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64 THE MARINE REVIEW Iron and Steel Shipbuilding on the Great Lakes By Ropert Curr. HE first iron vessel built on the lakes was probably the U.S.S. Michigan, now the Wolverine, built in 1843, and which, as has been pointed out, is now. the oldest iron ship in the world. The name of Cantin, of Montreal, is asso- ciated with iron shipbuilding on the St. Lawrence river some years before its adoption in a commercial sense on the Great Lakes. The Merchant is generally recognized as being the first iron steamer built on the lakes for commercial pur- poses. She was built at Buffalo in 1862 for the late EF. T. Evans, and was 200 ft. long, 29 ft. beam and 14 ft. depth, molded to main deck, gross tonnage 861 and her dead weight capacity was about 700 tons. Mr. Evans stated that she was also the first cargo steamer whose boilers were designed for burning coal, the fuel of the day being universally wood, which could be obtained in abund- ance along the lakes and through the rivers. From 1862 to 1871, iron shipbuilding made little progress, the largest craft - being the car ferry Great Western of 1,080 gross tons, built at what is now called Walkerville, Can., in 1865, and the Philadelphia of 1,463 gross tons, built at Buffalo in 1868. There were in addition several tugs and small craft, but iron was still too expensive a material for general use. In 1871, a "boom" seems to have set in, as in that year five vessels of a total gross tonnage of 6,400 were built at Buffalo. In 1872, Buffalo turned out four vessels of 6,054 gross tons, a substantial increase in average tonnage, especially as three of those of 1871 were passenger ships, and Canada turned out one car ferry, the International, at Sarnia, of 851 tons. In 1872, the large tug E. B: Ward of 550 tons, and the Queen of the Lakes, 153 tons, were also launched at Wyan- dotte. Between 1873 and 1878 a severe de- pression prevailed and shipbuilding suf- fered in common with other lines of business. Few steamers were built, though the building of schooners con- tinued and the tonnage was almost ex- clusively of wood. The Grand Trunk Railway built at Sarnia in 1875, a 'sec- ond car ferry, the Huron, of 1,052 tons. In 1877, a composite steamer, the . first City of Detroit, of 1,094 tons, was built at Wyandotte. In 1878, two steamers, - sel to its credit and four of iron. February, 1949 So Gross egister Year. Vessel Tonnage, VOGS oe ea es ous 1 861 ORE anes ie yes 5 6,400 NSF ea wee edcavete tere dela is severe 7 7,608 1873 Si oo 0 ede 0. 610 0.0.0 60 O80 160 0 1 1,395 TRIG ecigi earns os 1 ~ 11052 1877 Siete 6k a. WeKer Whole thie bi 4, OF ese je eetie 1 1,094 . OUP eye at en a 2 aie the Arundell, 339 tons, and the Ivanhoe, ea 1 «38 277 tons, were built. ed ere 5 6,320 : DOO ee eeu eye Taare tie Tete itd, 200 Orr One ee ee de 1 au was built at Wyandotte. us ea : 8,508 Fe cae WYO BBG. cone 5 a9 of a total of 6, DOR eee A we "322 PRRs als ie a es 14 29°639 gross tons. Deter ean eines: 14 31.413 In 1881, there were built at Wyandotte, en Pe ator en hac 2 34,880 five vessels of a total gross tonnage of jgoo 0000) 3 aout 6,320. UBOB rea eh eke hirer W ia Sie ea tne a 'oan ( OER TBO4 i ee ee a les as 16 379 In 1882, the Onoko, 2,164, and Jewett, 1895 DIN En on na ay 12 137,080 : ; SOG eee eiere ctecsdeo eat eel 244 1,953 gross tons register were built. ho ee i ee In 1883, one passenger steamer, the is Sous Ee ~ 59,976 State of New York, was built, having Wi HE {Stee a gross register tonnage of 807 tons. es MOMs ee drs tues a 116,674 During ieeq, tour Steel steamers: were. 7003... . ia. ee 5] 172'680 built with a total register tonnage of Aaa aa once eas se ie 6,927 tons, and one iron vessel measur- 1906. ee ne 41 246,335 ing 1,581 gross register tons. This year ea eae a6 Cee apparently marks the introduction of ei o oe steel vessels on the Great Lakes. Bue ee 1995, 1906 1904 / 1886 To 1905 Bu 187) 1862 GIH EUF A 1B © DI FIG. A. The year 1885 has only one steel ves- The iron vessels had a total of 4535 and steel 162. gross registered tons. In 1886 five vessels were built of steel during this year with a total gross reg- ister tonnage of 6,475 and one iron ves- sel measuring 2,894 tons. This appar- ently was the last use of iron for ship- building. Ending this year, there were 38 ves- sels built of iron measuring 46,000 gross register tons and eight steel measuring 13,564 tons. In 1887, four steel vessels were built during this year, adding 8,322 gross reg- ister tons to the list. The following table shows the number of vessels, over 200 ft. long, built, and the total gross register tonnage from the year 1862 until 1908, inclusive: vessels, As shown by the above table, the ton- nage began to increase rapidly from the year 1888, when 14 vessels were built, increasing the gross register tonnage by 29,639 tons. The year 1894 had only five vessels with a tonnage of 16,379 to add to the list. The year 1903 has the greatest num- ber of vessels built, being 51, while 1907 with 47 vessels has a gross register ton- nage of 279,687, the greatest of any year, The average tons per vessel for 1906 was slightly over 6,000 gross registet tons, while 1907 fell slightly below that tonnage. The year 1908 has a still lower average per vessel, owners apparently favoring the smaller craft. The following table gives a compat- ison of the beam and tonnage for lake