II. THE WHALEBACK
was invented and patented some years ago by Captain McDougall, of Duluth, a long-headed and level-headed Scotchman hailing from the famed island of Islay. The peculiarity of its construction consists in its elliptical form, combining strength of hull, cheapness of first cost and working, and large carrying capacity upon a light draught of water. Having no masts, the whaleback is entirely dependent on its steam-power, which in case of a breakdown or heavy weather renders the vessel helpless and unmanageable; but, on the other hand, it is contended that so long as she has sufficient water under her she is practically unsinkable. She has no deck to speak of, and consequently nothing to wash overboard save the waves, which play harmlessly over her arched roofing. Her hold is, so to speak, hermetically sealed. Though chiefly intended to carry freight, the capabilities of the whaleback as a passenger steamer have been satisfactorily tested. The Christopher Columbus, built on this principle, did duty as an excursion steamer at the Chicago World’s Fair, and is now plying regularly as a passenger boat between Chicago and Milwaukee—the largest excursion steamer, so it is said, in the world, “having a carrying capacity of 5,000, which number of persons she has comfortably transported on a number of occasions.” The steamer is 362 feet in length, has engines of 2,800 horse-power, and runs at the rate of twenty miles an hour. A considerable number of “whalebacks” are now engaged in the Upper Lakes grain and iron ore trade, all of them having been built by the Steel Barge Company at West Superior.
THE “JOHN S. COLBY” WHALEBACK.
From a photo presented by Mr. D. G. Thomson, of Montreal.
The above cut is a faithful representation of a type of steamer peculiar to the Upper Lakes, which, though somewhat odd-looking, is said to answer its purpose well as a grain-carrier.
The latest addition to the fleet is the biggest vessel of her class, and just now the largest grain-carrier on the lakes. This vessel, named after the inventor, Alexander McDougall, is 130 feet in length over all, 50 feet moulded breadth, and 27 feet in depth. Her double bottom is five feet deep, giving her a total water ballast capacity of 2,000 tons. Her displacement on a draught of 18 feet is about 10,000 tons, and she is able to carry the enormous cargo of 7,200 tons, equivalent to 240,000 bushels of wheat. She is built of steel, and has quadruple expansion engines. The only departure from the original whaleback in this instance is the substitution of the perpendicular stem for the “swinish snout” or “spoon bow,” which has called forth so many uncomplimentary remarks, and which is much in evidence in our cut.
In 1891 the whaleback Wetmore was the first of this class of vessels to bring a cargo of grain from the Upper Lakes to Montreal and continue the voyage to Liverpool, where she arrived safely on July 21st. From Liverpool the Wetmore sailed to the Pacific coast via Cape Horn, and while carrying a cargo of coal from Puget Sound to San Francisco she was disabled in a violent storm, went ashore, and was wrecked.