Ship Model, Schooner <I>Ed McWilliams</I>
date: label: Date made
content: 1978
label: date Ed McWilliams was built
content: 1893
name: label: managed the Ed McWilliams
content: Francombe, John A.
notes: label: Description
content: As the United States expanded westward in the 1800s, the Great Lakes and inland rivers provided a route for transportation, commerce, and communication. Before railroads, waterways were a primary means of transporting bulk cargoes and heavy loads. Indeed, the first locomotive used in Chicago was shipped there by a Great Lakes schooner in 1837. Stretching from Buffalo, New York, to Duluth, Minnesota, and spotted along the way with port cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee, the Great Lakes brought thousands of people into the Midwest and in turn carried out the crops, lumber, and raw minerals produced in the region.
label: Description
content: Schooners like the <I>Ed McWilliams</I> dominated the Great Lakes trade for much of the 19th century. Designed with a shallow hull for operating in small, inland harbors, Lakes schooners like the <I>Ed McWilliams</I> were also built with a long middle section to accommodate large loads of cargo.
label: Description
content: Constructed in 1893 at West Bay City, Michigan, the <I>Ed McWilliams</I> was managed by John A. Francombe. Like most of his crew, Francombe immigrated to the United States in the middle of the century, he from England and the crew more likely from Scandinavia, Germany, or Ireland. The <I>Ed McWilliams</I> was one of thousands of vessels sailing on the Great Lakes in the 1800s, carrying cargoes of wheat, corn, iron ore, coal, and timber.
place: label: schooner typical of the region
content: Great Lakes
label: schooner constructed in West Bay City
content: United States: Michigan
topic: label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of John W. Moroney
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.336150
label: catalog number
content: 336150
label: accession number
content: 1978.0383
objectType: label: Object Name
content: schooner, three-masted
label: Object Name
content: model, rigged ship
label: Other Terms
content: schooner, three-masted; Maritime
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 16 1/2 in x 26 1/4 in x 4 5/8 in; 41.91 cm x 66.675 cm x 11.7475 cm