Norman (Schooner), U18101, 1848

The only significant activity in Gardner's shipyard during this period was the rebuilding of the barque NORMAN. The NORMAN had been built with three masts in 1848 at Sacketts Harbor, New York, by Ellenwood for D. C. Littlejohn, Henry Fitzhugh, and James Peck. Gardner bought the barque from Howard C. Gardiner of Chicago before the season of 1865, sold it to Joseph McGee (4/16), Capt. Patrick Meyers (1/6), and Capt. Thomas Meyers ( 1/6), all of Chicago, before the season of 1867, and acquired it a second time on April 21,1870, according to enrollments issued at Chicago on these dates. The NORMAN was laid up at Little Sturgeon in December 1870 to be rebuilt from the water's edge at a cost of about $5,500. The vessel was not hauled out but left in the ice, where new planks were placed in the hull starting one plank below the waterline. On her first trip to Chicago, in May 1871, the NORMAN sprung a leak near Little Sister Bay and was compelled to put back to Little Sturgeon. The trouble was in the old planking below the waterline, which was quickly repaired before she departed a second time for Chicago. James S. Dunham of Chicago purchased the barque before the season of 1873 and changed the rig from a barque to that of a schooner, like the Pensaukee.
After 50 years of service, 28 years after the rebuild at Little Sturgeon, the schooner NORMAN was showing her age. While underway from Manistique to Chicago with a cargo of lumber, she sprung a leak and put into Frankfort for shelter on November 9, 1898. The master and sole owner, Capt. Henry Hust, asked assistance of the station crew to pump her out because his crew was exhausted. Surfmen worked all night but were unable to gain on the water. Captain Hust decided to let the schooner fill with water and sent for a steam pump. He sold the cargo of wood, discharged it, had the schooner pumped out, and made temporary repairs before returning to Chicago. The last enrollment of the NORMAN was surrendered at Chicago on June 22, 1901; cause of surrender: dismantled and abandoned as unfit for service.
      Schooner Days In Door County
      by Walter Hirthe p. 23



Schooner NORMAN. U. S. No. 18101. Of 251.74 tons gross; 239.16 tons net. Built Sacket's Harbor, N.Y., 1848. Home port, Chicago, Ill.
      Merchant Vessel List, U. S., 1884