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P7454

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ID Number: P7454
Item Name: Image
Title: Steamers on the Detroit River / Bateaux à vapeur sur la rivière Detroit
Title (Fre): Bateaux à vapeur sur la rivière Detroit
Date: ca 1865
Description: Black and white photograph of three boats on the Detroit River; the Windsor shore, east of Goyeau, is visible in the background of the photograph; the first ship on the left of the photograph is the USS Gunboat, Michigan; it is a long ship with a smokestack in the centre and three tall masts; there are rowboats visible alongside the ship and numerous passengers on deck; an American flag hangs from the far right mast; the centre ship is a side wheeler called Dove; Dove is white and has "Dove" painted on her side; all three of her decks are teeming with passengers and an American flag hangs from the end of the ship; Hope is the last ship on the right; she is smaller than Dove; she has a smokestack and two flags, one American and one saying Hope, hang from flagpoles; a small tugboat is visible in the foreground but is blurred.
History: The United States Gunboat Michigan was launched at Erie in 1843. Her name was changed in 1905 to Wolverine. Her iron hull, considered the oldest in the world, lies not far from where it was launched and efforts were being made in 1946 to save it from the scrap pile. In 1870, Hope appeared. It was a large side-wheeled vessel and was financed by a local ferry captain, W.R. Clinton, and George M. Brady of Detroit. Hope's dimensions were 104 feet of overall length, 25 feet in breadth and depth of hold 8 feet 2 inches. She had a one-cylinder, high pressure engine, placed in the hold just aft of centre, and inclined at an angle to connect directly with the wheel shaft. This engine had been taken from the old lake steamer United Express and it was said to be more powerful than any side-wheeler on the river at that time. Though Captain Clinton claimed that the side-wheeler was the most effective ice-cutting boat ever designed, Hope became stuck fast in the ice during her first winter and had to be rescued by Favourite. Clinton and Brady decided that the screw-driven boat was the better ice boat and converted Hope. She continued to sail until 1894 when she was replaced by the Pleasure. The Hope was then laid up near Sandwich on the Canadian shore, and, on 12 December 1895, it was sold to a Buffalo group for $5000. The new owners, the International Ferry Co., used her as a ferry on the Niagara river.
Place made: United States - Michigan - Detroit
Collection Name: Museum Windsor