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9. Ship of the Month - cont'd. mast, a co ns i d e r a b l y shorter pole which was not raked quite as h a nds omely as was the fore, was set b e t w e e n the fifth and sixth hatches. There was a closed rail down the sides of the spar deck as far as the after end of the bridge structure, which gave way to an open rail past the c a r g o - w o r k i n g area of the deck. At hw a r t the forw a r d end of the after cabin b e g a n a closed t a f f rail which ran right around the fantail. The after de c k h o u s e was a v e r y b a l d - l o o k i n g structure w h i c h was set on a slight ly dif fe re nt angle than the i n d ented boiler h o u s e pl a c e d at its forward end, and this wh ole a rrangement gave the ship a most p e c u l i a r look aft. The two lifeboats were set under radial davits atop the aft deckhouse, while the stack, set at a rather more jaunty rake than either of the masts, rose out of the na rr ow boilerhouse, be tween two v e n t i l a t o r cowls. The aft cabin was pa in te d white in the early years, while the stack appears to have been all black. V UL CAN 's hull sp orted a very substa n t i a l sheer, w h i c h was a c c e n t u a t e d by the way her bo ot -t op was brought up to a peak above the loaded w a t e r l i n e at the bow. When the ship was runn i n g light, she lifted her bow high in the air and drew very little water forward. Her dee p l y undercut co unter stern gave the after end of the steamer a bit of class, help i n g to take the eye away from the le ss - t h a n - h a n d s o m e after cabin and the open fantail. D uri ng the 1890s, VULCAN C o n t i n u e d to operate under the own e r s h i p of the Lorain Ste am sh ip Company, but the d a y - t o - d a y manag e m e n t of her operations was taken over by Messrs. Drake and Maytham, of Buffalo, New York. As far as we can tell, V U L C A N op erated p r i m a r i l y in the iron ore and coal trades. In 1902, the m a n a g e m e n t of V U L C A N passed to J. C. Gilchrist, of Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1903 the v a r i o u s Gil c h r i s t lake s h i pping interests were cons ol id at ed into the Gi l c h r i s t T r a n s p o r t a t i o n Company, of w h i c h Joseph C. Gi lch ris t was manager. In fact, the G i lchrist T r a n s p o r t a t i o n Comp a n y held a 23/24ths ownership interest in VULCAN; we do not kno w who owned the rema in in g share. The Gilchr ist ma na g e m e n t gave VU L C A N a s l i g h t l y different livery. The entire hull was now black, i n cluding the forecastle. The name, in white letters, app ea re d on the forecastle, while b e n e a t h it, in large white letters, appeared: THE GIL C H R I S T T R A N S P O R T A T I O N CO. The bridge str uct ure was white, as was the a c c o m m o d a t i o n s section of the aft deckhouse. The boilerhouse was at times all black and at others had a black lower section w hile its top was white. The smoke s t a c k was all black and, as far as we know, never ca rried any fleet insignia. The G i l c h r i s t boats were very plain in their appearance, and the only place any i d e n t i f i c a t i o n of the owner appeared, apart from the c o m p a n y name on the bows, was on the h o u seflag w h i c h the boats flew; it was dark blue with a large white letter 'G ' in the centre. By the time V U L C A N was runn i n g for Gilchrist, her mast a r r a n g e m e n t s had been changed, no doubt to a void int e r f e r e n c e w ith shore-mounted unloading machines, such as the Hulett u n loaders w h i c h were coming into fashion. The top of the foremast was lo p p e d off, leaving only a rather stubby spar, and the old ma inm ast was removed completely, being r e p laced by a thin steel pipe mast which was set abaft the funnel but w hich had almost no rake to it. Jo seph C. G i lc hrist was one of the best known lake vessel o p erators of the period. Born at Port Huron, Michigan, in 1850, he grew up in Marine City, where his father had shipping and s h i p b u i l d i n g interests. Jo s e p h later went into the lumber business, first at Alpena, Michigan, and later at Vermilion, Ohio, and before long he b egan to move his lumber by ship. By the 1880s, Gilchrist was a c t i v e l y enga g e d in the runn i n g of a r a p i d l y - g r o w i n g fleet of steamers and schooner-barges.