48°41′53″N86°39′17″W / 48.69806°N 86.65472°W /48.69806; -86.65472
 115 in 1896, inConneaut, Ohio, with the barge118 in the background | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg) United States | |
| Name | 115 |
| Namesake | Her hull number |
| Owner | American Steel Barge Company ofBuffalo, New York |
| Port of registry | Buffalo, New York, United States |
| Builder | American Steel Barge Company ofSuperior, Wisconsin |
| Yard number | 115 |
| Laid down | May 21, 1891 |
| Launched | August 15, 1891 |
| In service | August 25, 1891 |
| Out of service | December 18, 1899 |
| Identification | Registry number US 53268 |
| Fate | Stranded onPic Island |
| Notes | Last shipwreck to occur on theGreat Lakes during the 1800s |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Whaleback barge |
| Tonnage |
|
| Length | 256 feet (78.0 m) |
| Beam | 36 feet (11.0 m) |
| Depth | 18.75 feet (5.7 m) |
| Propulsion | Towed by a steamship |
| Crew | 8 |
115 (also known asBarge 115,No.115, orWhaleback 115) was an Americanwhalebackbarge in service between 1891 and 1899. She was built between May and August 1891, inSuperior, Wisconsin (or West Superior, Wisconsin) byAlexander McDougall'sAmerican Steel Barge Company, for the "McDougall fleet", based inBuffalo, New York. She was one of a class of distinctive, experimental ship designed and built by McDougall. The whalebacks were designed to be more stable in high seas. They had rounded decks, and lacked the normal straight sides seen on traditionallake freighters.115 entered service on August 25, haulingiron ore from Superior.
In December 1899, while being towed by the whaleback freighterColgate Hoyt fromTwo Harbors, Minnesota, forLake Erie with a load of iron ore, the two vessels encountered a storm. After 40 hours of slow progress across Lake Superior,115 broke away fromColgate Hoyt at 6:05 a.m., on December 13.Colgate Hoyt searched for her for four hours, but due to the scarcity of fuel on board, she was forced to proceed toSault Ste. Marie. After drifting around Lake Superior for five days,115 crashed into Pic Island, nearMarathon, Ontario. Her crew made it to shore in a makeshiftraft, walking for several days, before being located by crew from theCanadian Pacific Railway.
The wreck of115 was located in 1980, at a depth of between 40 and 80 feet (12.2 and 24.4 m) of water.
115 was awhaleback, an innovative but unpopular ship design of the late 1880s, designed byAlexander McDougall. AScottishimmigrant, Great Lakescaptain, inventor[1] and entrepreneur, McDougall developed the idea of the whaleback as a way to improve the ability ofbarges to follow a towing vessel in heavy seas.[2] Whalebacks were characterized by distinctivehull shapes with rounded tops, lacking conventional vertical sides, andconoidal ends.[3] Their rounded hulls enabled water to easily slide off their decks, minimising friction, and letting them sail quickly and smoothly through the water.[2] Their superstructure was located onturrets mounted on the main deck.[3] The rounded contours of whalebacks gave them an unconventional appearance,[2] and McDougall's ship and barge designs were received with considerable skepticism, resistance, and derision.[2][4] As they had porcine-looking snouts for bows, some observers called them "pig boats".[4][5]
After McDougall was unable to persuade existing shipbuilders to try his designs, he founded the American Steel Barge Company inSuperior, Wisconsin, in 1888, and built them himself. McDougall actively promoted his design and company by sending the steamerCharles W. Wetmore toLondon, and starting another shipyard inEverett, Washington, which built the steamerCity of Everett.[6] Despite McDougall's further efforts to promote the design with theexcursion linerChristopher Columbus, whalebacks never caught on, with only 44 of them being built.[1][2][7]
115 (also known asBarge 115,[8]No.115,[8] orWhaleback 115[9]) was constructed in 1891, in Superior (or West Superior[10]), Wisconsin,[11] by theAmerican Steel Barge Company.[11] Her first hull frames were laid down on May 21, 1891. She was launched on August 15, of that same year.[12][13]115 was identical to the barge116, launched later in August.[14] She was 256 feet (78.0 m) long and 36 feet (11.0 m) wide, and her hull was 18.75 feet (5.7 m) deep.[11][A] She had agross tonnage of 1,169 tons, and anet tonnage of 1,110 tons.[11][A] She was anunrigged barge, and was towed by asteam-powered ship.[10]
115 was built by the American Steel Barge Company for the fleet of the same name based inBuffalo, New York.[11] She wasenrolled inDuluth, Minnesota, on August 20, 1891, and was given the USofficial number 53268.[11] Her home port was Buffalo.115 entered service on August 25, carryingiron ore from Superior, Wisconsin.[12]
On May 11 or 12, 1893,115 was in tow ofColgate Hoyt, when she was struck by thedownbound whaleback freighterThomas Wilson, which had the whaleback barge101 in tow.[15][16]115 wasdry docked in Duluth on May 20, for repairs.[15]115 broke 16 hull plates on May 3, 1894, when she collided with the steamerMesaba onLake George.[15] In 1895, management of the American Steel Barge Company fleet was taken over byPickands Mather & Company ofCleveland, Ohio.[17] While loaded with iron ore and under tow of the whaleback steamerA.D. Thompson,115 ran aground in theSt. Marys River, below theSault Ste. Marie Canal in the afternoon on July 18, 1897. She was released on the morning of July 19, afterlightering her cargo, which she later reloaded; she sustained no damage in the grounding.[18][19] In August 1897,115 was dry docked in West Superior, in order to repair damage she sustained after striking the bottom in an unknown river.[20] Ten of her bottom plates and two of her keel plates needed to be replaced.[21]
In December 1899,115 and her towing steamerColgate Hoyt were inTwo Harbors, Minnesota, where115 loaded 3,000 tons of iron ore bound forLake Erie,[22] on what was meant to be their final trip of the shipping season.[13][23] The two vessels left Two Harbors on December 10, and headed for theSoo Locks.115 was under the command of Arthur A. Boyce, and had a complement of eight crew (including Captain Boyce).[13][23] As the two vessels left Two Harbors, they sailed into a storm. For 40 hours,Colgate Hoyt and115 made slow progress acrossLake Superior, when at 6:05 a.m. on December 13,115 broke away fromColgate Hoyt, south ofPic Island.[13][23]Colgate Hoyt's crew frantically searched for115 for four hours, but scarcity of fuel on board forced her to proceed toSault Ste. Marie,[12][13] where they enlistedtugboats to help search for115.[8][13][23][24] Initially,115 and her crew were believed to have been lost.[8][13]
115 drifted for five days before stranding nearMarathon, Ontario, on Pic Island, located on thenorth shore of Lake Superior, becoming the final shipwreck to occur on theGreat Lakes during the 1800s.[9][13][24] Her crew made it ashore in115's smalllife raft, making multiple trips between the stranded barge and Pic Island until everyone on board reached safety. Some of the crewmen carried with them extra clothes, while others carried food (two loaves of bread and ham). As well as clothes and the food items, the crewmen carried with them candles andgrease.[13][24][25] After walking around the island for a while, the crewmen discovered an old, roofless log cabin, containing astove. They fashioned a roof out of tree branches, and spent the night in the cabin.[13] The following morning, the crewmen tore the cabin down, fashioning a makeshift raft out of the wood. They made it ashore on the mainland, and ended up camping inthe bush.[13] The next day, they began walking along the shore to the west, camping in the bush that night as well.[13] After walking for four days, the crewmen stumbled upon aCanadian Pacific Railway track. Following the track, the crewmen managed to make it to Middletown, Ontario, at around noon, that same day.[13][24][25] Although all of115's crew survived, her cook's feet werefrostbitten.[13] All of115's crew made it home in time for Christmas.[24]115 was the second whaleback lost on the Great Lakes.[7][B]
The wreck of115 was discovered in 1980 after a major search by wreck hunter Ryan LeBlanc at a depth of between 40 and 80 feet (12.2 and 24.4 m) of water, on a rock bottom.[9][24] Maritime historian and author Cris Kohl's book,The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks – Volume II. erroneously states that115's bow with its turret is intact,[26] whereas dive footage shot in about 1980 shows that her stern and its turret are intact, instead of the bow. The bow section is broken up.[24][27] Due to the force with which115 pounded against Pic Island, there are twisted steel plates located as high as 50 feet (15.2 m) on the cliff she wrecked against.[9][28] Her intact bell was retrieved around the time she was discovered.[25]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1899 | |
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