1891: A Pioneering Whaleback Freighter is Launched in Wisconsin

May 23, 1891

In the Wisconsin city of Superior (at the western end of Lake Superior), the whaleback freighter SS Charles W. Wetmore was launched at the shipyard of entrepreneur and Great Lakes captain Alexander McDougall’s American Steel Barge Company.

This vessel was the latest of the whaleback freighters originally conceived by McDougall. These cargo steamships featured hull shapes with rounded tops that allowed waves to break across them with considerably little force; the shared designation for the vessels stemmed from their resemblance to whales. The Wetmore, which measured 264 feet (80 meters) in length, was named in honor of one of McDougall’s business associates.  

About a month after her launch, the ship became the first whaleback freighter to operate outside the Great Lakes. The Wetmore, in large part to help promote her whaleback design, was specifically sent across the Atlantic Ocean to Liverpool and London carrying 95,000 bushels of grain. The ship was also among the first vessels built for inland waters to sail across an ocean. (The accompanying photo shows the Wetmore – early on in her voyage to England — traveling through the Weitzel lock at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.)

The Wetmore, at her stops in Liverpool and London and also during subsequent visits to New York City and Philadelphia, was greeted with a great deal of fanfare and interest. The ship was characterized by the New York Herald as “the object of much curiosity” and hailed as a “wonderful Yankee invention in naval architecture” by the Philadelphia Times. After being loaded with machinery in New York City and Philadelphia, the Wetmore made her way to Washington State via South America’s Cape Horn to deliver that equipment for the construction of an American Steel Barge Company shipyard on the west coast. 

Ultimately, however, the Wetmore had a short-lived career. While transporting coal from Tacoma to San Francisco in September 1892, the ship ran aground in thick fog off Coos Bay, Oregon. The bad weather conditions made any salvage attempts impossible, and the Wetmore was abandoned.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on SS Charles W. Wetmore, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Charles_W._Wetmore