Great Lakes Maritime History

History of the Great Lakes

Vol. 1 by J.B. Mansfield
Published Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co. 1899

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Vol. 1 of History of the Great Lakes

LAKE VESSELS.

CHAPTER XLII.

LIST OF LAKE VESSELS.

Past and Present.

The compilation of a complete list of all vessels that have sailed the Great Lakes is, perhaps, impossible, for many early records have been destroyed, and those remaining are sometimes incomplete.  The following directory has been prepared with great care, and no available source of information that might add to the accuracy or to the number has been neglected.  Few if any prominent vessels on the lakes, it is believed, have been omitted, and the list is by far the most complete that has ever been compiled.  It contains with comparatively few exceptions the names of all lake craft from the earliest historical times to the present.

The abreviations used are usually self explanatory.  Those most commonly employed are as follows:

b., for built.
bge., barge.
c., composite.
Can., Canadian.
col., collision.
com., commission.
cfy., car ferry.
g. t., gross tons.
Hur., Huron.
l., lake.
Mich., Michigan.
n.t., net tonnage; or sometimes, when applied to 

    Canadian vessels, new tonnage.
prop., propellor.
r., river
rev. cut., revenue cutter.
straits, Straits of Mackinac.
Sup., Superior.
stmr., steamer.
sty., steamyacht.
stcb., steam canal boat.
stpd., steam pile driver.
stl., steam lighter.
std., steam dredge.
schr., sail vessels or barges.
slp., sail sloop.
sly., sloop yacht.
U. S. Gov., United States Government.
v., vessel.
'98, 1898, etc.

By steamer is usually meant side-wheel steamer, but it includes also 
many propellers among the Canadian vessels and sometimes American 
propellers, old vessel lists not always maintaining the distinction
between side-wheel steamers and propellers:

Z. Y. M. C. A., schr., 199 g. t., b. '69, Manitowoc, passed out, '94.
Zapotec, schr., 811 g. t., b. '90, Marine City, in com.
Zebra, tug, b. Ferrysburg, Mich., '68.
Zella, sty., 13 g. t., b. '86, Rochester, in com.
Zenith, tug, 103 g. t., b. '95, Benton Harbor, in com.
Zenith City, prop., 3,850 g. t., b. '95, Chicago, in com.
Zenobia, schr., lost Point Betsey, '58.
Zenobia, stcb., 143 g. t., b. '81, Lockport, in com., 

   formerly C. H. Foote.
Zephania, schr., foundered L. Ont., '62.
Zephyr, schr., 45 t., first v. b. Cleveland, '08, lost '20, 

   10 lives lost.
Zephyr, schr., 93 t., capsized off Long Point, '69.
Zero, 24 g. t., b. '91, West Bay City, in com.
Zimmerman, Can. schr., 500 g. t., b. '54, Niagara, burned Niagara, '63.
Ziyara, sty., 21 g. t., b. '90, Rome, N. Y., in com.
Zouave, schr., b. Conneaut, passed out.
Zouave, tug, boiler exploded L. St. Clair, '62, 4 lives lost, rebuilt, passed out.