Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record Vol. 17, 1916 [50-51] Sending Lake Schooners to the Ocean The ghosts have fled from Belle River. Rude hands have snatched aside hatch covers and allowed the sunlight to violate their sanc- tuaries in the dark hulls of dead ships. The sound of many hammers and the ear splitting clatter of calking mauls combine to make a steady din which no ghost can stand. For years they were undisturbed. The old wooden steamers, barges and schooners in which they held their revels were no longer account- ed worthy of a place in the line of commerce. A usefulness over it was sent to this spot, away from the tugging of the current, safe from the winds and storms, to rest in honorable peace until its bones slowly rotted away and it sank beneath the placid waters of the river. Long years passed and the ghosts became the only proprietors, the only inmates of the venerable hulks. Then came the war in Europe with its destructive effect upon shipping and the increased demand for tonnage. "Get anything that will float," was the order and the fate of the ghosts was sealed. But with their going has come to Marine City a shipbuilding activity such as that once rich and active port has not witnessed in over a generation. The majority of the wooden packets will soon leave forever the scene of their former triumphs, for they are being rebuilt, rerigged and will leave for the Atlantic coast as soon as they can be made ready. Perhaps the best known craft of this fleet of other days is the steambarge Gettysburg, once the pride of Gen. Russel A. Alger, of Detroit, and named by him in honor of the battle in which he and so many brave Michigan boys participated. The Gettysburg was built in Cleveland about forty years ago, and is one of the finest examples of the old shipbuilders' art that can be found anywhere. She was built for carrying freight and for tow- ing the enormous rafts of the Alger lumber interests and it was the boast of the company and crew that with her construction and power, she could stem any gale that ever blew, and the fact that she is afloat today after all of the many chances that were taken with her proves that they were correct. Old timers well remember the Gettys- burg's awful battle to save a raft on Lake Huron in a terrific hur- ricane of wind and snow thirty-five years ago. It was late in December, and the Gettysburg was the last ship out. The elements were contrary and the blizzard struck with awful force. The hours lengthened into days and still the grand old ship and her heroic crew hung on to the raft. The Gettysburg pitched and plunged, and in the trough of the heavy rolled first one rail and then the other under water with floating logs threatening to jam holes in her sides every minute. Cooking meals was out of the question and the crew subsisted on what cold food they could find, but still clung to the prized raft. But ship and crew were no match for the wind and waves and in twos, threes and sixes the logs continued to go until they were scattered for many miles along the Lake Huron shore. Some days later, when it was thought that the Gettysburg had sure- ly foundered with all on board, the proud ship steamed through the Port Huron rapids with the booms logs, fastened together with heavy chains, in tow. She had been faithful to her trust. It was a feat that lived long in marine annals and is still fresh in the minds of the few old timers left along the rivers. About June 15 the Gettysburg will steam down the river past De- troit, her home for many years, and move onward to the sea, for she is destined for the New York-West Indian trade. Heavy oak frames are being stabbed in above her water line, and she is being replanked with 4 by 6 white oak frames, planking and enormous keel are apparently as solid as when first hewn in the for- ests. New deck houses are being added, steam heat and many other conveniences are being installed, and when the work is finished ex- perienced marine men say the Gettysburg will be a modern craft, capa- ble of drowning out any steel freighter now on the lakes. In addi- tion to her exceedingly heavy timbering from stem to stern post, the ship has angle braces of iron running diagonally from the covering board to the keel, so that her frame is really a series of bridge arches from bow to transom. Accompanying the Gettysburg on the trip to the Atlantic will be the former three masted schooners Arenac, of Duluth, and Alex M. Anderson, of Detroit. The Anderson and the Arenac are of the same type, with comfortable cabins and the familiar rig, consisting of head canvas, fore sail and mizzen, a large mizzen staysail taking the place of the mainsail and making a safe and easy rig to handle with a small crew. In addition to these boats the Robert C. Wente, a steam barge of Detroit, is being pumped out preparatory to being fitted out; the William H. Hazard, another steam barge of Detroit, has been rebuilt and is now in commission on the lakes; the schooner Bottsford is al- ready in commission; the three-master F. H. Knapp has been rerigged and is heading for the coast, while the old three-master Genoa is being rebuilt at McLouth's yard for coast service. The fore and miz- zen rigged Mike Corry is also being fitted out with a good chance of going to the Atlantic. In fact, the ancient schooner Annie P. Grover, resting half submerged and with upper works gone entirely, is about the only hulk in Belle River that has not been bought up by either Great Lakes or Atlantic coast shipping interests, and as there are still several outlying precincts to hear from it would not sur- prise the mariner to see the Grover raised at any time. By the end of June the Belle River boneyard will be a thing of the past, for almost every boat will have gone, never to return, and when the drawbridge closes behind the last one the old ship carpenters, the veterans of former days, will gather up for the last time the calking, making and dumb irons, the timber clamps, the rigging screws and the hawsing beetles, for their work will be done. But for many years after the final eight bells sounds the end of the long, grand watch, these boats, the men who built them and the crews who sailed them will remain a fond and loving memory of the old days along the River La Belle. ===========================================================================