The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-01
Three-mnsted schooners.

Some history of lake shipping and
much Information about the enormous
trade of the Great Lakes" is the subject
of an article in the December Ainslee's.
The story of the invention of the tug Is
particularly interesting. The writer says
in part;
"At the time of the battle of Sandusky
the typical lake vessel was single-mast-
ed craft of some 100 tons burden, abe 10
nose her way up into creeksA and shallow
harbors. and light enough to be dragged
into its dock, when necessary, by yoke
of sturdy oxen. Nowadays the busting
little harbor tug has taken the place OF
the primitive OK, and the little one-master
! has been superseded by the whaieback ana
the twln-screw steam barge Before that
time, of course there has been sailing
craft on the lakes. But it is far cry
from the day of the aboriginal Indian
'dug-outs' and the batteaux of the early
French explorers, to the period OF such pa
latial passenger steamers as the North
land and the North West.
The first American vessel on Lake Erie
was the Washington, built near Erie, Pa,
as early as 1891 In the next year the
Jemima was put together three miles be-
low Rochester by one Eli Granger, and
was the first of our vessels to pillow the
waters of Lake Ontario 1t was not until
1917 that steamboat appeared on the
lakes This was the Ontario which was
made after the pattern of the Sea- Horse,
then running on Long Island Sound. Dur
ing the following year Walk-on-the-Wa-
ter appeared, and surprised the marine
world by steaming from Black Rock, New
York, to the prosperous little town of De-
trot. 1t was a clumsy, but a wonderful
thing, that primitive side wheeler with
| her belohing tunnels and cranky machin-
cry, for on her first trip, we are told, she
was greeted with cheers and cannon at
every port into which she put. Her jour-
ney took her Eve days and her passenger
list was limited TO twenty mine, but she
was a slight improvement on that original
canal boat, with a great upright engine in
her hold, which constituted the first lake
| tug1ir,ri,
1T was on the Great Lakes that the
| three-masted schooner first made its APP
| pearance. The unique character of lake
navigation created the necessity for this
| type of sailing craft, because of the fact
| that with this class of vessel sailors could
handle the sheets from the deck at times
when IL was impossible to go aloft in one
of those sudden storms which make the
life of the lake skipper an uncertain and
| anxious one.
but in time the screw propeller made
| its appearance, and the triple expansion
steamer at last elbowed the sailing vessel
out of her time-honored place on the lakes.
| The dethroned sailboat, once on the down.
| ward path, degenerated into the barge.
| She became the weaker vessel to her puff
| ing husband, and dared not venture up
the Detroit. or the ST. Clair, or the 500,
without a friendly line from her Dortly
| spouse, staggering along in the conscious
ness of his big boilers and twin screws.
| But in time forsooth, he took to polygamy,
| and instead of taking in tow his one help
| less schooner. he attached unto himself
| half a dozen dependent sister craft, and
to-day he may be seen putting import
antly up and down river and lake with
his five or six schooners trailing meekly
| behind him.