McDougall's Great Lakes WhalebacksDuring the last years of the 19th century, the Duluth Harbor, situated between the sister cities of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, was the birthplace of a bold and innovative and decidedly odd-looking class of Great Lakes barges and steamships known as whalebacks. Capt. Alexander McDougall and his American Steel Barge Company built the curved-decked, snout-nosed whalebacks on the shores of the harbor, first at Duluth's Rice's Point and later in Howard's Pocket at Superior. The vessels were a radical departure, in design, form, and construction, from the standard shipbuilding concepts of the era but proved themselves more than capable as a number of the boats sailed the Great Lakes and the seaboards of America until the 1960s. All the whalebacks are gone now--either scrapped or sunk--with one exception. After sailing the lakes for more than 70 years, the last whaleback, the SS Meteor, returned home to Superior in 1972 and is now continuing its service as a magnificent maritime museum on Barker's Island. |
Contents
Acknowledgments | 6 |
The Whaleback Barges | 19 |
The Whaleback Steamers | 59 |
The S S Meteor the Last Whaleback | 111 |
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Common terms and phrases
1890s photograph 24 feet 36 feet A. D. Thomson Alexander Holley Alexander McDougall American Steel Barge Atikokan Author's collection barge Alexander Holley beam boats bow turret bulk cargo Christopher Columbus City of Everett Colgate Hoyt Collection/Milwaukee Public Library connecting waterways Courtesy crew crewmen deck Detroit Mercy Special Dowling draft of 24 Edward Frank Rockefeller Henry Cort Historic Photo Collection/Milwaukee hull J. T. Reid John Ericsson June Lakes Historical Society last whaleback launched as Barge launched on Saturday Marine Historical Collection Maritime Museum Collection Maunaloa McDougall's Mercy Special Collections Michigan Maritime Museum Minnesota Ontario Pathfinder Photo Collection/Milwaukee Public photograph shows Barge pilothouse renamed S. J. Marine Historical sailing career Samuel Mather sank scrapped Soo Locks South Park steamer John Ericsson Steel Barge Company Superior Public Museums Thomas Wilson tons of bulk towed Trevor triple expansion engine University of Detroit West Superior Wetmore whaleback barges whaleback built whaleback steamer built Wisconsin