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NPS Form 10-900-a (Rev. 8-86) Wisconsin Word Processing Format (Approved 3/87) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Schooner-barge PRETORIA Section 8 Page 15 Ashland County, WI large coal schooners was seldom more than a tier of beams at the load water-line, while the lower deck some six or eight feet below it was quite thoroughly planked. Both main and lower decks with their small hatchways and supporting stanchions were a considerable nuisance in loading and digging out coal cargoes, but they were indispensable in strengthening the vessel's frames" (Parker 1948:43). Parker credits William F. Palmer, a successful schooner owner and designer, with resurrecting the use of diagonal iron strapping to stiffen the coal schooners. This was no great innovation, as the iron belting and strapping Parker describes, taken from Palmer's huge Wyoming, appears to be nothing more than a primitive version of designs that had already been in use in large wooden Great Lakes craft for nearly forty years (Parker 1948:107). The sophisticated nature of Pretoria's architecture can be seen in a description of the schooner-barge that appeared in the British trade journal Marine Engineering, an excerpt of which follows below: On the outside of the frames--at the head of the frames-- there runs a steel cord that is 14 in. by 7-8 in. There are also steel arches running along the steel cords amidships to the fore foot forward and under the stern aft. In addition to these the Pretoria is diagonally strapped with steel. The diagonals are 5 in. by 1-2 in. These diagonals straps are riveted to the cord, to the arch and at all of the crossings, and go under the turn of the bilge about one-third of the way under the bottom. The cord, arches and diagonal straps are all let into the frames flush, and then the ship is planked so that all of the strapping is concealed (Marine Engineering October 1900 : 430) . Neither the Davidson schooner-barges nor the giant Maine coaling schooners could compete with modern steel vessels for strength or longevity of service. Within their specific geographical, economic, and temporal niches, however, both were successful. But when compared as contemporary examples of marine architecture, the final generation of Davidson schooner-barges emerges as more modern