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7. Ship of the M onth - cont'd. In design, PI ONE ER could best be des c r i b e d as a "transitional" vessel, a s te ppi ng stone al ong the way from the w o o d e n - h u l l e d bulk freighters of prior years, via the first few m e t a l - h u l l e d lakers w hich were built of iron (steel hulls did not make their a p pearance until 1 8 8 6 ), to the more mo d e r n s t e e l hulled steamers that were to be co n s t r u c t e d in such great numbers around the turn of the century. She was built to canal dimensions, so that her operations were not limited to the upper lakes, but as yet there was no ap p r e c i a t i o n of the art of a c h i e v i n g the greatest possible carrying c a p acity through careful hull design. PI ONEER was of light draft, and it will be seen that her Gross and Net tonnages were r e l a t i v e l y small. In addition, there was a rather s u b s t antial diff e r e n c e b e t w e e n her "overall" and "between p e r p e n d ic ul ar s" lengths, most of this r e s u l t i n g from the great amount of o v e rh an g of her ex t r e m e l y sharp counter stern. PI ONEER had a straight stem, and her hull bo asted a fair amount of sheer. A h eavy steel ru b-rail ran all around the hull just at the wa terline, and a sma ller f e n d e r - s t r a k e ran al ong the spar deck gunwale. There was a full, rai se d forecastle, and a clo se d steel rail ran not only for the full lengt h of the fo re castle head, but also all down the sides of the spar deck below. Two st ock ed anchor s of the "fisherman's" type were carried atop the f o re ca st le head, their chains ru nning up o u t b o a r d from h a w s e h o l e s in the bow below. If it be came n e c e s s a r y to drop an anchor, a m o v e a b l e section of the f o re ca st le head rail was opened and the anchor was h o i s t e d over the side by me ans of a radial davit set at the bow, just abaft the s t e ering pole. P ION EE R' S br idge st ructure was set back off the f o r e c a s t l e and behind the first cargo hatch, as was the style of the day. The large, sq uarish texas cabin sat right on the spar deck, and it c o n tained the m a s ter's office and ac commo dation, and perhaps qu arters for other senior of ficers as well. The texas roof e x t e n d e d out to the sides of the ship to form bridg ew in gs , and the si de lights were car ri ed on the wing rails. A catw al k ex tended fo rward to connect wi th the fo re castle hea d to f a cilitate mo vement from the bridge to the bow. This catwalk was movea bl e, so that it could be pull ed out of the way whe n cargo was being w o r k e d through the first hatch. The pilot h o u s e was set atop the texas, and on a s l i ghtly eleva t e d brid ge deck to pro vi de be tter visi bi li ty . (A separ at e set of open h a n d r a i l s s urro u n d e d this raised br idge d e c k . ) There were three large, f o u r - s e c t i o n e d wind o w s in both front and back of the pilot ho us e, wit h two wind o w s and a door in each side. There was no fi xed sunv is or over the front windows, but a g a i l y - s t r i p e d canvas aw ning co uld be (and was) rigge d there. An open n a v i g a t i o n bridge was fitt ed on the m o n key's island, e q u ipped wit h a binna c l e and "c u s s i n g - b o x " , the latter an op ening for the re laying of hel m and engine orders to the p i l o t h o u s e below. A canvas w e a t h e r c l o t h cou ld be r igged aro un d the m o n key's isla nd rail, and s t r e t c h e r - p o l e s were p r o v i d e d to c ar ry an awn in g overhead. The tall, heavy, and ni c e l y raked pole mast, e q u i p p e d w ith a gaff (a lt hough photos do not revea l the p r e sence of a u x i l i a r y sail), rose from the deck just abaft the bridge. PIONEER was fit te d w ith three p r i mitive deck cranes d e s i g n e d to f acilitate the h a n d l i n g of pig iron. S team operated, they were of the "whirly" or r o t a t i n g type, w i t h a short b oom to reach out over the hatches, and a bucket s u spended by cha in from the end of the boom. The cranes, w hich were a f a s c i n a t i n g a s s e m b l y of gears, wheels, pulleys, cranks and levers, were fixed in place, and did not travel along the deck. All three were ca rried on the s t a rboard side, two space d at even int e r v a l s down the spar deck and the third set atop the s t a rboard b r i d g e w i n g to serve the first hatch. Rather surpr is ingly , P I O NEER'S after cabin was c o m p l e t e l y plated in aroun d its sides and acro ss the fantail, wit h p o rtholes to admit light to the interior. It is assu m e d that this was done to pre ve nt da mage from b o a r d i n g seas, but it did c o ntribute to the pecul i a r ap pe arance of the ship. There