6/17/2023 0 Comments Carrier command 2 barge![]() Typical of the machinery that once powered shipping on the lakes, the Meteor’s propulsion plant is one of the very few still accessible to visitors. This soon developed into a project to document the Meteor’s remarkably intact triple expansion steam propulsion plant. My involvement with the Meteor began in 2005 when I volunteered to join a small group of interested people to discuss plans for future preservation efforts. She is now berthed less than a mile from where she was built and is open to visitors each summer. She hauled a variety of cargos around the lakes for over seventy years until she returned to Superior to become a museum ship. ![]() She is the SS Meteor, launched in 1896 as the Frank Rockefeller. Fewer people realize that one of these remarkable vessels still exists 120 years after her launch. Many people who live near the Great Lakes have heard of the whalebacks, those unusual ships invented by Duluth entrepreneur Alexander McDougall. ![]() TABLE 10:Costs Comparison for Late American Steel Barge Company Barges PREFACE TABLE 9:Cargo Capacity in Net Tons for Various Ships TABLE 8:Block Coefficients for Later Whaleback Ships TABLE 7:Characteristics of Late Whaleback Ships TABLE 5:Earnings for the American Steel Barge Company’s Atlantic Service TABLE 3:Average Freight Rate, Iron Ore, Ports Named to Ohio Ports TABLE 2:Cumulative Cost of Whaleback Barges and Steamships in 1892 Dollars TABLE 1:Initial Investors in the American Steel Barge Company Whaleback Barges and Steamships with Principal Dimensions A Brief Explanation of Relevant Shipping TerminologyĪPPENDIX C. Whaleback Vessel Dimension ConventionsĪPPENDIX B. ONE The Life and Times of Alexander McDougallĪPPENDIX A. Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930304įrontspiece: Whaleback steamship SS Meteor arriving in the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, late in her active career, c. Manufactured in the United States of America. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission. ![]() Prescott, Arizona and Eagle Harbor, Michigan Read moreĪ complete listing of the books in this series can be found online at Readers interested in the maritime history of the Great Lakes and the industries that developed around them will find this book fascinating. Whaleback Ships and the American Steel Barge Company objectively examines the design of these ships using the original design drawings, notes the successes and failures of the company’s business strategy, and highlights the men at the operating level that attempted to make this strategy work. Although this new steamship compared favorably with vessels of conventional design, it was the last vessel of whaleback design to be built. In an attempt to meet this need, the company built another vessel that incorporated many whaleback features but included a conventional Great Lakes steamship bow. When prosperity returned in 1896, the interest in huge iron ore deposits on the Mesabe Range required larger, more efficient vessels. Rockefeller, was willing and able to invest in the company to keep it afloat, and by doing so he gained control. The cash crisis worsened with the onset of the Panic of 1893, which plunged the country into a depression that mostly halted the ship-building industry. The American Steel Barge Company operated profitably from 1889 through 1892, each year adding new vessels to its growing fleet. Pellett explains that the construction of these ships and the industrial infrastructure required to build them was financed by a syndicate that included some of the major players active in the Golden Age of American capitalism. ![]() In Whaleback Ships and the American Steel Barge Company, Roger C. Built from what was then a high tech material (steel) and powered by state-of-the-art steam machinery, their creation in the remote north was a sign of industrial accomplishment. These new ships were considered revolutionary by some and nautical curiosities by others. From 1888 to 1898, the American Steel Barge Company built and operated a fleet of forty-four barges and steamships on the Great Lakes and in international trade. Captain McDougall’s dream resulted in the creation of the American Steel Barge Company. The whaleback ship reflected the experiences of its inventor, Captain Alexander McDougall, who decided in the 1880s that he could build an improved and easily towed barge cheaply by using the relatively unskilled labor force available in his adopted hometown of Duluth, Minnesota. ![]()
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