1899: The Launch of a Great Lakes Sidewheeler Steamboat

December 30, 1899

With a new century fast approaching, the Great Lakes sidewheeler steamboat Tashmoo was launched at 11:30 a.m. at the Wyandotte Yards in the Detroit area. This passenger ship, which was built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company for the White Star Line, had already achieved a large measure of fame at the time of her launch into the Detroit River. The New York Times, for example, reported that the Tashmoo was “confidently claimed to be the finest and fastest excursion steamer on either the lakes or the seacoast.” The vessel owed her name to a resort that was situated along the St. Clair River and constituted another one of the Detroit Shipbuilding Company’s enterprises. 

The launch of the Tashmoo was recounted in effusive terms in the next day’s edition of the Detroit Free Press. This newspaper noted, “Without a mishap to mar the pleasure of the occasion, the Tashmoo – newest, most beautiful and best of Detroit’s splendid steamers – was yesterday launched into the icy water of the river while 500 people cheered – and almost froze.” The newspaper further stated, “One hundred and thirty-three vessels, large and small, have been launched at the Wyandotte yards of the Detroit Shipbuilding Co., but never was a boat launched under the same conditions as the Tashmoo, and never was a boat more successfully dropped in its element.”

The Tashmoo was designed by renowned naval architect Frank E. Kirby (1849-1929). Nicknames for this vessel included “White Flyer” and — due to her large number of windows — the “Glass Hack.” The Tashmoo was used extensively for runs between Detroit and Port Huron, Michigan, and multiple stops along the way, with occasional trips to Toledo, Ohio. 

This steamboat became very popular in that part of the world and — living up to a great extent to what both the New York Times and Detroit Free Press had published around the time of her launch — established an enviable niche as one of the fastest ships to be found anywhere in the Great Lakes region. Ultimately, however, the Tashmoo was scrapped after hitting a submerged rock and sinking in 1936. This vessel was inducted into the National Maritime Hall of Fame in 1985.

Image Credit: Public Domain

For more information on the Tashmoo, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_Tashmoo and https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/tashmoo