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ment, 600 tons. Her wooden paddles are mounted on two 20-foot diameter wheels which are propelled by the engines previously described. The MicHIGAN has carried various arma- ment, replacng same as it was invent- ed and improved. Her upper works have been changed since her launching, the cabins and deck houses being rebuilt to suit the work which she did at that time, As the ship stands today, the forward main deck is mostly clear. A large pilot house was built to serve the double purpose of navigating and chart preparing. A roomy bridge above was covered with awnings. Bridges ex- tend over the paddle boxes amid- ships. Captain’s Cabin Aft The captain’s cabin is aft on the main deck, true to the traditions of sailing ship days, and is today in ex- cellent condition. It consists of a roomy lounge with table, desk and library, two staterooms and bath, all paneled in rich dark woodwork. The aft part of the ship was known to her sailors as “the holy of holies” as only the highest ranking officers were per- mitted in these quarters. She carried 106 men in her full crew. Her career, in spite of her guns, has been peacefuul. Only two events were particularly colorful. The first, just prior to the Civil war, was when she broke up a religious sect that was formed and flourished for a while on the Beaver islands in Lake Michigan, and whch had become unpopular with the government. The MicuHiGan dis- banded the sect and caused the arrest of its leaders. The second event was during the Civil war, while guarding a prison camp on Johnson’s island in Sandusky bay. History records how a rebel plot to board her and turn her into a raider was blocked by the al- tertness of her officers. It is also claimed she was instru- mental in giving to the medical world a living specimen of exposed human digestion. The MIcHIGAN was cruising among the Les Cheneaux islands, when, at a port of call, a French Canadian woodman was brought to the ship for treatment by the ship’s doc- tor. His abdomen had been accidental- ly chopped open, so that the digestive operations could be planly observed. The doctor, realizing the phenomenon, had him brought aboard ship and transported him to Mackinac island, where studies were made of his di- gestive processes by the army sur- geon stationed there. It is said the patient recovered to find a glass plate in his abdomen, whence science con- tnued it’s quest for knowledge. The island where the woodman was found, was named for him, Saint Martin, island, and still carries this name. The ship was used mostly in survey work and in training recruits in naval work. Many of the modern Great Lakes charts are due to the work done aboard the MICHIGAN. On June 21, 1905 her name was changed to WOLVERINE because of the naming of a new battleship, the Micut- GAN. The old iron ship of the lakes then took the nickname of the state whose name she had previously car- ried. Centennial of Perry’s Victory During the centennial celebration of Perry’s victory in the battle of Lake Erie, in the months of July, August and September, 1913, the WoLVERINE made a cruise to Fairport, Cleveland, Sandusky, Put in Bay, Monroe, Toledo, Detroit, Green. Bay, Milwaukee, Chi- cago and Buffalo in which she towed Perry’s famous ship the NIAGARA, which had been raised and rebuilt. ® As the Wolver- ine looks today at her anchor- age at Crystal Point, Misery BAU Tie. rd. IHler iron hull is still sound 4 © The Wolverine is now under the charge of the Presque Isle State Park commis $ion, and belongs to the State of Pennsylvania 7 MARINE REVIEW—July, 1934 Hundreds of thousands viewed the two vessels in their parade of peace and goodwill up and down the Great Lakes. Giant celebrations were given the ships and crews at the ports of call and much interest was directed to- ward historical and nautecal affairs of the Great Lakes. During the World war the Wotr- VERINE again became active as a train- ing ship and many a sailor recruit said goodbye to his city’s sky line from the decks of this old ship. Her Final Voyage But all careers must sometime end, and the old WOLVERINE was no excep- tion. On Aug. 12, 1923 while she was returning from a training cruise and steaming through the Straits of Mac- kinac, she had the misfortune to break a connecting rod on her port engine. Temporary repairs were at once made and it was found she could run under her own power at less than five miles per hour, so she continued on her run to Erie at this slow speed. The fates were still aganst the old ship, as dur- ing that night a strong summer gale blew up on Lake Huron, and the badly crippled WoLvEeRINE was forced to shelter at Harbor Beach until the next noon. After a slow and trying cruise the grand old ship sailed triumphantly into Erie harbor, unassisted, and dock- ed at the Public pier. Her sailing davs were over, as funds were not avail- able to repair her damage and she lay idly floating at her dock for five years. Her friends however watched her fondly and with regret noted how time was devastating what man had built. Realizing her probable fate would be to sink at her pier and be salvaged as junk, as a menace to the navigation she was built to protect,. two old friends, one her last commander, Wil- liam L. Morrison, and another Hrie sailor, Capt. P. J. Grant, took it upon themselves and arranged to have her towed to her present anchorage at Crystal point in Misery bay. This was done with the aid of tugs on Nov. 23, 1928. How the shades of her former commanders and crews must have cheered as these two conscientious sailors worked to protect the old ship. In her latest berth she is under the (Continued on Page 40) 15