User:GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1

Coordinates: 46°47′0″N 92°4′10″W / 46.78333°N 92.06944°W / 46.78333; -92.06944
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

46°47′0″N 92°4′10″W / 46.78333°N 92.06944°W / 46.78333; -92.06944

Thomas Wilson with several passengers
History
United States
NameThomas Wilson
Owner
Port of registry
BuilderAmerican Steel Barge Company, Superior, Wisconsin
Yard number119
Laid downNovember 7, 1891
LaunchedApril 30, 1892
In serviceMay 9, 1892
Out of serviceJune 7, 1902
IdentificationUS official number 145616
FateSank on Lake Superior
General characteristics
Class and typeWhaleback
Tonnage
Length
  • 320 feet (97.5 m) LOA
  • 308 feet (93.9 m) LBP
Beam38 feet (11.6 m)
Depth24 feet (7.3 m)
Installed power
Propulsion1 × fixed pitch propeller
National Register of Historic Places data
Thomas Wilson (Whaleback Freighter) Shipwreck
GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1 is located in Duluth
GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1
GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1 is located in Minnesota
GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1
GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1 is located in the United States
GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive 1
Location7/8 of a mile outside the Duluth Harbor entrance, Duluth, Minnesota
Coordinates46°47′0″N 92°4′10″W / 46.78333°N 92.06944°W / 46.78333; -92.06944
Built1892
ArchitectAmerican Steel Barge Company
Architectural styleWhaleback freighter
MPSMinnesota's Lake Superior Shipwrecks MPS
NRHP reference No.92000844
Added to NRHPJuly 23, 1992

History[edit]

Background[edit]

Main article: Whaleback

Thomas Wilson was a whaleback, an innovative but unpopular ship design of the late 1880s, designed by Alexander McDougall. A Scottish immigrant, Great Lakes captain, inventor[1] and entrepreneur, McDougall developed the idea of the whaleback as a way to improve the ability of barges to follow a towing vessel in heavy seas.[2] Whalebacks were characterized by distinctive hull shapes with rounded tops, lacking conventional vertical sides, and conoidal 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 on turrets 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 in Superior, Wisconsin, in 1888, and built them himself. McDougall actively promoted his design and company by sending the steamer Charles W. Wetmore to London, and starting another shipyard in Everett, Washington, which built the steamer City of Everett.[6] Despite McDougall's further efforts to promote the design with the excursion liner Christopher Columbus, whalebacks never caught on, with only 44 of them being built.[1][2][7]

Design and construction[edit]

Service history[edit]

Final voyage[edit]

Collission course between Thomas Wilson and George G. Hadley

Wreck[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b About the Great Lakes (2007).
  2. ^ a b c d e Ebeling (2001).
  3. ^ a b Minnesota Historical Society (3) (2008).
  4. ^ a b Croil (1998).
  5. ^ Duerkop (2007).
  6. ^ Oakley (2005).
  7. ^ Leonard (1983).

Sources[edit]

  • Croil, James (1998). Steam Navigation and Its Relation to the Commerce of Canada and the United States. Toronto, Ontario: Montreal News Company. pp. 362–64. OCLC 1082014. Retrieved January 25, 2021. Google books has images of those pages in the chapter entitled The Turret Steamship
  • Duerkop, John (2007). "Some Marine Terminology". Research Resources (definition 65, "Whaleback". Kingston, Ontario: Marine Museum of the Great Lakes at Kingston. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  • Ebeling, Charles W. (2001). "You Call That Damn Thing a Boat?". American Heritage of Invention & Technology. 17 (2). American Heritage Publishing. ISSN 8756-7296. OCLC 11638224. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  • Leonard, John (1983). "A Whaleback Quiz". Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto Marine Historical Society. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • Oakley, Janet (2005). "Charles W. Wetmore arrives". Washington, United States: Washington State online history encyclopedia. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  • "Remember the Whaleback Steamers". About the Great Lakes. 2007. Archived from the original on October 5, 2007. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Historic Description". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Construction and Career". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Whaleback Freighters". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Description of the Wreck Event". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Post-Depositional Impacts". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Present Description". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
  • "Thomas Wilson – Statement of Significance". Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society. 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:GreatLakesShips/sandbox/Overhauls/Archive_1&oldid=1080775631"