Keweenaw (Steamboat), U14043, 26 Sep 1865

NEW STEAMER KEWEENAW. -- This new steam vessel is being constructed at Marine City. She is owned by Mr. Eber ward, of Detroit, and built from a model designed by Mr. Thomas Arnold. The Detroit Tribune says the following are her dimensions &c.
      Length over all, 215 feet; breadth of beam, 29 feet; depth of hold, 12 feet. She will register about 700 tons old measurement or about 900 tons new, being of a size admirably adopted to the wants of the Lake Superior trade. Her frames are not only of unusally size, being 13 ½ inches deep, and 7 inches thick at the top, but are closer than usual, being 22 inches apart; flitch 5 ½ inches, and 6 inches amidships. The bilge keelsons, of which there are five, are about 7 inches thick, with one streak of sister keelsons, 10 by 10, with two streaks of clamps, 6 inches thick, ceiled with oak ceiling of 5 inches. The outside planking is 4 inches thick. The clamps, lining, frames and planking are all heavier than ordinary. Her deck beams are of oak, 8 by 8 inches, kneed off with Church's tamarack knees, 6 by 10 inches, which are placed 3 feet apart. She is arched inside and out, the outside with "Bishop's" or sweeping arches. The minimum thickness of her sides is 19 inches, with 23 inches in the bilge. The strength of such a wooden castle may well "laugh at siege [of Old Boreas] to scorn." Her sides are packed throughout with salt, a process by which, in the opinion of "Old Salts," it is just as easy to make a vessel to last 20 years as it is 10 by the neglect of such a prudent precaution. But the more prominent characteristic of the KEWEENAW are her water-tight compartments, or bulkheads, of which there are three, each extending from 30 to 35 feet, one in the bow, another in the stern, and the third constructed so as to protect the engine room. These are formed in such a manner that, independent of their inestimable value, they will be made to add materially to the strength of the boat. They are bolted every two feet with inch iron, and are sealed hermetically with the aid of a India rubber packing in the partitions. It is next to an utter impossibility for a vessel built like the KEWEENAW to be sunk by collision, for in the event of one compartment becoming filled with water, the buoyancy of the others will be amply sufficient to keep it afloat.
      Buffalo Daily Courier
      September 26, 1865
     
     
     
Steam paddle KEWEENAW. U. S. No. 14043. Of 800.94 tons and 500 H. P. Home port, Detroit, Mich.
      Merchant Vessel List, U. S., 1871