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Ship of the M o n t h No. 212 KALOOLAH b y R o n a l d F. Beau p r e w i t h The Editor 4. Recent r e s earch into the h i s t o r y of the steamers that served, d uring the latter part of the N i n e t e e n t h Century, on the route from Goderich to S o u t h ampton, along the east shore of Lake Huron, has caused us to take p articular note of the little steamer KALOOLAH. Some m e n t i o n of this early vessel has been made in various p u b l i c a t i o n s in the past, but never has any c o m p r e h e n sive history been published. Accordingly, it seems appropriate that we take this o p p o r t u n i t y to share w ith our readers the in f o r m a t i o n that has come to light conce r n i n g this i n t e r e s t i n g steamer. The first m e n t i o n of the c o n s t r u c t i o n of the ship that would be n a med K A L O O LAH appeared in the "Buffalo D aily Courier" on Saturday, January 24, 1852. "The new boat building by Fox and Bruce, for the old LEXINGTON'S engine, looms up finely. She is a neat model, and will prove a valuable a d d i t i o n to our Lake M a r i n e . " Then on March 30, 1852, this same paper carried the following article. "SHIPBUILDING. - 'The Commercial' of last even i n g states that it has been furnished with the f o llowing m e m o r a n d a of vessels and their dimensions, now b u i lding and b e i n g finished by the Messrs. Jones at their ship yard in this city, by their obliging book-keeper, Mr. Wm. K. Cutler... 'For A. D. Patchin and G. L. Chapman: Steamer KALOOLAH, 190 ft. keel; 25 ft. beam; 10 ft. hold. ' "'The K A L O O L A H is r e c e i v i n g the LE X I N G T O N ' S engine. She has been built exp r e s s l y to run from this port to (Port) Stanley, C. W. (Canada West - E d . ), touching at Dunkirk, and w ill be under the command of Captain George L. Chapman, f o r merly owner and mas t e r of the steamer O R E G O N . '" The unusual name K A L O O L A H was taken from a novel by W i l l i a m S. Mayo, which was published in 1849 and w h i c h was ver y popular at the time. The hero i n e of the story was the Duch ess of K a l o o l a h and, in fact, the ship was r e f erred to as THE DUCHESS OF K A L O O L A H in some s h i pping reports of the day. K A L O O L A H was e n r olled at Buffalo, New York, on 27 April, 1852, but she never was given a U . S. official number. On the e nrollment document, K A L O O L A H was d e s cribed as ha v i n g one deck and one mast, a c o n f i g u r a t i o n typical of the steamers of that period, w hich had no e n c l o s e d cabin on the upper deck. She had a tall fidded mast, a single smokestack, and a "birdcage" p i lothouse with a small texas cabin on the upper deck. Large paddleboxes h oused her radial sidewheels. The sole regis t e r e d owner of K A L O O L A H was A a r o n D. Patchin, of Buffalo. Also from the e nrollment cert ificate, we learn that her length actually was 188 feet, her beam 25 feet, and her hull depth was 9 feet, 9 inches. She was calc u l a t e d to be of 443 and 84/95ths tons. Her w o o d e n hull was s t r e ngthened by heavy arched hogging braces w hich rose high above the decks. The engine was twenty years old, o r i g i n a l l y ha v i n g been built for the steamer UNCLE SAM in 1832 at the Jones, Dorr & Co. f o u n d r y at Detroit. Erik H e y l 's Early A m e r i c a n Steamers (Volume III, page 205) states that the engine was a dire c t - a c t i n g type, and that the p a d d l e w h e e l s were 26 feet in diameter. The June 21, 1832, edition of the "Detroit Demo c r a t i c Free Press & M i c higan Intelligencer" carried the fol l o w i n g information: "Last w eek the U NCLE SAM was laun ched at Grosse Isle, and is now lying in our port near Messrs. Jones, Dorr & C o . 's foundry, where her m a c h i n e r y was made. The model of the UNCLE SAM is not surpassed by that of any boat on our waters - she was built by Capt. Treat - her keel is 94 feet, deck 116 feet, and 23 feet beam, with an engine of 60 horse p o w e r . " On October 11, 1832, this same paper carr i e d a story that would indicate that some trouble had o c c u r r e d with the original casting of the machinery. It stated: "A few days ago, a cylinder for the steam boat UNCLE SAM was cast at the foundry of Messrs. Dorr & Williams. It wei g h s about four thousand