45°05.05′N 83°05.193′W / 45.08417°N 83.086550°W
 D.R. Hanna underway | |
| History | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} United States | |
| Name | D.R. Hanna |
| Operator | Pioneer Steamship Company |
| Port of registry | Fairport, Ohio |
| Builder | American Shipbuilding Company, Lorain, Ohio |
| Yard number | 346 |
| Launched | October 16, 1906 |
| In service | 1906 |
| Out of service | May 16, 1919 |
| Identification | US official number 203676 |
| Fate | Sank on Lake Huron |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Lake freighter |
| Tonnage | |
| Length | |
| Beam | 56 feet (17.1 m) |
| Depth | 31 feet (9.4 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 1 × fixed pitch propeller |
| Capacity | 9,842 long tons (11,023 short tons; 10,000 t) |
| Crew | 31 |
History
editBackground
editThe gunship USS Michigan became the first iron-hulled vessel built on the Great Lakes, upon her launching in 1843, in Erie, Pennsylvania.[1] By the mid-1840s, Canadian merchants were importing iron vessels prefabricated in the United Kingdom.[2] The first iron–hulled merchant vessel built on the lakes, Merchant, was built in 1862, in Buffalo, New York.[3] Despite Merchant's clear success proving the potential of iron hulls, ships built from wood remained preferable until the 1880s, due to their lower cost, as well as the abundance of high quality timber and workers trained in carpentry.[4]
In 1869, shipbuilder Elihu M. Peck conctructed a revolutionary freighter in Cleveland, Ohio.[5] Christened R. J. Hackett, the wooden–hulled vessel would provide the blueprint for the modern lake freighter.[6] R. J. Hackett's hull featured a pilothouse and cabins forward, and additional cabins and machinery aft; creating an uncluttered cargo deck in betweem, allowing optimal access to the chutes of ore docks.[6]
Between the early–1870s and the mid-1880s, shipyards around the Great Lakes began to construct iron ships on a relatively large scale.[7] The most notable being the freighter Onoko, built by the Globe Iron Works Company, which became the largest vessel on the lakes upon her launch in 1882.[8] In 1884, the first steel freighters were built on the Great Lakes.[9] By the 1890s, metal had become a common hull material used on the lakes.[10] The development of the pneumatic rivet gun and the advancement of gantry cranes enabled shipyard employees to work at an increased speed, with greater efficiency.[11] This, combined with the rapidly decreasing steel prices, contributed to the rapid increase in the size of lake freighters in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[12] The first 400-foot (121.9 m) freighter was built in 1895, the first 500-foot (152.4 m) freighter arrived on the scene five years later.[13]
Throughout the 1880s, the iron ore trade on the Great Lakes grew significantly, primarily due to the increasing size of the lake freighters, and the rise in the number of trips they made to the ore docks of Lake Superior.[14] As the railways were unable to keep up with the rapid production of iron ore, bulk freighters became integral to the region's iron ore industry.[14] By 1890, 56.95% of the 16,036,043 long tons (16,293,372 t) of the iron ore produced by mines in the United States was sourced from the region surrounding Lake Superior.[14] Freighters engaged in the iron ore trade frequently carried coal on upbound voyages to fuel mining equipment and infrastructure, while hauling ore when downbound.[15]
Design and construction
editService history
editFinal voyage
editWreck
edit
Notes
editReferences
edit- ↑ Thompson (1994), pp. 31–32.
- ↑ Bugbee (1962a), p. 25.
- ↑ Bugbee (1962a), p. 24.
- ↑ Bowlus (2010), p. 85; Bugbee (1962a), p. 26; Thompson (1994), p. 32.
- ↑ Carrell (1983), p. 7; Carrell (1983), p. 12; Thompson (1994), pp. 22–26.
- 1 2 Carrell (1983), p. 12.
- ↑ Bugbee (1962b), pp. 48–50; Thompson (1994), p. 32.
- ↑ Thompson (1994), p. 31.
- ↑ Bugbee (1962b), p. 50; Thompson (1994), pp. 40–42.
- ↑ Bugbee (1962b), pp. 49–51.
- ↑ Stonehouse (1990), p. 65.
- ↑ Stonehouse (1990), p. 65; Thompson (1994), pp. 59–84.
- ↑ Thompson (1994), pp. 59–84.
- 1 2 3 National Park Service (2018), p. 16.
- ↑ National Park Service (2018), pp. 5–7.
Sources
edit- Bowlus, W. Bruce (2010). Iron Ore Transport on the Great Lakes: The Development of a Delivery System to Feed American Industry. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-786433-26-1. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- Bugbee, Gordon P. (1962a). "Iron Merchant Ships: An Upper Lakes Centennial - Part One" (PDF). Telescope. 11 (2). Detroit, Michigan: Great Lakes Maritime Institute: 24–27. Retrieved 22 July 2025 – via Maritime History of the Great Lakes.
- Bugbee, Gordon P. (1962b). "Iron Merchant Ships: An Upper Lakes Cenntenial – Part Two" (PDF). Telescope. 11 (3). Detroit, Michigan: Great Lakes Maritime Institute: 46–51. Retrieved 22 July 2025 – via Maritime History of the Great Lakes.
- Carrell, Toni (1983). "Shipwrecks of Isle Royale National Park (Thematic Group)". Washington D. C.: National Park Service. Retrieved 21 April 2026.
- "Choctaw Shipwreck Site National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). Washington D.C.: National Park Service. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
- Stonehouse, Frederick (1990) [1984]. Went Missing, II. Au Train, Michigan: Avery Color Studios. ISBN 978-0-932212-37-5. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
- Thompson, Mark L. (1994). Queen of the Lakes. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-2393-6. Retrieved 22 July 2025.