SS Charles W. Wetmore

The SS "Charles W. Wetmore" was a whaleback freighter built by Alexander McDougall's American Steel Barge Company shipyard in Superior, Wisconsin. She was named in honor of Charles W. Wetmore, a business associate of Alexander McDougall, officer of the shipyard, and associate of the Rockefeller family. [cite book
title=McDougall's Dream
last=Wilterding
first=John H., Jr.
publisher=Lakeside Publications Ltd
location=Green Bay, Wisconsin
year=1969]

Construction and equipment

The "Wetmore" was built in 1891 as hull #112 of the American Steel Barge Company works.cite web
url=http://www.shipbuildinghistory.com/history/shipyards/2large/amshipsuperior.htm
title=The American Ship Building Company (Superior WI) record of ships built
work= [http://www.coltoncompany.com Maritime Business Strategies, LLC aka Coltoncompany.com]
accessdate=2008-02-05] The "Wetmore" was 264 ft long with a beam of 38 ft and a 16.4 ft draft and gross tonnage of 3,000. Her power was a single 700 horsepower steam engine, but she also had four jury masts with sails for emergency use. Typically for freight whalebacks, there was a small turret at the bow which had anchor hoisting machinery and other equipment. Three turrets at the stern raised the stern cabin and pilothouse off the hull. Her single stack exited through one of the turrets. cite web
url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7362
work= [http://www.historylink.org www.historylink.org] Washington State online history encyclopedia
title=Charles W. Wetmore arrives
accessdate=2008-02-08] A typical crew complement was 22.cite web|url=http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/9-04.htm work=Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive |title=Today in Great Lakes History - September 19
accessdate=2008-02-08]

Operating history

The "Wetmore" was the first whaleback to operate outside the Great Lakes, when in June 1891,cite web|url=http://www.boatnerd.com/news/archive/6-04.htm work=Great Lakes & Seaway Shipping News Archive |title=Today in Great Lakes History - June 10
accessdate=2008-02-08] as a way to promote the whaleback design, she was sent to London and Liverpool, England, carrying a cargo of 95,000 bushels of grain. [cite web|url=http://updigit.uproc.lib.mi.us/u?/locks,669|title=Provenance page for Wetmore locking through Weitzel lock|work=Upper PeninsulaDigitization Center Collections|accessdate=2008-02-07] This required traversing the rapids of the Saint Lawrence River as she was too big to fit through the locks of the time, and was therefore practically a one way journey. After her visit to England, where she reportedly caused a "sensation" she returned to New York and loaded machinery and equipment there and in Philadelphia. She then sailed to Everett, Washington, via Cape Horn. Her journey was covered in the Puget Sound local press. The equipment was to be used to start a new shipyard, The Pacific Steel Barge Company, and to outfit a nail mill and iron smelter.

Her designer, Alexander McDougall arrived in Everett in early December, in advance of her arrival. When almost there, she lost her rudder (it had gradually been coming unriveted since the Galagapos Islands according to her captain) and she had to be towed in by the SS "Zambezi" out of Hong Kong. As was typical marine salvage practice at the time, the owners of the "Zambezi" filed a salvage claim for one third the value of the ship and cargo.cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D00E6D9133AE533A25752C1A9649D94609ED7CF&oref=slogin
title=Bad Luck At The Last.; The Whaleback Charles W. Wetmore Without A Rudder
work=The New York Times
date=1891-12-11
accessdate=2008-02-08 ] She was nevertheless received with great enthusiasm by the local townsfolk.

Her career was short: she ran aground on September 8, 1892 in fog off Coos Bay, Oregon while carrying a load of coal from Tacoma, Washington bound for San Francisco. Salvage attempts were frustrated due to bad weather, and the vessel was abandoned. Meanwhile the Pacific Steel Barge Company yard, founded with the equipment she brought, built the SS "City of Everett". No other whalebacks were built by the shipyard.

References

External links

Historic photographs from the collections of the University of Washington:
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/vanolinda&CISOPTR=164&CISOMODE=thumb "Charles E. Wetmore" in floating drydock at Quartermaster Harbor, Maury Island, Washington, July 14, 1892]
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/vanolinda&CISOPTR=192&CISORESTMP=&CISOVIEWTMP=&CISOMODE=thumb another view of "Wetmore" in Quartermaster Harbor floating drydock]