simple and expedient saddle-notched
logs, rather than elaborate corner notching techniques that typify traditional
Scandinavian building. The use of logs, rather than milled lumber, is typical of first
generation Swedish-Americans on the northshore. NPS photo by C. R. Humberger,
1949.

Fig. 6.20. Arnold and Olga Johnson residence was located on a small point east of
the fish house. Its date of construction is unknown although it was at the site by

1949 when it was photographed. NPS photo by C. R. Humberger, 1949.

386

Fig. 6.21. Milford and Myrtle Johnson residence was built sometime during the Fritz
and John Johnson occupation (1918-1936). Milford remodeled the structure at least
twice, eventually taking on a "T" shape. NPS photo by C. R. Humberger, 1949.

Fig. 6.22. Star Island Fishery in 1952. The only obvious building addition to the
fishery, from this view, is the addition of sleeping (tent) cabins behind the fish
house. NPS photo by Beaubin, 1952.

387

Prior Research: The fishery was photographed prior to 1936, and more thoroughly
documented in the late 1940s by various park personnel. The Park building files
contain historic photographs of the buildings and the Johnson family at the site. In
the mid-1950s the Johnson family and the fishery in Rock Harbor were reported on
by Hakala (1955:35). Rakestraw inventoried the site in 1967 and briefly discussed it
in his unpublished manuscript (1967b:27, 50).

In 1982 participants in a submerged cultural resources workshop visited the site as
part of a practical training exercise. The island and offshore areas were examined
for cultural remains associated with the Johnson family occupations and the fish tug
STANLEY. A base map of the site and nearshore remains was completed (Arthurs
1982). Photographic documentation of the vessel was undertaken, preliminary
measurements taken and a rough sketch of STANLEY produced (Labadie 1982).

In 1986 Milford Johnson, Jr. and Ken Vrana visited Star Island and, during a walk and
interview, discussed the fishery, its operation, and the former location of buildings
and various features. In 1987 a preliminary analysis of the artifact clusters and
spatial distribution of features was completed (Nordby 1987).

Intrusions and Data Limitations: After the departure of Johnsons and Bob Janke,
who lived at the site for the 1956 season following the move of Milford and Myrtle
to Crystal Cove, the National Park Service burned the fishery buildings. In June,
1963, the park removed two docks; those materials with other debris were burned.
Non-burnables were buried and top soil was spread over the location to cover the
scar. Three men with a tractor were employed for 10 days razing the fishery
(National Park Service work order and completion report, June 1963). Rakestraw
stated that no trace of the fishery operation remained on Star Island (Rakestraw
1967b:27).

Site Location: Star Island is one of the small islands in an archipelago running
southwest to northeast on the southeast side of Isle Royale. The chain, a natural
barrier to the open Lake, forms a long protected channel that offers safe refuge
against high winds and storm-driven waves coming out of the southeast.

Star Island is located between Inner Hill Island and Davidson Island on topographic
maps and nautical charts of the area (Fig. 6.1). The island can be reached by
entering Rock Harbor from the west, through Middle Islands Passage, and traveling
in a northeasterly direction passing West and East Caribou Islands, Mott Island and
Inner Hill Island. The fishery was located on the south side of Star Island and its
recorded location is township 66 north, range 33 west, section 8, SE 1/4, SW 1/4
on the USGS Isle Royale 15 minute topographic sheet

Administrative Status: The Star Island Fishery is included in the Isle Royale Interim
Cultural Sites Inventory as an undesignated site, number U-19. It does not have a
State of Michigan number and is not included on the National Register of Historic
Places.

Research Methodology: A portion of the land area of the fishery site was visually
examined through a controlled transect survey and by spot checks around known
building sites. The transects, spaced 4 meters apart and 2 meters wide, were
concentrated on the western end of the island. The estimated total island area
actually covered by transects is about 13 percent; the remainder of the island is
forested and covered by dense brush. The "spot checking" consisted of finding

388

archeological features, plotting their locations, and preparing a brief description;
when possible, feature function was identified in the field.

Divers conducted 180 degree controlled circle searches, from an established
baseline, immediately offshore of the fishery. The baseline was run adjacent to a
historic dock visible from the surface. As artifacts or features were found, depth,
distance to the baseline, and description were recorded by topside tenders via
hardline communications. A rough inventory of the objects in the vicinity of the
baseline was also completed by divers, in order to develop an impression of the
variety of artifacts in the water for a portion of the site. Divers and snorkelers
swam randomly across this area, simply noting objects they saw on slates, but
without making an underwater map. The area covered extended to the end of the
baseline from shore (approximately 30 meters offshore) and included the lake
bottom for about 15 meters on either side of the baseline. Approximate coverage
below the water ranged between 800 and 900 square meters.

The fish tug STANLEY, located in the channel between Inner Hill Island and Star
Island, was photographed and preliminary measurements and a sketch completed. A
cursory survey of the area adjacent to the wreck site was made to determine the
extent of wreckage scatter and the nature of associated debris observed. STANLEY,
discussed elsewhere in this chapter, will not be addressed here except insofar as
some debris from the fishery is present in the vicinity of the wreck.

Site Description: The southwestern end of Star Island still shows evidence of
clearing and construction in association with fishery activities. Much of the
remainder of the island remains covered by dense trees and brush.

A clearing on the northeast side, known as Olli's Point, is still evident. The fishing
and rowboat concession area, on the east side, can still be identified. The
foundations of the log cabin and the remains of the gas dock can still be found on
the north side of the island. The cribs from the gas dock extend approximately 20
feet offshore.

The former location of Milford and Myrtle Johnson's residence was bulldozed and
covered over with topsoil. Milford Jr's. small dock is no longer visible from the
surface. Scars along the shoreline for boat pull outs are present, and the clearing
that encompassed the Johnson family residences, the fish house, net house,
sleeping cabins, tool sheds, and out house is still evident. Foundations or leveled
ground from many of these structures are present. Iris and lilacs still bloom in the
old flower and vegetable garden.

The dock that serviced the fish house is in deteriorated condition, but cribs are still
visible just off shore. Scattered artifacts extend into Loreli Lane, nearly 100 feet
from shore.

Site Analysis: A total of 48 features, or clusters of artifacts, were identified and
mapped during the site examination. Two additional features were added following
the interview with Milford Johnson, Jr., bringing the total to 50. All features and
artifact clusters are identified in a base map of the site (Fig. 6.23). A combination
key and table (Fig. 6.24) accompanies the base map and is a listing and brief
description of all features noted, along with sizes and miscellaneous observations.
One column summarizes information from Milford Johnson, Jr., during an on-site
interview in 1986. Another column includes comments that link together historic
photographs, interview comments, proximity of features, and feature character or

389

ROCK HARBOR CHANNEL

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STAR ISLAND

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contents, when possible. Assignment of a functional association of the object or
feature with one of six general categories was attempted in the last column. The
categories include: domestic, commercial fishing, rowboat and fishing concession
(tourism), building or repair materials (potentially related to any of the first three
categories), mixed, and unknown.

In order to simplify analysis, Figure 6.25 indicates the several activity areas
discussed above and identified during the survey. Specific feature numbers are
included in the text only for identification on the base map and key.

Rowboat and Fishing Concession. Located in a clearing on the east side of
the island, it is approximately 20 by 20 meters (feature 31). The area includes: a
large boat pullout (feature 34) that contains skids or slides and steel cable; two
roughly rectangular cuts in the bank that may be where boats were beached, as
opposed to pulled from the water (features 32 and 33); an elongate man-made ridge
(feature 30); and an assortment of trash or debris including metal sheathing
fragments, wood, beer bottle fragments, stove lid, firebrick, foundation stones, soda
can, boat fragments, and a ringer washer with roller. All of the debris is in a small
depression.

Both Arnold and Milford Johnson, Sr. maintained and ran boats for their small
business. The debris associated with this area, not surprisingly, reflects this
activity. The steel cable is located where it may have been used with a winch for
hauling concession boats. Building materials are limited to scraps of wood, firebrick,
and foundation stones. The small depression near these items is probably a dump.
The only items present that are anomalous to boat maintenance and possibly
related to tourism, or to Olli Runnig, are the beer and soda bottles and Copenhagen
snuff tins. Their identified absence elsewhere suggests that, if this debris is from
tourist excursions and was not simply dumped into the lake, it was deposited near
the southeast side of the area.

Also present at the periphery of the site are the remains of several fish boxes
(feature 28). These may have been used to hold the catches of the vacationers who
took advantage of the Johnson Brothers business.

Qlli's Point. This is a cleared area (feature 35) with a light scatter of
unidentified artifacts on the island's northeast point. With nothing further known
about Olli Running, it is difficult to observe much about activities. Based upon
Milford Johnson, Jr's. remarks that this location was used by Olli as a place to get
drunk, liquor bottles, either on land or offshore should be present.

Old Log Cabin. The 4 by 7 meter foundations (feature 39) are the only
evidence of the former cabin. No artifacts were noted in this immediate area.
According to Milford Jr., the cabin was either never finished or already deteriorating
by the time of their move to the island in 1938.

Gas Storage Dock. The remains of an L-shaped dock (feature 49) consisting
of rock-filled cribs was identified in 1986 by Milford Jr. and later visually examined
by Submerged Cultural Resources Unit personnel. The narrow shelf on the north
side of the island provided an excellent location for a deep water dock, and cribs
were found offshore approximately 30 to 40 feet in 10 to 15 feet of water.
Miscellaneous, unidentified artifacts, were observed in this location. Based upon the
artifacts observed around other cribs at this location, and the proximity of this dock
to the rowboat and fishing concession, it can be hypothesized that the artifacts in

395

ROCK HARBOR CHANNEL

ARNOLD & OLGA
JOHNSON RESIDENCE

LORELI LANE

BOAT PULL OUT \ \ D0CK

0 10 M

I i

0 30 ft

I I

After Dave Arthurs, 1982

Fig. 6.25. Spatial distribution of activity areas on. Star Island. Drawing by Toni
Carrell.

396

this area should reflect commercial fishing and some tourism. A small pit with a
paint can (feature 38) may be a trash dump and an assortment of pipe, iron rods,
spikes, and notched timbers (feature 7) may be either building materials for or
salvaged materials from a crib dock.

Milford and Myrtle Johnson Residence. This general area is more complex
and includes a mixture of fishery and domestic features. The Milford Johson
residence, the fishery buildings, and the Arnold Johnson residence are tied together
in a 50 by 40 meter clearing (feature 48). For purposes of this discussion however,
it is separated from the fishery buildings and the Arnold Johnson residence simply
on the basis of domestic use.

The major focus of this area is the residence of Milford Johnson, Sr. and his wife,
Myrtle (feature 15 on base map, Figure 6.23). The scar observed on site and shown
on the base map is rectangular in shape, but Milford Jr. states that the house was
T-shaped. This area was bulldozed by the National Park Service and covered over
with top soil, effectively removing foundations. Adjacent to the house is a deposit
of mixed fishing and domestic debris including net sinkers, wire nails, burned bone
and burned glass (feature 10). A second debris area is just south of the house and
includes bits of wood and wire nails, a concrete pad or block, iron fragments, heated
glass and a bed fitting (features 11, 12, 13). A woodpile of 18" logs is in the same
area (feature 14). East of the residence is a 1 meter by 1 meter area that is the
possible location of an outhouse (feature 6).

Immediately west of the residence, Milford Jr. identified the location of a small,
shallow water dock, built in 1940 (feature 50). This dock, used for non-fishery
activities, is no longer visible from the surface, and no underwater reconnaissance
was made in this area.

Simply identified as a "storage shed" in National Park Service photographs (feature
41), remains of this small structure are northwest of the Milford Johnson, Sr.
residence. Milford Jr. identified this as a former net house area, however the 1949
photograph of the structure does not support this. In addition, the items found in
association with this feature, cut timber, rudder skeg with propeller shaft support,
tongue-and-groove wood slats, and iron rods, support a storage area identification.
The presence of the rudder skeg suggests this may have been a mixed domestic
and commercial fishing storage area.

A flower and vegetable garden (feature 22) is removed from the main residence
area, but should be included with it. Its obvious tie to domestic use precludes its
inclusion with the main fishery area.

Fishery Buildings. This area contains the fish house, net house, dock,
sleeping cabins, the residence of Arnold and Olga Johnson, and the offshore dock
remains. It is the most complex area, both in terms of the number of features and
the scope of identified submerged resources.

The fish house and log net house locations (features 4, 2) are identifiable by a cut
into the edge of the bank and foundations. East of the net house, and behind the
former fish house location, two poured cement pads are the remains of the sleeping
cabins (feature 3). Behind the sleeping cabins is a clearing containing plastic and
wooden floats (feature 17). Nearby are bits of rope, fragments of net reels, a
peaked roof structure with a heavy cast iron pot filled with "tar" residue and a

397

section of pipe (features 19, 20, 21). These are obviously related to the repair and
drying of nets.

All that remains of the Arnold Johnson residence is a cleared area with a concrete
block and rock foundation (feature 25). Nearby is a debris deposit containing glass,
wood, a wheel frame, plastic scraps, ceramics, window glass, fragments of a wood
stove and a lead sinker. With the exception of the lead sinker, all of the remains are
obviously related to domestic activities. Another debris area is further east from
the house and contains an assortment of wood planking, round wire nails, brown
paint cans, a section of stove pipe, and roofing paper. These items are probably of
mixed use.

Two boat pull out areas exist, one just to the east of Arnold Johnson's residence
(feature 26) and the second west of the main dock (feature 24). Milford Johson Jr.
also identified the second pull out area as once containing a tool shed. This shed is
visible in photographs of the site (Fig. 6.17).

The remains of the dock consist of dock footings on shore (feature 1) and
rock-filled cribs offshore (features 43, 44). Artifacts found in association with the
dock included broken dinnerware, white/blue enamel cookware, bottles and jars, toy
sailboat, 2 barrels, barrel hoops, engine parts, boat battery, fishing lure, milled
lumber, and an unidentified piece of wood. Not surprisingly, these items reflect
domestic, commercial fishing and building activities.

NPS Impact. This is an area of disturbed ground (Feature 23) that was
probably impacted by National Park Service efforts to "clean up" Star Island in 1963.

STANLEY. The wreck site is linked to Star Island by a light scatter of trash
and debris. Artifacts in the vicinity of the wreck are a mixture of remains that can
be associated with domestic, commercial fishing, and building debris. It is known
that the vessel was abandoned at the edge of the dock by 1935. When asked about
the loss of STANLEY, Milford Johnson, Jr. suggested that it was a purposeful scuttle
by John E. Johnson just to "clean up" before abandoning the fishery (Milford
Johnson Jr. 1986). The scattered materials found in the vicinity of the wreck could
have been inside the vessel at one time or been randomly thrown into the channel
by the various Johnson families. Rocks and a water tank were observed inside the
wreck.

Conclusion: The Johnson fishery at Star Island contains a diverse assemblage of
artifactual remains both on land and underwater. The site, occupied continuously
for more than 40 years, spanned the period from sail to gas propulsion of fishing
vessels and even included an involvement in the tourist industry on Isle Royale.
Remains reflect this diversity and additional identification of functional classes of
artifacts located during the terrestrial survey may be useful as a reference tool for
investigations of other fisheries. This site should be added to the State of Michigan
cultural sites inventory.

Minong Mine Town Site and Docks

Historical Background and Description: The Detroit-based Minong Mining Company
was organized in December, 1874. This company was one of three organized at the
same time by the same backers. The other two companies, the Cove Land Company
and the Ancient Land Company, appear to have been involved only in the holding of
land for the actual mining arm, the Minong Mining Company. The officers and

398

backers of the companies included S. G. Wright, John Belknof, C. M. Garrison,
Charles Root, George W. Gilbert, I. B. Wayne, and Hiram Walker, the well-known
distiller (Swinford 1876:62).

At the time the Minong Mining Company, and its sister companies, were organized,
nearly all of the land on Isle Royale was owned by the North American Mineral Land
Company. Renewed interest in copper mining and better prices prompted the
mining company backers to purchase 1,455 acres from North American in 1874. A
year later they obtained title to an additional 1,190 acres. By 1875 the Minong
Mining Company had title to all of the land in sections 22, 23, 26, 27, 34, and 35
(township 66 north), plus much of the remaining lands west to Todd Harbor
(Swinford 1876:61).

The lands purchased were described as being:

... traversed by heavy metalliferous belts and transverse veins, carrying
copper, elevated one hundred and fifty feet above the lake, and distant
but an average of half a mile from the cove .... The exploration of the
company was induced by the discovery of a very large amount of
ancient mine work, which had been done at some remote period in
the past the date of which was antecedent to the traditions of the
Indians, and by a race who worked only with stone hammers and fire
(Swinford 1876:62).

When the area was explored by mining engineers and geologists prior to setting up
the mining operations in McCargoe Cove, a large mass of copper was found in an
open pit that had been worked by the prehistoric Indian population. Swinford
estimated its weight at 5,720 pounds and described it as showing signs of "ancient
hammer marks"(1876:62).

Mining operations began in June, 1875, and were, by all accounts, immediately

profitable.

They have worked from that time [June] to the middle of November a
daily average of forty men, and have shipped to Detroit 54,287 pounds
of mass and barrel copper, and adding to this the 5,720 pound mass,
spoken of above, which came from the same open cut, they have
60,007 pounds, producing 88 percent ingot, leaving at the mine over
three hundred tons of very rich stamp rock (Swinford 1876:62).

When Emmett Hoyt Scott arrived at the mine in 1876 the operation had expanded

considerably.

I visited the location again a year later, and Mr. Davis had continued
his work in the ancient workings and had probably worked over two
acres and had deepened it in several places (Scott ca. 1924:164).

The mining operation was successful for a few years; however, by the late 1870s
production began to fall off. The quality of stamp rock being produced was yielding
only 1-1/2 percent copper. This was too low a percentage to be mined, stamped
and transported profitably. A reference to Isle Royale's prehistoric mines was found
in a contemporary newspaper account, "the ancients got the juice and left us
moderns little but the acrid rind to nibble at" (Ontonagon Herald 1879).

Jacob Houghton, the well-known Michigan geologist, later remarked in a letter that
the:

399

mining work done at the Minong was of the very worst. The incline
which was sunk ran off the bed and then resort was had to gophering
the surface with pits of all sizes ... Something over two hundred tons
of ingot copper was produced. [However] too little capital was
provided and those who furnished it became tired and quit (Houghton
1896).

At its peak of operations, the mining settlement of Cove had approximately 300
residents (Johns 1965). Two shafts were put down to nearly 300 hundred feet and
several open pit quarry mines were worked. Formal operations at the settlement
came to an end in 1880, although some people continued to live at the location and
the the mine was leased to John F. Johns from 1881 to 1883 (Johns 1965). Finally,
in 1885, the mine was shut down completely.

The first year of activity at the mining settlement required considerable preparation
and building in the immediate area. Swinford states that "they had to construct
everything to work with, having but the dense thicket of brush and timber at their
first landing"(1876:61). A warehouse and wharf were built at the mouth of
McCargoe Cove so that lake schooners could take on the copper ore without having
to actually enter the narrow cove and travel the two miles to the town of Cove.
This wharf also served as the debarkation point for passengers and freight, which
was then transported to the settlement via small tug.

Work at the mining operation that first year included building a wagon road from
the shoreline to the mines, the construction of an ore dock, a start on the railroad
to connect the ore dock and mines, the construction of a store, office, boarding
house, and cabins to accommodate 70 men with their families for that first winter
(Swinford 1876:62).

A visitor to the location the following year later wrote:

[By 1876] ... they had twelve nice comfortable log houses erected at
the foot of the hill and had commenced to erect a small stamp mill
upon a little stream close by. [Mine Superintendent Davis] had a good
dock of sufficiently large ... size for the location, a good store building
and had a good frame house for himself (Scott ca. 1924:169).

In addition, a blacksmith shop was built near the mine shafts and a dam was
constructed on a tributary of Chickenbone Creek. The pond created by the log dam
was used as a source of water for the steam powered stamp mill.

Prior Research: Among the earliest references to the Minong Mining operations is
the Mineral Resources of Lake Superior (Swinford 1876:61-63). Unpublished
references include Houghton's letter to George A. Newett in 1896, Emmett Hoyt
Scott's memoirs written between 1916 and 1924, and an undated article in the
Mining Gazette, circa 1900.

Rakestraw visited the site in 1964 and reported his findings in an unpublished
manuscript in 1965, and again in 1967. He stated at the time of his visit to the
town site of Cove, that there were no signs of previous habitation (1967a:45).

The area was examined again in 1976 by a Michigan State University researcher
prior to the preparation of a national register historic district nomination. At that
time, the blacksmith's shop as well as numerous features and machinery related to

400

the operation of the mine were located (McLuckie 1976:3). McLuckie was unable to
locate any physical remains of the town or the ore dock found by Rakestraw.

The entrance to McCargoe Cove was examined by Park Ranger Ken Vrana on several
occasions between 1982 and 1984. In 1984, Vrana and park volunteer Scott
McWilliam conducted underwater reconnaissance surveys in the area adjacent to the
present National Park Service dock.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: Edgar Johns reported that a few years after the
site was abandoned by his father and his associates in 1885, there was a forest fire
that burned the area of the town, the cemetery and much of the surrounding
wooded land (Johns 1965). The only building reported to have escaped was the
blacksmith shop. The McCargoe Cove area was not affected by the 1939 burn,
which destroyed nearly 1/3 of the forested land on the Island.

The present NPS dock was installed in 1957. Dredging operations accompanied
these activities and damage to the general landing area occurred. Since that date
prop wash from boats arriving and departing from the McCargoe Cove campground
using the present NPS dock have caused surficial erosion of the soft silty bottom,
impacting cultural deposits associated with this area. Further damage to the area
occurred in 1983 when the it was again dredged.

In 1964, Oshkosh Public Museum divers examined a portion of the mouth of
McCargoe Cove. They discovered, and later as private individuals, removed a "hand
forged" iron folding stock anchor approximately 4 feet in height circa early 1800s.
The anchor was donated to the Oshkosh Public Museum. These divers also
collected a variety of historic artifacts from around Birch Island, possibly from the
Captain Francis Fishery site (Robert Hruska personal communication, November
1986). An unsuccessful effort was made by the National Park Service to have the
artifacts returned to the park.

Site Location: McCargoe Cove is located on the northeastern side of Isle Royale
(Fig. 6.1). The entrance to the cove can be reached by traveling from the northeast
end of Todd Harbor, passing Hawk Island, a distance of approximately 6 miles, or by
traveling southwest through Amygdaloid Channel, approximately 2 miles beyond the
National Park Service Ranger Station. Todd Harbor, Hawk Island, Amygdaloid
Channel, and McCargoe Cove are all geographic place names that are clearly marked
on both USGS topographic maps and NOAA nautical charts.

McCargoe Cove is a narrow inlet approximately 2 miles long that is, on average, 300
yards wide. The site of the town of Cove, the Minong Mine features, and the
present NPS campground and dock are all located at the southwestern end of the
inlet.

Administrative Status: Minong Mine and all of its associated features are included
in the Isle Royale Cultural Sites Inventory and are recorded by the State of Michigan
as site number 20IR24. The historic town site, called Cove, and the ore dock
associated with the town are included in the Minong Mine Historic District,
nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in May, 1976. A wharf located
at the mouth of McCargoe Cove, referred to as the Minong Mine wharf, is included
only in the Park's interim Cultural Sites Inventory as an undesignated site, number
U-3 (Maass 1984).

401

Research Methodology: The McCargoe Cove area was dived intermittently by IMPS
Ranger Ken Vrana. A "record of dive" form was filled out by Vrana, or others
accompanying him, following each dive. This form detailed the dive plan,
underwater conditions, purpose of the dive, and any cultural or natural features
encountered.

Site Description: The Minong Mine National Register Historic District encompasses
275 acres and includes all of the known prehistoric and historic open pits and
vertical mine shafts associated with prehistoric and historic mining in the Minong
Mine area. The nomination includes a complete description of all of the known
features, as they existed in 1976. The condition of the various features, except for
natural deterioration, has changed little since that time. That description is
paraphrased below and accompanies Figure 6.26, a generalized site map.

The district is comprised of a large area of open pits, several vertical
mine shafts, piles of rock tailings, a former wagon road, the ruins of a
log dam, stamp mill and blacksmith shop, and the sites of a small
village settlement [Cove], [the roadbed from] a cog railroad [Figure
6.27], and ore dock, and several horizontal shafts, all dating from the
decade between 1875 and 1884.

... A wooden National Park Service marker identifies the former wagon
road which travels .8 mile ... to the copper mine site. Approximately
500 feet north and parallel to the wagon road is the Minong Ridge, the
site of prehistoric Indian pits .... The dirt wagon road ... terminates at
a large (approximately 6 acres) area of rock tailings and open pits ....
About 500 feet west are several vertical shafts ... with no cribbing
remaining Also within this area are the scattered remains of ore cars
and the ruins of the former blacksmith shop.

The blacksmith shop ... is of double dove-tailed pine log construction.
It is approximately 18 feet across its west elevation and 25 feet deep.
A section of each wall remains ... [and] a foundation of a forge, six
feet square is still present.

... Along the tributary [of Chickenbone Creek] approximately halfway
between the mining site and McCargoe Cove, is a former log dam.
Built in the 1870s, the dam is constructed of both full cedar logs and
some lap-jointed log sections. Until the spring of 1974 when a beaver
dam built on top of it caused ... it to break, the dam remained almost
intact.

Approximately 750 feet east of the log dam are the ruins of the
foundation of a steam-powered stamp mill .... Across from the stamp
mill is a large area of bare ground. It is possible that this is the site
of horse stables ....

At McCargoe Cove, approximately 200 feet south of the present
National Park Service dock, Rakestraw located the remains of an ore
dock, which were not visible in 1975 .... There are not visible ruins of
the settlement, which consisted of a warehouse, office building, store
and numerous dwellings (McLuckie 1976).

The large wharf at the mouth of McCargoe Cove is not included in the boundary of
the historic district.

402

Fig. 6.26. Generalized site map of Minong Mine operation. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

403

Fig. 6.27. The cog railroad bed is still clearly evident at the Minong Mine site. IMPS
photo.

Lake Superior

Mouth of McCargoe Cove

Isle Royals

Aftar Ivs, 1847

appro* 750'

Fig. 6.28. Location of historic wharf and warehouse built in 1870 at the mouth of
McCargoe Cove. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

404

Site Analysis: The most prominent features inside the mouth of McCargoe Cove,
and one that has been recorded by the park as an undesignated site, are the
remains of a large wharf (Fig. 6.28). The wharf, along with a large warehouse, were
built in connection with the Minong mining operations in 1875. Photographed by F.
W. Childs, the wharf was readily apparent and still partially planked over in 1937.
While it is impossible to determine whether this was original planking, or a later
repair job done by local fishermen, the materials used for the job were quite
surprising; old freighter hatch covers (Fig. 6.29).

The cribs associated with this wharf were still protruding above the surface of the
water as recently as the 1950s (Fig. 6.30). The cribs for the wharf are about 30 to
40 feet off shore, and each crib is approximately 12 feet square. The original size of
the wharf was probably close to 60 feet wide and extended 40 feet from the
shoreline to the deepwater side. When Maass recorded this site in March, 1984, she
noted that while the cribs no longer broke the surface, they were still visible.

Rakestraw reported that the Oshkosh Public Museum divers found a cargo of
machinery in the narrow entrance to the bay in 1964 (1967:45). On three separate
occasions between 1983 and 1984 Park Ranger Ken Vrana, accompanied by another
NPS diver, conducted reconnaissance surveys at the mouth of McCargoe Cove; the
purpose of these dives was maintenance-related. Vrana observed some of the
same materials reported to by the Oshksoh divers 20 years earlier. Iron machinery,
pieces of wheels, broken china or other utility ware, plus a kedge anchor dating
from the period of the mine are present (Vrana 1983). There was no evidence to
suggest that the remains represented a cargo of machinery, rather they may have
been discards or, in the case of the wheels, used to attach markers to indicate reefs
in the entrance.

Investigation of the area offshore from the historic town site revealed the presence
of two previously unrecorded docks (Fig. 6.31). The larger of the two docks, 30 to
35 feet in length, runs parallel to the shoreline and was constructed of rock-filled
cribs 8 to 10 feet on a side. The timbers used in the construction of the cribs are
fastened by wooden dowels, both round and square spikes and large steel drifts.
The deepwater side of the cribs are approximately 20 feet from the shore in 10 feet
of water (McWilliam 1984).

This dock was probably the utility dock used by the town for loading and unloading
passengers and miscellaneous freight. Scott (1924:69) refers to a dock "of
sufficiently large size" at the town site; the dock described by McWilliam is probably
the dock that Scott mentioned. The presence of a historic dock in the location of
the present NPS dock has been confirmed by Bob Janke. The long time
maintenance worker at the Park observed the remains of a dock in 1954, prior to the
1957-58 construction of the present NPS dock (Janke personal communication,
March 1987).

A second, smaller, dock was found just north of the utility dock. Located in water
that is not deep enough to accommodate any but very shallow draft craft, this may
have been a secondary docking site. Cribs, constructed of dove-tailed logs pinned
by spikes similar to the utility dock, are in deteriorated condition.

The town of Cove consisted of at least a warehouse, store, boarding house, office
and more than a dozen log cabins, was reported to have burned sometime between
1880 and 1891 (Rakestraw 1967a:45). During Rakestraw's reconnaissance in 1967

405

Fig. 6.29. Old freighter hatch covers were used in either the construction or repair
of the Minong Mine wharf at the mouth of the cove. NPS photo by F. W. Childs,
1937.

Fig. 6.30. The cribs associated with the wharf were still protruding above the water
in the 1950s. NPS photo.

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407

and later during the survey by McLukie in 1976, no remains or foundations from the
town were located. In 1984 McWilliam and Vrana discovered several foundations on
shore in the same area as the docks. Two structure foundations, 14 feet by 20 feet
and 20 feet by 20 feet were documented in a sketch map.

The ore dock that Rakestraw reported in 1967 as being 200 feet south of the
present NPS dock was not relocated by McLukie in 1976, nor were the remains of a
dock in that location found by Vrana and McWilliam. The reported location of the
ore dock may be erroneous as McWilliam and Vrana found the remains of an early
dock just a few feet northeast of the present NPS dock. The prop wash from the
visits of the large ferry VOYAGER II have created a natural test pit adjacent to the
present dock. In that "test pit", McWilliam and Vrana found dove-tailed timbers and
pins (McWilliam 1984). When the present NPS dock was constructed in 1957, the
dredging and site preparation activities destroyed much of the old ore dock. The
silt from Chickenbone Creek fans outward from its mouth, creating a small delta. In
order to create and maintain sufficient water depth around the present NPS dock,
removal of the silt build-up was necessary. Despite dredging in 1957 and again in
1983, a wide variety of historic materials associated with the mine remain in the
very silty bottom.

Conclusion: The area at the mouth of McCargoe Cove would benefit from additional
research regarding the wheels' reported by Rakestraw. Were the wheels simply
anchors for buoys to guide schooners or steamers into the mouth of the cove and
to the main wharf, or were they, as Rakestraw suggests, part of a lost shipment of
machinery? The cribs located just inside the bay, presently listed by the park as
U-3, should be documented and added to the existing Minong Mine Historic District.

The cribs located just offshore of the town site, possibly referred to by Scott,
should be investigated. The nature of the settlement would have required the
construction of both a utility and an ore dock. The presence of the cribs reinforces
the need to extend examination of cultural sites to include offshore components. In
this case, the remains of the structure foundations for the town were discovered
only after divers located the cribs.

The known foundations from the town site should be documented and a thorough
survey conducted for additional structural remains. Presently the trail from the
campground to the lake passes directly through the foundations of the larger
building; re-routing traffic to a second, currently unmaintained scenic lakeshore trail
in front of both buildings, is recommended to reduce further impacts to this site.

The remains of the old ore dock along with the area surrounding the present NPS
dock, should be documented. Dredging in this location should be prohibited until
the site is investigated. Impacts from the prop wash from VOYAGER II will have to
be reduced as much as possible. Limiting the amount of time the prop is actually
turning while the vessel is at the dock is one alternative.

All of the offshore remains and the associated docks at the southwestern end of the
cove are presently located within the Minong Mine Historic District. Further, the
underwater components of this site are closed to all diving activities.

The land portion of the Minong Mine Historic District is clearly significant, based
upon National Register of Historic Places criteria. What is not as clear, is that the
underwater areas associated with this district are equally significant. The mining
operation was established at the location of prehistoric copper mines. The

408

possibility of remains, from the prehistoric period through the late 1880s, could
prove to be among the most significant to be found on the Island. Their scope
potentially includes prehistoric pottery and hammerstones, late Nineteenth Century
mining equipment and tools, as well as the 'refuse' from the town of Cove. The
majority of the discards found offshore are from a population of 300 men, women,
and children, whose lives revolved around mining and survival in a wilderness
frontier. Those remains can provide us insights into a lifestyle and an era that
would not otherwise be available through examination of similar land sites. The
historic district is a strong candidate for the development of an interpretive
brochure to guide interested visitors.

Island Mine Town Site, Powder House, and Wharf

Historical Background and Description: In the early 1870s, the North American
Mineral Land Company sponsored several copper explorations to Isle Royale.
Samuel W. Hill, an experienced surveyor, was hired by the company to examine high
probability areas and report his findings. As a result of his discovery of prehistoric
Indian pits and copper bearing rock near Siskiwit Bay, the company set up an
operation in that vicinity. This company may have been backed by Quincy Mining
Company capital, because the president of Quincy Mining served as both as
secretary and treasurer of the subsidiary of American Mineral Land Corporation, the
Island Mining Company (Daily Mining Gazette 1969).

The new operations on Isle Royale evoked a great deal of interest in the region, as

evidenced by a newspaper account at that time:

[Headline] Explorations for copper will be conducted in Isle Royale
Island and strong financial backing is assured — Concern has just
been incorporated and papers have been filed in Lansing.

Of great interest to Keweenaw County residents is the news from
Lansing, which says that the Island Copper Company [sic], a $1,000,000
corporation, has filed articles of incorporation with the secretary of
the State of Michigan. The offices of the company are at Houghton
and Duluth, and it's operations will be confined to Houghton and
Keweenaw Counties, Michigan. ... The company is capitalized at
$1,000,000 divided into 40,000 shares at $25 each. ... It is believed
that the majority of the incorporators are temporary directors. When
the organization of the company is perfected, the real backers of the
enterprise will come out (Keweenaw Miner, March 19, 1872).

In the fall of 1873, a town was laid out by the Island Mining Company, and work
began in earnest for the construction of roads, dwellings, shops, a warehouse,
powder house, stamp mill, tramway, sawmill, and a large wharf. It was reported that
nearly half of the annual production of the Ashland, Wisconsin lumber mills,
approximately 400,000 board feet of lumber, was purchased by the Island Mining
Company and taken to Isle Royale for the ambitious construction project (Rakestraw
1967a:40).

Glenn Merritt recounts how his father, Alf Merritt, was involved in the construction
of roads and exploration for copper around the island at this time:

... the next time [my father] went to Isle Royale was in 1873, when he
had taken the contract to build about two miles of road from the head
of Siskiwit Bay up to what was known as the Island Copper Mine.
This took him almost 'till snowfall ... to complete as much as they

409

could .... I think it was right around Thanksgiving time when they
decided they'd have to get out of there .... They couldn't complete the
road so they had to leave in 1873, that fall, and sail back to Duluth in
a Mackinaw boat with his eleven men. Then he came back the next
year, in 1874, to complete this road so they could haul the machinery
up to the location or claim where they were going to prospect for
copper.

After he completed the road, he stayed that summer and worked with
Captain Samuel W. Hill ... who was famous for his name because he
was probably one of the most profane men that ever stepped on the
island. They put down test pits in various places around the island
that summer, looking for copper (Merritt 1965).

In the spring of 1874, a letter was received at the Portage Lake Mining Gazette, a

small local newspaper, from two Island Mine residents:

... Our people are all well and in good spirits. There has not been a
single case of sickness, nor one injured at the mine. Four men met
with an accident while quarrying rock at the dock last fall, but they are
all out now. Everybody seems to be contented, and there has not
been a single breach of peace since close of navigation. This is not
bad for a population of 130 people. Yours truly, Pick and Gad
(Rakestraw 1965:13).

In addition to the summer explorations in 1874, the winter of 1874-75 was devoted

to intensive prospecting for veins of copper (Christian 1932:10).

The mine flourished for a few years under Island Mining Company proprietorship.
Three shafts were eventually laid down going to depths of 250, 150, and 50 feet,
respectively. Overall, the mining operation was the second largest producer of
copper on the island. Between 1874 and 1878 the claim produced 213,245 pounds
of refined copper (Butler and Birbank 1929).

In 1873, at the same time that the Island Copper Company was gearing up for

production at Isle Royale, the copper mining industry was weakening. The price of

copper began a steady decline. In 1876, a fire destroyed much of the wharf, above

the water line, and swept up the road toward the settlement. Sarah Christian, the

young wife of the mine superintendent, reported on the extent of the fire in a

privately published reminiscence of her life at the mine during 1874 and 1875.

... While we were at service in our little church, one of the men came

in ... and said, "The dock is on fire and every man here is asked to go

to the rescue." All with one accord responded. ... When we arrived

what an appalling picture we found. Men black with smoke and sweat,

eyes bloodshot, breath coming in gasps. It was awful! ... All of our

officials were there directing, working by the side of the men. They

were fighting to keep the flames away from the powder magazine. ...

The men in command, realizing this was to be a big fight of indefinite

length, organized the men into shifts and sent home for a few hours

of rest, sleep, and food those who were most exhausted.

It was two days and nights of hardship and terror ... for the men who
had to make the physical effort to fight the fire and hope against hope
they might stop its further progress .... The only road out was at the
wharf and the fire was roaring up the road through the woods right

410

toward our Location. The only [other] way out was a trail to the
north, a mere footpath winding through the pine forest ....

By this time the roar of the fire was warning us of its nearness and
blazing embers blown by the wind fell on our roofs and into our
woodpiles .... Small boys helped ... keep the roofs cleared and pulled
[the embers] off the woodpile all over the Location. ... We knew we
must very soon start on our march [into the woods] or the flames
would overtake us .... This was Tuesday afternoon. ... then the only
thing that could save us came — rain. ... The rain came down in
torrents and lasted all through the night and the next day, and ended
all menace of fire (Christian 1932:36-41).

The combination of the fire, the downward trend in copper prices, and declining
quality of copper being mined from the settlement, resulted in a loss of confidence
by investors in the mine. The Portage Lake Mining Gazette reported that all work at
the mine had ceased as of September 23, 1875. The Island Mining Company
cancelled contracts for supplies, materials, machinery, and even offered their tug,
MAYTHEN, for sale (Rakestraw 1965:14).

Ironically, a legislative act creating the new county of Isle Royale, with the town site
at Island Mine being the county seat, was enacted on March 4, 1875, just 6 months
before the company ceased operations (Dustin 1946:699).

The following year, 1876, the mine was leased to the Island Tribute Company who
set up a small stamp mill. This company stamped rock that had already been mined
and did not engage in further excavation. This operation was short-lived and was
also put out of business as a result of a fire. In 1879 all operations at Island Mine
ended.

While little or no physical remains exist at the town site, both Sarah Christian and
Kate Eliza Knowels-Conary have provided first-hand information about the site.
[Our] house was a story and a half frame house. It had, along with
the boarding house, the distinction of being the only frame house on
the mine, though I had rather hoped for a log house. ... The company
store was very abundantly stocked with all in the way of salt meats,
fish, and such canned vegetables as were available so many years
ago. [In addition beef] was hung in a cold shed.

We had a little building used for school weekdays and for worship on
Sundays, and for the midweek prayer meeting. ... [and the doctor's]
abode was in rooms back of his office, which was a comfortable log
cabin (Christian 1932:6-17).

At the foot of the hill was what was called "officer's row." ... Then
there was another row nearer the mine called "miner's row." The little
houses were there. ... There was a little school with about 25 children
attending. ... [Once] there was a big explosion at the mine. And in
this little cemetery these men were laid to rest. A rickety fence was
made around the little plot. ... There might have been about six or
seven men killed. ... When we left Chicago, we came over on the
MANISTEE. We were nine days on the Great Lakes. ... It was a big
one [wharf] at Siskiwit Bay (Conary 1939).

411

The historic description of both the powder house and wharf is conjectural and is
based upon information gathered in 1982 during examination of the sites. The
powder house is constructed of locally available sandstone. The dimensions of the
structure were approximately 40 feet 6 inches by 20 feet 8 inches and the walls
stood at least 12 feet high. It has only one door, on the north side, which is 3 feet
wide and 6 feet 5 inches high, made of cast iron. No physical remains at the site
could be absolutely attributed to the roof.

The large wharf below the town was laid out in the shape of an "L". It was between
410 and 420 feet in length, on the long side, and is 155 in length on the short side
of the "L". The width of the wharf varies from 36 feet on the long side to 35 feet
on the short side. None of the extant cribs reaches the surface of the water, so it
is not clear how high the wharf was. It is estimated that it stood at least 14 feet
high, at its highest point. The present-day water depth is 14 feet; however, lower
lake levels in the past prevailed, and the wharf may have been 14 feet or less.

Prior Research: The earliest published reference to Island Mine is Alfred C. Lane's
Geological Survey of Isle Royale (1898). Other references include Sarah Barr
Christian's published narrative of her life at the mining settlement during the years
1874-1875 (Christian 1932). Mrs. Kate Eliza Knowels-Conary, a childhood resident at
the mine, was interviewed in 1939 by a Daily Mining Gazette staff reporter; a short
article appeared in June of that year on her remembrances about the town and the
mine. Both Fox (1911) and Dustin (1932:5 and 1957:10) referenced the mining
operations, while Hakala focused on the development of the Island Copper Mining
Company (1955:27, 31).

The site was visited by Rakestraw in 1964 as part of the background and
documentation for the historical base map of Isle Royale. At that time he examined
the powder house on Senter Point, the mine, its directly associated machinery, and
features including the stamp mill, the rail line, and the tramway. Rakestraw followed
up on the 1964 work at Island Mine in 1966, when he examined and briefly reported
on the town site, cemetery, and historic wharf (Rakestraw 1967a:2, 39-43).

The site was visited again in 1975 by archeologists from the National Park Service
Mid-West Archeological Center who recorded the mine, town site, and cemetery for
the State of Michigan archeological sites inventory.

In 1984 Isle Royale cultural resources specialist Carol Maass, park rangers Ken Vrana
and Craig Axtell, and Submerged Cultural Resources Unit archeologist Toni Carrell,
visited the site in order to document the historic wharf and examine the offshore
area for additional cultural resources.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: The powder house and town site survived the
1874-75 fire that swept through the area. That fire, which began below the town,
eventually destroyed much of the wharf above the water line. Contemporary reports
of the fire indicated that it was confined to the wharf and the area from the wharf
up the road toward the town (Christian 1939:35-39). A second fire at the stamp mill
in 1879 effectively ended operations at the mine.

Rakestraw reports that building remains from the town were visible until the early
1930s. Civilian Conservation Corps veterans told Rakestraw that they were still able
to "trace out the streets" in the 1930s and contemporary photographs in the
National Park Service files show the presence of buildings (Rakestraw 1967a:41). It
is also reported that much of the structural lumber from the town was removed

412

during the 1920s and 1930s by local fishermen, a common practice on Isle Royale
(Rakestraw 1967a:41).

The 1936 fire, which destroyed nearly one-third of the island, may have also swept
through the area of the town. Reports of the exact path of the fire are confusing.
If the fire did come through this area the resulting destruction, when combined with
the removal of lumber by fishermen, would have effectively eliminated most of the
surface structural remains of the town.

Site Location: Island Mine and its associated features are located in the northwest
corner of Siskiwit Bay (Fig. 6.1). The powder house can be reached by traveling in a
westerly direction from Point Houghton toward Senter Point, a geographic place
name clearly marked on USGS 15 minute topographic maps and NOAA nautical
charts. The powder house is on the northeast corner of the point and is recorded
as being within Township 64 North, Range 37 West, Section 34, NW 1/4, SW 1/4 (Fig.
6.32).

A small cove, locally known as Carnelian Beach, separates the location of the
powder house from the mine, town site, cemetery and wharf. These latter features
can be reached by traveling northeasterly across the bay from Senter Point, a
distance of approximately 1 mile. The mine is recorded in Section 29, N 1/2, NW
1/4, NE 1/4, and the cemetery is recorded in Section 28, S 1/2, SW 1/4, NW 1/4.
The town site is recorded as being within T64N, R37W, Section 27, S 1/2, SE 1/4,
NW 1/4. The historic wharf is clearly visible just beneath the surface of the water
below the town site. The town site can be reached by walking up a well-defined
road, a distance of approximately 350 feet, to a broad flat terrace.

Administrative Status: Several of the cultural features associated with the operation
of Island Mine have been identified and recorded by the Park and the State of
Michigan. Island Mine, the town site, and the cemetery are all included on the Isle
Royale Cultural Sites Inventory. They are are recorded as archeological sites
numbered 20IR11, 20IR8, and 20IR12, respectively. The powder house at Senter
Point is listed as U-42 on a park maintained list of undesignated sites (Maass
1984). The historic wharf associated with the town is not specifically included in
the archeological survey form, nor is it included on the classified structure field
survey or historic structure work sheet; the latter two are internal park documents
(Cellar 1975). None of the sites are included on the National Register of Historic
Places.

Research Methodology: NPS divers examined an 80 foot wide corridor, down to a
water depth of 10 feet, immediately offshore of Senter Point. Coverage extended
from the extreme northwest side of the point, around the tip, to the southwest side.

A diver survey was also conducted immediately offshore of, and directly adjacent to,
the historic wharf below the town site. The shape of the wharf determined the area
of diver coverage that extended out 15 feet beyond the extant remains and down to
a water depth of nearly 20 feet.

Site Description: The remains of the Island Mine powder house are on a small
peninsula, surrounded by a dense undergrowth of shrubs and small trees (Fig. 6.33).
The sandstone structure covers approximately 840 square feet and is the only
building at the site. No other features or artifacts were found on shore.

413

MINE

y'cU

RESERVOIR

DAM

mile

Fig. 6.32. Island Mine town site, wharf, powder house and associated features.
Drawing by Toni Carrell.

H.r\

,-**» ti

■ v •

Fig. 6.33. Remains of the powder house on Senter Point. IMPS photo by Carol
Maass.

414

The extant remains of the historic Island Mine wharf consists of 32 cribs in the
shape of an "L". The overall dimensions of the remaining cribs are 360 feet by 36
feet on the long side and 155 feet by 35 feet on the short side. The extant cribs
begin approximately 55 feet offshore in 5 feet of water. The long side of the crib is
on a true bearing of 155 degrees.

The only evidence of the former location of the town is a large broad flat terrace.

Site Analysis: The powder house is in poor condition, with no roof and the walls in
various states of deterioration. The 40-foot 6-inch by 20-foot 8-inch structure is
constructed of native sandstone. The 2/3 of the east facing wall is missing; it
stands only 4 feet 9 inches high at its highest point. The north wall is in good
condition and is a full 12 feet high along most of its length. The south and west
walls are also in good condition, reaching a full 12 feet in height along most of their
lengths. The building has only one door, which is on the north wall. It is 4 feet
wide and 7 feet tall. The original door and frame, made of cast iron, is still on its
hinges. The 3 foot by 6-foot 5-inch door is in an excellent state of condition.

A road from the historic Island Mine wharf serviced the powder house location (Fig.
6.32). It appears, however, that the road was only a secondary access route from
the mine and town. The primary access was by boat, less than one mile across
Carnelian Bay. Evidence for the water route being the primary access is provided by
the powder house structure. The only door faces north, toward the shoreline and
Carnelian Bay, rather than west, toward the road. Water transport of the unstable
explosives used at that time would have been safer than carrying it several miles
over a bumpy dirt road. Further, examination of the rocky offshore area immediately
in front of the powder house door resulted in the location of numerous iron spikes
similar to those used to pin logs together to form cribs for docks. The presence of
these spikes strongly suggests that a small dock was built on the north side of the
peninsula to facilitate loading and unloading of explosives.

The offshore survey of the north side of Senter Point resulted in the discovery of
numerous artifacts. As previously mentioned, several 11 inch iron spikes were
found widely scattered north of the powder house door. In addition pieces of
broken crockery and two small aluminum bowls were found in the same general
location. The five-inch diameter bowls have a rolled lip and the word "Kellog's"
embossed in the bottom. The crockery and bowls do not appear to be from the
Island Mine era, rather they probably date from the early 1930s, when the Civilian
Conservation Corps had a camp nearby. That camp is discussed in greater detail
elsewhere in this chapter. In addition to the spikes, crockery, and bowls, several
pieces of sheet metal, 1 to 1 1/2" wide and 1/2" thick, were found wedged into the
rocky bottom. There were no markings or other identifying features on the pieces
of metal that would suggest their function or purpose.

The wharf cribs across the small bay, below the town site, are in various states of
deterioration. Arranged in double rows in the shape of an "L", the wharf cribs
consist of 30 11-foot by 11-foot sections and 2 35-foot by 15-foot sections. The
double sections are at the foot of the "L" and at the end of the short side,
respectively (Fig. 6.34). The width of the historic wharf was 36 feet on the long axis
of the "L" and 35 feet on the short axis. This measurement is based upon the
overall width of extant crib rows.

The cribs are constructed of white pine logs, notched on the ends, and pinned
together with 11 inch iron spikes (Fig. 6.35). These spikes are identical in size and

415

(14' DEPTH) (14' DEPTH)

(WATER 8' DEPTH)

SCATTERED CRIB
ROCK

BEDROCK

TO
SHORE LINE

10 0 10 20 30

Fig. 6.34. Island Mine wharf base map. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

416

Fig. 6.35. Rock-filled cribs used in the wharf were constructed of notched white
pine logs pinned together with iron spikes. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 6.36. Buoys mark the outline of the extant cribs. The NPS boat is anchored on
the deepwater side of the wharf. NPS photo by Carol Maass.

417

shape to those found offshore of the powder house across the bay. The cribbing
logs range in size from 12 inches to 24 inches in diameter. None of the cribs reach
the surface of the water, although they vary in height from one course of logs, i.e.
12 to 24 inches, up to just over 8 feet 6 inches high. The cribs are filled with
rounded boulders, and some have spilled out and are resting upon the bottom.

The cribs do not extend from the shore line, but start 55 feet offshore in 5 feet of
water. Natural deterioration of the cribs most likely accounts for their absence
closer in-shore. It is estimated that the overall length of the wharf when it was
built in 1872-73 was between 410 and 420 feet (Fig. 6.36). This estimate is based
upon the distance of the extant cribs from the present-day shore line. The overall
height of the wharf, at the deep water side, is estimated to have been 14 feet.

The diver survey of the area around the extant cribs did not result in the location of
any notable artifacts that would have been associated with historic occupation of
the area. Rakestraw reports finding machinery associated with the mine along the
shore line during his 1966 survey. No historic period machinery or tools were found
around the wharf in 1982, although crib pins were found scattered around the
rocks. Recent beer bottles and aluminum soda cans were found in the general
vicinity.

Conclusion: The town site, powder house, and wharf areas contain material remains
that are representative of the period from 1871 to 1880, as well as some remains
representative of the early 1930s. Mining activities resulted in major impacts to the
ecology and economic development of Isle Royale. The remoteness and intermittent
nature of both communications and transportation forced these early miners to be
completely self-sufficient. Their discards, as well as other material remains, may be
able to provide additional information about their daily lives and what was
considered important for survival in what was essentially a "frontier" town.

It is recommended that the powder house, its off-shore component, and the wharf
below the town site be listed with the State of Michigan in the statewide
archeological sites inventory. Unless extensive additional research is conducted at
both the powder house and wharf to prove otherwise, it does not appear these sites
individually contain sufficient intrinsic significance to warrant their nomination to the
National Register. These sites, together with the other remains associated with
Island Mine, can contribute to the significance of a historic district. This area
should be considered for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places as
the Island Mine Historic District.

This area is also an excellent candidate for self-directed interpretation. A simple
brochure outlining the history of the mine and all of its associated features,
including the powder house and dock, coupled with a sketch map with the various
features indicated, would provide the visitor insights into an important part of Isle
Royale's history.

Ghyllbank Mining/Lumbering Wharf

Historical Background and Description: Following the closure of the last of the
copper mines in the early 1880s, the North American Mineral Land Company decided
to sell off its holdings on Isle Royale. In the latter half of the 1880s the British
were making substantial investments in American mines and the holdings of the
North American Mineral Land Company came to the attention of a British syndicate.
The syndicate eventually purchased not only the North American holdings, but the

418

Minong interests as well, a total of approximately 84,000 acres for $3 an acre
(Rakestraw 1965:15). The charter of the Isle Royale Land Corporation permitted
them to explore for copper, but not to mine it. A subsidiary company, the Wendigo
Copper Company was founded by the parent syndicate and 8,000 acres were set
aside for it in the Washington Harbor area.

Edgar John's recalled some of the history of the development during an interview in

1965:

... it was 1889, there was some surveyors came from the south shore,
and they were from the English syndicate ... and they owned about
two-thirds of Isle Royale, or half of it, the west end. They came over
and got [my father] to go with them, and they surveyed ... all over the
west end of Isle Royale. Then they went back, nothing was done that
year. But then the next year they came over and started to mine, and
they hired [my father] right away to be in the mine ....

The Wendigo Copper Company conducted extensive explorations at the head of
Washington Harbor. Shafts and prospects were dotted along Washington Creek. At
the same time the headquarters settlement of the Ghyllbank Copper Company was
developed. It consisted of a huge log office building, store houses, sheds, boarding
houses, log cabins and a large wharf (Fig. 6.37). In addition at the mining location,
approximately 2 miles inland on Washington Creek, the settlement of Wendigo was
developed. It consisted of a number of log cabins for the workers on location plus
two boarding houses for the single men.

... they built two big boarding houses, because half of the men wasn't

married, and part of them was married, you see. And all those single

men; [my mother] had about 50 or 60 of them in that boarding house,

and she ran that boarding house all the time that the mine was

working, and took care of the miners (Johns, 1965).

The entire community numbered approximately 135; less than half were men and

there were at least 20 children. Regular passenger and mail service was provided

by the steamer TAYLOR on a twice weekly schedule (Johns 1965).

Between 1890 and 1892, a number of roads were built as far inland as Lake Desor.
Trenches and diamond drill cores were dotted across the west end of the island.
No active mines resulted from all this activity however, and in 1892 the mining
operations were shut down and members of the camp were transported back to the
mainland.

Speculation about the ultimate success of the Isle Royale Land Corporation was at
its height despite the discovery that the ore was too poor to profitably mined.
How does this strike one for a visionary scheme, if carried out what a
paradise Isle Royale will be. It comes from ... Messrs. May and
Feldtmann, connected with the Isle Royale Land Corporation of
London. ... The [Washington Harbor] area is well timbered with maple,
birch, cedar, poplar and other woods indigenous to that latitude. The
purpose of the company is to [harvest] timber in the line of
manufacture for the market. The grand purpose of the company,
however, is to convert the holding into a great water-bound game
preserve and sportmen's and pleasure seeker's resort (Lake Mining
Gazette, July 28, 1892).

While no specific information is available to indicate whether much or any
commercial lumbering occurred at Ghyllbank after closure of the mine, evidence of

419

Fig. 6.37. Ghyllbank was established in Washington Harbor in 1889. The town site
included store houses, sheds, boarding houses, log cabins, an office and a large
wharf (center). Photo by A. C. Lane, circa 1890s.

Fig. 6.38. The Wendigo Copper Company headquarters building was 100 feet long
and 60 feet wide. Later it became the headquarters of the Washington Club. Photo
by A. C. Lane, circa 1890s.

420

limited lumbering in support of the establishment and construction of Ghyllbank and
the mine is obvious in historical photographs. Just the main headquarters building,
built of hewn logs, was 100 feet long, 60 feet wide and two stories high (Fig. 6.38).
In addition, numerous one and two story log buildings were constructed at the site.

After the Wendigo Copper Company went out of existence, the parent corporation
began selling off parcels of land to tourists for summer residences and for resorts.
In 1902 a group of prominent businessmen from Duluth, headed by Colonel Charles
Graves, purchased the Ghyllbank headquarters building, several service buildings,
and 20 acres of land (Detroit News, January 14, 1923). The Washington Club was
formed, and was used as a private fishing and boating resort by its members until
the establishment of the park.

Prior Research: One of the earliest published references to Ghyllbank is found in
Dustin (1946:702). Hakala briefly discussed the mining operations and the
establishment of the Washington Club (1953:28) and Rakestraw outlined the
short-lived operation of the Wendigo Copper Company (1965:15-17). In 1976 the
Wendigo Mines site, which included all of the explorations for copper conducted by
several affiliated companies, was surveyed and added to the State of Michigan
cultural sites inventory. The locations of the former headquarters building and the
wharf were examined by Cultural Resources Specialist Maass in 1983 and added to
the park-maintained list of undesignated sites.

In August 1983, a diver inspection of the remains of the Ghyllbank wharf was
conducted by Ranger Ken Vrana, at Maass' request. No other research has been
conducted at the site.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: In 1931, the Washington Club building burned.
Other buildings associated with Ghyllbank were either allowed to deteriorate on
their own, or were removed in the early years of the park. The Ghyllbank wharf was
partially destroyed in 1983, and the area dredged by the park as part of site
preparation for a new gas dock.

Site Location: Ghyllbank was located on the southeast side of Washington Harbor
north east of Beaver Island. The present location of the Windigo Ranger Station,
park housing, and concession store generally occupy the former town site. Windigo
is located in range 38 west, township 64 north, section 29, SE 1/4, SW and SE 1/4.
It is clearly marked on USGS topographic charts and on NOAA lake charts.

Windigo can be reached by entering Washington Harbor, traveling in a northeasterly
direction approximately 3 miles, passing Beaver Island, and traveling an additional
1/2 mile to the only large deepwater dock in the bay. The historic Ghyllbank wharf
was located approximately 250 feet north of the present NPS deepwater dock (Fig.
6.39).

Administrative Status: The Ghyllbank wharf site is included in the Isle Royale
interim Cultural Sites Inventory as an undesignated site, number U-49. It does not
have a State of Michigan number and is not included on the National Register of
Historic Places.

Research Methodology: NPS divers examined an area approximately 100 feet wide
out from the present shoreline to a depth of 20 feet. Coverage was determined by
the extant remains of historic cribbing from the wharf.

421

■

Fig. 6.39. Remains of the Ghyllbank wharf (center) were still visible in 1952. The
notched log and pin construction evident in this photograph matched the remains
found underwater in 1983. NPS photo by Robert Hakala, 1952.

APPROX 200'

ARTIFACT SCATTER

CRIBBING pt» I l^-^ I I y\

NPS
GAS DOCK

CRIBBING

MUD/ROCK BOTTOM

APPROX 60'

GHYLLBANK DOCK
SKETCH MAP - NOT TO SCALE

AFTER VRANA 1983

Fig. 6.40. Ghyllbank wharf sketch made in 1983, prior to dredging of the site in
preparation for modern dock construction.

422

Site Description: The T-shaped wharf extended out from the shoreline
approximately 60 feet and was 150 to 200 feet wide (Fig. 6.40). Prior to site
destruction in 1983, several disarticulated cribs, joined with wooden pegs, remained
in situ. The mud/rock bottom was littered with bottles, crockery, leather shoes, iron
fittings, pipes, and dinnerware (Vrana 1983).

Site Analysis: Following construction of the gas dock, park employees could still
see the remains of a few of the original cribs just below the surface of the water.
Observed artifacts, prior to disturbance, were consistent with a late 1800s early
1900s occupation of the area, and reflected a mixture of industrial and homestead
activities. The extent of damage to the site during construction and dredging is
unknown. In other locations where dredging has occurred, site damage has been
limited to the immediate impact area. It is impossible to predict either the nature or
extent of damage to this site.

Conclusion: While dredging has clearly adversely impacted this site, it by no means
necessarily completely destroyed it. The fact that some cribs remain, strongly
suggests that some area of the site was undamaged. It is highly probable that the
site retains enough integrity to warrant detailed investigation and documentation.
Dredging and other dock construction activities in the immediate area should be
curtailed until the site is examined and tested.

Analysis of this site could produce information that, when compared to other similar
sites around the island, can provide insights into isolated, industrial community
adaptation at the turn of the century.

Tobin Harbor Resort

Historical Background and Description: The Tobin Harbor resort was owned and
operated by a Swedish-Finn by the name of Gust Mattson. Mattson began fishing
out of Minong Island in 1900, and shortly thereafter started the small resort
business. Mattson and his wife operated the resort from 1901 until approximately
1910. Mattson's resort, one of the first on Isle Royale, was recalled by Glenn Merritt
during an interview in 1962. He described its history as follows:

. ... it became quite a popular resort for Duluth people. Quite a few
Duluth families stayed there with the Mattsons. He was a good guide
and a good hotel man in fact, a very interesting character. He used to
take people out fishing, and he knew just where to go to get the real
big, good fishing. So he operated that resort 'till about 1910. He sold
it to a school teacher, from Calumet, by the name of Martini ....
Martini kept it for a couple of years, decided he couldn't make any
money off it for some reason, and wanted to sell it. So he disposed
of it and sold it to Captain Smith. Captain Ed Smith, who was not the
Indian Captain on the AMERICA, he and his wife, along with Fred
Scofield bought this resort. Due to some condition which we never
knew about, Mr. Scofield was out and Mr. Smith came up as owner of
the resort, and he [Mr. Smith] operated the resort 'till he died in 1916.
Then the family, Mrs. Helena Smith and the daughters, Emily Smith
and Grace Smith, operated the resort 'till the middle 1930s when it
was taken over and acquired by the State before it went into the
National Park ownership .... Fred Scofield, of course, who was
supposed to be one of the partners in this deal went over to what is
now called Belle Isle .... [and] developed Belle Isle Resort (Glenn
Merritt, oral history tape, September 28, 1965).

423

Ingeborg Holte also described the resort as she remembered it as a young girl

traveling from Two Harbors to Isle Royale via AMERICA:

... on the south side of Isle Royale, heading for Tobin Harbor ... there
are many little islands scattered around the harbor, most of which
belonged to "the summer people" who built snug little cabins on the
islands .... On the largest island of this group there was a resort
called "Tobin's" operated by a family named Smith. There was one
building here I remember well from my childhood: a small cabin close
to the dock with "United Sates Post Office" printed in large letters
across the front. The Smiths flew the American flag nearby, and ... it
seemed so tremendously important.

The Smith's had some very lovely daughters who gathered on the
dock, and as the AMERICA hove to, they burst into song,
"T-O-B-l-N-S where the food is the rarest, and the girls are the
fairest, T-O-B-l-N-S" (Holte 1984:19-20).

Tobin's Resort was being considered for acquisition by the National Park Service in
1937 when Donald Wolbrink and George Walling completed a report on the existing
Isle Royale resorts. The purpose of the report was to assess the present condition
of all of the island's resorts and to make recommendations regarding their future
use as tourist accommodations. Renamed Minong Lodge by the time of Wolbrink
and Waiting's visit in 1937, recommendations for its future use were bleak.

The development is relatively more pleasing and of sounder
construction than that at Rock Harbor Lodge, but is not, in our opinion,
of sufficient value or merit to be retained as a permanent
development for a resort .... There is a suitable small craft dock and a
service dock of crib and board construction. It is, however, set so low
to the water that should the lake again reach its former level it would
be submerged ....

The development contains several frame and log buildings and two
docks having salvageable material. There is a small pressure water
tank ... an electric light plant and various logs and timbers on the
site. These materials may be readily salvaged if and when required
for permanent construction in other areas. A small residence building
is to be used by the recent owner during next season. Certain of the
smaller cabins can be moved intact to the Rock Harbor development
across the way and utilized temporarily. Other buildings may be razed
and material salvaged .... It is recommended that the area be
abandoned and existing structures razed. It is possible, however, to
use it as it stands as a small resort for a few years as it has a definite
following and might well afford a limited source of revenue for the
time being. In the event of a decision to follow the latter course, we
recommend that it be looked at with a "cold eye" simply as a source
of revenue, and that no expenditure or improvements be made
(Wolbrink and Walling 1937:13-14).

Wolbrink's suggestions were followed and Minong Lodge/Tobin's Resort was
ultimately abandoned. At the time of National Park Service acquisition, the resort
was comprised of approximately 20 buildings clustered at the southwestern end of
Minong Island (Fig. 6.41). A store and post office, dining hall, main lodge, laundry,
storehouse, bath house, various service buildings, and eleven cottages were present

424

Fig. 6.41. Minong Lodge as it appeared in 1938. The resort consisted of
approximately 20 buildings clustered at the southwestern end of Minong Island. The
main dock is far right. NPS photo.

Fig. 6.42.
1937.

Minong Lodge main dock looking west. NPS photo by Donald Wolbrink,

425

in 1937 at the time of Wolbrink's visit. Each of these structures were photographed
at that time. A large service and passenger dock fronted the lodge (Fig. 6.42). That
dock, composed of rock-filled cribs, was large enough to accommodate the steamer
AMERICA. The dock was U-shaped with a perpendicular spur at its base.

At the same time that his brother Gust was fishing and setting up the resort on
Minong Island, Louis Mattson was fishing across the channel in Tobin Harbor. The
Louis Mattson fishery was located slightly southeast from Minong Lodge on the
mainland shore, southwest of Scoville Point (Fig. 6.43). Louis Mattson and his sons,
Arthur and Ed, fished out of this location into the early 20th century. August
Anderson and his three sons, Emil, Ernest and Arthur, also fished out of Tobin
Harbor during this same period. Their dwelling was adjacent to the Louis Mattson
home. A crib dock on the south side of the channel served both families (Glenn
Merritt, oral history tape, September 28, 1965).

In addition to the activities associated with the Mattson resort, Minong Island is also
the location of what may be the first summer cottages built at Isle Royale. Built by
Colonel Roberts in approximately 1903, the cottages are still occupied during the
summer months by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Wolbrink (Wolbrink personal communication,
February 1987).

Prior Research: The Tobin Harbor Resort site was visited in 1937 by Wolbrink and
Walling in order to evaluate its suitability for commercial development by the
National Park Service. Documentary research at the site did not occur again until
Gordon Haber, a Service seasonal employee, visited the resort sometime between
1962 and 1964. Photographs were taken and a rough sketch of the island was made
indicating the foundations of old buildings and the location of the old service dock.
Several objects were collected from the site by Ranger Chuck Dale in the early
1980s; these are presently in the Isle Royale museum collection. The area was
visited in 1985 by Submerged Cultural Resources Unit personnel in an effort to
document offshore cultural remains associated with the early Gust Mattson fishery
and resort occupations and the Louis Mattson/Art Anderson fishery across the
channel.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: Following NPS acquisition, the resort was allowed
to deteriorate. By 1951, the resort and docks were in ruins (Fig. 6.44). In 1953, the
Post Office and dock were replaced. Finally, in 1963 a work order was issued for
the removal of derelict buildings and docks. No details on how the destruction
activities were carried out were provided in the in-house work order completion
report.

Site Location: Tobin Harbor, a long narrow bay, is located at the northeast end of
Isle Royale. Minong Island, situated at the eastern entrance to Tobin Harbor, is the
largest of the several islands that guard the only access to the bay (Fig. 6.1).
Minong Island is clearly marked on USGS topographic charts and NOAA lake charts.
The island's recorded position on the Isle Royale 15 minute topographic map is
T67N, R33W, Section 26, SW 1/4, SW 1/4 and Section 35, NW 1/4, NW 1/4.

Both the island and the resort site can be reached by entering Tobin Harbor from
the southeast and rounding Scoville Point. Minong Island is located in the channel
between Smith Island and Scoville Point. The resort was located on the
southwestern end of the Minong Island. The old crib dock associated with the
Mattson/Anderson fishery is located across the channel on the mainland.

426

Fig. 6.43. The Louis Mattson and August Anderson fishery in Tobin Harbor, across
from Minong Lodge, in 1938. A small dock is present just in front of the fish house
(right). NPS photo.

Fig. 6.44. Remains of Minong Lodge and main dock in 1951. NPS photo.

427

Administrative Status: Tobin Harbor Resort on Minong Island is included in the Isle
Royale Interim Cultural Sites Inventory as an undesignated site, number U-14; it is
referred to on that list as the Minong Lodge Site (Maass 1984). It does not have a
State of Michigan number and is not included on the National Register of Historic
Places.

Research Methodology: A diver reconnaissance by SCRU personnel was conducted
in 1985. The area examined by divers included the bottom around the old Minong
Lodge service dock, the channel in front of the dock between Minong Island and
Scoville Point, and fishing or private docks across the channel in the vicinity of the
Mattson/Anderson fishery. Photographs were taken and observations recorded by
the team.

Site Description: No standing structures from the resort remain on the site. The

sketch map of the resort (Fig. 6.45), reproduced below, is based upon several

sources including the rough sketch made by Haber between 1962 and 1965 , historic
photos taken by Wolbrink and others, as well as recent photos.

Cement foundations of one building, possibly the Mattson residence, are visible at
the southwest end of the site. The remains of the cabins, roughly 10' by 10', line an
old walking path that runs from the dock toward the northeast. The remains of a
large wooden structure are present on a low ridge in the center of the island.

The present NPS small craft and service dock, in the same location as the original
docks at the resort, runs parallel to the shoreline. The remains of another old crib
dock used by the Mattsons and Andersons, across the channel and southeast of the
resort, is in deteriorated condition and no longer usable.

Underwater, artifacts are distributed for approximately 500 feet along both the
Minong Island shoreline and the area adjacent to the Mattson/Anderson fishery.
Remains also extend into the middle of the channel.

The only standing structures on Minong Island today are two cottages on the
island's northeast end, occupied by Donald and Florence Wolbrink under life lease
(Wolbrink personal communication, February 1987).

Site Analysis: Resort buildings and the large dock were removed nearly 25 years
ago, however, foundations and clearings still exist that indicate their previous
locations. Depending upon the methods used to remove the buildings, it is
reasonable to assume that a variety of features and artifacts may remain on the
land portion of the resort site. It is not known to what extent destruction of the
resort has impacted the potential for future research on land, however, the areas
underwater adjacent to the former resort dock, the channel between Minong Island
and Scoville Point, and the area of the Mattson/Anderson fishery across the channel
have strong research potential.

The present NPS service dock is in the same general location as the former resort
dock. During preparation for construction of the NPS dock in 1963 , dredging of the
immediate area occurred. The visible results of the dredging is evidenced by the
dearth of small artifacts, from the historic period, around the present dock and the
disarticulated remains of cribs from the former crib dock a short distance away.

Water depth in the channel varies from 15 to 30 feet, and the uniformly silty bottom
is littered with a wide variety of remains. As expected, the underwater area directly

428

CA. 1910 CABINS

LODGE BUILD

after ca. 1980 survey platt
'as Identified on platt

approx 300'

Fig. 6.45. Minong Island and Scoville Point sketch map with the location of the
Mattson/Anderson fishery, the Minong Lodge and resort, main dock, and circa 1910
cabins.

Fig. 6.46. Broken pieces of dinnerware, service crockery, wash basin water pitchers,
and other utility wares were found in the channel adjacent to the resort. Remains
associated with commercial fishing were found offshore of the Mattson/Anderson
site. NPS photo by Joe Strykowski, 1985.

429

offshore of the resort is scattered with artifacts that can be associated with resort
operations. Broken pieces of dinnerware, service crockery, wash basin water
pitchers, and other utility wares were observed (Fig. 6.46).

Immediately offshore of the fishery across the channel remains included broken
tools, boxes, barrels, smashed paint or tar containers, pieces of a cast iron wood
stove, a scythe, an axe head, miscellaneous construction materials, and a
concentration of fire brick. The remains of two crib docks are also present (see
historic photo, Figure 6.43). One, adjacent to the remains of the Mattson fish house,
is obviously tied to that feature. The second, approximately 500 feet northeast of
the fish house, may be the remains of an old steamer dock. Not surprisingly, the
heaviest concentration of artifacts, overall, is offshore of the fishery; occupation at
the site has extended into the 1980s. The Mattson/Anderson site is no longer an
active fishery. The various structures associated with the operation are still
standing although they are deteriorating.

Items deposited in the middle of the channel could not be ascribed to any particular
activity area on shore, although they appeared to be more closely aligned with the
fishery operation. They include a large hatch cover, planking, and a narrow-beamed
flat-transomed open boat.

Conclusion: The Minong Lodge and Mattson/Anderson fishery sites have been
occupied from the turn of the century up through the 1930s in the case of the
former, and through the 1980s in the case of the latter. While inhabitants at both
sites were faced with similar problems resulting from isolated location, limited
access to consumer goods, and variable weather, both the nature of their
occupations and the manner they adapted to the conditions on Isle Royale are very
different.

Obvious occupational-related differences can be found on land at the resort and the
fishery. The distribution of remains underwater, predominantly fishery related on
the south side of the channel and resort related on the north side, reflect their land
counterparts. The differences tend to be less obvious and blend together in the
center of the channel. It is possible that site similarities, resulting from ethnic
background of the principal inhabitants, may be able to be discerned through
detailed study. The combination of the two sites can provide an excellent
opportunity to study intra- and inter-site variability and cultural processes. Both
sites should be added to the State of Michigan inventory and additional study is
recommended.

Belle Isle Resort

Historical Background and Description: Belle Isle, formerly called Fish Island, was
the location of the first American Fur Company fishery on Isle Royale. This fishery,
established in 1837, was located in a small bay at the eastern end of the island.
American Fur Company fishermen used this location as a base of operations until
the company ceased operations on the island in 1842; however; the buildings and
site continued to be used intermittently by independent fishermen.

At the time of the Ives survey in 1847, the same buildings were re-occupied by
miners from the American Exploring, Mining and Manufacturing Company. Ives
described the site at the time of his visit:

... to the east end is a very handsome Bay which has a gravel beach
and first class landings for small vessels. Vessels can come within

430

150 links of the shore in deep water. This is one of the N.W. or
American Fur Company's trading posts.

... There are two small dwelling houses and a new one near by. There

are about 2 acres cleared (Ives 1847).
The American Exploring, Mining and Manufacturing Company's explorations were
unproductive and they are reported, by Rakestraw, to have abandoned this location
in 1847.

While there are no written records or oral histories documenting the occupation of
this island between 1847 and 1897, it is highly probable that various fishermen
visited the island and fished out of it during that 50 year period. During this same
period, the Isle Royale Land Corporation, a British syndicate, purchased over 80,000
acres on Isle Royale. The corporation's mining activities occurred from 1889 until
1893, when all operations ceased.

Fishing and mining operations were occurring simultaneously on the island prior to
and just after the turn of the century. By 1897 John Anderson had made Fish Island
(Belle Isle) his base of fishing operations. His son, Emil, continued fishing here until
the establishment of Belle Isle Resort, moving to Johnson Island about 1913 (Glen
Merritt, oral history tape 1965).

In 1909, most of the holdings of the Isle Royale Land Corporation were taken over
by the Island Copper Company of Duluth (letter from the Office of Island Copper
Company, 1921). Still called Fish Island at that time, Belle Isle was among the
British corporate holdings that transferred to the Duluth-based company. The
president of the company, Thomas A. Cole, retained control of Fish Island as a
personal holding until its sale to Fred Scofield. Scofield, dealt out of the Tobin
Harbor Resort, purchased the island from Cole in 1913 or 1914, renamed it Belle Isle,
and subsequently established a resort (Glenn Merritt, oral history tape).

During the teens and twenties, the resort flourished. It was one of the four lodges
that was still a "going concern" when the island was being considered for NPS
acquisition (Wolbrink and Walling 1937:2). Hakala (1955:39) suggested that the island
was enjoyed by a "privileged few" during this period. Belle Isle enticed the tourist
with such activities as "... fishing, trailing moose in native haunts, delicious home
cooked meals, and a haven for hay fever suffers, mak[ing] it an ideal spot for your
vacation" (Isle Royale tourist information brochure, circa 1930s). Rates advertised
for the resort were $21 per week and up, American Plan (Hakala 1955:39). Regular
passenger service from Duluth and Houghton was provided by a number of Booth
Line vessels, .including AMERICA, and by Kauppi's Cabin Cruiser COPPER QUEEN. The
passenger steamer WAUBIC made regular trips from Port Aurthur and Fort William to
Belle Isle and Rock Harbor until the late 1930s. After the loss of AMERICA, WINYAH
continued passenger service to the island. After World War II the COASTAL QUEEN
provided passenger service to the island from the Canadian side (Marjorie
McPherren personal communication, February 1987).

Scofield operated the Bell Isle Resort until the late 1930s, when it was first taken
over by the State of Michigan and later transferred to the National Park Service.
When the National Park Service obtained Belle Isle in 1938, management
responsibility was transferred to Mrs. Bertha Farmer, the proprietor of Rock Harbor
Lodge. In addition to her Rock Harbor and Belle Isle responsibilities, she was also
asked to manage a small store at Mott Island. When the Windigo Inn was

431

completed in 1940, she was asked to assume responsibility for it as well (Baggley
1938 and 1940).

By 1941, the management of the three facilities had deteriorated to the point that an
outside evaluation of the situation was needed. E. C. Eccleston, from IMPS Park
Operations Division, arrived in August of that year to tour the various resorts and
stores. The obvious poor management of the resorts and poor maintenance of the
facilities resulted in the recommendation that other managers be brought in to run
the existing tourist facilities (Eccleston 1941:1-5). In 1942, National Park
Concessions, Inc., received a contract to manage the resorts (Eccleston 1941:4).

The advent of World War II resulted in a decrease in visitation to the park. Both Bell
Isle Resort and Windigo Inn were closed in 1943, in an effort to minimize financial
losses. Bell Isle reopened in 1946, however the resort's financial picture was
disappointing (Little 1978:154). In 1947, Belle Isle was closed permanently (Little
1978:154).

Of the several resorts on Isle Royale, Belle Isle was considered one of the best (Fig.

6.47). Ingeborg Holte described the resort as she remembered visiting it as a young

girl:

Belle Isle is fairly large and was dotted here and there with cottages.
The main lodge was quite pretentious, with an enormous stone
fireplace made more interesting with design of various semi-precious
gems: thomsonites [prenites], greenstones and amethysts. It was
rumored that this lodge even had a golf course and a tennis court.
For some of the passengers, this was their destination, but for others
this stop was the way back to the mainland and home.

When the AMERICA backed away from the dock at Belle Isle and
proudly headed for Blake Point ... we passed one of the most
memorable events of the trip .... On the east point of Belle Isle stood
a wigwam and beside it a very lovely Indian maiden. As we passed
her, she raised her arm in a benevolent gesture of farewell .... Our
boat went as close to shore as possible so we could admire this ...
beauty. I was too young to inquire into the authenticity of this
happening.

The Wolbrink and Walling report on existing Isle Royale resorts recommended that
Belle Isle continue to serve as a tourist destination. In 1937, when the report was
written, the resort was described as consisting of:

... a lodge and dining room combination building with isolated
cottages ... The buildings, while not of the quality standards of the
Service are in usable shape and can continue in use for several years
to come ....

Life in the resort centers around the dock and the lodge. In the lodge
is a lounge with a huge fireplace and easy chairs and sofas. It is the
center of life in the evenings. The dining room, which is off the
lounge, is the only place for eating. In the lounge is a cigar counter
that corresponds ... to a typical ... store, adequately serving demands
of guests ....

Service in the cabins might well be compared to a small provincial
Swiss hotel, it is crude but as well done as facilities permit. There is

432

Fig. 6.47. The main lodge and dock at Belle Isle Resort. NPS photo, circa 1930s.

Fig. 6.48. The resort's golf course is now the location of the NPS campground on
the island. A prehistoric site, the American Fur Company Fishery, and the American
Exploring and Mining Company buildings were located in this vicinity. NPS photo,
circa 1940s.

433

a small wood stove in each cabin and hot water is brought in the
morning. There is, of course, no plumbing in the cabins ....

The present dock is not suitable for the handling of large vessels ...
Soundings taken at the present dock are:

East end (boats approach from this direction) 10'6", West end

9'0"

Advertisements from the middle 1930s also describe the resort as having a
"nine-hole golf course with grass greens ... [and] tennis courts" (Isle Royale tourist
information brochure, circa 1930s) (Fig. 6.48). Aerial photographs of Belle Isle and
the resort in the 1930s showed there were more than 15 structures on the island,
including two docks. The main dock, located in front of the lodge, was T-shaped.
The service dock, in a small cove behind the resort, ran perpendicular to the
shoreline (Fig. 6.49).

Wolbrink and Walling recommended the eventual remodeling and relocation of the
lodge and cottages to bring the resort up to National Park Service standards. They
also recommended replacing the existing main dock with another T-shaped dock,
approximately 200 feet long, similar to the one planned at Mott Island (1937:4-5).

Prior Research: A long low beach at the northeast end of Belle Isle was used as a
recreation area by the resort between 1913 and the late 1930s. This same location
was examined by Fox in 1911, who interpreted a low ridge outlining a rectangular
area as the remains of a cabin and chimney of an American Fur Company building
(Fox 1911:81). Beaubien (1953:22) came to similar conclusions following his later
examination of the same location.

No other archeological activities occurred at the site until 1961 and 1962, when a
survey and excavations were conducted by the University of Michigan. Rakestraw
visited the site in 1964 and again in 1967 as part of the background documentation
of sites for an historical base map of Isle Royale. He reported finding a small
mining exploration pit from this company's activity, overgrown with spruce, near the
present NPS campground (Rakestraw 1967a:28).

In 1980 members of the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit examined the locations
of the Belle Isle Resort historic docks for remains of the prehistoric and historic
occupations. The resort and dock areas were inventoried into the Park maintained
undesignated site file by Maass in 1984.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: The prehistoric period site was surface collected by
professional archeologists in 1911, 1955, and again in 1960 and 1961. In 1961,
several test pits and one trench were excavated. Artifacts collected included
worked copper, flint flakes, and sherds. The American Fur Company component of
the site was excavated in 1961 and 1962. A narrow trench near the north end of an
east wall was excavated, and the removal of rocks from a nearby rock pile revealed
the presence of dry-laid paving. Twenty-four kaolin pipe fragments were recovered
from this site; these represent nearly half of all of those collected on Isle Royale.
The pipes probably date from the latter half of the Nineteenth Century (University of
Michigan Site Survey Form 1961) Both sites are in the former location of the resort
golf course.

The National Park Service constructed a community kitchen and shelters at the
campground between 1961 and 1962. The Belle Isle campground occupies the

434

Fig. 6.49. View of the lodge and other service buildings looking southeast Several
small boats are tied up at the service dock. NPS photo by Donald Wolbrmk, 1937

Lake Superior

C OCCUPATION SITE
UR CO. FISHERY
XPLORING AND MINING CO.

OLD SERVICE DOCK PRESENT NPS DOCl

0 250 500 750 1,000

i i i i 1

approx 1000 f««t

Fig. 6.50. Location of resort, prehistoric site, fishery site, and mining company
buildings on Belle Isle. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

435

former location of the resort golf course. In 1962, a work order was issued by the
NPS calling for the razing of undesirable structures at Belle Isle. The destruction of
the buildings was accomplished by cutting them into sections, burning combustibles,
and burial of non-combustible rubble (PCP M-29-6, Isle Royale National Park
11/27/62). A total of 31 buildings or structures were slated for removal and
included 22 cottages, the ice house, wood shed, chicken coop, tennis court, main
toilet, generator house, toilet at golf course, laundry, four outside toilets, and the
main lodge. No mention was made of the docks at that time.

Site Location. Belle Isle is located at the northeastern end of Isle Royale. The
island, a finger of land separating Robinson Bay and Amygdaloid Channel, runs
northeast and southwest. It can be reached from the southeast by rounding Blake
Point and traveling in a northwesterly direction, passing the entrances to Duncan
Bay and Five Finger Bay on the port side (Fig. 6.1). Hill Point, Diamond Island and
Green Island guard the east and west entrances to Robinson Bay and Belle Harbor.
The island is clearly marked on NOAA Lake Charts. The former location of the
majority of buildings at the old resort is at T67N, R34W, Sec. 35, SW 1/4, SW 1/4, on
USGS topographic maps, just west of the present NPS Belle Isle campground (Fig.
6.50).

Administrative Status: The Belle Isle Resort is included in the Isle Royale Interim
Cultural Sites Inventory (Maass 1984) as an undesignated site, number U-8. It is not
recorded by the State of Michigan and is not included on the National Register of
Historic Places. The historic and prehistoric occupation sites, recorded by the State
of Michigan as 20IR29, are in the same vicinity as the resort. The prehistoric
occupation, circa 800 to 1300 AD, and the American Fur Company fishery site, circa
1837 are designated by the State of Michigan as 20IR29. The NPS Belle Isle
Campground now occupies the location of 20IR29. None of these sites are currently
on the National Register of Historic Places.

Research Methodology: The areas immediately offshore of the present NPS dock
and the resort-era service dock were visually examined by divers. The
reconnaissance extended along the shoreline east of the main dock, between the
two docks, and from the shoreline out toward the middle of a small inlet.

Site Description: Carol Maass, the Park Cultural Resource Specialist, visited the

resort site in 1984 and described its present condition:

The remains of cement stairs to the teepee at the point, the Lake
Superior "swimming pool" and shuffleboard can still be seen. Much of
the garbage from the lodge can be seen underwater in the area to the
west of the dock (Maass 1984:11-8).

Site Analysis: During the examination of the two docks by Submerged Cultural
Resources Unit personnel in 1980, a rich assemblage of historic period artifacts
associated with the operation of the resort were observed. Immediately adjacent to
the present NPS dock there were very few historic remains. This can be attributed
to the removal of the resort-era main dock, site preparation, i.e. dredging, and
construction of a new T-shaped dock in its place. The original dock, built in 1912,
was completely replaced sometime after 1939, and possibly as late as 1952. The
general park policy in the late 1930s was to repair and use existing docks as much
as possible. The park files contain a document with a photograph of the dock dated
1952. The document refers to the 1912 construction date of the original dock.

436

Fig. 6.51. Remains of enameled cooking ware, pot, pails, shoes, dinnerware, broken
crockery, planks, notched logs and other construction materials were found off
shore of the former main dock. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

~*^»*

Fig. 6.52. In February, 1963, most of the combustible materials from the remaining
resort buildings were bull dozed onto the ice and burned. NPS photo.

437

The silty bottom was littered with a variety of remains that extended along the
shoreline and out into the main channel. Remains included broken crockery,
dinnerware, enameled cooking ware, pots, pails, shoes, as well as a wide variety of
planks, notched logs and other construction materials (Fig. 6.51). The construction
materials are undoubtedly from the razing of the resort. In February, 1963, most of
the combustible materials from the buildings were moved out onto the ice, south of
the main dock, and burned (Fig. 6.52).

Rock-filled cribs, associated with the former service dock, are still visible from the
surface. A brief examination of that area revealed the presence of broken tools,
planks, and some crockery. No prehistoric occupation artifacts were observed in the
area of the docks.

Conclusion: The Belle Isle Resort site and associated historic occupations, from the
early fishing and mining activities, represent more than 110 years of nearly
continuous use. This site may contain some of the earliest fishing operation
information on Isle Royale, outside of the Checker Point site, and spans the early
resort period up to World War II. The resort, fishery and mining sites may be able
to provide an opportunity to study diachronic processes represented by the various
activities on the island.

At minimum, the lodge site and associated docks should be added to the State of
Michigan archeological site files. Further, some consideration should be given to
nomination of the complex to the National Register. Additional research on land at
the American Fur Company and mining sites and offshore at the docks, fishery and
mining site is recommended.

Passage Island Lighthouse

Historical Background and Description: The need for a lighthouse on Passage Island
was recognized as early as 1871. A report went to Congress that year
recommending action:

The discovery of the silver mines on Lake Superior and consequent
sudden and remarkable increase of travel and traffic to that region,
renders it desirable that a Light-house should be built on Passage
Island, to mark the channel between it and Isle Royale. The island is
difficult of access, and therefore any structure put there will cost
more than if erected at some more accessible point. It is respectfully
recommended that an appropriation of $18,000 be made for the
purpose indicated (Light-House [sic] Establishment, 1871).

In 1873, another request was forwarded to Congress:

The annual report the last two years has contained a recommendation
for a light-house on Passage Island, together with an estimate of cost,
but no appropriation has yet been made. The recommendation and
estimate ($18,000) are respectfully renewed. Some arguments have
been advanced to show that the appropriation for a light-house on
Isle Royale might be used for the [same] purpose, but with these the
board does not agree, as Passage Island is an entirely distinct island,
at a distance of three and one-half miles from the most easterly point
of Isle Royale (U.S. Light-House Establishment 1873).

A request for funds was submitted again in 1874 and in 1875. In March of 1875,
Congress finally agreed to the appropriation. However, their approval was

438

dependant upon the construction of a lighthouse on Colchester Reef by the
Canadian Government. This conditional approval proved to be a stumbling block
that further delayed construction of the lighthouse. Finally, all conditions had been
satisfactorily met, and Congress released the funding for the light in 1880.

In the early summer of 1881 "all of the materials were landed, the grounds cleared,
shanties for workmen erected, and a boat-house and crib [dock] for boat landing
constructed" (U.S. Light-House Establishment 1881). The lighthouse was completed
the following year and the first keeper was authorized on May 16, 1882. In addition
to the lighthouse, a mechanical "fog-bell" was erected in a small, separate structure
that became operable at the same time as the light. On July 1, 1882, Passage Island
Light was illuminated for the first time.

The mechanical "fog-bell" was replaced by a 10-inch steam-powered fog whistle in
October 1884. At that same time, a simple frame structure covered with corrugated
sheet iron was built for the signal. The annual reports of the Light-House Board
from 1889 to 1905, summarize the major activities at the station:

1889 - Passage Island, Lake Superior, Michigan. The tramway

for the delivery of coal and supplies, 208 feet in length,
was rebuilt; the gauge of the track and car was changed
from 48 inches to 36 inches, and minor repairs were
made to the houses and fog-signal machinery.

1897 - An iron water tank was put up in the fog-signal house.

The landing crib was extended. Minor repairs were
made. This is a fixed red light of the fourth order. It
should be at least of the third order, and it should be a
flashing light in order to increase its visible range. This
improvement is not in contemplation.

1898 - The characteristics of this light were changed from fixed

red of the fourth-order to flashing white every ten
seconds, fourth-order, on the night of September 24,
1897. The old apparatus was packed and shipped to the
Light-House Depot at Detroit. Repairs were made.

1902 - Some 150 feet of walks were re-laid, and the platform in

front of the dwelling was filled with stone and decked
with planks, and a runway 26 feet long, leading from the
landing to the boathouse, was built. Six concrete piers
were constructed to support the fog-signal, the sheave
stand at the head of the tramway was rebuilt, the
turntable was reset, a tramway car was rebuilt, and a
fire plug for an additional water supply was fitted up.
Various repairs were made.

1903 - The old smokestacks of the fog-signal plant were taken

down and replaced with a brick chimney 40 feet high, to
which both of the fog-signal boilers were connected
with a new iron breeching. A new stand for the water
tank of the signals was erected. The tank was placed
thereon, and the pipe connections were modified to suit
new conditions.

439

1905 - The concrete blocks for the erection of an oil-house

were made at the Detroit light-house depot and were
delivered here.

By the early 1900s, both freight and domestic trade were prospering in the United
States. In an effort to keep pace with this growth, the Department of Commerce
and Labor were created by an Act of Congress. Between 1903 and 1910, the board
form of organization, under which the Light-House Service and the Light-House
Establishment had operated came under constant criticism. Passage Island
Lighthouse was initially administered by the Light-House Establishment, run by the
Light-House Board, and was manned by Light-House Service keepers and assistant
keepers. In July, 1910, under heavy criticism, Congress finally dissolved the
Light-House Board and in its place established the Bureau of Light-Houses within
the Department of Commerce and Labor. This organizational hierarchy remained
unchanged until 1939, when the Bureau was absorbed into the U.S. Coast Guard and
the Light-House Service name dropped (O'Brien 1976:13-30, 65-71).

With the absorption of the Light-House Service into the U.S. Coast Guard, the
keepers and their assistants were formally charged with the responsibility for saving
mariners in distress, not just warning them of impending danger.

Lighthouse keepers traditionally came to the rescue of disabled or wrecked sailors
with whatever boats were at hand, including dinghies (Fig. 6.53), the open surf boat,
and the more traditional cabin motor launch (Fig. 6.54). Anna Bowen-Hoge recalled
an incident during her childhood that her father, Passage Island Light keeper Vern
Bowen, played a lifesaving role.

The storm seemed to last for days [and] the keepers went out to bring
in the survivors of a shipwreck, while my mother watched the light.
[When they finally returned] ... they brought a group of wet, cold,
hungry men with them. There were a lot of them. They ate with us
for days, until a boat could come for them. I remember all of us
sitting around as the men told stories and sang (Hoge in Mahan and
Mahan 1985:49).

Mrs. Hoge also recalled the attitude of many of the lighthouse keepers and their

families:

Tending the light was not just a job or a duty — it was something the
keepers did with pride. We knew that the light was important to the
ships out on the lake, and we felt very needed. As the men dusted
and polished the lens, they wore an apron to protect the glass from
being scratched by buttons on their clothing. Dad used to tell us that
the lens was very valuable and expensive, handmade in France, [and] if
everybody took care of it, it could last forever. ... [We] viewed tending
the light as the responsibility of the whole family (Hoge in Mahan and
Mahan 1985:49).

Passage Island lighthouse was still actively manned as recently as 1957, when an
article appeared in a Houghton-based newspaper regarding the seasonal re-opening
of the light. By that date, the mineral oil lamps of the early 1900s had been
replaced by by diesel and gas engines. The usual tour of duty, virtually continuous
during the season in earlier days, had been changed at most of the Lakes stations
to three weeks on duty and six days shore leave. On Passage Island light, however,
even this was considerably different by 1957. Due to the light's remote location, the

440

Fig. 6.53. Typical US Light-House Service dinghy, circa 1930s. This was one of two
dinghies used at Passage Island Lighthouse. NPS photo.

■ Jtt"

6 \

Fig. 6.54. U.S. Coast Guard 26-foot cabin motor launch, circa 1941-1947. Edith
Bowen, wife of former Coast Guardsman at Passage Island Lighthouse, Jim Bowen,
is seated on the cabin. Photo courtesy of Edith Bowen.

441

keepers' tour of duty was six weeks long, followed by 12 days shore leave (Daily
Mining Gazette, March 2, 1957).

On December 20, 1978 the Passage Island Lighthouse, along with many others in the
Great Lakes, was fully automated, ending a 96-year tradition. Today Passage Island
Lighthouse still operates under the aegis of the U.S. Coast Guard.

A survey of the lighthouse station was undertaken in 1897, and a map of the facility,
dated February 23, 1906, showed the existing buildings. However, a detailed
description of the station was not completed until 1910, when a report of inspection
was filed by Oliver G. Brown. The following description is summarized from his
report, unless otherwise noted.

Passage Island lighthouse is located on the southwesterly point of Passage Island.
The island is thinly wooded and the soil and surrounding bedrock are a dark grey.
Crib landings are present in rocks near the fog signal and boathouse on the east
side of the island. A tramway leads from the fog signal to one landing, while a
rough trail leads from the keeper's dwelling to the landing at the boathouse, a
distance of approximately 1/2 mile. The boathouse is located in a natural harbor on
the easterly shore of the island. Boat is the only way that the lighthouse may be
reached, and the nearest steamboat landing is in Tobin's Harbor "where Booth boats
land, a distance of 6 miles" (Brown 1910:2). The nearest towns to the light are Port
Arthur, Canada, 48 miles away, Portage Lake, Michigan, 68 miles away, and Duluth,
approximately 202 miles away. The condition of the station's buildings was
considered "good" at the time of Brown's visit.

The red brick, octagonal lighthouse rests upon a square base, which merges into an
octagonal prism at the second floor (Fig. 6.55). The height of the tower is 43 feet 6
inches, with only one light. The keeper's dwelling is attached to one corner of the
tower.

The keeper's quarters consisted of seven rooms in a two-story buijding. Additional
buildings at the site included a workshop, privy, and hen house. At the time of
Brown's visit there was no garden for fresh vegetables or fruit. The keeper's and
their families drew their drinking water from the lake, and in addition there was a
cistern located under the kitchen.

The light apparatus still in use in 1910 was constructed by Barbier and Benard in
1896 and was a fourth order Fresnell lens. The apparatus bore makers marks
"BB/107" when it was installed. The six-panel lens was constructed in a bulls-eye,
made up of one central bulls-eye, surrounded by two concentric circular elements.
Above these were six separate concentric prisms, and below were three separate
concentric prisms. The light rotated once each minute and flashed white every 10
seconds.

B. A. Todt built the 10-inch steam whistle in 1884. It was characterized by a
5-second blast, separated by a 25-second silent interval. The signal was powered
by a fire tube boiler, 12 feet long by 3 feet 6 inches in diameter. The boiler was
built in 1883 by the Buhl Iron Works of Detroit, Michigan.

Eventually the steam-powered fog signal and the light were completely automated
and much of the old equipment removed. By the time of Anna Bowen-Hoge's visit
to her childhood home in 1985, the light was no longer manned. Anna's father, Vern
Bowen, was one of the keepers at the light in the 1930s. Mrs. Hoge recalled, in a

442

Fig. 6.55. Passage Island Lighthouse and radio tower, view looking southwest, circa
1930s-1940s. IMPS photo.

Lake Superior

BOAT HOUSE & DOCK

PASSAGE ISLAND
LIGHT HOUSE

Passage island

*te=» <=>**

RADIO TOWER

US COAST GUARD
DOUBLE ENDER

mile

Fig. 6.56. Passage Island sketch map with location of light house, radio tower, boat
house, dock, and remains of US Coast Guard double-ender.

443

magazine interview, that as a child the family picked wild blueberries and
strawberries, and planted a small garden. When the storms of Lake Superior tossed
waves up onto the windows of their home, they would close the heavy wooden
shutters and would wait out the storm "safely inside our sturdy light-house" (Hoge
in Mahan and Mahan 1985:49). Improvements and repairs at the still-active light
have continued to the present day.

Prior Research: Park Rangers Ken Vrana and Chuck Dale conducted a
reconnaissance of the cove in 1980; at that time they briefly examined an
abandoned fish boat near the mouth of the cove and a Coast Guard launch in the
center of the cove. No archeological studies in the cove had been made prior to
1984, when Submerged Cultural Resources Unit archeologists visited the station and
conducted a cursory survey of the remains of the Coast Guard boat.
Comprehensive research on the lighthouse has not been conducted by the National
Park Service to date. Rather, only limited archival searches and general inquires to
the U.S. Coast Guard have been undertaken. In an effort to increase the park's
knowledge of the light station and collect oral histories, a program aimed at
contacting former Coast Guardsmen was initiated in 1986 by the park historian.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: It is assumed that regular repairs and small
alterations have been undertaken by both the Light-House Service and the U.S.
Coast Guard during the life of the lighthouse. The full extent of changes or repairs
to the two crib docks, the boat house, and landing are presently unknown. It is
known however, that in 1949, the boat house, along with a 26-foot cabin motor
launch, were destroyed in a fire resulting from an explosion. The boat house was
rebuilt the following year.

Site Location: Passage Island is located three miles offshore of the northeasterly
end of Isle Royale within T67N, R32W (Fig. 6.1). The lighthouse is located on the
southwesterly point of the island. Both the island and lighthouse are clearly marked
on USGS topographic sheets and NOAA lake charts.

Administrative Status: Passage Island Lighthouse is not presently included in the
Isle Royale Cultural Sites Inventory, nor is it recorded by the State of Michigan. The
lighthouse is currently administered by the United States Coast Guard.

Research Methodology: In 1984, members of the Submerged Cultural Resources
Unit visited Passage Island to follow up on the report of a U.S. Coast Guard
double-ender resting in a small cove on the south side of the island. Diver survey
of the cove resulted in discovery of a 26-foot motor launch.

Site Description: The remains of a U.S. Coast Guard double-ended cabin motor
launch are resting in approximately 25 feet of water near the center of the small
cove on the south side of the island (Fig. 6.56). Constructed entirely of wood, the
vessel is 26 feet long. The hull is intact up to the level of the gunnels on the
starboard side, aft of amidships. On the starboard side, the metal gunnel guard, still
attached at the starboard stern quarter, is twisted and rolls outboard of the hull
forward of amidships. The gunnel is missing from amidships forward to the bow on
the starboard side.

The port side is intact only up to the level of the deck. Decking is present and
uncovered aft of amidships; forward it is covered by debris The vessel's steering
quadrant is present, but no longer in its original location. The stern is intact, and

444

the rudder, screw and exhaust are undamaged. Her cabin is missing, and the hull is
misshapen and bulges outward approximately amidships.

The vessel's gasoline engine and the fuel tank are present approximately amidships.
Both are apparently in their original location. Miscellaneous planking, piping, and
other debris are scattered across the forward deck. All of the loose debris from the
vessel is contained within the hull.

Site Analysis: During the brief examination of the remains of the double-ender, the
most prevalent impact noted was that the vessel had obviously burned. Charred
remains are scattered across the deck. The results of the explosion is evidenced by
the bulging of the hull on the port side. While no identifying marks remain,
undoubtedly this vessel is the same one that is reported to have burned in 1949

The existence of a double-ender in the Passage Island cove has been known by park
employees for some time. It's present condition, the circumstances surrounding its
loss, and identification of the vessel had never been pursued.

Quentin Miller, a former Coast Guardsman at the light house in the years 1949 to
1951, responded to a general request from the park for information about the light
house. Surprisingly, he happened to be stationed there at the time the vessel was
destroyed and recounted the events leading up to the vessel's loss:

We had a bad fire, during 1949, in our boathouse that was about 1 1/4
miles away from the PILS [Passage Island Light Station] itself. A
narrow and rocky path had to be walked in order to get back and forth
afoot. Gasoline fumes in the bilges of our then 26 foot cabin motor
launch, which had a 4-cylinder Grey Marine gasoline engine, were
ignited when [Nelson] Goudreau attempted to start the launch for the
first time in early 1949. That he [Goudreau] managed to escape from
the small cabin, roll off the bow and into the boatwell water, climb out
and then walk that 1 1/4 mile back to the PILS, half his clothes burned
off, face an ashened grey putty color, and skin hanging from his
hands, I'll never know, is a miracle of human survival and endurance.
The boathouse and small boat were completely destroyed ....

An investigation followed, of course, and poor Johnny of southern
Michigan, was made the goat. He went down to the boathouse the
night before and in the dark refueled the launch and in the process
spill[ed] or overflowed gasoline into the launch's bilges. Johnny also
failed to secure the fuel shutoff valve that led to the gasoline hose
and the valve leaked, dripped gasoline, all the rest of the night ... until
Nelson discovered it the following morning.

Nelson vented the launch, but he failed to realize just how much fuel
had been spilled into the bilges. The launch was a gasoline bomb
waiting for a spark, and when Nelson turned the ignition key to crank
the engine up, that's all she wrote! That Nelson survived was a
miracle indeed.

In time the boathouse was rebuilt by special crews .... (Quentin M.
Miller 1986:2-3).

445

The same motor launch that exploded in 1949 was photographed sometime between
1941 and 1947 (Fig. 6.54). Seated on the cabin is Edith Bowen, wife of former Coast
Guardsman Jim Bowen.

This 26 footer was also involved in the rescue of long time Isle Royale fisherman,

Milford Johnson, Sr.:

We happened to be outside, it was a real stormy day. I don't know
how he [Jim Bowen] ever spied that boat that was floating out there
.... He spotted them from just looking out over the water. ... He said
"that boat looks like its not under power". So he ran down and got
the ... 26-footer and went out. And sure enough they were with out
power. It was Milford Johnson, from Rock Harbor, who had these
people out for the day. The engine konked out and he couldn't repair
it. How he ever spotted it among the white caps I'll never know (Edith
Bowen, wife of Coast Guardsman Jim Bowen 1985).

Conclusion: A combination of coincidence and chance led to the discovery of the
circumstances surrounding the loss of the Coast Guard vessel and a photograph
taken prior to 1949. Every effort should be made to obtain additional information
about this particular vessel. Date and location of construction, model or "type", and
history of use at Passage Island Lighthouse should be documented. If construction
plans for this class of vessel do not exist, the underwater remains should be
thoroughly documented. This vessel is part of the submerged cultural resources
base at Isle Royale and its history can contribute to the story of the park. The
vessel should be added to the State of Michigan cultural sites inventory and be
evaluated for addition to the existing Shipwrecks of Isle Royale' National Park
Thematic Group Nomination.

Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Siskiwit at Senter Point

Historical Background and Description: In August, 1935, the first Civilian
Conservation Corps volunteers arrived at Isle Royale and set up their base camp at
the head of Siskiwit Bay at Senter Point. Camp Siskiwit was the first of three
permanent base camps eventually established on Isle Royale by the CCC.

During the first year of operations at Camp Siskiwit, CCC crews graded a trail from
Senter Point to Lake Desor, constructed a shelter on the Lake Desor trail, a
ski-patrol cabin, and a moose corral, disposed of slash in the Senter Point general
vicinity, and developed a range study area. In addition, the crews constructed
several buildings to house the volunteers and support camp operations. The
majority of the facilities were either tents or .were constructed of pulp logs
(Wolbrink personal communication, February 1987). A small dock on the south side
of Senter Point was also built (Shevlin 1937:1).

In 1936, the second season of CCC work on Isle Royale, bureaucratic and
organizational delays hampered the implementation of projects both at Siskiwit and
Rock Harbor until July. Improved fire prevention was a top priority project for the
CCC that year. Because of the delays, crews were not released from camp
assignments for field duties until July, when the danger of forest fires was at its
peak. The fire prevention program had just gotten under way when the most
extensive fire in Isle Royale's recorded history began on July 28,1936.

The fire broke out in Mead Lumber Company "slash" just southwest of Camp
Siskiwit. Crews from the camp were immediately sent to combat the flames,

446

however, high winds and temperatures, combined with tinder-dry underbrush
resulted in almost impossible fire fighting conditions. Winds leapfrogged to a
second area north of Hay Bay and a third area near Siskiwit Lake (Little
1978:98-100).

Before the fire could be brought under control, it burned nearly 1/3 of the island
and required the fire fighting efforts of 1200-1600 additional CCC volunteers
recruited from throughout Michigan. In all 26,000 acres were destroyed and a swath
of burned timber, from Rock Harbor on the east to nearly Lake Desor on the west
and from Chippewa Harbor on the south to Todd Harbor on north, scarred the
interior landscape (Little 1978:98).

In an effort to make up for work delayed due to the fire, CCC volunteers stayed on
the island at Camp Siskiwit through the winter to remove damaged trees and fallen
logs. Among the core of the crew at Camp Siskiwit in October, 1936, were several
supervisors including, Frank Stone, Erik Erickson, J. Alfred Croze, Harry R. Nichols,
and Vincent Pope, plus seventeen enrollees (Camp Siskiwit Log, October 1936). By
mid-November of that year, more volunteers had arrived and work was begun on
preparations for their winter stay.

Work that fall and early winter focused on the construction of a new camp inland at
the site of the Mead Lumber Company (Camp Siskiwit Log, October 19, 1936). In
fact, the CCC occupied several of the lumber company buildings (Wolbrink personal
communication, February 1987). Camp Siskiwit was systematically dismantled and
building materials re-used in the construction of the new camp. While waterline
problems plagued the new camp throughout the winter, few other major problems
were encountered. Regular radio communications with Houghton provided the
volunteers with the ability to keep in contact with friends and relatives. By
Thanksgiving several buildings at the new camp had been completed and the
volunteers' spirits remained high.

... and with this we close another month of the winter sojourn on Isle
Royale. We are in first class condition and with food in storehouses,
lumber and material for construction, tools and equipment to build
with, and our spirits and health at top, we begin another month
confident (Camp Siskiwit Log, November 30, 1936:25).

This camp was supposed to be officially named Camp Isle Royale (Camp Siskiwit
Log, October 28, 1936), however it was always generally referred to as Camp
Siskiwit by the volunteers (Wolbrink personal communication, February 1987). By
December 8, 1936, the move to the new camp was complete and the area at Senter
Point was becoming "deserted and bare" (Camp Siskiwit Log, December 13,
1936:29). The last official contact with the mainland by boat was in mid-December,
and from that date until the next April, the men at Camp Isle Royale were
completely isolated. Their only means of communication with the mainland was by
radio and through irregular airplane flights for emergency evacuation.

Despite their isolation from the outside world, the men enjoyed snow shoeing, ice
skating, and Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. A New Year's Eve party in the
mess hall

... continued well into the night to bring down the curtain on another
year and another month of our ... stay through the winter on Isle
Royale. There is at this time a marked note of contentment and
satisfaction among all who are here. Work has progressed rapidly,
there has been no serious sickness or accidents of any kind and the

447

morale is very high All indications point to success (Camp Siskiwit
Log, December 31, 1936:36).

The appearance of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter CRAWFORD in early April, signaled
the end of the winter and the beginning of another season on the Island. CCC work
in 1937 followed the pattern of previous years, with the crews involved in
fire-related clean up and various navigational and wildlife projects. The selection of
Mott Island as the permanent headquarters for the island resulted in a heavy
concentration of effort in that area the following year. Fire hazard removal and trail
construction continued in the old Camp Siskiwit area.

Isle Royale's remoteness and the emphasis by NPS officials on maintenance of the
island's wilderness required some changes in the usual operation of CCC camps.
Camp Siskiwit and later Camp Isle Royale reflected these adaptations. Horseshoe
pitching, hiking, and water sports were substituted for other group recreational
activities, such as baseball and football. The absence of large buildings also limited
indoor recreational activities. Fortunately neither academic nor vocational training
were hampered by the island's remote location. The curriculum included mechanical
drawing, radio operation, photography, typing, nautical skills, American history, math,
English, and even beginning French.

CCC projects on Isle Royale terminated in September 1941, with the seasonal
departure of volunteers and the abolition of the CCC in June, 1942.

The facilities for the volunteers at Camp Siskiwit, built during the first season of
activities, included barracks, a dispensary, mess hall, blacksmith shop, supply
building, bath house, power house, store house, National Park Service office and
Army Headquarters buildings, a water supply tank and pump house, a chemical
toilet, as well as several other miscellaneous structures (Camp Siskiwit Log, Winter,
1936). A crib dock, on the south side of Senter Point, was constructed the first
summer of operation (Fig. 6.57). The only structure that was not reported to have
been dismantled during the winter of 1936 was the crib dock and a small storage
room for non-perishable supplies. The CCC log does not specifically mention the
dismantling of the store room in the Spring of 1937, although this is highly likely
due to the relocation of the entire camp to the Mead Lumber Company location.

Camp Isle Royale facilities, the replacement for Camp Siskiwit, included all of the
above mentioned structures as well as a recreation hall, ice rink, root "house", tool
room, oil house, photographic lab, moose corral and barn (Fig. 6.58). No additional
dock facilities were required at the new location as the existing lumber company
wharf proved suitable (Fig. 6.59). The site was abandoned by the CCC at the end of
the 1941 season.

Prior Research: Wolbrink visited Camp Siskiwit at Senter Point during the winter of
1936 and took numerous photographs. Isle Royale Cultural Resource Specialist
Carol Maass visited the site of Camp Isle Royale in March, 1984, and included it on
the undesignated Isle Royale Cultural Sites Inventory. Maass recommended field
testing be conducted at the Camp Isle Royale site to determine its spatial and
temporal limits and identify any outlying areas.

448

Fig. 6.57. Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Siskiwit crib dock located on the south
side of Senter Point. NPS photo by Donald Wolbrink, 1935.

Fig. 6.58. The CCC occupied many of the buildings of the Mead Lumber Company
during the winter of 1935-36. The Senter Point location was abandoned in favor of
the Mead Lumber Company site. NPS photo by Donald Wolbrink, 1936.

449

Fig. 6.59. Mead Lumber Company wharf later used by the CCC at Camp Isle Royale
(aka Camp Siskiwit). IMPS photo, 1945.

Siskiwit Bay

CAMP SISKIWIT
(Summer 1935)

Checker Point

CAMP ISLE ROYALE --* ^MEAD LUMBER CO.
(Winter 1935-1941) (1935-36)

mile

Fig. 6.60. Location of Camp Siskiwit, Camp Isle Royale, and Mead Lumber Company
in Siskiwit Bay. Drawing by Toni Carrell.

450

Submerged Cultural Resources archeologist Toni Carrell, Isle Royale Park Ranger Ken
Vrana, and Maass visited Senter Point in June 1984 in an effort to locate the
remains of the Camp Siskiwit crib dock and to examine the offshore area for
associated artifacts. No examination of the original Camp Siskiwit location has been
undertaken to date.

Intrusions and Data Limitations: Following abandonment of the CCC camps in 1942,
buildings from all three camps began being re-used by the fledgling park.
Structures were dismantled in sections, in some cases, and moved to other
locations for use as residences, offices, shelters, ranger stations, and warehouse
space. Salvageable materials were also used for upgrading existing buildings on an
as needed basis. Eventually, each of the camps was obliterated, the last CCC
building at Camp Siskiwit/Camp Isle Royale was burned in October 1985 (Isle Royale
National Park files). The crib dock at Senter Point was apparently allowed to
deteriorate on its own.

Site Location: CCC Camp Siskiwit on Senter Point and its associated features are
located at the west end of Siskiwit Bay (Fig. 6.1). The crib dock can be reached by
traveling in a northwesterly directly in the bay, toward Senter Point, a geographic
place name clearly marked on USGS 15 minute topographic maps and NOAA
nautical charts. The remains of the dock are on the south side of Senter Point, just
below the surface of the water.

CCC Camp Isle Royale (aka Camp Siskiwit) at the Mead Lumber Company location, is
recorded as being within Township 63 North, Range 37 West, Section 4, SE 1/4, NE
1/4. The Camp Siskiwit and dock location, at Senter Point, is in Section 33, SE 1/4,
NE 1/4, and in Section 34, SW 1/4, NW 1/4 (Fig. 6.60).

Administrative Status: The Civilian Conservation Corps camp site at the Mead
Lumber Company location is included in the Isle Royale interim Cultural Sites
Inventory as undesignated site number U-43. It does not have a State of Michigan
number and is not included on the National Register of Historic Places. The camp
site on Senter Point is not presently recorded by the park.

Research Methodology: Divers examined the offshore area of Senter Point down to
a depth of 15 feet. The entire point was examined down to a depth of 10 feet.
Good water visibility and light penetration facilitated the examination, and it is felt
that no major artifacts were overlooked. During this survey the remains of the dock
were located. No examination was made of the historic CCC camp location.

Site Description: The crib dock, in approximately 4 feet of water, is composed of
two scattered sections of cribbing One crib is partially intact with several logs still
in place (Fig. 6.61). The second crib consists only of rounded boulders, which
extend from the shoreline out toward the partially intact crib (Fig. 6.62).

Site Analysis: During the offshore survey of the north side of Senter Point,
numerous artifacts were located that probably date from the CCC era. Pieces of
broken crockery and two small aluminum bowls, specifically, point to the activity
here in the mid to late 1930s. The five-inch diameter aluminum bowls have a rolled
lip and the word "Kellog's" is embossed in the bottom. Examination of the south
side of the point, adjacent to extant crib dock remains, revealed the presence of iron
spikes, used in the construction of crib docks, along with various pieces of broken
crockery and other miscellaneous nails. There is no question that this is the
location of the CCC crib dock associated with Camp Siskiwit.

451

Fig. 6.61. Remains of Senter Point crib dock underwater. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

Fig. 6.62. Shoreline evidence of former CCC crib dock at Senter Point. NPS photo
by Carol Maass.

452

Conclusion: Confusion over the original site of Camp Siskiwit with its Mead Lumber
Company location has resulted in some difficulties in identification of photographs
from the two camps and has led to an inaccurate interpretation of the history of
this activity by present day park staff. The continued use of the camp name
Siskiwit by the CCC volunteers, the removal of nearly all buildings from the original
site, and the oral history regarding the site, has undoubtedly contributed to this
confusion. As a result, no baseline cultural resources survey of the original location
has been undertaken. The Senter Point site of Camp Siskiwit should be investigated
and recorded by the park.

Further examination of the area immediately offshore of the Senter Point CCC dock
may result in the discovery of additional artifacts that could be used as part of an
interpretive display or program. Documentation of the dock remains should be
completed; this can easily be accomplished by a combination of wading and
snorkeling the area.

While the old crib dock does not represent a significant cultural resource of its own
accord, the overall story of the CCC on Isle Royale and its impact on the
development of the park should be interpreted. Photographs of the extant dock
along with Wolbrink's historic photo record, combined in a small brochure and
self-guiding hike to both camp locations, could provide the casual visitor to this
area a richer understanding of the development of the park and the Civilian
Conservation Corps. The crib dock should be included as part of the CCC Camp at
Senter Point and recorded as a State of Michigan historic archeological site.

The area of the crib dock at the Mead Lumber Company location should be
investigated and remains documented. This second dock area may contain a
diversity of artifacts that are associated with both lumbering and CCC activities.

Other Known or Suspected Sites

Siskowit Mine

The historic Siskowit Mine offshore location was very briefly examined on two

occasions in 1984 and 1985. This area contains cultural remains from the

prehistoric period, the historic mining period, and modern remains from the
mid-1930s.

Historical Background and Description: One of the earliest written documents about
prehistoric copper mines on Isle Royale comes from C. G. Shaw (1847), who was
mining on the island in the 1840s. In 1849, an article entitled "Ancient Workings"
appearing in The Lake Superior Journal (1849:2) carried a brief description of Shaw's
1847 finds. A subsequent article, "Isle Royale", reported the additional discovery of
prehistoric mines near the Siskowit Mine in Rock Harbor (1854:2). Dustin also
specifically refers to the presence of prehistoric mines in the Siskowit Mine area
(1930:495).

Organized in 1844, the Isle Royale Union Company went through a series of
reorganizations, eventually emerging as the Siskowit Mining Company in 1849.
During this period the company conducted a number of explorations on Isle Royale
concentrating on Mott and Outer Hill Islands. By 1850 the company was
concentrating its efforts on the historic mine location, across Rock Harbor Channel
from Mott Island, that bears its company name. The Siskowit Mine was established

453

in the vicinity of known prehistoric copper mines. Between 1847 and 1855 the mine
produced nearly 200,000 pounds of refined copper (Rakestraw 1965:8).

In June, 1935, a small pontoon plane failed to complete a take off from Mott Island
and nose-dived into Rock Harbor Channel just offshore of Siskowit Mine. Both the
pilot and the single passenger on board managed to escape from the rapidly sinking
craft, despite having severe injuries. The plane broke up and sunk (Daily Mining
Gazette, June 30 and July 2, 1935). Shortly thereafter, the plane was hauled up onto
the shore and the engine, pontoons, and other miscellaneous items were salvaged.
After everything of value was removed, the remains were used as a dock for a
time. When the canvas-covered craft began to deteriorate, it was pulled offshore
and dumped in deep water (Donald Anderson personal communication, February
1987).

Site Discussion: It is not surprising, given the history of prehistoric exploitation of
copper on Isle Royale and the presence of a prehistoric mine, that some prehistoric
remains should be found in the vicinity of the Siskowit Mine. What is remarkable is
the nature of the artifact located just offshore in 70 feet of water; a nearly intact
14th century ceramic clay pot (Fig. 6.63).

The pot was accidentally discovered in August, 1985, by Scott McWilliam, a
volunteer diver working with the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit. McWilliam
video taped the pot in situ then carefully removed it to the surface where it was
stored in a cooler filled with lake water. The pot was immediately transported to
park headquarters and turned over to the park naturalist and park historian for
stabilization.

Analysis of the pot has been undertaken by Dr. Patrick Martin, archeologist with
Michigan Technological University. The following is excerpted from his initial
evaluation of the pot:

... the discovery of the 14-inch tall [pot] in the well-used Rock Harbor
Channel is remarkable in itself, but the vessel has significance in
several other ways as well.

... the vessel is nearly intact, with about 75% of the original pot still
present in one piece. This is highly unusual in a northern environment
such as that found around Lake Superior, where relatively porous
vessels, such as this one, typically succumb to damage caused by
moisture and freeze-thaw cycles. Very few vessels of this age and
degree of intactness are known from the Upper Great Lakes.

The pot ... [is an] indicator of wide-area cultural contact ... [and]
exhibits several clues as to its age and cultural origin, distinctive
attributes of style and manufacturing technique ....

The combination of manufacturing and design attributes form a
distinctive style of pottery best known from an archeological site in
the Straights of Mackinac called the Juntunen Site .... That a similar
vessel should be found in both locations is not terribly surprising, for
the occupants of the Juntunen Site were regular users of native
copper, a material that could be obtained with ease by traveling to the
Keweenaw or Isle Royale, or by trading with people in this area ....

454

Fig. 6.63 a & b. Nearly intact prehistoric pot found in Rock Harbor Channel in
August, 1985. This pot has been dated to circa 1020-1200 AD. It is the most
intact example of this pottery type found in the region to date. Photos by Patrick
Martin.

455

[Juntunen Phase pottery] has stylistic affinities or inspirations from the

Ontario homeland of the Iroquois, and has been dated from circa

1200-1400 A.D., or perhaps even later. Attaching an ethnic identity to

material several centuries old ... is tenuous ... but makers of this pot

were probably ancestors of the Chippewa, or Ojibwa people who lived

in this region when European explorers first visited here (Martin 1985)

Since the initial evaluation, the results of accelerator-aided radiocarbon analysis

have been received and a more conclusive date for the pot has been determined.

Dating from 1020 to 1200 A.D., the pot is now ascribed to the early, rather than late

woodland period as originally believed (Dr. Patrick Martin, personal communication

April 1987).

In June, 1980, and again in September 1984, park divers were attempting to locate
the remains of the pontoon plane, and instead found a number of artifacts
associated with the historic mine immediately offshore of the mine tailings.
Remains included a wheel barrow wheel, a partially intact ore barrel, pieces of iron
machinery, and "a surprising amount of old leather shoes or shoe soles" (Vrana
1980, 1984).

Wing struts from the pontoon plane were located by Vrana on the same dive in
1984, and the frame was located by McWilliam in August, 1985. The partially
wooden frame is laying upside down in 70 feet of water, not far from the location
where the prehistoric pot was found.

Conclusion: It is apparent that the Siskowit Mine area would benefit from additional
research consisting of both shore-based and underwater reconnaissance. While the
area immediately adjacent to the pot's former resting place was thoroughly
examined for additional remains by Submerged Cultural Resource Unit archeologists
in 1985, with negative results, the near-shore area should be surveyed. It is not
unlikely that additional prehistoric, historic, and modern remains are resting on the
silty bottom.

Additional Research Locations

Although Isle Royale was established as a National Park in order to preserve its
wilderness values, the range of human activity from the prehistoric period to
present-day tourism have left their imprint on the island. Numerous prehistoric
sites have been documented on the island, many are along the shoreline or just
inland. Given the discovery of the prehistoric pot in Rock Harbor Channel,
examination of offshore areas of known sites could prove fruitful.

Many of the structures associated with the historic period have either been
demolished or allowed to deteriorate on their own. Their surficial remains have
often been compromised by the establishment of camping areas, other visitor use
areas, park service facilities, or general site clean up following razing of buildings.
In a number of cases historic wharfs or docks have been destroyed or altered
during the process of replacement or improvement for modern use. However, the
comparative degree of "damage" done to the underwater components of the various
land-based sites, discussed previously in this chapter, has been minimal. The most
severe impacts coming from dredging associated with the construction and
maintenance of docks or other park facilities.

The preliminary information gathered at each representative site discussed in this
chapter has already provided remarkable insights into the prehistory and history of

456

Isle Royale. With this knowledge as a baseline from which to draw tentative
conclusions, it is reasonable to assume that other land-based sites with underwater
components may also contain a great deal of valuable information.

Conclusion: As of 1984, thirty-seven prehistoric sites were documented on Isle
Royale (Maass 1984). Those sites that are adjacent to the shoreline, rivers or inland
lakes, should have an offshore reconnaissance. The offshore areas of possible
Northwest Fur Company and American Fur Company trading posts should be
examined for both early fur trade and fishery station remains. Each of the historic
mines required the construction of small docks or wharves, these should be located
and documented. Docks and underwater remains associated with lumbering, recent
fishing, resorts, the lighthouses and the CCC should also be examined and evaluated
for their historical significance.

Maass' undesignated cultural sites inventory (1984) and the park's designated
cultural sites list are excellent starting places for planning of future surveys and
documentation efforts. Liberal use of the park's building and dock files would also
be useful in this regard. These records should be incorporated into park historic
files after use by park resources management and maintenance divisions. Oral
histories and contemporary written accounts are also an important part of
preparation for the survey and documentation process.

Vernacular Watercraft

Numerous examples of small wooden watercraft are present at Isle Royale. These
vessels represent a local expression in boat design that was developed to meet the
physical requirements of the work engaged in, and to function in a variety of
weather and water conditions around the island. Similarly, these vessels were
developed within limitations of low cost, available materials, repair and maintenance
by possibly amateur builders (the owner), and construction by "semi-pro" (locally
recognized and/or part-time), and professional builders.

In the heyday of sail, in particular the latter half of the 1800s, about 200 distinct
types and subtypes of small sailing boats were used in North America (Chapelle
1951:3). The vast majority of these vessels are now gone, their usefulness passed
when the sail was replaced by the low-cost gasoline engine. Isle Royale's sailers
were phased out by the use of the gasoline engine. In their place the "gas-powered
boat" became the workhorse of fishermen, vacationers, and even the rescue
services, i.e. U.S. Light-House Service and U.S. Life Saving Service.

Larger inshore, coastal, and Lakes sailing vessels, those from 35 to 40 feet and up
used principally for commercial purposes, were also designed to meet geographical
and service needs. There were more than 100 types of sailing craft used in the
fisheries and in commerce between 1800 and 1900 (Chapelle 1936:xi). Unlike their
smaller counterparts, these vessels were built in recognized shipyards by skilled
shipwrights. These sailing vessels, like the small sailers, were gradually replaced by
mechanization. Steam-powered vessels rapidly dominated commercial trade
although, at least on the Lakes, some types of intermediate-sized vessels were still
gasoline powered.

One of the problems faced by anyone attempting to describe or discuss vernacular
craft is terminology. Like most of the country, small craft types on the Great Lakes
have not been well studied and nomenclature varies from area to area. It also
varies from person to person depending upon age, ethnic background, and even

457

occupation. "They pretty much called them whatever they wanted to call them"
(Marjorie McPherren personal communication, February 1987). Fishermen and boat
captains not only viewed their vessels differently than vacationers and pleasure craft
owners, the two groups referred to similar vessels using different terminology. To
further complicate matters, the same generic term, such as skiff, was used to
describe entirely different vessel construction.

In order to avoid attempts at lengthy "definitions" of vessel types, the several
examples around Isle Royale will be discussed in the vernacular, that is, in the terms
used by fishermen and their families (Milford and Myrtle Johnson and Milford Jr.;
Stanley Sivertson), summer residents and resort owners (Phil Gale and Marge
McPherren), boat captains (Stanley Sivertson), boat builders (Reubin Hill; Westy
Farmer), and engine mechanics (Elvis Moe), who lived, worked, played, and built
boats for use around Isle Royale. The explanations surrounding the various craft are
limited to the modern or Scandanavian period of commercial fishing and resort
activity, thus emphasizing the period from the 1880s to the 1950s. This narrow time
frame was necessitated by the oral traditions and memories of the individuals
queried about the craft.

It will be quickly recognized that much of the vessel terminology is both functional
and descriptive. Cochrane documented the functionality of the fishermen's view of
their lives and surroundings while researching the folklife expressions of three Isle
Royale fishermen (1982). Given the adaptive nature of the terminology used to
describe the vessels under consideration in this chapter, photographic illustration of
the various vessel types will be used whenever possible. This is not intended to be
a thorough examination of the wide variety of craft either present or used around
the island. Rather it is a brief overview.

With the above caveat in mind, the general categories of vessels, often referred to
as boats regardless of their size or function, include: sailboat, skiff, rowboat, gas
boat, launch, fish tug, work tug, passenger boat, steamboat or steamer, and yacht.
These can further be broken down into inferred categories of use: commercial,
recreational, or private (not for hire).

The general term sailboat simply referred to any sail-driven craft, regardless of size.
Grandpa had a sailboat, a two-masted schooner. She had thin ribs.
The NORTHERN BELLE. Narrow planking. She's laying in the slough,
the little slough behind Sam Johnson's dock at Wright Island (John M.
Malone, Sr. 1986).

A particular type of sailboat, a craft less than 35 feet in length, was popular on the
western Lakes and with Isle Royale's fishermen from the 1880s to just after the turn
of the century. It exhibited a distinct hull form and was referred to as a Mackinaw
sailboat (Fig. 6.64).

Nothing was more excitingly beautiful than watching Papa's return
from the nets. His two-masted Mackinaw sailboat would come into
sight around a rocky point ... sails unfurled and billowing in the wind
(Ingeborg Holte 1984:33).

The Mackinaw was built in three distinct models: the double-ended, straight-sheered
Collingwood style built on both the American and Canadian shores of Lake Huron;
the double-ended, strong-sheered, high bow, and plumb-stemmed style from Lakes
Superior and Michigan (see Figure 6.64 above); and the square-sterned Huron boat

458

Fig. 6.64. Mackinaw sailboats were used on the lakes until after the turn of the
century. This one is a typical Lake Superior Mackinaw with its high bow and sharp
stern. National Archives photo, circa 1890s.

||giiifti!i«

Fig. 6.65 a & b. The fishing skiff was a small rowed boat with a sharp bow (left), flat
bottom, hard chine, and flat stern (right) used by commercial fishermen. The skiff at
right exhibits an early stern configuration, a deep transom extending to the bottom.
NPS photos by James Bradford (I.) and Joe Strykowski (r.).

459

(Chapelle 1951:180-185). The presence of a square stern on the Huron boat may
have lead to some recent confusion over identification of this type as a Mackinaw.

The western Lakes Mackinaw was "unquestionably the finest of the Lake types, for
they were not only fast but also very fine seaboats" (Chappelle 1951:182). They
were rigged as either a schooner or a ketch and always had a jib. The bowsprit
was hogged downward and very often the lugged foresail was replaced by a
boomed sail. Historic photographs of Mackinaws around Isle Royale circa 1890
show masts of the same height, a typical attribute. The Mackinaw was considered
treacherous in the summer months during a sudden squall. If the fishermen could
not get the sails down quickly enough, the boat could capsize. A few fishermen lost
their lives this way (Sivertson 1987).

The Mackinaw ranged in size from 26 to 35 feet and was constructed with bent or

sawn frames and a plank keel. Their beam was carried well forward, with a

centerboard just forward of amidships. Reubin Hill stated that white oak and white

4
pine are the preferred building materials of Northshore builders. Presumably

Hill's father, who was also a Northshore builder, used oak and white pine in

construction of circa 1900 boats. Today Hill steams oak for frames, and oak is used

in the stem, keel and transom. It would not be surprising to find oak used similarly

in the construction of Mackinaws, although this has not been documented. Based

upon the preferences of builders today, it is possible that native white pine or cedar

may have been used to plank the hull.

While the sharp-stemmed and raked-stern Mackinaw was the most popular on Lake
Superior, there were some smaller square-sterned boats used on the lake. Stanley
Sivertson's father, a fisherman on Isle Royale at the turn of the century, had two
Mackinaws; one was a 20-foot square-sterned sailer (Sivertson 1987). The
advantage of the sharp stern over the square stern was that the fishermen could
push them off a ramp without broaching, and in a following sea they didn't "sashay
around so much or broach so easy'' (Sivertson 1987). The stern, while considered
sharp, was rounder than the bow.

The Mackinaw sailboat was widely used until the introduction and ready availability
of the gasoline engine just at the turn of the century. The general Mackinaw hull
shape appears again in post-1900 craft, discussed below. A few Mackinaw sailboats
are reported to have been lost around the island. One or possibly two may be off
Long Point, and one, owned by the MacGuire bothers, was lost off the northeast
side in 1874 (Robinson 1938:12-13), and one in Washington Harbor (Sivertson 1987).

The skiff, a small rowed boat, was used both for fishing and occasionally for
recreation by fishing families. A work boat used in shallow bays and coves, the
fisherman's skiff or fishing skiff was flat-bottomed.

They were generally a 16 or 17 footer with a flat bottom and side ...

that's the way they were made. What we call a chine job .... A piece

of oak runs the length of it at the break from the bottom to the side

(Hill 1987).

The Northshore is Minnesota's Lake Superior shoreline.

460

Around the turn of the century, the fishing skiffs were made with a sharp stern.
Because of the lack of safe bays and harbors on the Minnesota shore, the skiffs, like
the Mackinaw sailer, had to be launched off steep slides; the sharp stern prevented
broaching in the waves. As many as 350 were launched from areas on the
Northshore when herring fishing was at its peak. Two Isle Royale fishermen, Bruen
and Petersen, are reported to have made a slide off the steep northeast side of
Houghton Point so they could launch their skiff because all of the bays and coves
were filled with herring fishermen (Sivertson 1987).

Later the fishing skiff became square-sterned, although it retained its hard-chine,
and high-sides varying from 20 to 24 inches deep. These skiffs were, above all, a
stable work platform upon which to haul fishing nets (Fig. 6.65a). Early skiffs had a
deep transom that extended to the bottom (Fig. 6.65b). In order to make it easier to
row, the beam on a fishing skiff was just a little less than 1/3 its length (Hill 1987).
Because of its use in herring fishing, this vessel was often referred to as a "herring
skiff". Its use was contemporaneous with the Mackinaw sailboat, the Mackinaw
being used in open water, while the skiff was used in relatively protected locations.
Fishing skiffs continued in use well into the early 1900s.

Another style of rowed boat was popular with vacationers during the resort era on
Isle Royale, circa 1890s - 1940s (Fig. 6.66). This vessel was round-bottomed with
rounded sides and a gently sweeping fantail stern. This type of stern has also been
called a "Y" stern by some Isle Royale fishermen (Milford Johnson Jr. 1987).
"Construction was either lap-strake or smooth seam, but always round-bottomed"
(Hill 1987). While the fishing skiff was built out of oak and native white pine, the
rowboat/rowing skiff was very often built of cedar strips, although both were plank
on frame, ie. carvel (Hill 1987). Craft built from cedar or white pine strips are
generally referred to as strip boats. Popular lengths for these recreational boats
were 12, 14, and 16 feet; their breadth being just under 1/3 the length (Hill 1987).
Unlike the high-sided fishing skiff, the rowboat has only a 14 to 16 inch depth.

Simply called a rowboat by fishermen and local boat builders (Milford Johnson Jr.
1987; Hill 1987), it was referred to as a rowing skiff by resort owners and summer
residents (Phil Gale personal communication, March 1987; Marjorie McPherren
personal communication, February 1987). When asked about the resort owner's and
summer resident's adoption of the term skiff from the fishermen and boat builders
Reubin Hill replied:

Well of course a lot of people have a name for them, just like a brown
horse, or a black horse .... Its about the same thing with a
round-bottomed boat, it's just a round bottom. But those [rowboats]
are not called skiffs, a skiff is a chine job that the fishermen mostly
was using (Hill 1987).

Examples of both the fishing skiff and the rowboat/rowing skiff are known to exist
around Isle Royale. The locations include: Wright Island - herring skiff, Tobin
Harbor - rowboat/rowing skiff and herring skiff, Crystal Cove - herring and
rowboat/rowing skiffs, Johnson Island - herring skiff, Malone Island - unknown skiff
type, Washington Island - herring skiff, and Barnum Island - herring skiff.

The gas boat is an all purpose work boat and "the most revered type of fishing craft
around Isle Royale" (Cochrane 1982:55). At the turn of the century gas boats were
built as double-enders, adapting the double-ended Mackinaw hull to motorization
(Fig. 6.67). Shortly thereafter, the double-ended style was dropped in favor of the

461

Fig. 6.66. The rowboat/rowing skiff is a round-bottomed boat with a sweeping
fantail stern. This recreational craft was popular with summer residents,
vacationers, and fishing families. Photo courtesy of Ken Vrana.

Fig. 6.67. SKIPPER SAM, a double-ended gas boat built in the 1930s, was equipped
with a 4 cylinder engine mounted amidships. It's existence is an anomaly since
double-enders like this stopped being built just after the turn of the century. NPS
photo by James Bradford.

462

roomier raked square stern. Double-enders were also called canoe-backs by local
fishermen and boat builders (Hill 1987).

The "hot head" or "hot tube" engine was used in the early gas boats and were the
forerunner of the diesel (Moe 1987; Sivertson 1987; Hill 1987). Kerosene-fueled and
started with a blow torch, these engines could not be used in an enclosed area
because of the fumes they gave off and the danger of fire (Moe 1987). Fishermen
often carried a sack of flour or sand with them just in case a fire started (Sivertson
1987). Double-ended gas boats were later equipped with 2 cycle marine engines
with 1, 2 or 3 cylinders (Moe 1987). Early manufacturers, recalled by Stanley
Sivertson, Elvis Moe, and Reubin Hill, included Scripps, Palmer, Fox, Knox, Straubal
(sic), Detroit, and Kahlenberg.

The Depression years also marked the transition period between 2 and 4 cycle

marine engines:

... some of the fishermen used car engines, because they had a
transmission in them, and to set the hook lines they could shift down
into low gear or second gear. And when you were setting nets, if it
was a calm day it was nice and you didn't have to fuss with the
engine, you could just put it in low gear or second gear. If it was
rough, and you had to head up against the wind, or the wind was on
the forward quarter, well you just put it in high you see. And with
hook lines it was especially nice, being able to shift was the ultimate
(Sivertson 1987).

The most popular engine was the Buick 6-cylinder Master 29, although 4-cylinder

Studebaker, Chrysler, Dodge, and Model-T Ford engines were also used (Moe 1987;

Sivertson 1987). Car engines were used for practical reasons as well; during the

Depression these engines could be purchased for $100, considerably less than

marine engines (Moe 1987).

A surviving example of a double-ended gas boat exists at Wright Island (Fig. 6.67).
According to Ingeborg Holte, SKIPPER SAM was built by Charles J. Hill in the 1930s,
on a special request, for her father, Sam Johnson.

The "typical" modern gas boat was widely used from the early 1930s through the
1950s (Fig. 6.68). Many of the wooden-hulled Isle Royale and Northshore gas boats
were made by master boat builders, principally the Hill family of Larsmont,
Minnesota.

Based upon the Mackinaw hull, the gas boat ranged between 20 and 28 feet long.

The length of a boat was determined by what size the fishermen could handle:
... particularly in areas where they had to pull the boats up on a ramp,
if they didn't have good shelter ... many of the fishermen around Isle
Royale, as well as here [Minnesota], wanted 24-footers,
round-bottomed boats. A few were a little larger, but most ... were
looking for about a 24-footer. Many of those were on Isle Royale,
down in Siskiwit and on the Northside, in Washington Harbor, Belle
Isle and that area (Hill 1987).

A rule of thumb was to make the beam on a gas boat 1/3 the length (Hill 1987).
Gas boats were open decked and carried an inboard engine mounted amidships.
These plank-on-frame boats were constructed with a sharp bow and raked square
stern, to make them easier to handle in rough weather. A number of Hill's boats
had a cut-away stern, rather than a big wide deep transom, to improve their

463

Fig. 6.68. A typical modern gasboat circa 1950s. Its raked square stern, sharp high
bow, and strong sheer, reflect its Mackinaw hull beginnings. IMPS photo.

Fig. 6.69. A double-ended launch at the turn of the century is basically the same
hull as SKIPPER SAM (Fig. 6.67), the launch was different from the gas boat only in
name. The Mackinaw hull shape was simply adapted to motorization. Photo
courtesy of Cathryn Baker.

464

handling in a following sea. That type of modified square stern would "split the sea
when running ahead of it" (Hill 1987).

The keel, transom, stem, and frames were constructed out of white oak. The first
two planks from the keel were often oak as well, "to give the boat a stronger
backbone" (Hill 1987). Cypress or cedar were used for a portion of the bottom and
the remainder of the vessel constructed using native white pine. Gunnels were of
oak because of its straight grain and its resistance to peeling with the grain when
nets were hauled over the sides.

During the height of their popularity in the 1940s, gas boats were generally
equipped with a 4 cylinder gasoline engine. Common manufacturers were Doman,
Oshkosh, and Redwing out of Wisconsin, Chrysler and Grey Marine out of Detroit,
Campbell, Hercules, and Kermath (Moe 1987; Hill 1987; Sivertson 1987). The most
popular engine among Isle Royale and Northshore fishermen appears to have been
the Grey Marine; Reubin Hill installed more of those than any other (Hill 1987).

The gas boat replaced the Mackinaw sailer and was used in open water fishing for
lake trout, whitefish, and siskiwit. The larger "open [gas] boat of 24 to 26 feet [was
commonly] used for hook lines, float nets, and gill net fishing" (Sivertson 1987). The
gas boat also eventually supplanted the fishing skiff, that craft being relegated to
occasional and recreational use by fishing families.

The same hull used for gas boats, built for recreational purposes rather than as a
work boat, was referred to as a launch or motor launch (Marjorie McPherren
personal communication, February 1987; Johnson Brothers Brochure 1940). Both
fishermen and boat builders considered the launch a resort-related boat (Sivertson
1987; Hill 1987). In the latter 1890s and early 1900s, the double-ended launch was
not uncommon (Fig. 6.69), however like the double-ended gas boat, that stern
configuration was dropped for the roomier raked square stern. A typical post-1900
resort-era launch on Isle Royale, many built by the Hill family, was described by
Reubin Hill as:

... one that is used for commercial use, for taking people out ... that
was fancied up a little bit different. It maybe had a top the full length
of it and curtains to drop down in case of weather. That's what the
boats at Rock Harbor were (Hill 1987) (Fig. 6.70).

In the 1920s and 1930s, launches were larger-sized, typically up to 30 feet. Two
such launches used around Isle Royale at that time were SUNBEAM and LADY
RUFFLES, the "fancy boats" (Sivertson 1987).

The raked square-sterned launch, unlike their working counterparts, may have been
fitted out with decorative brass rails and constructed using cedar with some
mahogany (Fig. 6.71). More recently the 12, 14, and 16 foot launches, constructed of
cedar strips and equipped with modern outboard engines, have become popular with
sport fishermen in the area (Hill 1987). Today this vessel type is called an outboard
boat or runabout.

By the 1930s, the stern on both the launch and the gas boat took one of three
forms, a fantail, a raked square stern, and a cut-away stern (Fig. 6.72). While any of
the three were used for the launch, the square stern and cut-away stern were
preferred by fishermen.

465

Fig. 6.70. A typical post-1900 resort-era launch on Isle Royale had a top the full
length of it with curtains to drop down in case of bad weather. The boats at Rock

Harbor Lodge were very similar to NEWSBOY, a 1900 launch from Port Huron,
Michigan. Photo courtesy of Cathryn Baker

Fig. 6.71. A narrow beam, decorative brass rails, and a square stern typified the
circa 1900 launch. These boats are the forerunner of the modern outboard. Photo
courtesy Cathryn Baker.

466

Fig. 6.72. By the 1930s the stern on both the launch and the gas boat took one of
three forms, a fantail, a raked square stern, and a cut-away stern. The fantail and
raked square stern were also seen on the larger fish tugs, the latter being the most
common. NPS photo

Fig. 6.73. A stripped down NOR'LAND is being towed by NELLS J. Both vessels are
typical 1930s - 1950s Lake Superior fish tugs. The influence of the Mackinaw hull is
clearly evident in these vessels. Photo courtesy of Ken Vrana.

467

Numerous examples of gas boats are reported to be lost or abandoned around Isle
Royale. These include: Johnson Island - gas boat, Lane Cove - gas boat,
Thompson Island - gas boat, Washington Island - gas boat, Barnum Island - gas
boat, Johns Island - gas boat, and Wright Island - double-ender gas boat owned by
Sam Johnson. In addition, a gas boat once belonging to Pete Edison was donated
to the Blue Water Boat Guild in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

There is one known loss of a launch around Isle Royale, LADY RUFFLES in
Washington Harbor. In addition there are three good examples of this type of vessel
from the resort era on Isle Royale still afloat today. They are: HMS, owned by the
Gale family of Tobin Harbor; WINDSOR, originally owned by Dr. Clay of Clay Island
and Davidson Island, owned until recently by National Park Concessions, and
presently in the Keweenaw peninsula; and PICNIC owned by Buddy Sivertson of
Grand Marais, Minnesota.

The heyday of the wooden fish tug was from the 1930s to the 1950s. An
intermediate sized work boat, the fish tug also drew upon the Mackinaw hull for its
design characteristics with its sharp stem, high bow, strong sheer, and raked stern
(Fig. 6.73). A major difference between the gas boat and the fish tug is overall
vessel size. During the early years on the Northshore fish tugs ranged from 26 to
35 feet, while Southshore fish tugs were as long as 45 feet. In the early 1930s,
the competition between Minnesota and Southshore fishermen came to a head and
legislation was enacted to restrict the size of fish tugs to 35 feet. Until the 1960s
the length of a tug was limited in Minnesota waters by legislation (Sivertson 1987).
Wisconsin and Michigan tugs were regularly 38 feet long, although a tug that size
could not be used for commercial fishing in Minnesota. In the 1960s the 35 foot
size restriction was dropped, and in its place a restriction on the minimum size of a
fish tug was enacted.

Another distinctive feature of the fish tug is its completely enclosed deck and
pilothouse (Fig. 6.74). While specific cabin and pilothouse arrangements may have
varied from vessel to vessel, the cabin extended from bow to stern. Hatches on the
sides permitted hauling in nets. Fish tugs were regularly constructed with oak
frames, keel, transom and stem, and with cedar, cypress, and white pine planking,
similar to the gas boat (Sivertson 1987; Hill 1987).

The wooden-hulled tug was gasoline powered by either a 6 or 8 cylinder industrial
or marine engine placed amidships, like its smaller cousin the gas boat. Common
manufactures included Grey Marine and Chrysler (Crown or Ace) out of Detroit, and
Doman and Redwing out of Wisconsin. Diesel engines by Grey Marine as well as
the Kahlenberg out of Wisconsin were also used.

Gasoline engines were popular in the 1930s to 1950s because of their lower initial
cost than similarly sized diesel engines. Today tugs are not only steel-hulled but
also generally diesel-powered for safety.

Descriptions of fish tugs were embellished with additional information relating to
their physical attributes. For example, while all the tugs had a graceful stern, they
were not necessarily similar. They might be described as having a fantail or duck

5
The Southshore is the Michigan and Wisconsin Lake Superior shorelines.

468

tail stern, meaning in this case that the fantail planks swept or extended up to meet
the gunnel at the level of the main deck. Master boat builder Reubin Hill described
that attribute as:

... fancied up a little bit. But that kind of stern keeps the weather
down ... especially in a following sea. ... its a trimmer boat (Hill 1987).

More commonly the vessels had a raked square stern, that is, a small transom
(see Figure 6.73). The square stern was preferred over the fantail, because it was
easier to clean. As the excess material used in a fantail began to deteriorate,
fishermen often sawed the stern off and put in a transom (Sivertson 1987). In order
to keep the sterns from looking boxy, the Hill family worked a "tumble-home" into
the stern; the gunnel was "rolled in a little bit from the bilge" (Hill 1987). Other
common adjectives used to describe fish tugs are "round-bottomed" or
"soft-chined" (Hill 1987; Milford Johnson, Sr. personal communication to Ken Vrana,
1979).

Another category of tug, used in commercial activities other than fishing, is referred
to as a work or harbor tug. With basically the same hull as a fish tug, the major
differences in the work tug were heavier frames, thicker hull planks, and an
abbreviated cabin configuration allowing more open deck space.

After conversion to other uses, principally transportation or pleasure cruisers, fish
tugs were referred to as simply passenger boats or cabin cruisers. Two converted
fish tugs, BELLE ISLE and Kauppi's ISLE ROYALE QUEEN, serviced several of the
resorts around Isle Royale in the early part of this century.

Examples of fish and work tugs around Isle Royale include AW-WA-NESHA,
DAGMAR, STANLEY, and an unidentified tug in Five Finger Bay. AW-WA-NESHA,
launched in 1922, was built along the lines of a commercial fish tug, although its
early use was in the passenger/freight trade (see Figure 6.74). Purchased in 1937 by
Holger Johnson and Otto Olsen, the vessel was "converted" to commercial fishing.
No longer principally a passenger boat she was then referred to as a fish tug. Lost
in Chippewa Harbor in 1955, this vessel is one of several fish tugs either known to
exist or suspected around Isle Royale.

DAGMAR, launched in 1914, was also built along the lines of a fish tug. Used as an
inland coastal freighter, it was purchased in 1930 by Arnold Johnson and used as a
fish tug and later a freight/passenger boat. DAGMAR was lost in 1935
approximately 1/2 to 3/4 mile northeast of Chippewa Harbor. At the time of loss,
the tug was owned by the Brazell Motor Freight Company. Two additional examples
of fish tugs include STANLEY at Star Island and an unidentified vessel rumored to
exist off Caribou Island.

The fish tug STANLEY would have been described as sharp stemmed,
round-bottomed, with a square stern (Fig. 6.75). The fish tug is 42 feet 5 inches
long overall, a breadth of 10 feet, and a depth of hull of 4 feet 6 inches. From keel

The square-sterned tug was not blunt-ended, rather it too was over-hanging
and had a pronounced counter. A more descriptive term for this stern configuration
would be "square-sterned fantail", although that particular terminology was not used
by any of the individuals interviewed.

469

Fig. 6.74. Fish tugs getting outfitted for the fishing season on Lake Superior in the
1940s - 1950s. JEFFERY (center) was owned by Milford and Arnold Johnson of Star
Island. AH-WA-NEESHA was owned and operated by Holger Jonson, half-brother
to Milford and Arnold. C. Patrick Labadie Collection.

Fig. 6.75 a & b. STANLEY exhibits typical attributes of the 1930s era fish tug on
Lake Superior. Her sharp, high bow and raked square stern made her very
seaworthy. NPS photo by John Brooks.

470

to rail it was constructed entirely of wood, however, iron spreader bars at deck level
are present. The keel, stem and sternpost are of oak. Planking is 1 3/4 inches thick
and 6 inches wide, while the ceiling width varies from 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches. The
engine was mounted amidships, and at the time of STANLEY'S loss, it was painted
green. The tug, owned by John E. Johnson, was built in 1914 in Two Harbors,
Minnesota.

STANLEY sunk adjacent to the main fish dock at Star Island sometime prior to
1935. After abandonment it was stripped of the engine, other useful items and
possibly the cabin, and scuttled approximately 150 feet southwest of the dock in
Loreli Lane in approximately 20 feet of water. When examined in 1982, she was
listing to port approximately 40°. STANLEY is intact up to the level of the deck, the
gunwale is present only in the first 4 feet 5 inches aft of the stem; the cabin is
absent. STANLEY is typical of a circa 1920s to 1930s era fish tug.

The Five Finger Bay tug was spotted in 1976 during a flight over the island. After
its discovery, park divers visited the wreck in order to obtain some information
about her. The unidentified work tug is typical of its type. The tug is equipped with
a 4 cylinder Doman gasoline engine mounted amidships and is approximately 40
feet long with a 10 foot beam. The hull is heavily built, a small cabin and
pilothouse are amidships, and a tow bitt is in the stern. The only clue to the tug's
identity is a 1920 Michigan boat plate, number 68. Records that could have
provided additional information about the vessel's past were destroyed in a fire,
although a long-time Isle Royale boat captain suggested that the tug may have
been used in lumbering activities (Roy Oberg personal communication to Ken Vrana,
August 1984). In the 1920s, pulp logs were transported across the lake in booms,
large log nets connected by chains. Tugs, similar to the one in Five Finger Bay
were used to tow these booms, and were referred to as boom-log tugs (Oberg
1984). Illegal salvage activities by divers in 1977 adversely impacted the vessel, but
she is still capable of providing a great deal of architectural information to maritime
historians and recreational enjoyment for sport divers.

Steam boats or steamers are simply any steam-powered vessel used for
commercial purposes. The Booth Line vessel AMERICA, discussed elsewhere in this
publication, was referred to as a steamer. Even after the introduction of large
diesels, the terms steam boat or steamer were still used locally to describe large
commercial vessels as discussed in previous chapters (Sivertson 1987; Milford
Johnson, Jr. 1987).

Whether steam-powered or sail-driven, any "large" vessel privately owned, used
strictly for pleasure, and not for hire, was referred to as a yacht, more specifically a
"rich man's yacht" (Marjorie McPherren personal communication, February 1987). A
well-known yacht was owned by G. W. Megeath, who maintained a 100-foot sailer
in Amygdaloid Channel in the 1920s (Marjorie McPherren personal communication,
April 17, 1987). Another well known example of a yacht is the 100-foot WINYAH,
owned by Andrew Carnegie. This vessel was later purchased by H. Christiansen and
Sons, fishmarketers, to replace the freight and passenger service provided by
AMERICA (Holden 1976). Stripped of all luxury accessories and converted, the vessel
was generally referred to as a steamer. Remains of PEGGY BEE, a 65 foot yacht
that caught fire at the Singer Hotel dock in Washington Harbor in 1928, may be
found in the channel toward Booth and Grace Islands (Holden 1984,
correspondence).

471

Other unknown vessel types are reported to have been lost in Vodrey Harbor, near
the abandoned lighthouse west of Middle Islands, and in the mouth of Passage
Island small boat cove. Several unidentified "fishing boats" are reported to have
been lost in Tobin Harbor (Carol Maass personal communication, 1985), and a barge
or boat is also reported to have been iost in this location (Hoge 1984).

Other losses of sailboats, possibly schooners, are suspected to have occurred on
Isle Royale prior to the turn of the century. Possible locations include McCargoe
Cove, the vicinity of Canoe Rocks, and the general northeast end (Milford Johnson
Sr. personal communication to Ken Vrana, 1979). This end of the island reportedly
saw Northwest Fur Company fishing activity and schooners were commonly
employed by the company to transport catches back to Fort William. Some of the
schooners used in the early fur trade and fishery operations on Lake Superior were
OTTER (pre-1800), BEAVER or similar craft (1800), PERSEVERANCE, FUR TRADER
(1812), RECOVERY (1809), MINK (pre-1812), SPEEDWELL (1789), and the sloop NANCY
(Mansfield 1899:1:127). Beers also alludes to several other decked vessels being on
Lake Superior prior to and during the War of 1812 (Mansfield 1899:1:127).

Conclusion: The importance of boats to the people of Isle Royale cannot be

overstated. They have played a critical role in transportation, have served as a work

tool, provided recreation, and facilitated communication with the rest of the region.

Cochrane explained the importance of boats to the fishermen of Isle Royale:

[That] fishermen identified with their boats [is attested to] by their

affinity to speak of their boat's history, maker, and of adversities

overcome while in their boats. Among the first ... information a

newcomer on Isle Royale learns is the biography of a boat from

fishermen and most other island residents. Tracing back the

ownership of a boat is generally quite easy since such knowledge is

highly valued .... Fishermen not only identified with their boats, but

they also could be identified by them .... Their boats [are] a center or

a focal point of their occupational identity ... and boats reflected upon

their past and present owners (Cochrane 1982:55-62).

In effect these craft were an extension of not only themselves, but of the entire
region encompassing Canada, the Northshore, and the Southshore of Lake Superior.
In a land that virtually all of the first generation of fishing families immigrated to,
and in an occupation that was solitary, their craft provided them with a sense of
temporal continuity; ties to the past through knowledge of prior ownership and ties
to the present through the sharing of similar occupational hazards and the joys of
island life.

The vernacular craft around Isle Royale are part of the submerged cultural resources
base of the island and their history and place in the maritime development of the
region will contribute to the story of the park. The history of the development of
these craft has been mainly handed down from generation to generation by word of
mouth; the ability to create and maintain these vessels was continued through
apprenticeship. However, the people whose lives were most directly affected by
either the use, construction, or repair of these boats, are in their 60s, 70s, and 80s,
and apprentices are few in number. The recent death of Myrtle Johnson, the last
member of the Johnson family to hold a research fishing permit and carry on the
historic Isle Royale fishing lifeway, not only marks the end of an era but it also
marks the loss of an opportunity to learn more about Northshore, Southshore, and
Isle Royale fishermen and their boats.

472

Known examples of vernacular watercraft should be documented and evaluated for
their significance as either part of a thematic group on their own, or as an addition
to the existing Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park Thematic Group Nomination
(Carrell 1983). Suspected locations of vernacular craft should be investigated and
known locations of unidentified craft, like the big 10 shipwrecks ringing Isle Royale,
should be carefully documented and their histories recorded.

The major shipwrecks around Isle Royale were documented using historical and
archeological techniques. However, unlike the big 10, the vernacular watercraft are
best documented in those terms used by the people who were involved with them
on a daily basis. The model used in this section on vernacular watercraft is
basically an ethnographic approach. Isle Royale, along with the other western Lake
Superior National Parks, may be in a unique position to continue this study of
vernacular craft using the same model simply because there are still a few
individuals alive who possess knowledge of these vessels. It is, after all, the
vernacular watercraft that played a major part in the lives of the people on Isle
Royale and that occupy a special place in the maritime history of Isle Royale and
the Lake Superior region.

473

CHAPTER VII. MANAGING SHIPWRECKS IN A NATIONAL PARK:
THE ISLE ROYALE EXPERIENCE

Introduction

Public use of shipwrecks at Isle Royale predated the establishment of the Park, the
advent of scuba diving, and even the presence of the wolves, which are a major
natural resource interest on the island. As in many other maritime communities, the
misfortune and tragedy associated with shipwrecks was tempered by some real
benefits. These events granted fishermen lumber for dwellings and fish houses,
unexpected groceries, salvaged hardware and tales to pass on over coffee or
brandy.

From Isle Royale, Lake Superior, come reports that its fishermen are
suspected of having rifled the bodies of the victims lost in the ALGOMA
disaster last fall .... The revenue cutter ANDY JOHNSON leaves

Milwaukee tomorrow for Lake Superior and will probably make a
thorough investigation .... This theory is strengthened by the finding of
mutilated clothes and articles of value in their cabins (Detroit Free
Press Aug. 2, 1886)

With the establishment of the National Park in 1940, Island residents and the general
public involved in removal of artifacts from submerged cultural sites were joined by
National Park Service employees. Park management at the time showed no
consciousness of these activities being threats to underwater historic sites. With
the advent of sport diving during the later 1950s and early 1960s, these threats took
on an added dimension.

The story of how Isle Royale National Park (NP) as a managerial entity became
aware of the historical significance of the shipwreck sites, went through a period of
ambiguity regarding their appropriate use, and finally settled on the present policy is
an intriguing one. Public agencies have a convenient aspect to them from a
historian's perspective: they leave paper trails. In the following pages we will let the
Park superintendents and other players from inside and outside the Service speak in
their own words to establish an administrative history of the Park regarding
submerged cultural resources. That section will be followed by a comprehensive
look at present day submerged cultural resources management at Isle Royale.

475

Administrative History

Bernie Gestel, a Park ranger with the National Park Service reflected on the old days

(1950s and 1960s) as an Isle Royale employee and scuba diver:

The Park staff didn't recognize shipwrecks as a recreational resource. I
would tell employees about what I saw and the history of the wrecks.
The staff seemed interested, but not interested enough to protect the
wrecks, ask what was being brought up or the Park's right to artifacts.
They seemed unconcerned about what was there ... I took advantage of
the situation. There was an "open season'' ethic among divers. Not too
much removal of artifacts by other private divers at that time, except
on the AMERICA .... If I wouldn't have done it, someone else would. If
someone else had brought up these artifacts, the Park Service would
never see them (Paraphrased from NPS Oral History Recording, Gestel
March 3, 1983).

One of the first "private divers" to visit AMERICA was Jack Coghlan, a commercial
diver from Thunder Bay, Ontario. As taken from the Duluth News Tribune in 1957
(April 28):

Jack decided to tour AMERICA just because he had heard about the
ship for years. "It's sort of eerie," he said last week. "You can still see
dishes on the sideboards, and the tables are piled high on one end of
the room" ... More rewarding was his entry into the purser's office,
which he accomplished by breaking in the door. Rummaging in an old
desk, he felt a mass of paper, thought he was wealthy and found that
the "banknotes" were old snapshots ... Still in the hold is an ancient
Model T Ford which he said seems in good condition. Coghlan took the
car's horn as a souvenir. Another souvenir was a bottle of meat sauce
he found in the dining room. He said it was "sort of ripe "

A number of sport divers visited AMERICA during the later 1950s and early 1960s,
accelerating the attrition of the wreck's fabric and stripping it of most portable
artifacts. Jack Soetebier, past president of the Duluth Frigid Frogs Dive Club
confirmed the "take what you want" attitude. During the late 1950s approximately
25 members of the club visited AMERICA during one outing. They saw no Park
rangers during the dives and were unaware of any restrictions on the wreck. Jack
stated that "if we had a chance, we'd pull that whole ship back to Duluth" (Personal
Communication, Soetebier Jan. 14, 1986). These thoughts almost became reality
during the mid-1960s when Jim Marshall, also of Duluth, spearheaded an attempt to
raise AMERICA. Marshall believed that a large proportion of its relics were going to
a growing sport diving population in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. "By 1965, all
portholes, most sinks plus the engine room gauges and tools were gone. Even the
hood from the Model T had been removed." Marshall termed the exodus of
artifacts "wholesale looting" (Author's Field Notes 1981 and Personal
Communication, Marshall Jan. 10, 1986).

With awareness growing among members of the scuba diving community that a
quality diving experience was available on AMERICA, it was inevitable that the public
would search for other sites. An article from The Milwaukee Journal in 1965 (Jan.
10), entitled "SUNKEN TREASURE HUNT," further substantiates the prevalent ethic
among sport divers. Arthur A. Vierthaler, Professor of Art at the University of
Wisconsin describes a dive on EMPEROR.

We all swam down to where the pilot house used to be. This had been
smashed by the ice, and the gaping black hole made some good shots

476

with Art [Wells] and Erich peering into the opening. Art went in and
returned with a running light and a taffrail log. We continued down for
another 15 feet to the forward officers cabins where Ed spotted a small
safe .... When the safe was finally freed we guided it to the surface
with Kurt and Erich winching it from the boat .... No storm seemed
imminent and we were anxious to smash the safe open. By hammering
and chiseling we finally broke the door off. Inside we found the ship's
keys and eight $10 Canadian bills, wet but in good shape. We were
disappointed, feeling that there should have been more.

Formal salvage of Isle Royale's sunken vessels was also being contemplated during
this period. On August 4, 1959 a seasonal Park ranger reported that a diving and
attempted salvage operation was being conducted in the vicinity of Hawk Island. It
was the expressed intention of the group to locate and dive on the wreck of the
steamer KAMLOOPS, which was believed sunk in the vicinity of McCargoe Cove and
Todd Harbor in December, 1927. Mr. Coghlan wished to discuss the matter further
and proceeded to Mott Island (Park headquarters). He was met by Chief Ranger
Zerbey who explained the numerous National Park Service, U.S. Customs and
Immigration regulations which had been violated and was ordered by the Chief
Ranger to leave the Park as soon as possible. The rig departed from McCargoe
Cove on August 7 after two days of bad weather, and it was reported that the barge
sank in Lake Superior on the return trip to Canada (Isle Royale NP Report, Incident of
Salvage and Diving Operation at McCargoe Cove 1959). This incident was reported
in Time magazine where the salvor's intentions were clearly indicated in a quote by
Coghlan:

He yearns to try for the really big money that he is convinced waits for
the taking in sunken Lake Superior treasure. Major bonanza is the
Canada Steamship Line's KAMLOOPS, which went down off Isle Royale
on Dec. 6, 1927, with a crew of 22 and, says Coghlan, $1,500,000 in
papermaking machinery, plus liquor worth $750,000. Coghlan says he
found the wreck in U.S. territory last Aug. 6 in 150 ft. of water, three
fourths of a mile off the island. U.S. Park rangers chased him off, says
Coghlan, and he was on his way to get permission to continue when
the storm swamped his barge (Time Jan. 25, 1960).

The question of bottomlands jurisdiction, with implied ownership of shipwrecks and
control over sport diving, was becoming a confusing issue to Park superintendents,
who were generally ill-prepared for dealing with such concepts in their management
of a "natural area." Superintendent Lewis directed these questions through his
Regional Director to the Assistant Solicitor, National Parks in 1959, even before Mr.
Coghlan's attempt to find and salvage KAMLOOPS. The Assistant Solicitor Richard A.
Buddeke returned his opinion to the Director, National Park Service on May 13, 1959.

In his April 6 memorandum to the Regional Director, Region Five,
Superintendent Lewis of Isle Royale National Park states that several
times during the past several years there have been incidents
involving health impairment and near accidents caused by skin-diving
[scuba]. Mr. Lewis believes that steps must be taken by his office to
prepare subsidiary regulations to prohibit this practice.

Mr. Lewis also wishes to know what jurisdiction the National
Park Service has over salvage operations involving shipwrecks in the
waters within the established boundaries of Isle Royale National Park.

By letter of May 19, 1944, to the Governor, this Department
notified the State of Michigan that on July 1, 1944, the United States

477

would assume police jurisdiction over all the lands included in Isle
Royale National Park ... Exclusive jurisdiction over the submerged lands
within four and one-half miles of the shore line of Isle Royale National
Park, subject to certain reservations [State of Michigan reserves
control of submerged minerals, fisheries and fishing activities] not
pertinent in determining the question presented by Superintendent
Lewis, was accepted by the United States and became effective on
January 1, 1956 (21 F.R. 1111).

Should it be determined administratively that regulations
controlling or prohibiting either skin-diving or salvage operations
within the established boundaries of Isle Royale National Park are
necessary in order to carry out the purpose of the Act of August 25,
1916 (35 Stat. 535) [NPS "Organic Act"], such regulations may be
issued. We believe that the suggested regulations would be in
consonance with the purpose of the National Park Service "to
conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the
wildlife herein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such
manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the
enjoyment of future generations" (NPS Memorandum, Buddeke May 13,
1959).

Supporting Solicitor Buddeke's opinion was the Antiquities Act of 1906 (Public Law
59-209, 34 Stat. 335), which provided for "the protection of historic, prehistoric and
scientific remains, or any object of antiquity" on federal lands. . This act also
established criminal sanctions for unauthorized destruction or appropriation of
antiquities (NPS Cultural Resources Management Guideline 28, Aug. 1985).

Although Solicitor Buddeke's opinion seemed clear in its intent, the issue of
shipwreck jurisdiction became clouded with underlying legal questions spurred by a
series of public salvage requests. Mr. Vince Jordan of Rinelander, Wisconsin
contacted Isle Royale National Park during 1963 regarding salvage rights to
EMPEROR and KAMLOOPS (NPS Correspondence, Jordan Dec. 16, 1963).

My interest in salvage of the two vessels requested at this time is
mos'tly in recovering historical artifacts that I donate to museums and
historical societies. I was interested, however, in the possibilities of
salvaging the cargo of ore that is on the EMPEROR (NPS
Correspondence, Schmidt July 21, 1964).

The situation was directed by Isle Royale National Park acting-Superintendent
Raftery to the Assistant Solicitor, National Parks, through the Assistant Regional
Director. An opinion from Assistant Solicitor Bernard R. Meyer to the Director of the
National Park Service stated:

Concerning the sunken vessels in the waters of Isle Royale
National Park and requested guidance on the legal aspects involved in
possible salvage.

It appears that one of the vessels sunk in 1927 and the other in
1948. Both are within Park waters. As such, they are property of the
United States should it be determined that they have been abandoned.
If the original owners of the vessels, the underwriters, or any other
successors in interest of the vessels or of the cargo have evidenced a
continuing claim of ownership in any manner, we cannot enter into
arrangements for salvage by third parties, since the vessels and cargo

478

could not be said to have been abandoned and would not be the
property of the Federal Government for disposition.

However, if there has been no evidence of a claim of continuing
interest in the vessels or cargo by the original owners, the
underwriters, or any other successors in interest, it may reasonably be
presumed that the vessels and cargo have been abandoned, in view of
the length of time since they sunk, and it could be determined that they
are the property of the Federal Government, since they are within Park
waters. In these circumstances, the Federal Government may permit
exploration with a view to possible salvage and may enter into
arrangements with a potential salvor.

Of interest in this regard is section 203(m) of the Federal
Property and Administrative Services Act (63 Stat. 385), as amended (40
U.S.C., sec. 484), which provides:

(m) The Administrator is authorized to take possession of
abandoned and other unclaimed property on the premises owned or
leased by the Government, to determine title thereto in the United
States, and to utilize, transfer or otherwise dispose of such property
(NPS Memorandum, Meyer Jan. 31, 1964).
Isle Royale NP proceeded under Solicitor Meyer's opinion, but succeeding
Superintendent Carlock Johnson brought his concerns to light in a memorandum to
the Northeast Regional Director on January 28, 1965:

Interest in salvage of sunken vessels in Isle Royale is sporadic but over
the past few years has frequently been the subject of renewed interest.
There is always the possibility of a serious attempt to initiate such
actions. If this should occur it could pose several administrative
problems as well as a general nuisance. Scuba divers, infected with the
fever of "treasure" hunting, are apt to involve Park personnel in
hazardous and expensive rescue operations. It is conceivable that
objects of historical value might be lost as a result of their activities ...
we suggest that the right of the Federal Government to take possession
of abandoned wrecks on Isle Royale, as set forth in the Federal Property
and Administration Services Act (40 U.S.C. 484), should be considered in
the view of a possible conflict with Maritime Law of Salvage ... We
believe that basic control can be achieved only if a clear title is vested
in the United States Government. Obviously, it would be too time
consuming and complicated to attempt to contact all parties having a
title interest in all ships that have wrecked in Isle Royale. Furthermore,
it is doubtful if releases could be secured since there are always some
who would suspect ulterior motives. We would like to suggest that it
might be possible to make a clean sweep and secure title by a
promulgation in the Federal Register whereby it would be announced
that all wrecks located in waters, or on lands, of Isle Royale are
presumed to be abandoned and that the Government is claiming title by
virtue of said abandonment. If this action is not permissible, it appears
that we are in the unenviable position of furnishing unsolicited storage
for property over which we have no legal control (NPS Memorandum,
Johnson Jan. 28, 1965)

On March 25, 1965, Superintendent Johnson in a memorandum to the National Park
Service Chief, Property Management and General Services added:

We suggest that the Service initiate action with GSA to acquire title to
all vessels which have been wrecked on Isle Royale prior to this date.
Authority for custody of this property can then be delegated to the

479

National Park Service. This will enable us to control any undesirable
salvage or exploration of these wrecks (NPS Memorandum, Johnson
March 25, 1965).

Isle Royale National Park began to research background information on shipwrecks
at the request of the National Park Service Chief, Division of Property Management
and General Services and National Park Service (NPS) Director. This included data
on original ownership, insurance and registry. The question of present ownership as
defined by Assistant Solicitor Meyer revolved around determining claims of
continuing interest in sunken vessels or cargo within boundaries of the Park. If no
claims existed, the shipwrecks could be considered "abandoned" and property of the
United States government (NPS Memorandum, Turner April 8, 1965; Harrison
December 20, 1965). An information summary was sent directly to the NPS Director
by Isle Royale Acting Superintendent Zachwieja in February, 1966 (NPS
Memorandum, Zachwieja Feb. 23, 1966)

As the National Park Service debated these issues of ownership internally, another
salvage plan was brought to the public's attention. As he outlined in the Duluth
New-Tribune of September 15, 1965:

Not until 1961, when James Marshall, Duluth, came on the scene was
there any serious talk of salvaging the AMERICA. "Talk was about as
far as it went," Marshall said, "until early this year when it became
apparent that raising the steamer and returning her to Duluth would
bring recognition to the city and provide an attraction that people
throughout the nation would enjoy visiting." Hence, the AMERICA
Salvage Company, Inc., was organized, and plans were made for the
AMERICA'S return home ... "Before salvaging operations could be
started," Marshall said, "we had to obtain permission from the National
Park Service, the federal agency in control of Isle Royale." Marshall
said that the Northeastern Minnesota Development Association
(NEMDA) was instrumental in getting this permission.

The project also had support of the Minnesota Arrowhead Association, U.S.

Representative John A. Blatnik and Duluth Mayor George D. Johnson. Future plans

for AMERICA included a floating restaurant (Duluth News-Tribune April 10, I966;

Sept. 24, I965 and Author's 1981 Field Notes; Marshall, personal communication).
SS America, Inc., plans to moor the vessel in the Duluth harbor,
hopefully near the Arena-Auditorium, and charge admission for people
to visit her. Money obtained in this endeavor will be spent to restore
the AMERICA to her original condition. Over the years, Marshall said,
divers have taken such items as portholes and the steering wheel as
souvenirs of their explorations. "We hope that people who have these
items will return them to the AMERICA when she reaches Duluth,"
Marshall stated. "These items are necessary if the ship is to be
restored to her original state," he said (Duluth News-Tribune Sept. 15,
1965).

On September 21, 1965, Isle Royale Superintendent Carlock Johnson issued a
Special Use Permit to AMERICA Salvage, Inc. for the purpose of conducting salvage
operations on AMERICA. James Marshall stated that Mr. Johnson was very
cooperative considering having this project "laid in his lap," refering to political
support behind AMERICA Salvage, Inc (Author's Field Notes, 1981; Marsall, personal
communication). It was anticipated that removal of AMERICA would be completed

480

prior to December 1, 1965. As in many other affairs, expectations often fail the test

of reality.

Salvage operations were suspended on October 25th, due to the
extremely unfavorable weather encountered during the last two weeks
of the operation. At the time of suspension, the ship had been almost
completely prepared for floating (AMERICA Salvage, Inc. Interim Report
to Carlock Johnson, Nov. 22, 1965).

During fall 1965 operations, AMERICA Salvage, Inc. president James Marshall was
disturbed by threats to the physical well being of salvage team members, as
received by letter and over the phone. "Salvage Master" Charles McClernan finally
unlisted his phone number. Also, during a dive club meeting attended by Marshall
in Minneapolis, Minnesota in December 1965, sport divers said they would rather
throw scavenged artifacts into the river, than donate them back to AMERICA
(Author's Field Notes 1981 and Marshall, personal communication). From this same
dive club meeting the Minneapolis Tribune reported; "They [sport divers] would like
to buy the salvage rights and not salvage ... remaining where she [AMERICA] is, she
will be visited by an ever-increasing number of scuba divers for hundreds of years
to come" (NORDIC DIVER July-Aug. 1974)

Disagreement between citizens regarding recreational usage of AMERICA as a
submerged public resource versus a "dry" private commodity was confronted by
Minneapolis diver Merritt Bartlett, in a telegram to Vice President Hubert Humphrey
on October 21, 1965:

I am one of the National Association of Underwater Instructors for
Minnesota and have been contacted by many interested persons who
have asked me to inform you of the following: A private corporation,
AMERICA Salvage, Inc., intends to raise and remove from Isle Royale
National Park, within the week the wreck of the AMERICA, a ship which
sank in 1928. This appears to be a taking and conversion of public or
federal property for private use and must not be permitted without an
investigation and hearing to insure that the public will not be damaged
and all interested persons permitted to be heard. Furthern (sic) salvage
of this nature, where a ship is moved over a hundred miles, must be
carefully executed or the AMERICA will be lost in hundreds of feet of
water in Lake Superior, with a resulting irreparable loss to Isle Royale
National Park and the public. Please refer this matter to the proper
party for immediate investigation, so one of our most beautiful parks is
not deprived of one of its most valuable attractions.

The response to Merritt Bartlett from NPS Acting Assistant Director Flynn

acknowledged:

We are advised that, in view of the continuing interest in the past in
salvaging the S.S. AMERICA, it cannot be considered under the
application of principles of maritime law as having been abandoned by
its original owner or insurer and, consequently, the United States can
claim no ownership interest in the vessel as against either of them or
their successors in interest ... The foregoing will explain why the
National Park Service has approved the salvage operation which is
being conducted for the successor in interest of the original owner by
S.S. AMERICA Salvage, Inc. You may be assured that the use permit
authorizing the salvage operations provides for the protection of Isle
Royale National Park (NPS Memorandum, Flynn Nov. 22, 1965).

481

On April 13, 1966, Superintendent Carlock Johnson issued another Special Use
Permit for continuation of AMERICA Salvage, Inc. operations on AMERICA, during the
period of January 1 to July 1, 1966. AMERICA Salvage, Inc. divers arrived at Isle
Royale during early May, 1966. Their status report to James Marshall was not
optimistic:

The crippled steamer AMERICA, resting on the bottom of Washington
Harbor at Isle Royale since 1928, may have been dealt a fatal blow
when someone reportedly dynamited a hole in her hull .... James
Marshall, head of the salvage company, said he received word
Wednesday noon of the steamer's apparent destruction from salvage
master Charles McClernan .... It was on an exploratory dive that
McClernan discovered that dynamiters had, "blown the belly out of the
bottom" of the ship ... "I gathered from our brief talk," Marshall said,
"that the ship is very badly damaged. McClernan said, I think, that the
AMERICA may be unsalvageable by means of our present operation"
(Duluth News-Tribune May 12, 1966).

Plans for salvage continued by assessing different techniques for raising the vessel,
but AMERICA was not prepared for the proposed voyage back to Duluth when the
Special Use Permit deadline expired. On August 12, 1966, James Marshall
authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation to "inspect the interior of the blasted
area" on AMERICA, through the United States Attorney, Western District of Michigan
(Correspondence AMERICA Salvage, Inc. Aug. 12, 1966). AMERICA Salvage, Inc. also
applied for another Special Use Permit to continue salvage operations.

Before issuing another permit, Superintendent Carlock Johnson asked for advice
from the National Park Service Regional Director, in a memorandum of October 12,
1966:

As the record will show, AMERICA Salvage, Inc. purchased the wrecked
vessel and has been engaged in attempting to raise the hull for removal
to Duluth, Minnesota ... As of this date, all of the efforts have been
unsuccessful .... One of the reasons Mr. Marshall has given for the
delay is based upon the alleged dynamiting of the ship during the past
winter. This claim was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. On-site examination by these investigators show no
evidence of an explosion and the claim must be considered as
unfounded. The attached copy of a letter from Mr. Marshall, outlines
the future plans of AMERICA Salvage, Inc. and, if approved by me, will
entail issuance of another Special Use Permit for work in 1967 ... The
National Park Service is in the peculiar, and unenviable position of being
custodian of privately-owned property located inside an area under its
exclusive jurisdiction. Frankly, I am getting a wee bit tired of
"baby-sitting" a shipwreck, answering critical letters from persons
opposing the salvage operation, and trying to keep administrative
control of a hazardous, and complicated, salvage operation. Yet I know
of no way to legally terminate the affair, until ownership is vested in
the Government. I realize that I could refuse to grant the permit on the
basis of it being dangerous and that the operation creates a threat to
public safety. However, in view of the history of scuba diving in this
Park, this would be an arbitrary decision and probably could not be
defended in a court .... I would appreciate any advice which you, or
the Regional Solicitor, may wish to offer on this matter. In the event
no suggestions are received, I will proceed to issue another Special Use
Permit in the spring of 1967, and fervently hope that the ship is

482

salvaged and towed outside the boundaries of Isle Royale National Park
(NPS Memorandum Johnson Oct. 12, 1966).

Regional Solicitor William W. Redmond reaffirmed major conclusions reached by
Solicitor Meyer's opinion of 1964, when evaluating the salvage of AMERICA. In a
December 8, 1966 answer to Superintendent Johnson's questions, Mr. Redmond
stated:

In its act accepting Michigan's grant and cession, and consistently
therewith, the Congress provided also that the boundaries of Isle Royale
National Park were extended to include submerged lands within four
and one-half miles of the shore line of Isle Royale and immediately
surrounding islands ... The same general area contains a number of
shipwrecks, there being eleven ships sunk there during the period 1885
to 1947; and, while this memorandum is intended to and does deal
exclusively with the S. S. AMERICA, the general principles applicable to
the S.S. AMERICA may become applicable, depending upon the facts in
each case, to one or more such other wrecks ... we conclude first of all,
that, if it, in fact, does constitute a hazard to navigation, it is subject to
removal by the Secretary of the Army ... Secondly, we conclude that the
S.S. AMERICA had, in fact, been abandoned long prior to the time when
it was purportedly purchased by AMERICA Salvage, Inc ... Whatever its
status may have been prior to that time, it became property of the
United States at least on March 6, 1942, the effective date of the act

accepting Michigan's grant and cession Insofar as scuba diving, on

the part of visitors to the Park, is carried on as a sport, with due regard
for the rights and protection of other visitors and in such a way as not
to defeat the inspirational purposes for which the Park itself was
established, it is legally unobjectionable. Indeed, the refusal to permit
scuba diving, as such, might well be deemed unreasonable. When,
however, it includes the purpose of removing and appropriating items
from wrecks that are property of the United States, it becomes, in the
light of the preceding discussion, legally objectionable ... Visitors to our
National Parks may not remove therefrom any property of the United
States, whether it consists in items recovered from wrecked ships,
mineral, or other items of property (NPS Memorandum, Redmond Dec. 8,
1966)
The Johnson and Redmond memorandums led to a denial of the Special Use Permit
request to continue salvage operations on AMERICA.

The events surrounding the AMERICA salvage raised the general question of
jurisdiction over submerged wreck sites within national parks. Discussions were
underway between General Services Administration (GSA) and National Park Service
officials in Washington, regarding historic value of and authority over shipwrecks at
Isle Royale, prior to the Redmond opinion. In a letter dated March 15, 1966 to
appropriate Park superintendents, including Isle Royale, the NPS Northeast Regional
Director outlined procedures for evaluating the significance of sunken Federal
vessels of historical value:

Applications received by the General Services Administration pursuant
to R.S. Section 3755, as amended (40 U.S.C. 310), pertaining to the
salvage of sunken Federal vessels, will be referred to the National Park
Service in order that an evaluation of the historical significance of such
vessels may be prepared under the provisions of the Historic Sites Act
of August 21, 1935 (49 Stat. 666; 16 U.S.C. Sec. 461 et. seq (1964) (NPS
Memorandum, Garrison March 15, 1966).

483

The Historic Sites Act of 1935 warranted the establishment of National Historic Sites
and otherwise authorized the preservation of properties of "national historic or
archeological significance." Interagency, intergovenmental and interdisciplinary
efforts for the preservation of cultural resources were also encouraged (NPS Cultural
Resources Management Guideline 28, Aug. 1985).

Full authority over Isle Royale National Park submerged cultural resources was
delegated to the Secretary of the Interior from the General Services Administration
on September 14, 1967. Federal Property Management Temporary Regulation H-4
stated:

This regulation delegates to the Secretary of the Interior authority to
take possession of abandoned or other unclaimed property located
within the boundaries of Isle Royale National Park and in the waters of
Lake Superior, Michigan, to determine when title thereto vested in the
United States and to utilize, transfer, or otherwise dispose of such
property (GSA Regulation, Sept. 14, 1967).

The National Park Service was in turn delegated the authority to take possession of
abandoned property in the Park four months later, but with an additional dilemma,
as evidenced by memorandum to the Regional Director, Northeast Region. National
Park Service Acting Assistant Director Gastellum noted:

Departmental Manual Release 1009 dated January 26, 1968 (245 DM 3),
delegated to the Director authority to take possession of abandoned or
unclaimed property within the boundaries of Isle Royale National Park.
As a prelude to a declaration of abandonment covering the sunken
vessels at Isle Royale, we would like the Superintendent to inform this
Office of any salvage attempts by persons with a legitimate interest on
any of the vessels ... If there have been no such activities, we intend to
consider declaring the vessels abandoned and to proceed with their
disposal or destruction this summer (NPS Memorandum, Gastellum
March 29, 1968)

The reply from Isle Royale Superintendent Bruce J. Miller proposed that Isle Royale
shipwrecks be recognized as legitimate historical and recreational resources, which
should be integrated into the Park's interpretive themes.

The last paragraph of Acting Assistant Director, Administration,
Gastellum's memorandum ... indicates the intent of the Washington
Office to declare the sunken vessels at Isle Royale as abandoned and
proceed with their disposal or destruction this summer ... Last summer
we notified Chippewa Outfitters [AMERICA Salvage, Inc.] of Duluth,
Minnesota, a salvage company working on the S. S. AMERICA, of the
Regional Solicitor's decision concerning the S.S. AMERICA ... At present
there are no attempts being made or authorized to salvage any of the
sunken vessels in Park waters. We are concerned over the intent of the
Washington Office to dispose of or destroy these wrecks. The shipping
history and the shipwrecks are an integral part of the Park interpretive
story. The Rock Harbor Lighthouse is to be the key exhibit for this
historic interpretive exhibit. Diving on these wrecks is a very popular
activity for some Park visitors and we do not believe any action should
be taken to destroy these underwater historic attractions (NPS
Memorandum, Miller April 18, 1968).

484

The NPS Acting Regional Director, Northeast Region strongly agreed with
Superintendent Miller, in correspondence to the Director, National Park Service on
May 10, 1968:

While we acknowledge general concern for the safety of scuba divers,
the threat of intentional salvage and theft rather than exploratory diving,
and the possibility of navigational hazard, we believe this concern
would not call for the destruction or disposal of the vessels. We
suggest that scuba diving and other related water-oriented activities be
accurately evaluated before final plans are initiated ... Not only are these
shipwrecks a valid resource for the immediate Park interpretive
program, they are vital to our currently evolving Service policy of
environmental conservation (NPS Memorandum, Palmer May 10, 1968).

Assistant Director Gastellum concurred with Acting Regional Director Palmer's
recommendation regarding the fate of Isle Royale shipwrecks. As he stated on June
6, 1968:

We were unaware that the shipwrecks were an integral part of the
Park's interpretive program. Prior management at the Park and at the
regional level failed to mention this aspect. Evidently, the thinking in
regard to disposal of these sunken vessels has altered during the past
few years ... We also agree that scuba diving and other related
water-oriented activities should be accurately evaluated by the Park,
over a two year period, and a conclusive report regarding these
activities be submitted at the end of the two year period to both the
Regional and Washington Office ... we believe that it would be to the
best interest of the Service to declare these vessels abandoned and
take possession immediately. This would give the Superintendent full
authority to manage any activity involving these historic objects (NPS
Memorandum, Gastellum June 6, 1968)

The alteration of thinking expressed by Gastellum, relating to the importance of Isle
Royale shipwrecks in Park management programming, was more an evolution of
concepts, molded and influenced by administrative, political and ethical
considerations. NPS references reflect this progression of thought within
government, private and public circles, when managers must deal with a "new"
resource and visitor activity. Clearly evident in the NPS communications is the
difficulty and confusion encountered when a government organization must weigh
and balance a multitude of factors to realize the "greatest public benefit." In the
National Park Service, public benefit is measured by the quality of resources
remaining unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. All National Park
Service managers clearly had this philosophy in mind while deliberating over the
fate of Isle Royale shipwrecks.

A reply to Deputy Assistant Director Gastellum's request for an evaluation of scuba
diving and water-related activities was submitted to Washington on August 10,
1970. Isle Royale Superintendent Hugh Beattie noted that:

... the scuba diving permit system then in effect was changed to a
registration system and an attempt was made to accumulate a
maximum amount of pertinent data ... During the test period which
covered the visitor seasons of 1968 and 1969, our registrations show
that a total of 157 divers spent 603 diver days in the waters of Isle
Royale. We are certain that additional unregistered divers participated
in these activities as well ... In our opinion, this is evidence of an
extreme amount of interest in this activity. We can only assume that

485

participation in this activity will continue to increase in the future. No
instance of accident or severe injury associated with scuba diving has
come to our attention. We understand and appreciate the inherent
dangers of the activity and realize that there is a probability that
ultimately severe accidents may occur. We do not view this likelihood
with any more alarm than we would if we were in a park which had
extensive swimming, mountain climbing, or other such moderately
hazardous visitor use activities. We do not believe that the existence of
the sunken vessels will materially increase the chance of visitor
accidents ... Nor is it likely that these vessels will impair the natural
environment to any significant extent by esthetic or other pollution. In
fact, we suspect that any attempt at disposal or destruction would
degrade the environment to a much greater degree than would the
continued maintenance of the status quo. We feel very strongly that
we must reiterate our previous position that the existing wrecks can be
an asset to our Park interpretive program. The history of shipping and
the shipwrecks themselves are an important part of our Park historical
interpretive story. We are in the process of formulating plans to create
a historic interpretive exhibit in the Rock Harbor Lighthouse. (NPS
Memorandum, Beattie July 30, 1970)

Although GSA delegation of authority to the National Park Service under Temporary
Regulation H-4 (1967) remained in effect, very little correspondence was exchanged
regarding jurisdiction of submerged cultural resources until January 17, 1975. This
was partially explained by Superintendent Beattie in a memorandum to the Regional
Director, Midwest Region.

During 1965 and 1966 the AMERICA Salvage Corporation attempted to
float the steamer AMERICA which sank in Isle Royale waters in 1928.
This operation created considerable controversy over ownership which
was finally settled by a Solicitor's decision [Redmond Dec. 8, 1966] ... It
was suggested shortly thereafter that the Park publish a notice in the
Federal Register stating that the National Park Service was formally
taking possession of the sunken vessels. Our feelings at the time were
that it was inopportune to do so as the salvage company, which still
had equipment on board, had just been informed that the government
had ownership. To state we were formally taking possession at that
time could have created doubt as to the validity of our original
statement and could have created conflict or challenge. There has
been no controversy over salvage for some time and we believe that a
formal notice is appropriate at this time (NPS Memorandum, Beattie Jan.
17, 1975).

The Department of Interior, Office of the Field Solicitor, redrafted Superintendent
Beattie's "Notice of Taking Possession," to be published in the Federal Register on
May 22, 1975. The topic of historic significance was emphasized by the Field
Solicitor:

We wish to point out that there are constraints and limitations placed
upon the disposition or salvage of any abandoned wrecks that might be
an "object of antiquity" within the meaning of the Antiquities Act, 16
U.S.C. 431, or the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974,
Pub. L. 93-291 (Department of Interior Memorandum, Shulstad May 22,
1975)

486

The Field Solicitor referenced correspondence from the Department of Interior
Washington Office of the Solicitor to GSA General Counsel Trimmer, regarding the
scope of Executive Order 11593, entitled "Protection and Enhancement of the
Cultural Environment."

We view the Executive Order to be applicable to your program if the
object in question is worthy of inclusion on the National Register of
Historic Places. In this regard, Section 1 (2) of the Order is a general
mandate to all federal agencies to direct their programs so as to
preserve federally owned objects of historical or archeological
significance, and must be read together with the identification
requirements of Section 2(a) of the Executive Order. Section 2(a) is
concerned with sites, buildings, districts, and objects under an agency's
jurisdiction of control. In our view, sunken ships subject to GSA
jurisdiction under 40 U.S.C. 310 would be included within this provision,
and Section 2(a) requires, in effect, the identification and nomination of
sites believed to be suitable for the National Register of Historic Places
(Department of Interior Solicitor's Opinion, Feb. 5, 1975).

The National Register of Historic Places was expanded to include cultural resources
of state and local as well as national significance by the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665, 810 Stat 915). Section 106 of the
National Historic Preservation Act directed federal agencies having jurisdiction over
a proposed federal or federally-assisted undertaking to "take into account the effect
of the undertaking on any district, site, building, structure, or object that is included
in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register" (National Historic Preservation
Act of 1966, as amended; Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 1981). Executive
Order 11593 (36 F.R. 8921) of May 13, 1971 instructed all federal agencies to "locate,
inventory and nominate to the Secretary of the Interior" cultural properties "that
appear to qualify for listing on the National Register of Historic Places" (NPS
Cultural Resources Management Guideline 28, August 1985). The "Notice of Taking
Possession" was never published in the Federal Register, possibly a result of
concern by the Park over compliance with E.O. 11593, which would have required a
significance evaluation of the wrecks for possible inclusion on the National Register
of Historic Places. Issues of shipwreck jurisdiction and federal responsibility for
submerged cultural resources became comparatively dormant until 1978, when
proposed salvage of KAMLOOPS raised the concerns of yet another Isle Royale
Superintendent.

Although questions of jurisdiction were temporarily laid aside, preservation issues
soon arose. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, scuba diving became accepted as a
valid recreational-use activity, and Park managers began to take a closer look at
submerged cultural resources management. The rapid growth of diving visitation
was responsible for launching Isle Royale National Park into a period of assessment
and monitoring of visitor diving activities.

The priority for Park personnel and funds during this period was to provide adequate
visitor accommodations. Park rangers managed visitor services and safety
programs, including protection of Park resources. Although Park ranger field staff
was limited and heavily dependent upon seasonal workers, continual assessment of
scuba diving activities was attempted. One technique instituted required visiting
divers to complete daily Diving Registration Forms. The 1971 registration form
recommended procedures for safe diving and stated, "Regulations prohibit ... the
possession or disturbance of equipment, buildings or other structures. This includes
the shipwrecks or the remains of ships in the waters of Isle Royale National Park."

487

Park patrol rangers were briefed about prohibitions against removing artifacts, but
the "collection" ethic among sport divers prevailed. Shipwrecks were not the only
sites involved, as evidenced by a 1973 Rock Harbor District report:

A bronze propeller was observed on the campground dock and
conversation with the divers disclosed that the prop had been removed
from a fishing vessel down 25 feet, approx. 50 yards off the Caribou
Island dock. The divers were verbally informed that the removal of
items [artifacts] from the waters of Isle Royale N.P. was prohibited. The
divers commented that they construed the regulations to only pertain
to equipment, structures, and shipwrecks ... contact with Pete Edison
disclosed that the propeller had been removed from the water adjacent
to his dock ... Mr. Edison also disclosed that the divers had removed an
undetermined number of Weyman snuff jars and crocks from the same
area (Isle Royale NP Report, Fleming Sept. 7, 1973).

But a different ethic was beginning to capture the hearts of sport divers exploring
Isle Royale's waters. In a letter to Isle Royale National Park staff on June 18, 1973,
the secretary for Lake Superior Scuba Divers club of Duluth, Minnesota stated:
Recently one of our members received the enclosed advertising
brochure. It is well known that it is illegal to remove artifacts from a
national park or Michigan waters. The GEORGE M. COX lies in Isle
Royale waters. Yet this advertisement boasts of the souvenirs that the
GEORGE M. COX is ready to yield, and has given up to divers from the
Minnesota School of Diving.

The GEORGE M. Cox, lying offshore, is difficult to get at for any
but the affluent diver, and thus has retained most of its treasures.
However, to show what can happen to a wreck when selfish,
inconsiderate divers get to it, look at the steamer AMERICA, in Isle
Royale's North Gap. The AMERICA is virtually a barren hulk, with little
of value or any major interest remaining.

We are bringing this to your attention in the hope that this
piracy of a priceless relic might be stopped.

Our club wishes to see the shipwrecks of Isle Royale preserved
for future divers to explore, and wonder at. The thrill and adventure of
seeing a wreck in its "natural" state is a thrill that no diver will soon
forget.

A picture is worth a thousand words, a souvenir good only to a
select few. And a camera leaves the adventure there, for another to
enjoy.

... We hope that you can do something to stop this wholesale
raping of Isle Royale's treasures (Isle Royale NP Correspondence,
Hansen June 18, 1973).

The opinions offered by Lake Superior Scuba Divers would be echoed many times
throughout the 1970s and 1980s by an increasing number of sport diving
"preservationists." Other divers were more cautious about the government's role in
resolving problems between "treasure" and preservation ethics. Two letters from
1975 to Isle Royale Superintendent John Morehead raise some important concerns.
Joe Strykowski, Director of the National YMCA Scuba Program stated that:

Nowhere else in the world are to be found the profusion of sunken
ships in such good order. It is apparent that the Park will surely be
visited by ever-increasing numbers of diving families ... I understand
that we share a serious concern - that of preserving underwater
antiquities ... A few rotten apples notwithstanding, I am equally

488

concerned with the freedom and rights of the individual recreational
diver ... It is safe to say that the term "treasure diver" is rapidly
becoming as distasteful to the average, right-thinking sport diver as the
term "spear fisherman" ... Sometimes in our honest attempt to protect
one man's rights, we hurry into law well-intended legislation which
deprives equally decent and innocent citizens of theirs. Every
intelligent diver shares your concern over that small group who left to
their devices would explore and remove historically important parts of
wrecks. The American diving community, however, has proven time
after time its inherent ability to police itself ... Toward a prompt and
equitable resolution of the problem, I strongly encourage the convening
of a conference between yourself and other Park personnel and
concerned spokesmen - representatives of the diving community.
Without question, divers can provide valuable input toward the
implementation of a workable program for protecting historical
shipwrecks located within Isle Royale's boundaries ... (Isle Royale NP
Correspondence, Strykowski July 23, 1975).

John D. Kronschnabl of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, repeated the idea of working with

the diving public in solving the problem of artifact attrition.

We were visited and checked by Park Service personnel on several
occasions, checking to make sure we were not taking things from the
wrecks. I can understand this because they told us some of our fellow
divers were taking things. We, the divers, don't want to see this,
either. I want my children and grandchildren to be able to dive the
wrecks and see something more than just a stripped, barren hulk. I
commend the Park Service for their efforts to save this great resource.

However, I don't believe your methods are going to be very
successful. No matter how many policeman you put out I think you will
never be able to stop it. I believe the only way to save the wrecks of
Isle Royale is for the Park Service to work with the divers. In other
words, let the divers take out their own garbage. We divers know who
is ripping off the wrecks; we see what they have done. Everyone is
reluctant to squeal on another diver for fear it will get us all in trouble.
This is a bad situation and none of us likes it (Isle Royale NP
Correspondence, Kronschnabl July 19, 1975).

By the mid-1970s there was little excuse for "not knowing the regulations," although
some divers continued taking artifacts from submerged cultural sites. Mandatory
diver registration was widely advertised, with rangers patrolling overnight camping
accommodations and dock sites. Entry points into the Park were limited, except by
private boat, so a large percentage of visitors could be informed of scuba diving
requirements. Some divers worried about potential measures banning visitors from
wreck sites obviously impacted by artifact collection, but Park management never
seriously considered this alternative, except for reasons of safety.

The safety issue became a major concern when attention was focused by a series
of drownings in the late 1970s. The Daily Mining Gazette of Houghton, Michigan,
where mainland headquarters of Isle Royale National Park are located, reported the
first known sport diver fatality on August 23, 1976.

A 20-year-old man from New Auburn, Wis., drowned late Sunday
morning in Lake Superior .... Donald Lienhardt was diving with four
other men to explore the wreck of the Steamship AMERICA ....
Lienhardt's body was found in a storage compartment below the galley

489

at the stern of the ship in about 70 feet of water .... Authorities
theorized that Lienhardt ran out of air after becoming lost or tangled in
wiring.

Equipment malfunction was determined not to be a factor in Lienhardt's death, after
tests were completed. A Board of Inquiry was held at Isle Royale National Park
immediately after the fatality, with an inspection dive completed on AMERICA by
Superintendent Jack Morehead. The Superintendent:

... did not consider this room to be any more dangerous than
numerous other rooms or areas on several other shipwrecks at Isle
Royale. "I feel it would be a mistake to try to close this particular area
to diving activity. I feel this would only start a chain reaction where we
might even be liable for not closing similar rooms or potentially
dangerous areas on other shipwrecks. It is my recommendation, and
the Board concurs, that this area not be closed" (NPS Memorandum,
Morehead Sept. 21, 1976).

Rumors of site restrictions again surfaced within the Scuba diving community when

the Duluth News-Tribune of August 25, 1979 proclaimed:

DIVERS BEWARE! 2 dead in plunges off Isle Royale. On Aug. 6 Donald
Curran and Mark Nordine ...dove nearly 200 feet into the icy Lake
Superior waters off Isle Royale to explore the mysterious shipwreck
KAMLOOPS. Nordine experienced trouble with his gear [regulator
freeflow] and headed to the surface. Curran, 24 never came up. His
body was found several days later .... Then, last Sunday, Rochelle
Gause, 24, Minneapolis, was diving with a friend on the shipwreck
HENRY CHISHOLM near the Rock of Ages lighthouse. She became
separated from her friend. Her body was recovered the following day.

Although both deaths were formally listed as drowning, investigations revealed
nitrogen narcosis as a silent partner in the KAMLOOPS fatality and air embolism a
direct factor with the HENRY CHISHOLM incident. Isle Royale also experienced a
number of non-fatal scuba diving accidents during the mid to later 1970s, including
decompression sickness, which highlighted issues of diver safety. After debating
the value of site closures, especially on deep shipwrecks, Superintendent Morehead
reiterated Park policy:

The two deaths this month have upset Isle Royale National Park
Superintendent Jack Morehead, himself an avid diver. But he said the
Park Service has no plans to restrict or eliminate scuba diving. While
diving is considered safe, Morehead said, there are certain hazards that
divers - like mountain climbers - accept. Both deaths this month are
believed to be due to diver errors, not equipment malfunctions,
Morehead said. This despite the fact that both divers were experienced
... All divers coming to Isle Royale should be in excellent shape and
"very, very experienced" (Duluth News-Tribune Aug. 25, 1979).

The policy of unrestricted access to Isle Royale's shipwrecks continues today. In
recognizing scuba diving as a legitimate visitor use activity, Park staff also accepted
responsibility for diving emergency management. This facet of Park operations will
be discussed in greater detail later in this chapter under the sub-heading "Present
Day Management."

Superintendent Morehead actively confronted scuba diving issues throughout his
administration at Isle Royale. This activity was emphasized even though wilderness

490

designation was passed for 98 percent of the Park's land area in 1976. The
Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) of 1964 stipulated a rather narrow course in
Park operations by requiring that federal land be maintained in "its primeval
character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation"
(Wilderness Study Isle Royale National Park 1971). Sport diving introduced some
contradictory needs and ethics to be resolved.

The key to Superintendent Morehead's notable success was direct involvement with
the diving public. Park field rangers began listening in earnest to diver concerns.
Correspondence directed at "returning" divers and dive clubs asked for opinions
regarding techniques to manage Isle Royale submerged cultural resources.
Responses to questions of resource protection were often surprisingly
conservative.

... I personally believe that if someone is ripping something off that he
is not only ripping off the Park, but he is also ripping me off because
that individual is depriving me of being able to see that same artifact
as it originally was. I am quite sure that this vandalism is the result of
a few and it would disturb me greatly if the Park were to prohibit scuba
diving entirely. I would suggest that you thoroughly search all divers
upon their leaving the Park. Any individual caught with something
should be fined. This fine should be enough so as to deter any further
activity" (Isle Royale NP Correspondence, Rau Sept. 23, 1975).

From the Michigan Skin Diving Council came:

The Isle Royale area should be declared an Underwater Park or
preserve, with severe penalties imposed upon anyone found taking
artifacts from the area. The closing of the area to divers accomplishes
very little, since who then could enjoy the very things you wish to
protect. A stiff fine plus confiscation of all diving gear would soon put
an end to illegal underwater activity (Isle Royale NP Correspondence,
Kennedy Jan. 19,1976)

Park rangers benefited from sport divers adopting a "preservation" ethic as distrust
found in earlier encounters began to break down. Divers were often eager to
provide information concerning regulation violations they observed or heard about
through the diving "grapevine." Efforts to monitor and deter removal of artifacts
from submerged cultural sites became more productive because of this cooperation
of the sport diving community.

While positive gains were being accomplished in ethical relations between sport
divers and Park management, the threat of commercial salvage arose once more. A
Thunder Bay, Ontario law firm petitioned claim to package freighter KAMLOOPS in
1978, on behalf of a Canadian citizen. Isle Royale Superintendent Morehead
provided the Park's position to the NPS Midwest Regional Director in a request for
a solicitor's opinion:

... As far as we know now, the Park contains the greatest collection of
intact shipwrecks to be found in the United States ... When Isle Royale
was first established as a national park, this resource was largely
ignored ... However, in the past 20 years, the significance and value of
the underwater resource has become increasingly important.
Shipwrecks are now an integral part of the Park's interpretive theme;
scuba diving is an accepted Park use, and we now feel strongly that
positive action must be taken to preserve this unique resource for
future generations of visitors ... we have a major problem in protecting

491

and preserving the wrecks and artifacts. There appears to be a direct
conflict between laws relating to maritime salvage in navigable waters
and the laws pertaining to antiquities and historic preservation ...
Because of this unclear legal status, we are experiencing severe
depredation of the existing wrecks. This damage includes everything
from proposals for complete salvage of major ships to the
indiscriminate collecting of "souvenirs" by scuba diving parties ... (NPS
Memorandum, Morehead March 28, 1978).

The response from Department of the Interior Solicitor Menefee concurred with
views expressed by solicitor's opinions of January 31, 1964 and December 8, 1966
which:

... concluded that the vessels in fact had become property of the
United States due to the passage of time despite the claims of the
purported original owners... Based upon the cessions of jurisdiction and
the transfer of title to submerged lands, one of which was completed
by the Act of March 6, 1942, 16 USC 408i, and ... the letter of
acceptance to the Governor of the State of Michigan ... signed
December 14, 1955, it is clear that the submerged lands within the four
and one-half mile area as defined by the statute are the property of the
United States ... Accordingly, the United States has the authority to take
whatever action is necessary to protect these long-abandoned vessels
under the Federal Property and Administrative Act, 40 USC Sec. 484m.
This Act provides authority to take possession of this property to the
Administrator of the GSA. However, by Federal Property Management
regulation, Temporary Regulation H4 dated September 14, 1967, the
then Administrator of GSA ... delegated the authority to the Secretary of
the Interior to carry out his authority under the Act with respect to Isle
Royale NP (Department of the Interior Memorandum, Menefee June 26,
1978).

Solicitor Menefee also suggested "promulgation of special regulations prohibiting
removal of objects from the wrecks" and that any attempted salvage operation be
enjoined in court to confirm title. The Ontario law firm admitted that, " ... it would
be difficult for our office to dispute your assertion of title either under the Federal
Property Management and Administration Services Act, or under the Abandon
Property Act," but requested a legal opinion of claim under "law of salvage" (Isle
Royale NP Correspondence, Dubinsky Kovanchak Ferris & Ross Aug. 18, 1978).

A final response from Solicitor Menefee was similar to Solicitor Buddeke's opinion of
May 13, 1959, which recognized the fundamental purpose of National Parks to
"conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein ...
[shipwrecks] of Isle Royale National Park are historic objects which are to be
preserved ... and are no longer subject to being salvaged" (Department of the
Interior Memorandum, Menefee Oct. 31, 1978). Since 1978, no serious inquiry
regarding commercial salvage of Isle Royale National Park shipwrecks has
materialized.

Further protection of National Park Service cultural resource sites was offered
through passage of the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (Public Law
96-95). Regulations for the Act were issued on January 6, 1984 in the Federal
Register and include " ... all portions of shipwrecks (including, but not limited to
armaments, apparel, tackle, cargo), "which are at least 100 years of age. Criminal
penalties involve fines up to $10,000 or one year in prison, or both. Civil penalties

492

may also be assessed by the federal land manager concerned, with possible
forfeiture of all vehicles and equipment used in connection with such violation
(Federal Register January 6, 1984, Rules and Regulations)

Isle Royale's ten major shipwrecks were listed in the National Register of Historic
Places under a thematic group in 1984. This inventory conveys further significance
upon these archeological sites through a lengthy process of site classification and
justification (Carrell 1984). With questions of bottomlands jurisdiction, sport-diving
usage and archeological significance settled, Isle Royale National Park could
seriously experiment with and implement techniques to manage their submerged
cultural resources. This initiated the Park's present-day emphases on research and
operations detailed in the following section:

Present Day Management

Once the value of Isle Royale's submerged cultural resources was recognized by
NPS archeologists and Park administrators, an active management effort was
initiated to prevent the deterioration of shipwrecks by inadvertent or intentional acts
and to provide additional measures of safety to the diving public. With Isle Royale
as the pilot project, the National Park Service formed a Submerged Cultural
Resources Unit (SCRU) in 1980 to deal with similar concerns expressed by managers
in marine and Great Lakes areas throughout the National Park System. Beginning
with Superintendent Morehead, Park management at Isle Royale interacted heavily
with the "SCRU Team" as a comprehensive program in submerged sites
management was developed.

Mooring System for Park Visitors

Virtually all wreck diving at Isle Royale is accomplished from charter or private dive
boats. Until 1985, these boats anchored within and near wreckage fields or tied off
directly to temporary mooring lines installed by scuba charter operators and private
divers. These mooring lines were often inadequate for the purpose intended, poorly
maintained if at all and sometimes attached to fragile or movable portions of the
wreck. Commercial scuba charter operators working within Park boundaries
expressed concerns, similar to those of Park staff, about obvious problems this state
of affairs presented for resource damage and visitor safety. A decision was made
by Park management in 1984 to establish fixed moorings on several Isle Royale
shipwrecks, partially as a result of recommendations made by the Submerged
Cultural Resources Unit in their 1981 Field Activities Report (Murphy, et al. 1982).
The objective of the mooring project was two-fold:

1. To reduce the amount of damage caused by dive boats anchoring in the
wreck itself, within the wreckage field, or by the use of inappropriately
secured mooring lines.

2. To improve the safety of sport diving on Isle Royale shipwrecks by
providing secure and well-maintained mooring lines.

Site-specific suggestions regarding the establishment of moorings were solicited
from commercial scuba charter operators, the SCRU and Park divers. Fathom Five
Provincial Park at Tobermory, Ontario provided detailed information about shipwreck
mooring systems gathered from years of diving management experience. Two
methods of anchoring mooring buoys and lines were found to be relevant at Isle
Royale. One involved placing a mooring sinker (anchor) in or near the wreck site, to

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which a mooring line was tied. In instances where the wreck profile or bottom
conditions prevented use of a mooring sinker and where solid metal attachment
points were available, direct fastening of mooring lines to shipwrecks was
permitted. If it was determined that direct attachment would weaken or otherwise
degrade the integrity of a shipwreck, this option was rejected. An examination of
mooring techniques determined that the preferred mooring tackle should consist of
a 1700 lb. cast concrete mooring sinker, 3/4-inch polypropylene mooring line and
18-inch x 30-inch commercially manufactured mooring buoys (Fig. 7.3-7.6).

Mooring sinkers were towed to a shipwreck site by small boat, with precision
bottom placement accomplished by Park divers utilizing a lifting unit (Fig. 7.7). Park
protection and maintenance personnel designed and built the lifting unit using an
old 270 gallon fuel oil tank, which was steam cleaned and fitted with several valves,
fill ports, tow and suspension points. The intra-site location of mooring sinkers and
lines was based on a number of factors including obstacles or entanglements,
depths over the site, points of anticipated visitor interest, dive planning
considerations and general safe diving practices. Whenever possible the mooring
lines were placed in an area which minimized disorientation and facilitated the
ability of divers to navigate amongst wreck features and hazards. This was
considered particularly important for deeper dives where the effects of nitrogen
narcosis impair mental faculties.

Installed buoys are readily visible from a distance of a mile or more, which
minimizes time required by dive boats to locate a shipwreck. Shipwreck name and
normal depth range of the dive are inscribed for positive site identification.
Attached to the buoy is a polypropylene "tag" line which floats free on the water
surface. This tag line is picked up by hand or with a boat hook and tied off to a
cleat aboard the dive boat. Mooring tackle scope is minimal to provide a near
vertical descent for divers.

A waterproof sticker affixed to the buoy provides divers with basic information
concerning mooring purpose and conditions of use (Fig. 7.2). Resource protection
and visitor use regulations are included on this sticker. Some requirements were
established through Superintendent's Orders which restrict mooring use to dive
boats, prohibits overnight and rough weather usage and limits the number of
vessels "rafting off" the mooring to three (36 CFR 3.6 c).

During the 1985 visitor season, moorings were established on AMERICA, EMPEROR
stern, CUMBERLAND/HENRY CHISHOLM and MONARCH. All major shipwreck sites
with exception of KAMLOOPS and ALGOMA were buoyed in 1986. Mooring sinkers
were placed near CUMBERLAND/HENRY CHISHOLM, MONARCH and AMERICA sites
with one proposed for ALGOMA in 1987. A two-point mooring was employed on
AMERICA to prevent dive boats from swinging into a major navigational channel or a
shallow rocky area near shore On other shipwrecks, mooring lines were attached
directly to very solid fittings on hull structure or exposed boilers. Working depths
of these activities varied from 15 to 130 feet.

Because some Isle Royale shipwreck sites are hazardous or sensitive in nature, the
Park does not want to encourage use and has intentionally chosen not to install or
maintain fixed moorings. For example, wrecks such as KAMLOOPS and the stern of
CONGDON, which are beyond the maximum sport diving depth (130 feet) advocated
by most certifying agencies, have not been buoyed.

494

Each mooring system is inspected during the season by Park divers or by
commercial scuba charter operators. After the diving season, buoys and their chain
ballast are removed. Polypropylene line is weighted and sunk 20-25 feet to prevent
winter ice damage. In spring, a dive must be made only to a depth of 20-25 feet to
retrieve the mooring line for attachment to a surface buoy. This is a cooperative
effort between the National Park Service and commercial dive charter operators.

As a whole, Isle Royale's mooring system has been well received by all parties
concerned and is considered to have met original objectives. A written account of
these plans and operations, (Shipwreck Mooring Buoy Project, Resources
Management Report #7 - Isle Royale National Park, January 1985) is available by
writing the Superintendent, Isle Royale National Park. This report addresses needs
and rationale for establishing a shipwreck mooring system. It also includes
descriptions of the material and equipment to be used, detailed mooring
configurations and implementation procedures.

Operational Diving Program

Isle Royale's diving program falls under purview of the Chief, Visitor Services and
Resource Protection (VS&RP). Day to day operations are under field supervision of
the Park Diving Officer (PDO). The Park Diving Officer plays a critical role in
successful implementation of this program, which is guided by NPS-4 Scuba Diving
Guidelines, a national level policy statement pertaining to scuba diving. An "Isle
Royale Scuba Diving Plan" (Isle Royale NP Guideline 3, revised Feb. 1984) specifically
covers Park operational diving. Much of the following discussion was taken from
Guideline 3, which is available by writing the Superintendent, Isle Royale National
Park.

The core of Isle Royale's dive program is, of course, its divers. A dive team of four
to five employees has been identified as necessary to meet operational objectives.
This figure is influenced by diving workload, necessity to dive in pairs and logistical
problems involved in composing buddy teams from widely separated areas of the
Park. The number of active divers in the Park varies from year to year depending
on turnover of diving personnel and how often basic scuba courses are made
available to employees. Generally, the team is composed of permanent employees,
however, seasonals may participate if equipment is available, and they meet
requirements of the program. Park divers have typically come from the Visitor
Services and Resource Protection Division; however, in the last year an effort has
been made to include personnel from other areas. Currently, the Maintenance
Foreman, Park Historian and a Natural Resource Management Trainee have been
added to the dive team. Interdisciplinary membership has broadened areas of
expertise and has helped to develop a wider support base within the Park for the
dive program.

The addition of new Park divers is handled in a variety of ways, depending upon the
needs of the Park. Certain key positions, such as the two District Rangers and
Northshore Subdistrict Ranger, are intentionally filled by divers, if possible.
Possession of a valid scuba certification is, in fact, a requirement for the Northshore
Ranger position. If the Park finds itself without enough divers to maintain an
effective program, Isle Royale NP may organize an in-Park basic scuba course.
Relying on the local scuba community for basic certification courses is difficult with
erratic summer and winter schedules of Park staff. Employees who wish to dive on
the Park dive team and who come to Isle Royale with at least a basic certification

495

are selected on an as-needed basis. Experience level, supervisory support, diving
skills and physical ability are evaluated by the Park Diving Officer.

New divers must be certified at a basic scuba level and pass an NPS watermanship
and skills test. Eligible employees are placed in "diver-in-training" (DIT) status until
they have demonstrated sufficient expertise and have completed 12 supervised
dives. Receipt of a "blue card," which lists depth restrictions, authorizes them as a
"NPS diver." Depth ratings may be increased by following NPS-4 and Park policy.

With a small Park dive program such as Isle Royale, it is unrealistic to expect
divemaster supervision of every dive. Consequently, most dives are performed with
two divers and a tender or boat operator. Usually, the most experienced diver will
act as team leader and supervise the dive. A dive plan is formulated and reviewed
before entering the water. Contingencies or "what if" scenarios are discussed to
anticipate emergencies, equipment failures, or other considerations. A brief critique
is completed by involved personnel after the dive.

Other Park employees, besides Park divers, play an active role in the diving
program. Patrol rangers or maintenance workers may serve as dive tenders and
boat operators while diving operations are being conducted. A formal training
session is held at the beginning of each year for those members of Park staff that
frequently serve in surface support roles at diving sites. This session emphasizes
timekeeping duties, familiarity with dive equipment, emergency first aid and
handling of diving illness or accidents.

In 1985, a Volunteer-in-Parks (VIP) program was evaluated in combination with
activities of the SCRU at Isle Royale. A VIP scuba instructor trained and certified six
Park employees in basic diving. VIP divers were responsible for video taping
portions of shipwrecks to fill in data gaps for the SCRU and photographing artifacts
of obvious value that might easily be stolen. A Park maintenance project was also
completed on a volunteer basis.

Role of Park Divers: Park divers are used to perform underwater maintenance,
recoveries (of property and human bodies), archeological surveys, patrols and
monitoring of underwater cultural resources. More specifically their functions are as
follows.

A) Maintenance: Isle Royale is a water based Park. Virtually all transport of
people, material and equipment occurs via boat. Obviously, diving capabilities are
important and valuable, especially from a maintenance perspective. Park divers are
regularly used to inspect, install, repair, or dismantle docks. Intakes for public and
government water systems need to be attached, cleaned and removed on a yearly
basis. Mooring buoys require installation in spring and regular inspection of tackle.
Park divers occasionally conduct hull inspections on boats with suspected damage,
that are not easily lifted out of the water. Clearing fouled propellers and replacing
damaged propellers are typical maintenance functions. Situations periodically arise
where Park divers have been able to resolve a maintenance problem at considerable
savings to the Park by being able to make repairs or salvage equipment. For
example, a break in the track of a marine railway was repaired by Park and VIP
divers in two days. The alternative would have involved a major commitment of
government resources, utilizing a crane, barge and large work crew for many days.
Perhaps, the most visible work performed by divers is clean-up of shallow areas
near visitor use areas. Trash pick-up dives are scheduled yearly to remove
unsightly debris that collects around marinas and docks.

496

B) Cultural Resource Management: With such a significant underwater cultural
resource base, it is important that the National Park Service constantly monitors the
condition of these sites through underwater checks. Divers can observe impacts to
these resources and document significant natural changes, vandalism, or new
discoveries. Resource managers can then assess problems and provide
recommendations to mitigate or eliminate future impacts. As Park divers work with
research staff to develop skills and abilities, techniques such as cultural resource
surveys, mapping and documentation of new sites are added to their capabilities.
Law enforcement efforts to protect underwater cultural resources from theft and
degradation are substantially improved by use of patrol personnel with diving
experience. "Topside" permit and boat checks are conducted frequently to let
visitors know that Park management is actively concerned about preserving these
resources. Inquiries about artifact removal or antiquities violations are an important
aspect of information gathering for possible law enforcement measures. Visitor
contacts during patrols also provide an excellent opportunity to instill or reinforce a
"preservation ethic" with the diving public. Prevention and deterrence through
education are the primary goals of these patrols.

C) Body Recoveries: Three sport diver drownings have occurred at Isle Royale
National Park since 1976. Body recoveries were completed by private individuals
under coordination of the Isle Royale Superintendent or Chief Ranger. Due to
obvious questions of liability, Park divers will make future body recoveries within
their capabilities. Because search and recovery operations of this type are sensitive
and often complex, a full discussion is left to other sources. Numerous property
recoveries ranging from tools to outboard motors are made each year.

D) Natural Resources Research: In 1986, Park divers assisted with research of
in-Park Lake Superior water quality, by deployment of sampling devices. Monitoring
of water quality will undoubtedly receive greater attention, due to national emphasis
on baseline environmental data gathering.

Training: The Park tries to take advantage of National Park Service-sponsored scuba
training opportunities, such as Advanced Operational Diver and Divemaster courses.
Ideally, Isle Royale hopes to maintain at least one divemaster and one or two divers
at an advanced operational level. In addition, a yearly mini-diving workshop is held
at Isle Royale. This session, which usually lasts three days, concentrates on skill
development. Divers are introduced to unfamiliar specialities such as underwater
maintenance techniques, archeological mapping, wreck diving, use of new
equipment, equipment maintenance, and emergency procedures. Park isolation and
irregular schedules hinder access to local community specialty courses.
Mini-workshops also provide an opportunity for Park divers to complete a required
minimum of 12 operational dives each year. Due to complicated travel logistics and
competition with other work duties, this minimum is sometimes hard to
accomplish. Continued skill maintenance is especially difficult during winter months
when open water diving is unavailable, with exception of ice diving. Recently, Isle
Royale National Park has made arrangements with a local scuba club to "pool" dive
during the winter.

Equipment: A central scuba locker has been constructed at one district office. Dive
equipment is stored and serviced in this facility. "Turnaround" time for equipment
repairs through the mail are considerable. Equipment maintenance is therefore
completed in-house whenever feasible, with a stock of commonly needed spare
parts. Visual inspection and hydrostatic testing of scuba cylinders are accomplished

497

commercially. The Park hopes to put one or two divers through a visual inspection
certification course. Notable savings would be realized through elimination of visual
inspection fees and handling costs. Industry certification in regulator repair is also
anticipated.

Isle Royale NP has made a conscious decision not to purchase an air compressor.
Consistent availability of commercial air fills through scuba charter operators, is
presently more economical than operation and maintenance of a government
compressor. Sometimes this arrangement proves to be inconvenient, however, a
recent purchase of additional air cylinders has made the situation acceptable.

A computerized database is established for every piece of scuba equipment in the
Park. Equipment issued to Park divers is tracked using this program. The database
includes a maintenance log for easy retrieval and update of service records. Key
information such as model or serial numbers, replacement part data, purchase dates
and cost is also maintained.

Program Administration: The Park Diving Officer (PDO) prepares a scuba program
plan before each diving season. This includes estimated expenses from purchases,
repairs, medical examinations, projected diving activities and training courses. The
program is subject to approval by the Chief, Visitor Services and Resource
Protection. The PDO is also responsible for ordering, stocking and repair of
equipment or accessories.

Park divers are required to maintain a NPS and personal dive log. NPS dive logs are
retained by the PDO. For dives in which a specific or significant project is
undertaken, a more detailed reporting process is necessary, using a form designed
for this purpose (Record of Dive ISRO-8). The completed Record of Dive remains at
Isle Royale and provides information regarding past maintenance, cultural and
natural resource related underwater activities. The PDO initiates a yearly physical
examination process for Park divers, reviewing and maintaining those records. A
"blue card" or Park diver certification is issued by the Regional Diving Officer on an
annual basis. Brief end of year reports are prepared by the PDO, detailing dive team
accomplishments during that season (Isle Royale NP Memorandum, Wells Dec. 4,
1986).

Scuba Diving Accidents And Emergency Response Procedures

Since 1976, Isle Royale National Park staff have dealt with the following scuba diving
fatalities, formally certified as asphyxiation due to water immersion.

Location

Reason For Fatality/Transportation

HENRY CHISHOLM

Air embolism 8/19/79. Unauthorized commercial charter
boat.

KAMLOOPS
AMERICA

Nitrogen narcosis 8/06/79. Private boat.

Disorientation and/or entanglement 8/22/76. Private
boat.

Rumor mentions a possible fatality on EMPEROR during the 1950s. This victim was
supposedly removed by the involved diving party and transported back to mainland
facilities by private boat. Reason(s) for the death are unknown.

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Non-fatal accidents or incidents reported since 1977 include:
Location Incident and Date

EMPEROR

(2) Omitted decompressions after planned depth exceeded
(1983). No symptoms after oxygen therapy on omitted
decompression schedule. Commercial charter boat.

Medical problem precipitated by cold water exposure, with
decompression sickness symptoms (1982). Patient

transported to recompression chamber, but treatment was
not initiated. Private boat.

EMPEROR

Near-drowning due to panic, precipitated by suit squeeze
and regulator free-flow (1982). Patient was transported to
hospital for treatment. Commercial charter boat.

Buddy breathing ascent due to lack of air (1981). The ascent
was successful from approximately 120 feet. Unauthorized
commercial charter boat.

EMPEROR

Regulator free-flow at 70 feet (1981).
Private boat.

Dive terminated.

EMPEROR

Emergency ascent necessitated by lack of air from possible
regulator malfunction (1980). The ascent was successful
from approximately 50 feet. Private boat.

Air embolism due to uncontrolled drysuit ascent possibly
from contamination of breathing air (1979). Recompression
chamber treatment was successful. Private boat.

EMPEROR

KAMLOOPS

Esophageal spasm (1978). The incident started at 60 feet
after use of an oral inflator on buoyancy compensator. Diver
ditched weight belt and terminated dive. NPS diver.

(1) Regulator free-flow at 175 feet (1983). NPS diver. (1)
Regulator free-flow inside vessel at depth over 200 feet
(1980). Private boat. (3) Regulator free-flows at depths over
200 feet (1979). Private boats. No emergencies developed,
due to use of redundant air systems.

Rapid ascent from 160 feet due to "o" ring failure on air
cylinder valve (1979). Private boat.

Broken ankle from fall while suiting up with drysuit (1979).
Private boat.

KAMLOOPS

Uncontrolled ascent due to malfunction of drysuit inflator
(1979). Incident controlled by safety diver. Private boat.

Decompression sickness (CNS bends) (1978). Recompression
chamber treatment was successful Private boat.

499

HENRY CHISHOLM

Uncontrolled ascent due to frozen drysuit inflator, resulting
in omitted decompression (1982). No symptoms after
in-water omitted decompression schedule conducted.
Commercial charter boat.

HENRY CHISHOLM

(3) Regulator free-flows at depths over 100 feet (1981). No
emergencies developed due to use of redundant air
systems. One dive required a buddy-breathing ascent. NPS
divers.

HENRY CHISHOLM

Uncontrolled ascent due to drysuit over-inflation and
omitted decompression (1980). No symptoms after oxygen
therapy on omitted decompression schedule Commercial
charter boat.

HENRY CHISHOLM
CHESTER CONGDON

GLENLYON

Regulator free-flow at 90 feet (1980). Private boat.

(2) Omitted decompressions after planned depth exceeded
(1983). No symptoms after oxygen therapy on

omitted-decompression schedule. Commercial charter boat.

Regulator free-flow (1979). Dive terminated at 30'. NPS
diver.

Duncan Bay
Campground

Cylinder explosion while filling tank from

portable air compressor (1977). Property damage only.

Private boat.

Scuba accidents or incidents are recorded on NPS Case Incident Records (Form
10-343), which are on file at individual Parks. Detailed background information and
narrative of events are part of the Record. Fatalities require the formation of a
Superintendent Board of Inquiry with analysis of involved scuba equipment for
malfunction. Future accident investigations will use a Worksheet For Recovery of A
Drowned Scuba Diver. This NPS checklist is completed underwater, before a body is
removed or fatality scene disturbed (Diving Management Guideline NPS-4). Scuba
divers are requested to provide information regarding accidents, near-accidents or
hazardous situations before departing Isle Royale.

Park rangers follow a Diving Accident Checklist, which provides step-by-step
information on emergency management. One 31-foot boat and 3 26-foot
patrol/search and rescue boats are used by responding Park rangers. Other vessels
are available depending upon incident requirements. Commercial scuba charter
operators are also advised of diving accident procedures and communicate directly
with Park employees over marine FM or NPS radio networks. One charter business
requires completion of an Emergency Information Card by passengers, which
authorizes recompression chamber treatment if necessary. Isle Royale NP staff
includes Emergency Medical Technicians, some trained in administration of IV
solutions. In-Park first aid training sessions for diving accidents are conducted
according to personnel needs. Emergency medical care is provided as per National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Department of Transportation
(DOT) guidelines.

Immediate and efficient transport of diving accident patients to a recompression
chamber is of utmost concern for maximum physical recovery. Prior to 1986,

500

patients were taken to a private recompression chamber in Thunder Bay, Ontario,
35-40 statute air miles from Isle Royale. A private seaplane on contract to the
National Park Service served as air ambulance. One Park ranger and local sport or
commercial divers were trained in chamber operation. Treatment was provided by
hospital medical doctors certified in hyperbaric medicine.

Since closure of the Thunder Bay recompression chamber, nearest treatment
facilities are located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota, over 300
statute air miles away. These 24-hour chambers are multi-place with professional
hospital staff and heliports. Air transportation can be provided by U.S Coast Guard
Search and Rescue helicopters, with a minimum 2.5-hour response to Isle Royale.
The helicopters have hoist capabilities and flight paramedics trained in scuba diving
emergency management. Other air ambulance alternatives are available, under
constraints of limited availability or considerable transport time to recompression
chambers. The Superintendent may designate a Park Public Affairs Officer to work
with news media concerning diving accidents, other incidents or public information
releases.

Scuba diving visitors are required to register upon entering the Park, at a convenient
Ranger station. According to regulation, a dive cannot be initiated until the
registration process is complete. Inherent dangers of cold water and shipwreck
diving are explained at this time, either verbally or by distribution of a Scuba Diving
brochure. Commercial charter boat operators are responsible for informing
passengers of diving conditions, safety precautions and accident procedures.

Charter Boat Operations

Until 1980, scuba charter boats carrying passengers for hire at Isle Royale were
operating in disregard to code of federal regulations and many U.S. Coast Guard
requirements. 36 CFR 5.3 states that engaging in or soliciting any business in park
areas, except in accordance with provisions of a permit or contract is prohibited.
U.S. Coast Guard passenger for hire regulations detail equipment requirements,
operator licensing and vessel inspections. Contemporary written and verbal
accounts through the 1970s implicated many vessel owners with commercial
operations at Isle Royale (Duluth Sunday News-Tribune, June 2, 1974; Isle Royale NP
Memorandum, Shaver September 16, 1976; Aqua Center Newsletter, Aurora, Illinois,
5(4), 1977; Omaha World Herald, April 8, 1979).

Isle Royale National Park management tolerated this situation until the late 1970s,
when commercial charter boat operation became an obvious impact on island
facilities and diving sites. Liability insurance coverage for sport diving accidents and
the quality of visitor experiences were of major concern. Park staff discussed
instituting a permit system for business operations with scuba charter operators in
1978. The favorable response led to formal government solicitation for scuba diving
services at Isle Royale NP. Proposed financial arrangements, operating plans,
management and organization structures were detailed by interested parties in a
lengthy application process. Operating plans included food preparation, equipment
maintenance, training, reservation policies, on-site dive management, air compressor
operation, passenger orientation programs, vessel and diving safety procedures.

Three concession permits were authorized in 1980 for charter boat transportation of
scuba divers. Businesses were entitled with exclusive rights to provide this service
for the permit period. Permits required U.S. Coast Guard operator licensing and
conformance with safety regulations. Prohibited activities included artifact removal

501

and planned dives over 140 feet. A divemaster or assistant instructor needed to be
on board, with divers using power inflators, buoyancy compensators and
submersible pressure gauges. First aid training and supplies, an oxygen delivery
system and complete set of reserve diving gear were required. Minimum public
liability and property insurance coverage was set at $500,000. Isle Royale NP staff
regularly conducted visitor service and vessel inspections according to National Park
Service guidelines.

Concession permits valid through 1985 were later issued to two charter dive boat
businesses, who worked closely with Park personnel. Visitor complaints were
minimal with services judged to be of high quality. Divers enjoyed a "wilderness"
experience while pursuing their sport, as much as other Park users. Lack of
developed facilities and mainland amenities was deemed a positive attribute by
many divers, who wished to escape crowded vacation areas elsewhere. One
concession developed a brochure providing passenger information and advertised
nationally. Park Rangers investigated unauthorized dive-charter operation when
suspected. One case led to expulsion and fining of a Canadian vessel owner for
prohibited business operations.

Control over removal of shipwreck artifacts improved with sanctioned dive charter
services. Commercial operators realized long term economic benefits of protecting
resources for future charter divers to view. This led to preservation ethic
development which was impressed upon diving passengers. Departing charter divers
occasionally remarked that concession operators made them put an artifact back.
Public knowledge of Isle Royale's high quality environmental and shipwreck diving
experiences grew through literature exposure. Limited charter accommodations
during peak visitor use weeks in July and August produced political pressure to
expand services. Charter boat operators argued that plenty of bookings were
available during other time periods. Requests from Thunder Bay, Ontario for
authorization of Canadian charter operations added further concerns.

In 1986, because of questions regarding adequate supply of services, charter dive
boat operations were allowed under commercial use license. Applications for
commercial use licenses are greatly simplified, although most restrictions or
regulations detailed under concession permit remain. Minimum insurance coverage
for general and excess liability was raised to one million dollars. In-depth financial,
management and operating plans are not required. The license is available to any
qualified individual or business on a year by year basis, but may be revoked at any
time by discretion of the Superintendent. Only two licenses were granted in 1986.
The few licenses may be a result of increased liability insurance costs, which for
one operation totaled over $12,000 to cover two boats during the 1986 operating
season. Of interest is whether quality of visitor services and protection of
underwater resources will match operations sanctioned under concession permits.
Further information regarding commercial use licenses for diving charter boats is
available from the Superintendent, Isle Royale National Park.

Interpretation of Submerged Cultural Resources

Popular accounts of Isle Royale shipwreck histories and scuba diving are found
throughout local, regional and national publication sources. Recent magazine
references include Sport Diver, Skin Diver, National Geographic, Treasure World,
Michigan History, Inland Seas, Sierra, National Parks, Historic Preservation,
Underwater USA, Port Cities and Lake Superior. Newspaper article sources span the
Midwest, as exemplified by credits found in this publication. Other accounts of Isle

502

Royale's submerged cultural resources are found in diving club newsletters, books
on Great Lakes shipwreck and diving histories and publications from professional
underwater archeology organizations.

Isle Royale Shipwrecks by Fredrick Stonehouse was the first book exclusively
detailing histories of the Island's sunken ships. Another volume entitled Above and
Below, by Thorn Holden, was introduced in 1985. Both books are available
commercially and show moderate sales in comparison to other publications offered
by the Isle Royale Natural History Association. The Isle Royale Natural History
Association supports Park educational and interpretive objectives through funding of
written materials such as books and brochures. Publications are offered at Park
visitor centers or by mail order.

Isle Royale maintains a high-contact visitor registration program, both as a result of
administrative decision and the limited entry points into the Park. "Nearly all
visitors (99%) come in contact with Park staff through information services on the
Island, on the RANGER III, or at the Houghton office" (Weber 1986:Part I). The Park
provides a free scuba diving brochure to interested visitors upon request or at
registration. This Scuba Diving brochure covers safety issues, regulations and brief
histories of major shipwrecks. Visitors may also ask specific questions regarding
shipwreck diving at Park visitor centers or ranger stations. Rangers (Visitor Services
and Resource Protection Division personnel) are briefed on Park history and visitor
use issues during seasonal training sessions. Evening slide and lecture programs
about scuba diving or submerged cultural resources are conducted at Rock Harbor
and Windigo, both are main visitor entry points. Scheduling and content is variable,
depending upon needs or interests of the Park Naturalist Office and Park
interpreters. Park interpreters are specifically responsible for educating visitors
about Isle Royale through guided walks, lectures or audio-visual programs. The
Park concession also participates in the visitor program by providing
regularly-scheduled interpretive boat cruises during the summer months.

There is a relatively high participation of visitors in the interpretive opportunities
provided by the Park visitor program. "Sixty-five percent of Park visitors participate
in some form of conducted interpretive activity" (Weber 1986:Part I). The visitor
program, for the most part is delegated to field personnel working under the East
and West District Rangers. The Park Naturalist is responsible for Park-wide
coordination of the interpretive program.

Historical information is collected and stored in the Isle Royale National Park
Underwater Cultural Resources File. Research materials for this file have been
donated by private collectors, Volunteers-in-Parks (VIPs) and other government
agencies. A Park Historian is responsible for assembling, archiving and
disseminating information concerning Isle Royale. Park interpreters use these
materials in preparation of visitor programs about shipwrecks and scuba diving, as
may public or private researchers. File documents have been provided to
commercial charter boat operators for passenger orientation and interest. A limited
amount of oral history recordings are available that mention shipwreck events or
references to Isle Royale boating history. Taped oral interviews are completed by
Park staff or VIPs under specific standards and programming. Recordings become
property of the National Park Service.

Photos, slides and films of submerged cultural resources are also stored at Isle
Royale NP for interpretive, law enforcement or other uses. Most were obtained from
private photographers, but the addition of a Park underwater camera will aid NPS

503

site documentation. Historical photos of Isle Royale boats and shipwreck events are
included in this collection. (Loans of films, slide programs and other audio-visual
resources are available from the Park Historian.)

A cultural resources site inventory, including underwater components, is prepared
and updated by the Park Cultural Resources Specialist. Location and nature of
archeological sites are confidential and excluded from release under the Freedom of
Information Act (5 USC 552), by Archeological Resources Protection Act
requirements (Public Law 96-95; 93 Stat. 712; 16 USC 470). Amendment to the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665; 80 Stat. 915; 16 USC
470) allows government land managers "to withhold from disclosure to the public,
information relating to the location of sites or objects listed on the National Register
whenever he determines that disclosure ... would create a risk of destruction or
harm" (Cultural Resources Management Guideline NPS-28, Aug. 1985).

An educational technique showing promise for application to submerged cultural
resources are Isle Royale Field Seminars. These courses are open to the general
public and taught by professional instructors with academic credit available.
Seminars on ecology, island folklore and wilderness photography were
co-sponsored by the Isle Royale Natural History Association in 1986. Approval to
conduct a field study in underwater exploration was granted to the Indiana
University School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation in 1984. Students
completed course work in underwater site documentation, research techniques and
preservation ethics on shipwreck AMERICA. A boater's and diver's booklet,
multi-image slide presentation, video production and underwater guide are planned
for visitor use at AMERICA. Interest in a glass bottom boat concession or
underwater "view boxes" has been expressed by Park staff and researchers. This
equipment would allow non-divers to view shallow portions of shipwrecks or other
submerged cultural resources areas.

In 1981, the NPS Submerged Cultural Resources Unit experimented with installation
of an underwater interpretive trail on MONARCH. "It was felt that the knowledge
gained by the Unit through its work on the site could be transmitted to visiting
sport divers in such a way as to enhance the experience of diving a well-preserved,
though disarticulated, shipwreck" (Murphy, et al. 1982:32-34). Plastic numbers were
positioned to be visually unobtrusive and provide a safe, relatively easy route over
the wreck site. These trail numbers were keyed to an illustrated site guide that
discussed important shipwreck features. A second version of the MONARCH
Illustrated Site Guide was produced in a plastic-laminated format so divers could
take it underwater.

The MONARCH Underwater Interpretive Trail and the accompanying Guide were
evaluated by divers in 1982 and 1983. The divers made the the following

suggestions and observations:

1) Guide size should be limited to no more than 5 inches x 7 inches and a lanyard
attached for easy handling. Depths are needed on the illustration with a shipwreck
profile provided.

2) First-time divers on MONARCH seemed to most appreciate trail guidance and
information provided. Photographers and divers familiar with the shipwreck
resented use of trail numbers. Plastic numbers were recognized as being
aesthetically poor (Isle Royale NP Memorandum, Brown July 22, 1983). Currently,
most plastic trail numbers have been removed, but site guides are available at the
Rock Harbor visitor center. The map on the site guide is apparently sufficient
without the actual numbers being placed on the site.

504

Many sport clivers consider visible interpretive devices, such as plastic trail numbers
an intrusion, especially on intact shipwrecks. These feelings probably result from
divers' perception of shipwreck diving as an act of exploration and discovery, even
at well-known sites. Fantasy and history are interrupted by signs of present
management. Although the trail numbering system was resented by some, divers
generally expressed enthusiasm for the MONARCH Illustrated Site Guide. The wreck
became more interesting and appealing because of increased diver understanding.
An illustrated site guide may be especially relevant for dispersed sites such as
MONARCH, CUMBERLAND, CHISHOLM and GEORGE M. COX, where wreck features are
complex and confusing.

Law Enforcement

An undercover operation was conducted by NPS law enforcement officers in 1976.
Contacts with unauthorized commercial dive charters and private boats produced
recommendations for Isle Royale NP staff:

1) Continue checking and searching dive boats when appropriate. This activity "has
their attention."

2) An average charter does not appear to be for artifacts; operators warn
passengers not to collect and hold them to it. Friends of charter operators are
suspected of completing most "rip-offs."

3) Conduct undercover or surveillance operations when necessary. Observation
during diving should be continued.

4) A continuing and primary emphasis needs to be directed towards educating
divers on National Park Service ethics (Isle Royale NP Case Incident Record, Tolley
Sept. 2, 1976).

Since that time, informal discussions with divers and formal educational programs
about preservation of submerged cultural resources have helped curtail removal of
artifacts by visitors. Evidence of community ethic building is evident from increased
willingness to report theft of material and artifacts from Isle Royale shipwrecks.
Diver cooperation has assisted in identifying individuals suspected of artifact
removal. One group of sport divers became directly involved in resource protection
when rumors circulated that an attempt had been made to remove the KAMLOOPS
auxiliary wheel. Working at approximately 175 feet of depth, these individuals
fastened a six-foot length of chain to the stern navigation wheel. It was placed to
hinder removal of the wheel, yet minimize photographic and aesthetic intrusion (Isle
Royale NP Case Incident Record, Vrana Aug. 31, 1980).

Although artifact removal has been an important management concern, sport diving
is allowed on all major shipwrecks from April 16 to October 31. No portions of
these shipwreck sites are restricted from entry. Superintendent's Orders, dated April
1986, under provisions of 16 USC, Section 3 and Code of Federal Regulations (36
CFR 1.7), closed all land associated underwater archeological sites to diving use.
This action will protect these fragile areas for future archeological research.
Permits are required for boating (36 CFR 2.10 and 3.3), underwater diving (36 CFR
7.38 b), collecting research specimens (36 CFR 2.5), commercial photography (36 CFR
5.5 and 43 CFR 5.1), operation of air compressors and portable generators (36 CFR
2.12). Although permits are restrictive, they help control resource degradation and
balance needs of various visitor groups using Park resources and offer managers an
important control mechanism.

505

To reinforce preservation ethics, law enforcement patrols and visitor contacts are
continued at dive sites and docking areas. Divers are required by regulation (36 CFR
3.23) to identify scuba activity by displaying a standard dive flag (white diagonal
stripe on a red background). Patrols at irregular intervals appear to produce the
best deterrence against resource violations. Park rangers with full law enforcement
commissions can carry firearms, make arrests, execute warrants and conduct
investigations of all types (NPS Law Enforcement Guideline NPS-9). Theft from
underwater sites is investigated and documented on NPS Case Incident Records as
preservation of natural, cultural or archeological resources (36 CFR 2.1 a). Private
possession or use of metal detectors, magnetometers, side-scan sonars and
subbottom profilers within Park boundaries is restricted by 36 CFR 2.1 a.

Law enforcement within Isle Royale's waters is shared by a number of agencies,
although Isle Royale National Park retains exclusive jurisdiction over the submerged
lands within 4 1/2 miles of the shoreline of Isle Royale, subject to certain
reservations: control of submerged minerals, fisheries and fishing activities are
reserved by the State of Michigan (Hobbs 1986:9). Searches of boats that originate
and remain in U.S. waters are only initiated with consent or probable cause. Vessels
coming from Canada and using Isle Royale NP resources may legally be searched
without probable cause or reasonable suspicion of law violation, through U.S.
Customs and Immigration regulations. A number of Isle Royale National Park
rangers are designated U.S. Customs Officers. Canada Customs and Excise reserves
the right to search boats entering Ontario from United States waters. Removal of
government-owned artifacts from Ontario historic sites is strictly prohibited.
Because of similar concerns and documented problems, Canada Customs and Excise
has cooperated with Isle Royale NP efforts of shipwreck protection. The U.S. Coast
Guard has some jurisdiction over boating activities on Lake Superior waters of the
Park, because these waters are classified as navigable waters. Coast Guard
responsibility includes licensing and inspecting commercial boats, search and rescue
operations and maintenance of some aids to navigation (Hobbs 1986:10-11).

Artifact Recovery and Museums

For a short time, underwater artifact recovery was sanctioned by Isle Royale
National Park management under two specific conditions.

1) A visible artifact was valuable in monetary or historic terms.

2) In addition, the artifact could easily be stolen, or damaged by visitor use or
natural conditions. Park or sport divers were allowed to recover the item by getting
specific clearance from the Chief Ranger and Cultural Resources Specialist.
Specimens were to be exhibited in a Park museum.

Problems with this policy were immediately experienced. Park and sport divers
removed many items without permission and "donated" them to headquarters staff
at Mott Island. Divers' intentions were sincere, but individual perceptions of artifact
value and vulnerability varied. In one instance, a Park employee randomly recovered
over two dozen bottles and ceramics. These items were placed in a box and given
to the Cultural Resources Specialist. Artifact provenience and context within the
site was lost, as no archeological methods were used. This situation was resolved
by instituting a standard operating procedure for artifact recovery. Cultural objects
may not be removed from their natural setting by visitors or employees. "If the
artifact has an obvious high monetary or special intrinsic value, the Cultural
Resources Specialist will remove the object with proper documentation" (ISRO
Standard Operating Procedure, April 1986). Form ISRO-40 is completed when

506

artifacts are received by Park staff from well-intentioned visitors who remove and
turn in artifacts.

Another issue involves artifact conservation and curation. Conservation capabilities
at Isle Royale are minimal and difficult to obtain from other facilities. These
concerns became especially evident in dealing with a stern spotlight from
KAMLOOPS. Sport divers were granted permission to remove the supposedly brass
fixture. When recovered, the badly rusted spotlight required days of cleaning and
professional stabilization. Storage at a "temporary" museum is inadequate for large
inventories of artifacts. Isle Royale NP's current inventory includes 3,638 cataloged
specimens and 1,600 uncataloged items of all types (Weber 1986:Part IV). Plans for
a museum at Rock Harbor Lighthouse have been mentioned in Park correspondence
since the late 1960s, but as yet has not been completed. Visitors may view
specimens housed in the Mott Island "temporary" museum by contacting Park staff.
Exhibits and access are limited.

Private collectors of Isle Royale shipwreck artifacts occasionally return items to the
Park. Conversion to a preservation ethic and loss of interest in their collection are
usual reasons for this action. Prosecution for archeological theft is generally not
pursued in these cases. Dinnerware from ALGOMA and MONARCH'S bell were
recently "donated" to Isle Royale IMP by a past employee. A curatorial program
including identification, accessioning and storage is completed for all artifacts. This
is essential for cultural continuity and public accountability. Park staff is aware of
other private Isle Royale artifact collections. Legal complications in addition to
restricted abilities to properly store and exhibit cultural objects have quieted
thoughts on reacquisition. "The condition of museum collections and records at Isle
Royale reflect a need for continued training of staff in museum cataloging, record
procedures, artifact stabilization, storage and exhibit planning and preparation"
(Snyder 1986:14).

Unauthorized collecting of submerged cultural resources by professional
archeologists or museum personnel has been suspected in a couple cases.
Correspondence to Oshkosh Public Museum by Isle Royale Acting Superintendent
Raftery in 1964 made such an accusation: "We think you should know that your
unauthorized activities on the island as described in the newspaper articles have
caused a great deal of concern not only here but also in our Regional and
Washington offices. It has been determined that you should forward to this office
all material collected by your group ..." (NPS Correspondence, Raftery Nov. 4, 1964).
A more recent incident was reported by sport divers who were approached by an
individual representing a regional marine museum. The divers were asked to
recover artifacts from shipwrecks within the boundaries of Isle Royale National Park
(NPS Correspondence, Morehead July 28, 1978). Both incidents are unresolved, but
made Park staff aware of professional pressures to obtain submerged cultural
resource specimens. Museum pressure for artifacts for display (sometimes even
unauthorized artifact collection) is a recognized threat to submerged cultural
resources in national parks.

Management Plans and Guidelines

The Isle Royale National Park "Statement For Management" outlines Park purpose
and significance: "[H.R. 17005 U.S. Congress 1931] clearly indicates that the primary
purpose of the land portion of the Park is for wilderness and preserving the wildlife,
flora and basic resource in a primeval manner ... The intent of Congress ... was
further defined with the passing of legislation in October 1976, designating Isle

507

Royale as a wilderness area" (Hobbs 1986:1,2). Although Isle Royale shipwrecks
were recognized as a theme significant to the history and development of the Park,
comprising "one of the most intact, well-preserved collection of modern shipwrecks
to be found in North America ... The most significant cultural resources of the Island
are the numerous aboriginal copper mines ... For the Lake Superior portion of the
Park, it is evident from the legislative history that recreational power boating and
fishing should be continued" (Ibid. 1986: 8,9,22). "The Lake Superior portion of the
Park is designated as a Natural Environment Zone and is managed to provide for
environmentally compatible recreational activities" (Snyder 1986:6).

Management objectives and issues influencing submerged cultural resources are
also identified in the "Statement for Management." Park objectives include:

1) Cultural Resource Preservation: To preserve and manage sites of historic
and prehistoric significance, on land or underwater.

2) Visitor Use: To foster an appreciation and understanding that the natural and
cultural resources must be protected.

3) Interpretation: To interpret the natural and cultural resources of the Park to
visitors whenever appropriate.

4) Visitor Safety: To provide the maximum amount of public safety possible
while still recognizing that wilderness and recreational use has inherent and
acceptable dangers and risks to personal safety (Hobbs 1986:48,49)

Major management issues involve:

1) Marine Sanctuary Designation: In 1983, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration included Isle Royale National Park in a list of areas
under review for possible study and inclusion into the Marine Sanctuary Program.

2) Water Diversion: Significant controversy has arisen regarding diversion of
water from Lake Superior to western states.

3) Resource/Visitor Experience Protection: Innovative management techniques
must continue to be employed in order to protect both the resource and visitor
experiences.

4) Museum Environmental Control: At present, the Park museum storage facility
does not meet professional curatorial standards set by the National Park Service
(Hobbs 1986:41-47)

An Annual Statement for Interpretation and Visitor Services outlines basic
information used in program planning, interpretive and visitor services programs and
cost analyses. Current management concerns emphasize that an inventory of
cultural resources at Isle Royale is incomplete. "Lack of data on the total scope of
the resources (submerged as well as those above lake level) makes the problem of
managing these resources difficult" (Weber 1986:Part 1:11). Other needs identified
include:

1) Preparation of a Cultural Sites Management Plan

2) Conservation work on the Park collection

3) Continued upgrading of the Boreal Research Station as a support base for
scientists doing natural, cultural and social science research

4) Organization of information handling, data storage and analysis processes

5) Funding for the design and construction of cultural exhibits inside the Rock
Harbor Lighthouse

6) Increased staffing for interpretation (Weber 1986:Part l:ll)

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Appendices to this document list Park cultural resources, visitor use data, oral
history recordings and sources. Other interpretive standards, guidelines or
inventories are also provided.

An action plan entitled Cultural Resources Management Plan and Environmental
Assessment, was approved in 1986. "The purpose of this Resource Management
Plan is to act as a dynamic guide for the continuous protection, management and
maintenance of the Park's Cultural Resources" (Snyder 1986:3). National Register
status for Isle Royale shipwrecks is acknowledged, as are concerns for land
associated or unknown submerged archeological sites. "[Recreational scuba diving]
threatens artifacts remaining in the shipwrecks and other cultural dump sites. Need
to inventory in situ artifacts and devise a protection program so that artifacts
remain in place" (Snyder 1986:17). The problems of completing a submerged
cultural resources inventory and protection program are discussed, detailing
possible alternatives. A recommended course of action suggests continued
research by the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit in conjunction with Isle Royale
National Park.

Superintendent John Morehead issued the first Isle Royale Scuba Diving Plan in
1977, when problems of sport diving safety and artifact protection became obvious.
The plan guides Park operational diving and program administration. A detailed
Scuba Diving Plan was prepared as ISRO Guideline 3 in February, 1984 and is
continually revised. Contents include program purpose and responsibility, operation
organization, training, equipment, emergency procedures, local policies and
regulations. For a more complete examination of these topics, see the "Operational
Diving Program At Isle Royale NP" section of this report.

Other Isle Royale National Park planning or study documents pertaining to
submerged cultural resources and scuba diving are as follows:

1) General Package Master Plan approved 1963

2) Historic Resource Study underway

3) Archeological Survey & Evaluation underway

4) Collection Management Plan approved 1985

5) Interpretive Prospectus underway

6) Visitor Protection Guideline approved 1986

7) Emergency Medical Services Plan approved 1986

8) Emergency Procedures Plan approved 1985

Copies of these documents are available by writing the Superintendent, Isle Royale
National Park.

Research Assistance

With increased attention given to Isle Royale shipwrecks by sport divers during the
1970s, Park management began investigating possible avenues of submerged
cultural resources research. Proper research could provide information for visitor
education programs and guide managers in complex decision-making processes.

The first shipwreck documentation project was funded by Northern Michigan
University of Marquette, Michigan with National Park Service support. MONARCH,
ALGOMA, AMERICA and GLENLYON were examined during the summers of 1978 and
1979. Project results included artist composite sketches, 35mm photo
documentation and locational data (position, present condition, depths). An

509

illustrated report, "Isle Royale Shipwreck Survey 1978," overviewed vessel history,
wreckage discovered and methodology. Since shipwrecks were not closed to sport
divers during the research, "it was determined [that] a conventional system of
underwater griding and buoys could not be effectively used" (Northern Michigan
University 1978:17,26,35). Site diagrams were produced by taking measurements
from a single-point reference. A 1911 construction plan provided reference in
plotting AMERICA'S interior dimensions. Isle Royale National Park received artifacts
recovered during diving operations. Using research materials and photography from
the project, a multi-media slide program was produced. The NMU Isle Royale
shipwreck presentation was shown to thousands of individuals in the Midwest. Isle
Royale National Park currently maintains a copy.

Although Isle Royale shipwreck research interested Michigan State University staff,
the National Park Service decided to continue such a survey "in-house." Benefits
from direct administrative control, adherence to NPS philosophy and knowledge of
Park operations were obvious. A project planning document (NPS Form 10-238
Development/Study Package Proposal) was developed in 1979 by Isle Royale NP with
the following objectives:

1) Develop a basic resource inventory of the Submerged Cultural Resources of Isle
Royale along topic lines (shipwrecks, mining, fishing, prehistory and other).

2) Provide professional assistance to Park Manager in the development of a model
Cultural Resource Management plan for Submerged Cultural Resources.

3) Provide Park Manager with professional assistance in the development of a
visitor use and resource protection strategy related to recreational diving in the
Park.

4) Provide historical, cultural, and environmental data related to the interpretation of
Submerged Cultural Resources.

5) Jointly develop a model legislative package for the establishment of a maritime
history preserve in the waters surrounding Isle Royale.

6) Produce professional publication(s) of the results of the studies.

7) Develop a model plan for Servicewide use for the management of submerged
cultural resources.

Underwater archeological research was completed by past members of the National
Reservoir Inundation Study, renamed Submerged Cultural Resources Unit of the NPS
Southwest Regional Office in 1980. This report concludes a study of Isle Royale
submerged cultural resources by the SCRU from 1980 through 1986. In 1982, the
SCRU hosted a training session on "Submerged Cultural Resources Management:
Skills & Issues," at Isle Royale NP. It was the first National Park Service course
dealing specifically with these resources. Participants came from the Ontario
Ministry of Culture and Recreation, UNEXSO, State of Michigan Underwater Salvage
Committee, Corps of Engineers, sport divers and throughout National Park Service
areas. Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park were listed in the National Register
of Historic Places as a thematic group in 1984, through efforts of the SCRU.

Great Lakes states have also exhibited an interest towards underwater cultural
resource protection. Since Isle Royale visitors live predominantly in the Midwest,
actions by state governments have influenced diver attitudes and behavior. Isle
Royale National Park staff continually monitor regional developments that can
influence Park operations. Of primary interest is Michigan's Underwater Salvage Law
(Public Act 184 of 1980), "which protects artifacts contained on and in sunken ships
as well as the ships themselves. The law further provides for establishment of
bottomland preserves ... [and] forbids the taking of any artifact without permits from
the Department of Natural Resources and Secretary of State" (Michigan Natural

510

Resources July/August 1982:13-15). Michigan State University promoted the
concept of underwater park-preserves and enactment of the law. Economic benefits
to local communities from visiting sport divers and protection of finite cultural
resources were central reasons for such efforts. A variety of reports regarding
Great Lakes submerged cultural resources and scuba diving are available from
Michigan Sea Grant Publication Office, Ann Arbor, Ml or Michigan State University
Department of Park and Recreation Resources. The State of Wisconsin is currently
proposing a similar law. Strong cultural resource preservation regulations, which
specifically include underwater sites, have been instituted in Ontario, Canada for
many years.

Scuba Diving Registration, Visitor Use Statistics and Surveys

The earliest Isle Royale National Park reference to scuba diver registration was
found in correspondence from Superintendent C. E. Johnson on November 4, 1965:
"We have, in fact, been somewhat concerned about the safety of those diving on the
wreck [AMERICA] and have required that they obtain a permit to do so in order that
we could provide some degree of control through a check on the adequacy of each
individual's experience and equipment." Use of permit information to investigate
possible law enforcement violations was shown by a 1966 report (Isle Royale NP
Special Incident Report, Abrams July 18, 1966).

Scuba diver registration later became mandatory by Code of Federal Regulations (36
CFR 7.38). During the 1970s, an active diving permit system was recognized as an
important means of visitor control and source of diving information. Permit
requirements called for daily diving registration in 1974. Name, address, number of
divers, dive location and date were filled out by the dive party leader, agreeing to
comply with listed diving safety practices and site preservation regulations. In
addition to this data, current permits call for information on dive boat used, an
emergency phone number and a listing of proposed (planned) versus actual dive
location. All divers in a party now provide information for permits, although they
register only once per visit. During registration, Park rangers explain regulations,
safety precautions and provide a brochure on Scuba diving at Isle Royale. Park
rangers retain a copy of the original permit. Divers are requested to return their
permit with corrections noted (i.e. actual data listed) before leaving the Park.

Scuba diving permits have provided important information to managers regarding
visitor use. Superintendent C. E. Johnson in 1965 had "approximately 75 - 125
scuba divers exploring the wrecks each of the past three summers. Several times
scuba diving clubs have come to the island as a group" (NPS Memorandum, Johnson
March 25, 1965). A two-year evaluation of scuba diving was requested by NPS
Assistant Director Gastellum in response to growing recreational use of Isle Royale
shipwrecks:

During the test period which covered the visitor seasons of 1968 and
1969, our registrations show that a total of 157 divers spent 603 diver
days in the waters of Isle Royale. We are certain that additional
unregistered divers participated in these activities as well. The
registered divers indicated that they would dive on the following
vessels: ALGOMA, EMPEROR, CONGDON, MONARCH, AMERICA,
GLENLYON, COX and CUMBERLAND. In addition they indicated that they
would be diving in the following locations: Blake Point, Washington
Harbor, Mott Island, Menagerie Island, Malone Bay, Canoe Rocks,
Siskiwit, Rock Harbor, North Gap and Circle Island (NPS Memorandum,
Beattie July 30, 1970).

511

In 1976, 259 divers made 581 dives during the months of May, June and July.
Survey research on Isle Royale scuba diving was conducted in 1980 by Michigan
Technological University (Stinson 1981). Results were based on the return of 188
survey forms mailed to scuba divers registered with the Park in 1977 and 1979.
Respondents used the following transportation methods:

Private boat

53%

Charter boat

43%

Rental boat

Results and recommendations from the Stinson (1981) study are listed below.

Sport Diver Profile

The surveyed divers were separated into two groups based on
whether or not they had indicated that they had done decompression
diving while at Isle Royale.

The sport diver at Isle Royale is typically male, between the ages of
27 and 38 years, and has been diving five years or less.

One-half of these divers have logged more than 100 dives,
predominately in freshwater. Two-thirds of the divers log between 1 1
and 50 dives per year, indicating active diving participation. More than
half of the divers have made 10 or less dives below 100 feet. The
decompression divers, as a group were significantly more experienced
at diving than those divers who did not make a decompression dive
while at Isle Royale.

Both groups were well experienced at cold water diving.

Two-thirds of the sport divers had some shipwreck diving experience
before coming to Isle Royale and were aware of the Antiquities Act
and its provisions protecting the shipwrecks of Isle Royale.

The Isle Royale Diving Experience

Diving at Isle Royale presents some logistical problems for the sport
diver.

Nearly 85% of the divers had access to a portable [air] compressor for
refilling scuba tanks during their trip to Isle Royale.

Wreck diving was the most frequently indicated diving activity at Isle
Royale, with general sport diving and photography ranking far behind.

The sport diver visiting Isle Royale is very well equipped for the diving
conditions at Isle Royale.

... more than 90% of the sport divers exceeded a depth of 60 feet
while diving at Isle Royale. However, only 41% made dives for which
they followed decompression procedures.

512

For these divers who did make dives below 100 feet or decompression
dives, responses show a high degree of knowledge and preparation for
that diving experience.

The shipwreck AMERICA was the most popular dive site at Isle Royale,
followed by the COX, EMPEROR, CONGDON.

Locating dive sites was indicated as being something of a problem.

The survey respondents indicated they felt that they had received
adequate information on diving conditions at Isle Royale prior to
making their visit.

Conclusion

... the sport diver visiting Isle Royale is both well trained and well
equipped for their diving experience at Isle Royale National Park.

The charter diving industry should take the lead in promoting
education on diving hazards presented by the conditions at Isle
Royale.

... most of the decompression diving is done by the diver who is not
utilizing charter diving services.

... author could or would recommend ... the development of minimum
equipment requirements for those divers who are planning
decompression dives (Stinson 1981:3-4, 6-11).

Current Park management has recognized some general trends in scuba diving
activity at Isle Royale. "During the sixties and seventies patterns joined showing
significant changes of how the Park was being used. Backpackers were more
numerous, lodge guests and boaters fewer in number. Specialty groups such as
canoeists, scuba divers, sailboaters ... increased in number and became important
users ... Recent declines, 1980-1985, have affected all user groups" (Hobbs 1986:26).
"Divers have been consistent users of Isle Royale during the 1980s and have not
diminished in number in proportion to overall visitation which is down" (Weber
1986:Part IV).

A study of Isle Royale scuba diving use was completed by the SCRU in January
1987. Information from all Isle Royale scuba diving permits issued during 1980
through 1986 was loaded into a relational-database computer program. Results
from 2,801 divers completing 15,936 dives at Isle Royale are listed in the following
tables. Some results are differentiated for divers using private or rental boats and
divers using commercial dive charter boats.

1) Scuba Diver Length of Stay

Charter Boats: 3.8 (1980) to 4.4 (1982 & 1986) days.
Private Boats: 2.4 (1980) to 3.6 (1982) days.

2) Average Number of Divers per Permit

Charter Boats: 6.2 to 6.8 Divers
Private Boats: 3.0 to 3.8 Divers

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3) Diver Days as a Percentage of Non-Lodge Overnights and Boater
Overnights

"Diver Days" ranged from 2.5% (1980) to 4% (1984) of total
yearly Isle Royale "IMPS or Non-Lodge Overnights"
"Diver Days" ranged from 12% (1980 & 1983) to 18.5% (1984) of
total yearly "Boater Overnights"

4) Number of Divers as a Percentage of Total Isle Royale NP Visitors and
Total Boaters

"Number of Divers" ranged from 2.5% (1980-82) to 4% (1984) of total
yearly "Isle Royale NP Visitors"

"Number of Divers" ranged from 11% (1983) to 17.5% (1985) of yearly
"Total Boaters"

5) State of Origin (2801 Divers)

Minnesota 45.0%

Michigan 15.5%

Illinois 13.5%

Wisconsin 9.0%

Ontario 9.0%

6) Metropolitan Area of Origin (2049 Divers)

Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN 32.0%

Chicago, IL 12.0%

Duluth, MN 7.5%

Thunder Bay, ONT 7.0%

Detroit, Ml 5.0%

7) Other Cities, Towns or Rural Areas of Origin (752 divers)

State

Michigan

Wisconsin

Minnesota

Illinois

Ontario

8) Dive Location Popularity (15,936 Dives on 37 Individual Sites)

AMERICA 30.0%

EMPEROR 26.0%

CHESTER CONGDON 14.0%

GEORGE M. COX 8.0%

MONARCH 6.5%

HENRY CHISHOLM 5.0%

The remaining four major shipwrecks and Five Finger Tug received 8.5% of
total dives at Isle Royale NP. Other dive sites listed by geographical location
had less than 2% of total dives.

# Of Divers from

% of State total

Other Cities/Rural

(from #5)

199

46%

177

70%

14%

20%

9) Dives on Northside Shipwrecks

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Scuba dives on EMPEROR, CHESTER CONGDON, MONARCH, KAMLOOPS and
Five Finger Tug totaled 48.5% of total dives at Isle Royale NP.

10) Dives on Southwest End Shipwrecks

Scuba dives on AMERICA, GEORGE M. COX, HENRY CHISHOLM and
CUMBERLAND totaled 47% of total dives at Isle Royale NP.

11) Dive Location by Transportation Type

Shipwreck

AMERICA

EMPEROR

CHESTER CONGDON

GEORGE M. COX

MONARCH

HENRY CHISHOLM

CUMBERLAND

GLENLYON

Five Finger Tug

ALGOMA

KAMLOOPS

% Of Total

Charter Dives

Private Dives

31.0%

28.0%

23.0%

13.0%

16.0%

8.5%

7.5%

6.5%

7.0%

5.5%

4.5%

3.5%

2.0%

2.5%

1 .0%

0.2%

0.5%

3.0%

0.0%

2.5%

99.5% 97.5%

12) Proposed Versus Actual Dives

Total Proposed Dives 3,959

Dives Actually Completed 3,584

Percentage Actually Completed 90.5%

EMPEROR showed the least variance between proposed (planned) and actual
dives, while GEORGE M. COX, GLENLYON, KAMLOOPS and ALGOMA had the
greatest variance.

13) Total Dives Per Year

1986

2258

1985

2703

1984

2758

1983

2324

1982

2127

1981

2085

1980

1681

Total

15,93

14) Most Popular Diving Months

August was the most popular scuba diving month for 4 years and July for 3
years. July and August registered between 63% (1986) and 89% (1983) of
total yearly dives. July, 1982 had 49% of that year's total dives, the largest
single month percentage. No other month besides June (1980 & 1986), July
or August registered greater than 20% of a year's total dives. Permits

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showed scuba diving activity during months of April through October. A
breakdown of monthly scuba diving in terms of transportation type showed
July or August as the most popular commercial dive charter month for each
year except June, 1986. Divers using private or rental boats visited Isle
Royale predominately in July and August.

Management uses of statistical data in a relational format can be illustrated by
examples from this study. EMPEROR and CHESTER CONGDON (located within 1 1/4
miles from each other) received 40% of total Park scuba dives during 1980 through
1986. A large percentage of that activity took place during July and August. Public
safety information provided during diver registration should emphasize these
shipwreck sites. Law enforcement patrols, including surveillance operations, may
also be most cost effective on EMPEROR and CONGDON during July and August.
The same suggestions are valid for AMERICA, located in the West District, which
received 30% of the total Park dives for the study period.

Public relations information regarding scuba diving safety, accident protocol, Park
regulations or other topics can be be disseminated more effectively when based on
a statistical study. Metropolitan areas of Minneapolis/St. Paul and Duluth provide
87% of Isle Royale scuba divers from Minnesota. Use of mass media should
concentrate on these cities. On the other hand, metropolitan areas of Milwaukee,
Green Bay and Superior only provided 30% of Isle Royale scuba divers from
Wisconsin. Broader based media with a more rural approach would be most
appropriate here.

Over twice as many dives took place from commercial charter boats as from private
or rental boats. A good working relationship with commercial dive-charter
operators is essential to accomplishing Park objectives of artifact protection, optimal
diving accident response and excellent visitor safety records.

A final note is necessary regarding the Stinson Isle Royale visitor survey on scuba
diving (Stinson 1981). This study ranked GEORGE M. COX as the second most dived
site, which differs greatly from information presented here. The difference was
probably due to a small sample size, bias in the survey sample or method of data
tabulation used by the Stinson study.

A complete copy of the Southwest Cultural Resources Center Special Publication Isle
Royale National Park Scuba Diving: A Visitor Use Study (Vrana and Panowski 1987),
can be obtained from the Center. The report includes an overview of the
relational-database program used, a description of data entry, detailed results and a
summary of management uses for the results obtained through the study.

A survey of Great Lakes scuba divers conducted by the Michigan State University
Department of Park and Recreation Resources may have validity for Isle Royale
National Park. During the summer of 1978, scuba divers from Michigan, Ohio and
Indiana were systematically selected

to receive questionnaires aimed at eliciting information pertaining to
the general characteristics, opinions and diving habits of the scuba
diving population ... In general, divers have been involved in the sport
for approximately four years, prefer a diving depth of 75 feet, and
have invested approximately $500 in diving equipment. Shipwreck
divers vary somewhat from these general patterns. They have been

516

diving for a greater number of years, have achieved higher levels of
certification, and have invested more money in equipment than their
non-shipwreck diving counterparts.

In considering the extent the State government should be involved in
regulating activity around shipwrecks, shipwreck divers tend to show
greater concern for Michigan's shipwreck resources than
non-shipwreck divers. Although most divers favor some restrictions
on salvaging shipwreck booty, shipwreck divers agree more strongly
that designating certain areas as protected areas would help preserve
these resources from further degradation (Lothrop 1979).

Dredging of Park Bottomlands

Dredging of Park bottomlands is accomplished by use of Isle Royale NP Maintenance
Division equipment and personnel. Permits for dredging are acquired through
application to the State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources, under
provisions of The Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act (Public Act 247, 1955). A public
comment period for adverse action is part of this process. U.S. Corps of Engineers
regulations may also apply. Primary reasons for dredging include removal of
accumulated materials around docks and construction projects having underwater
components. Dredge spoil material is deposited in designated disposal sites shown
on the permit. Work is supervised by the Isle Royale NP Facility Manager and
Maintenance Foreman.

Strong cooperation between Maintenance and Ranger Division personnel is vital for
protection of submerged cultural resources. Past problems with this relationship
have lead to destruction of irreplaceable historic and/or prehistoric site information.
Current Park policy calls for review of dredging permits by the Chief Ranger and
Cultural Resources Specialist before initiation of the work project. On-site
inspection for artifacts is accomplished prior to dredging or during removal of
spoils.

Human Remains on Shipwrecks

A sensitive issue for Park managers involves the disposition of human remains on
shipwrecks. Four Isle Royale shipwreck events resulted in loss of life. Remains
range from bones of ALGOMA victims to fairly intact bodies aboard KAMLOOPS. A
crewman's body discovered in 1975 on EMPEROR became a sport diving attraction.
Later that year, an attempt by the National Park Service and a regional dive club to
remove these remains was unsuccessful. Arrangements had been made to issue a
death certificate with transfer to Canada Ministry of Transport officials for
identification and notification of next of kin. Rumors circulated that divers were
mutilating the body and disturbing it for photography. In response to these stories,
a Thunder Bay, Ontario dive club removed the crewman's remains from EMPEROR in
1976. It was deposited in deep water, with comparison to burial at sea (Isle Royale
NP Case Incident Record, Aug. 8, 1976 and Isle Royale NP Correspondence, Aug. 16,
1976).

Because of extreme depth, bodies aboard KAMLOOPS have been less of a serious
issue with sport diving. Divers equipped for deep diving have occasionally returned
with photographs or film of various human remains. In 1986, the NPS with
assistance from the National Geographic Society videotaped an engine room torso
with use of a Remote Operating Vehicle (ROV). As underwater technology

517

progresses and increased depths become attainable by sport divers, bodies on
KAMLOOPS may command the same attention as the EMPEROR incident. Although
Isle Royale NP staff downplay human remains on shipwrecks, no policy regarding
their disposition is acknowledged.

518

Fig. 7.1. Sport diving is a major visitor use category at Isle Royale National Park. A
Visitor begins a descent on the wreck of AMERICA from a commercial charter boat.
Photo by Mitch Kezar.

519

ISLE ROYALE NATIONAL PARK

NOTICE

This mooring was installed to provide safer
diving and to minimize damage to submerged
cultural resources by eliminating anchoring
within the shipwreck area.

1. All divers must pre-register at any Ranger Station.

2. At least one capable operator should remain on the dive boat
at all times.

3. Use of this mooring buoy is limited to registered divers during
actual dive operations; not to be used overnight, during rough
seas, high winds, or while fishing.

4. No more than three (3) boats at any one time on the mooring.

5. Check mooring lines and hardware during descent.

6. All shipwreck features, parts, artifacts, and debris are protected
by Federal law. Please leave these for others to enjoy.

7. Report all diving accidents or illnesses immediately to park
rangers. They can provide emergency care and arrange for
transport to recompression chambers.

Fig. 7.2 This notice is fixed to mooring buoys over wreck sites at Isle Royale.

520

Fig. 7.3.

Fig. 7.4.

Fig. 7.5.

Fig. 7.6.

Fig. 7.3-7.6. District Ranger Jay Wells preparing buoy for placement on wreck site.
7.6- Buoy in use. NPS photo.

521

Fig. 7.7. "Underwater Mule" Park maintenance and protection staff designed this
homemade lift apparatus to precisely place mooring buoy weights underwater. NPS
photo by Joe Strykowski.

522

Fig. 7.8. Anchor damage on wreck sites is one of the adverse impacts that the
mooring system helps mitigate. NPS photo.

Fig. 7.9. Submerged Cultural Resource Unit diver placing a trail marker on site of
MONARCH. NPS photo by Toni Carrell.

52 3

Fig. 7.10. Shipwrecks continue to be a part of the Isle Royale management
experience. Park Rangers respond to "May Day" from passenger vessel Isle ROYALE
QUEEN in 1982. Photo by Mitch Kezar.

524

CHAPTER VIII. CONCLUSION

Introduction

The Isle Royale project is over; this report marks the last official act of a prototype
study of submerged cultural resources in a national park. Although there are
exciting new possibilities for further research on submerged archeological sites at
Isle Royale and other parks in the Great Lakes area, those happenings will comprise
chapters of a different book, probably written by different people. It is incumbent
upon us to share some observations from our seven years of part-time involvement
with this project, beyond what can be gleaned from the informational and
methodological presentations in the body of the report. This section begins with
some reflections regarding what worked and didn't work in our experience at Isle
Royale, followed by some management recommendations and a discussion of
further research potential.

Retrospective

We made some right choices and some wrong ones in the conduct of this project.
Among the former was the decision to be highly interactive with the Park
Superintendent and staff; an important "right choice" that was instrumental in
keeping our mistakes at a reasonable level. Isle Royale is not the place to work in a
vacuum, regardless of the experience and technology you may have at your
disposal. The knowledge gleaned from "locals," i.e. charter captains, sport divers
and fishermen, about the whereabouts of sites, and tips on when and how to safely
examine them, were invaluable.

Our decision to employ a "low tech" documentation system based on string and
measuring tapes was partly a function of a modest budget. It proved, however, to
be an effective approach in a remote Park where a demystified methodology allowed
us to easily recruit off-duty rangers, maintenance personnel and volunteer sport
divers to assist us in data gathering. The same low budget that helped us make the
decision to "keep it simple" also forced us into short, intense field periods, typically
running about 3 weeks each year for a total field time of 16 weeks. There was
some advantage to short field seasons the first two years when we were still
developing our strategies; it gave us time to reflect on our Isle Royale work while
we were involved in many other field projects, and probably helped keep us from
locking into approaches that were not efficient or cost effective. After the initial
phase of the project, however, this proved to be of no advantage. Mobilization and
demobilization activities absorbed precious field time; it doesn't take much more
effort to mobilize for Isle Royale for two months than it does for two weeks. Also,
the pressure to obtain a lot of information in a short time period stressed the
researchers and made it an inviting option to push limits of safety and prudence to
get the job done. The Lake is not famous for its forgiving nature, and, although we
were fortunate to have had no serious accidents, future researchers are encouraged
to develop funding parameters that permit longer, easier-going field sessions with
ample time for recuperation between dives. It would also be advantageous to have

525

a team that could work full time on the project, rather than three to four people
able to devote only one-fourth time, which was the state of affairs for this study. If
we had it to do over again and budget permitted working full time at Isle Royale, we
would execute the operation in three to four years: one month in the field the first
year, three months the second, and a one month follow-up the third year. Writing
would be completed the fourth year.

Other approaches that proved effective included emphasizing the use of diving
scientific illustrators in association with videotape as a documentation strategy.
Although underwater still photography certainly played an important role in the final
report presentation for this project, the prime information generators for the
graphics were hard-swimming illustrators backed by analog image acquisition from
video. The original video system used in the project was dependent on a hard-line
cable to the surface and helmet communication to apprise the diver of what was
actually being taped. The camera contained no monitor, so taping was in the blind.
Although this approach was immediately anachronized when low-priced,
self-contained color systems with underwater monitors became available in 1983,
the old unit had already helped greatly in the analysis of many of the shipwreck
sites.

Among the things that didn't work so well at Isle Royale was an attempt to obtain a
good photographic image of the relationships of the three shipwrecks at Rock of
Ages from an aerial perspective. Two days were spent in laying plastic jugs around
the perimeter of the sites, with each site color-coded: a bright red for COX, white
for CHISHOLM, etc. A seaplane was then hired to circle the lighthouse and reefs
while research team members shot rolls of film and ran video cameras through
ports in the aircraft. In short, the effort was a complete failure with the only benefit
being that the principal investigator learned an expensive lesson about proportional
size in aerial imagery. Milk jugs were magnitudes too small for the purpose. It
would have been considerably more appropriate to use objects the size of milk
cows to accomplish the objective. Future researchers are encouraged to try again,
but be advised that the distances and light conditions at Isle Royale compel a
project of greater scope than we had envisioned.

At the end of the Isle Royale project, the research team was given access to
Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) technology with which it heretofore had no
experience. An ROV is a cable-tethered submersible robot that is operated from a
surface vessel. NOAA Sea Grant funding enabled access to RV SEWARD JOHNSON
for two days in 1985 with its ROV and submarine, SEA LINK. In 1986, the National
Geographic Society contributed two miniaturized ROVs and a team of technicians to
the Isle Royale project for a week. In the latter case the ROVs were deployed in
tandem from a small (32') Park patrol boat; a contrast to the previous year's work
with the 170-foot SEWARD JOHNSON. The difference in success and
cost-effectiveness was remarkable, with the second year's activity being
dramatically superior in both areas. SEWARD JOHNSON is an impressive research
vessel, but its very size and complexity in configuration made it less useful in
nearshore environments. Unfortunately, most shipwrecks don't occur in deep open
water, far from dangerous reefs or underwater obstructions. Because of the
concerns of the ship captain with reefs and the submarine operators' reluctance to
"fly" near underwater entanglements, the limited vessel time had to be applied to
our fourth level of priority — a search for additional remains of ALGOMA. The
vessel captain and vehicle pilots made professional judgments about the risks
involved in the other sites and decided that they were not acceptable. This was
partly due to the nature of the specific hardware they had on board, and partly

526

because they felt more information was needed, such as comprehensive side-scan
sonar coverage on the sites, before deployment of the submersible. The operation
might be judged a failure, but, if so, it was an instructive failure. RV SEWARD
JOHNSON could probably be a useful research tool at Isle Royale with some
changes in approach gleaned from the problems experienced in 1985. Underwater
archeology cannot just be tagged onto oceanographic ventures without significant
communication between the archeologists and shipboard technical personnel in the
early planning stages. There must be respect for the different constraints and needs
that accrue from historic shipwreck investigations, from project conception through
execution. With the right preparation and communication, the use of the manned
submersible could provide important information obtainable in no other fashion.

In contrast to the difficulties experienced with SEWARD JOHNSON was the dramatic
success that devolved in 1986 from the use of miniaturized ROVs operated from
Park patrol boats. KAMLOOPS, which was the first priority for the 1985
investigations, was surveyed in 1986, and even penetrated by the ROV "pilots." Data
generated from these remarkable machines helped answer many questions about
the site and permitted the development of artists' perspective drawings.

It is hard to imagine that any future research on the deeper sites at Isle Royale
would not involve use of miniature ROV technology after the utility and cost
effectiveness of those machines were so dramatically demonstrated.

Management Recommendations

Isle Royale has fast become a prototype for the management of submerged
archeological sites in parks and preserves in the United States. The Fathom Five
Provincial Park in Tobermory, Ontario, is the only other administrative entity known
that has taken an active, positive approach to the management of a large shipwreck
population using a conservation ethic. Some states, such as Michigan, are
experimenting with an underwater shipwreck preserve concept, and a few other
nations, such as Australia, are experimenting with active shipwreck protection, onsite
management and interpretation programs.

The key words are active, positive and conservation ethic. If any of those
ingredients are missing, the value of the management effort is dubious. It is critical
that the sport-diving public comes to learn that the National Park Service as an
agency recognizes shipwrecks as historic entities and treats them as they would any
comparable historic site on land. The same park concepts that work on dry land
apply to underwater preserves. This means active monitoring and protection of
sites, positive, open relationships with the sport-diving community and the practice
of, as well as enforcement of, a conservation ethic. Merely designating preserves
without follow-up through on-site management is of questionable value. Rhetoric
used by commercial treasure hunting organizations in their bids to influence
legislation and public opinion has focused on the apathy of various governmental
agencies, state and federal, toward underwater sites management. Commercial
treasure hunting organizations have also succeeded, in many cases, in convincing
the diving public that they, rather than the "archeocrats" and managers in agency
bureaucracies, are their natural allies. The false and ironic nature of that fanciful
alliance is best dealt with by creating situations in which it is clear that the historic
patrimony of a nation should be publicly owned, whether or not it happens to be
wet. The bottom line is that shipwrecks in national parks will be there for
present-day divers' children to dive on; those that have been destroyed by
commercial salvage or slow attrition by weekend vandals will not.

527

Perhaps the most important management tool for shipwreck sites in parks is
interpretation. The mooring buoy system presently being implemented at Isle
Royale establishes beyond a shadow of a doubt, to the responsible as well as the
ill-intentioned, that they are diving in a park. It also provides an additional degree
of safety for the public, because the buoys can serve as spatial references in a
sometimes disorienting underwater world. These same references provide a focus
around which an interpretation program can be built. A variety of approaches can
then be employed to enrich the visitor experience on the underwater cultural sites.
It is crucial, however, that these interpretive devices be based on thorough research
of the resources and balanced in their approach to target groups based on
experience and capabilities.

The second aspect of a pro-active management approach to underwater sites is
consistent, strict enforcement of antiquity violations. A judgmental estimate of the
percentage of individuals who will behave lawfully and respond to a positive
approach at Isle Royale is 90-plus percent. For those others for whom respect for
historic sites must be a conditioned response, it is recommended that they be
prosecuted to the full extent of the law when apprehended.

Finally, as a general observation, a number of options could and should be made
plain to the diving community. The National Park Service's first obligation is to
protect and preserve; if that mandate cannot be met through an open, positive
relationship with any segment of society, it may choose more negative and
restrictive approaches.

Land-associated sites were closed in 1986 by Superintendent's orders. This
decision was made by Park management because the submerged components of
land sites, largely untouched by divers so far, have considerable archeological value,
and are very vulnerable to attrition from collecting. It was also felt that they
presented a much less impressive experience to divers than shipwrecks, and the
threats outweighed the potential benefits to the public. If the shipwreck resources
suffer significant attrition from the increased accessibility and enhanced interpretive
programs, then selective or complete closing of dive sites might be in order.
Experience has shown that the easiest regulation to enforce on underwater sites is
the most comprehensive. It may be difficult to prove a particular artifact came from
a specific wreck, but it is easy to prove that someone has been diving in an area
closed to that activity under the aegis of the Code of Federal Regulations.

It is very unlikely that such moves would ever have to be taken at Isle Royale given
the excellent communication that exists between the diving public and the Park, but
it is important that it be understood that restriction would be the only responsible
option the Park would have if the situation got out of hand.

The documentation of KAMLOOPS from the ROV study in 1986 revealed the
problems and benefits associated with the interactive philosophy that typifies Isle
Royale management's open relationship with sport divers. The unblinking eye of the
video camera panned over several areas where the ship had been vandalized by
sport divers. The saddest example was the empty bracket where at one time the
port running-light of KAMLOOPS was intact; it is now apparently a trinket in some
diver's home, viewed only by friends, if at all. By contrast the ROVs also sent
imagery back to the surface of a chain and lock that fixes the auxiliary steering
wheel of KAMLOOPS to the ship. The chain had been attached by sport divers, of

528

their own volition at considerable personal risk and expense, to help preserve the
integrity and ambience of the extraordinary site.

This entire positive management approach is dependent on several realities at the
Park level. Most importantly, the Superintendent and staff must be conscious of the
nature and importance of the underwater historical-resource base at Isle Royale. To
make this awareness into a commitment, it is critical that Park staff be encouraged
to dive on, monitor, and be familiar with, each submerged site. The entire
management approach, already begun in the Park and advocated here, is
meaningless if there are no Park rangers capable of diving on the sites.

There are four separate references to Isle Royale National Park shipwrecks in the
1983 Subcommittee on Oceanography hearings in the U.S. Congress. The Park has
been identified by many as a leader in the field of underwater sites management,
including the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment in its 1986 report on
preservation technology. There is a certain responsibility that devolves from this
sort of trust, and it would be detrimental to submerged resources management, well
beyond this one Park, if the ball is dropped.

A major shipwreck management issue at Isle Royale, which needs to be addressed
more directly now that divers are increasing penetration activities on the deepest
sites, is that of the disposition of human remains. The "Present Day Management"
section of this report (Chapter VII) demonstrates clearly that Park managers have
been sensitive to this question and have tried to deal with the problem informally
using resources they had access to — the diving community and their own Park
divers. There has been an understandable reluctance to raise a thorny problem
when it was receiving minimal attention, and a few discrete actions could eliminate
the presence of remains in the most easily accessible areas of the wrecks.

This situation is changing, however, and the inescapable truth is that there are
human remains in the Park that are subject to increasing disturbance and
inappropriate treatment. Graphic proof of this was obtained when one of the ROVS
on KAMLOOPS penetrated the engine room and recorded a sopified human body.
The decision was made not to print the electronic images of the body in this report,
because it was felt it would not convey information appropriate to an unrestricted
audience and would comprise more spectacle than education. Unfortunately, the
remains have a gruesome fascination because of their unusual state of preservation,
and they invite abuse, some of which has been documented by Park rangers.

Our recommendation is that action eventually be taken to remove the remains and
dispose of them in deeper water. If legal constraints compel the examination on the
surface by a medical examiner or burial on land, only then should such action be
taken. The presence of human remains in archeological sites has been the focus of
much attention as it applies to Native Americans in prehistoric contexts (e.g. Keel
1986). Certainly in a situation where there may be living relatives of Canadian
nationality involved, the correct treatment of such remains is similarly important.
Retrieval of the deep-water remains would be a technically challenging and
expensive undertaking, but one that might be accepted as a training mission by the
U.S. Navy or large commercial firm that was interested in performing a public
service while training its mixed-gas divers.

Other shipwreck sites where the question of proper disposal of human remains has
been raised include naval vessels such as USS ARIZONA, USS MONITOR, and other
Civil War and World War I and II vessels. For a discussion of this issue, the reader

529

should refer to the paper by Dr. Winthrop Brainerd entitled "Recommendations
Concerning the Proper Disposition of Human Remains in National Marine
Sanctuaries" (Brainerd 1986).

The last general issue that will be discussed in this section is that of visitor safety.
Should there be any modification in the present management strategies for
preventing or reacting to diving accidents? For the most part, the answer is no.
The Park has demonstrated a strong consciousness of this problem and has
approached it realistically, and in accordance with all community standards for
safety. It is important, however, that an ongoing program of training in the
management of diving accidents is maintained at the Park, and it never becomes
possible that an unanticipated personnel transfer could cripple the necessary
emergency response capability. Some of the most serious sport diving in the
United States takes place in this Park, and it is only prudent to keep intact a viable
response capability to accidents.

It is also recommended that the buoy system (partially in place at the writing of this
report) be fully installed, because of the extra measure of safety and control offered
by this management approach. Buoys should not be installed on KAMLOOPS or the
stern of CONGDON, because diving these sites should not be encouraged due to
their extreme depth. The combination of cold water and dive targets beyond
recognized sport-dive limits of 130 feet deep is bound to result in problems. The
Park has made a reasonable exception by buoying the CHISHOLM engine in 140 feet
of water. This site is a magnificent dive, and it can be enjoyed by circling the top
of the engine at 110 feet. Although diving the deepest sites should be discouraged,
it is not recommended that the areas be put off-limits to diving. Visitors should be
allowed to take risks, and push the bounds of personal safety in national parks, if it
is without peril to others and reasonable care has been taken to advise them of the
hazards involved. It should be made clear, however, that the same legal protection
for the archeological integrity of the sites that applies on the shallow sites extends
to the deeper ones.

The system of having divers sign waivers when they register that absolve the Park
from carrying out deep-water body recoveries at Government expense should be
considered. Although it is a grim prospect to have to burden a bereaved family
with a heavy expense for body recovery, there is good rationale for it. The
community standards of all sport-diving agencies would prohibit making such dives,
and it is unreasonable to expect the agency to absorb expenses for mixed-gas
diving or support facilities to recover a diver from the bow of KAMLOOPS in over
250 feet of frigid water. Leaving them there is not a viable alternative either; prior
experience at Isle Royale and with the Florida cave diving community indicates that
a diving victim becomes a fascinating lure, in some macabre sense, that attracts
attempts at recovery as long as it is there.

Future Research

The inevitable question arising when one has finished an inventory of known sites
is: what about the ones that have not been found? It is safe to say that there is
much potential for new submerged archeological discoveries at Isle Royale. The
further one journeys in the direction of specificity on that issue, the more one
begins to pay court to raw speculation.

The historical record clearly indicates that there was a considerable amount of past
cultural activity that has not been accounted for in the archeological record; i.e. we

530

have not found a good number of sites that should have left clear residues in the
ground or on the lake bottom. The full spectrum of missing historic sites includes
entire vessels that have been documented as lost near Isle Royale, as well as
sections of the known vessels we have mapped (see Table 8.1).

Certainly many submerged areas associated with historic fishing, mining, and resort
activity on land have not yet been located or even looked for. The prehistory of the
archipelago is also a book that is yet to be written, and much of the residues of
behavioral patterns preceding European contact will eventually be found underwater.

We can anticipate that in future years the remains of several ships will be
discovered, either through a systematic survey by the Park Service or through the
efforts of sport divers. A listing of potential sites is presented in this chapter, but
at the writing of this report they only exist in the realm of the historical record. If
and when their existence is confirmed, some of them will be important sites for
archeological documentation. Perhaps none of the possibilities is more compelling
to the maritime archeologist than finding MADELINE, or some other vessel tied to
the early fur trade era. Mansfield (1899) lists a number of wooden vessels
employed by Northwest Fur Company in the area during the later Eighteenth and
early Nineteenth Centuries. The loss of one or more of these craft in their travel
between Fort William and Sault Ste. Marie is possible. American Fur Company papers
refer to the loss of MADELINE at Isle Royale in 1839.

Some other possibilities are particularly provocative because of the significance of
the vessels; e.g., the schooner COMRADE, which vanished in 1890, possibly in the
vicinity of Isle Royale. Certainly PRINDOC, if found, would be of value as an object
of study and Park interpretation.

Research results for this report also indicate that significant portions of some of the
major shipwrecks documented in this study have not been located in the main
wreckage fields. Eventually, someone will find more of the bows of MONARCH and
CUMBERLAND. Significant superstructure from a majority of the wrecks at Isle
Royale is also still missing. The ALGOMA bow, although still elusive, may not prove
to be the spectacular discovery that has long been anticipated. Analysis of the
material record and a rereading of the historical record suggests that the bow may
not be the dramatic intact two-thirds of the ship as popular lore would have it, but
may actually be broken up in an area south and west of the stern wreckage field.

Other possibilities become compelling just because of the comparative ease of
confirmation, should a moderate amount of time and effort be expended. The
location of GEORGE HAND is so clearly indicated that the high probability areas
could be examined by a research team in one or two days. Enough incidents have
occurred in Washington Harbor that it would be well worth the effort to make one
side-scan sonar pass through the harbor to Windigo and back out on the other side
of the channel. Any historic shipwreck remains of even moderate size would
probably be located with this technology, given the size and bottom configuration of
the channel.

The reports by Milford Johnson, Sr. of torn and rust-stained nets being removed
from some obstacle in approximately 200 feet of water off Captain Kidd Island
definitely bear follow-up investigation through remote sensing or divers. If there is
something one learns from long association with underwater archeological finds, it
is not to discount the observations of local fishermen. A torn net is no small
concern for a man who makes his living from fishing, and their observations about

531

where such happenings occur are seldom based on idle fancy. Routine aerial
flyovers by Park staff should also prove revealing, if the possibility of new wreck
discoveries is always kept in mind.

The list of "possibles" is extensive, as Table 8.1 illustrates. The question of how to
approach establishing management control over these sites is a dynamic one; the
conditioning factors change over time. The options include conducting full scale
in-house surveys, partial in-house surveys, contracting out such activities,
encouraging discovery by sport divers, and on the other end of the scale, being
totally restrictive about further new site discovery activities. The answer is not an
easy one and depends largely on the nature of the relationship that exists between
the Park and the diving community. The final deciding factor should always be
"what is in the best interest of the resource and its long-term enjoyment," with all
management decisions predicated on the answer to that question.

Perhaps the best strategy to adopt toward the diving community at the writing of
this report is an open one, and one that de-emphasizes additional efforts by
professionals, except in those cases where truly cost-effective "windows of
opportunity" present themselves. Visiting divers should be encouraged to continue
enjoying the wrecks in a safe manner, and those who have consistently
demonstrated a conservation ethic and commitment to the management philosophy
of the Park over the years should be encouraged to continue looking for new sites.
Such discovery activity, however, causes certain risks to the resource; inevitably a
"found" shipwreck is more subject to impact than one whose location is still a
mystery. When something new is found, it should be made clear that the first to be
notified is the Park management, and any indications that this trust has been
violated should be dealt with firmly. Divers should be encouraged to conduct their
searching activities through a Park staff designate of the Superintendent. Although
it is sometimes a difficult regulation to enforce, divers should be reminded that
engaging in search for antiquities on federal land without a permit is a violation of
federal law. Towing remote-sensing instruments behind a boat could reasonably be
construed as engaging in such activity. If the searching is being done with good
intentions, why not do it openly and under permit? If necessary, it should be noted
that 36 CFR, Part 2, Section 2.1 (7) specifically prohibits "possessing or using a
mineral or metal detector, magnetometer, side-scan sonar, other metal detecting
device, or subbottom profiler" in national parks, except during officially authorized
activities.

Even after all these caveats, the final recommendation would be to "go for it" in
partnership with the sport diving community. The discovery of new shipwreck sites
by the Park, or persons or groups working with the Park, is probably in the best
interest of the resource base, because it increases the likelihood that newly
discovered sites will be brought under management control before they can be
severely vandalized. The key to this approach is to allow the thrill of discovery by
well-meaning amateurs who are doing so in a framework permitting the agency to
exercise management control and stewardship of a site once it is discovered.

532

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1984 Two Harbors: Minnesota's First Iron Ore Port. The Nor'easter 9(5):1-4.

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1983 Letter from Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation, Old Fort

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1983 Institute for Great Lakes Research, Bowling Green State University,
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1974 Historic Fort William. Mika, Belleville, Ontario.

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1982 Undesignated Cultural Sites Inventory Forms. Document on file, Isle

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1984 Isle Royale Interim Cultural Sites Inventory. Document on file, Isle
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1986 Interview recorded by Dave Snyder on January 19, 1986, re: Isle
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1959 Composite Steamers Built by Detroit Drydock Company. Inland Seas

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1976 Minong Mine Historic District. National Register of Historic Places
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1985 Record of Dive Form, Isle Royale National Park, August 11, Siskowit
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1983 Historic Furnishings Report, Sleeping Bear Point Life-Saving Station,

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1965 Oral history tape recorded by Lawrence Rakestraw, September 28,

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1986 Letter to Park Historian on file, Isle Royale National Park, Houghton.

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1987 Interview recorded by Toni Carrell and Ken Vrana, March 16, 1987. On
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Cleveland News, Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

Cheboygan Tribune, Cheboygan, Michigan

Chicago Inter Ocean, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Herald and Examiner, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois

Cobourg Star, Cobourg, Ontario

Daily Mining Gazette, Houghton, Michigan

Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan

Detroit Daily News, Detroit, Michigan

Detroit Marine Historian, Detroit, Michigan

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Duluth Evening Herald, Duluth, Minnesota

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Lake Carriers Association, Cleveland, Ohio

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Marine Engineering, Cleveland, Ohio

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Meaford Monitor, Meaford, Ontario

Minneapolis Star, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Montreal Gazette, Montreal, Canada

New Orleans Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana

New York Times, New York, New York

Nordic Diver, Inner Space Society, Duluth, Minnesota

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Owen Sound Times, Owen Sound, Ontario

Portage Lake Mining Gazette, Portage, Michigan

565

Port Arthur Daily News, Port Arthur, Ontario

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Port Arthur News Chronicle, Port Arthur, Ontario

Port Arthur Sentinal, Port Arthur, Ontario

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Sarnia Observer, Sarnia, Ontario

Sault Daily Star, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Scanner, Toronto Marine Historical Society, Toronto, Ontario

Skillings Mining Review, Duluth, Minnesota

Superior Evening Telegram, Superior, Wisconsin

Thunder Bay Sentinental, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Toledo Blade, Toledo, Ohio

Toronto Daily Star, Toronto, Ontario

Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario

Toronto Mail, Toronto, Ontario

Toronto World, Toronto, Ontario

Traverse City Record Eagle, Traverse City, Michigan

Winnepeg Free Press, Winnepeg, Manitoba

Wisconsin State Journal, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Management Documents Cited in Chapter VII

(On file, National Park Service Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, Santa Fe)

1) Cultural Resources Management Guideline, NPS-28, National Park Service, August
1985

2) Isle Royale National Park Wilderness Study, 92d Congress, 1st Session, House
Document No. 92-102 Part 3, April 29, 1971, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington.

3) Federal Register, Vol. 49, No. 4, Friday, January 6, 1984, Rules and Regulations,
Pgs. 1016-1034, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington

4) Federal Register, Vol. 49, No. 104, Tuesday, May 29, 1984, Notices, Pg. 22416, U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington

5) Shipwrecks Of Isle Royale National Park, Thematic Group Nomination to the
National Register of Historic Places, Toni Carrell, September 1983, National Park
Service.

6) Code of Federal Regulations 36, Parks, Forests, and Public Property, Parts 1 to
199, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington: 1985

7) Shipwreck Mooring Buoy Project, Isle Royale National Park, Resources
Management Report #7, Jay Wells, January 1985

8) Isle Royale SCUBA Diving Plan, Isle Royale National Park, ISRO Guideline 3,
February 1984

9) Cultural Resources Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, Isle Royale
National Park, David L. Snyder, September 1986

566

10) The Shipwrecks of Isle Royale: A Management Prospective, Conference on
Underwater Archeology, Albuquerque, NM, John M. Morehead, National Park Service,
January, 1980

11) The Isle Royale SCUBA Diving Plan, Isle Royale National Park, November, 1977

12) Isle Royale Summer Visitor Study - Phase Two Diving Survey: Isle Royale
National Park, Robert C. Stinson, Michigan Technological University, 1981

13) Standard Operating Procedures, Superintendent's Orders, Isle Royale National
Park, Thomas O. Hobbs, April, 1986

14) 1965 Interim Report - S.S. AMERICA Salvage Operation, AMERICA Salvage, Inc.,
James R. Marshall, November 22, 1965

15) Task Directive, Shipwreck Study, National Park Service, Southwest Cultural
Resources Center, Santa Fe, NM, February, 1981

16) Application For Research Grant to the National Park Service by Northern
Michigan University, Roy E. Heath, January, 1980

17) Application For Research Grant to the National Park Service by Northern
Michigan University, Roy E. Heath, December, 1978

18) Isle Royale Shipwreck Survey, Northern Michigan University, 1978

19) Diving Accident Checklist/List of Recompression Chambers, Isle Royale National
Park, August, 1986

20) Statement of Requirements Fact Sheet Under Which a Concession Permit Will Be
Negotiated for the Continued Operation of Scuba Charter Service at Isle Royale
National Park, National Park Service, October, 1981

21) Shipwrecks of Isle Royale - A Research Proposal, Donald F. Holecek and Charles
E. Cleland, Michigan State University, November, 1978

22) Characteristics, Expenditure Patterns and Attitudes Of A Great Lakes SCUBA
Diving Population - Clients For Underwater yark-Historical Preserves In The Great
Lakes, Susan J. Lothrop, Michigan State University, March, 1979

23) A Prospectus For Class #E471 Underwater Exploration: An Interpretive Project
on the America, Charles Beeker, Indiana University, 1984

24) Annual Statement For Interpretation and Visitor Services, Isle Royale National
Park, Bruce E. Weber, September, 1986

25) Statement For Management, Isle Royale National Park, Thomas 0. Hobbs, May,
1986

26) Isle Royale National Park SCUBA Diving: A Visitor Use Study, Unpublished
Document, National Park Service Submerged Cultural Resources Unit, Kenneth J.
Vrana and Bruce Panowski, 1987

567

27) Law Enforcement Policy and Guideline, NPS-9, National Park Service, April 1984,
Amended March, 1986

28) Diving Management Guideline, NPS-4 (Draft), National Park Service, December,
1985

29) 1986 Visitor Use Data Summary, Isle Royale National Park, 1986

30) Backcountry Visitor Abstract 1986, Isle Royale National Park, 1986

31) 1986 SCUBA Program Report, Isle Royale National Park, Jay Wells, December,
1986

568

As the nation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has
basic responsibilities to protect and conserve our land and water, energy and
minerals, fish and wildlife, parks and recreation areas, and to ensure the wise use
of all these resources. The Department also has major responsibility for
American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island
territories under U.S. administration.

570

# U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE:1987- 775-488/65149

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