Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== VESSEL NAME: Western Metropolis OTHER NAME(s): -- OFFICIAL NO: 26531 REASON: Stranded DATE OF LOSS: October 1864 LOCATION: Lake Michigan RIG TYPE: Bark HULL TYPE: Wooden BUILDER: Bidwell & Banta at Buffalo, N.Y., 1856 OWNER(S): Capt. C. P. Morey, and others MASTER: Capt. C. P. Morey TONNAGE: 1,860 LENGTH: 340 ft BEAM: 40 ft DEPTH: 18 ft CASUALTIES: SURVIVORS: "The WESTERN METROPOLIS was built to run on Lake Erie, between Buffalo and Toledo, in connection with the Michigan Southern & Northern Indiana Railway Company. She had iron paddle wheels, 38 feet in diameter, and could easily make 21 miles an hour. She afterwards ran out of Cleveland, but only for a short time, as about the year 1862 she was dismantled and converted into a bark, and, as such, was able to carry 65,000 bushels of grain. Her engine, which had originally been in the steamboat EMPIRE STATE, was taken to the Atlantic coast and place in a steamship also called Western Metropolis. As a bark the Western Metropolis carried 5,000 yards of canvas, and during her short career was never beaten by any sail craft." American Steam Vessels, by Samuel Ward Stanton, 1895 Built as one of the "floating palaces" of the Great Lakes, the WESTERN METROPOLIS was also built to be tough. Her forward planking extended several feet beyond her bow, and was strongly fastened and covered with 1/2 inch boiler plate. Her bow, for 15 feet from the stem, was solid deadwood. In a collision she could lose 15 feet of her bow and still continue on course. Additionally she had 5 water-tight bulkheads built into her design. Her elegant features included high quality rosewood furnishings, fine linens, carpeting and plated ware. 10 Sept 1856 - Collision with brig C. P. WILLIAMS in Buffalo Harbor. 5 June 1857 - Unable to check her headway, ran into the propeller JERSEY CITY at Toledo. 17 June 1857 - Upon arrival at Buffalo from Toledo, and the collision with the JERSEY CITY, she caught fire. Nominal damage. Oct 1857 - Damaged in a gale on Lake Erie. March 1859 - Drydocked at Detroit, March 9 - 31, for outfitting. July 1860 - Collision with schooner SON & HEIR at Cleveland. Damages about $500. Her career as an elegant passenger steamer was to be a short one. Sold to H. A. Frick, of New York, in 1862, the WESTERN METROPOLIS was dismantled and made into a bark. Her length was shortened to 280 feet during the rebuild and her elegant furnishings sold at public auction on 13 September 1862. Now sporting less than her former elegant appearance, the grand lady refused to fade into anonimity. Instead, she showed her tough side when, on her first trip from Chi- cago to Buffalo, she carried 72,000 bushels of oats and 1,000 barrels of pork - at that time the largest cargo to ever pass through the St. Clair River at Detroit!! Aug 8 1863 - Caught by a sudden squall on Lake Erie, off Black River, her fore topmast was broken off and she was forced back to port for repairs. Aug 28 1863 - After receiving repairs she was again bound from Buffalo to Chicago with her cargo of salt when she was caught by a northwest gale on Lake Michigan. With a heavy sea running she was dismasted between the Manitous and Bailey's Harbor. Unable to burn or sink the "leviathan of the lakes", the fates threw a fit when, in October 1864, she was rudely shoved from the lake and stranded off Calumet in a raging storm. Out of her natural element and unable to escape, she lay there and pounded to pieces. ======================================================================== Sources: "History of St. Clair County, Michigan," Andreas - 1883, p.438 "American Steam Vessels," Samuel Ward Stanton, 1895 Buffalo Daily Courier, 24 April 1856 Buffalo Daily Republic, 17 June 1857 The Scientific American, Vol. 9, 1863; p. 35 "History of the Great Lakes," Mansfield