The Walk-in-the-Water
By James Donahue
Even though she lived only three years the steamboat Walk-in-the-Water made a dramatic mark on Great Lakes history. The Walk-in-the-Water was built in 1818 and was one of the pioneer steamboats of the world. It was the first steam ship built on Lake Erie. It also was the first steamship to travel on Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Michigan, and make the trip up the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. It was the first steamship to offer passenger and freight service on Lake Erie between Buffalo and Detroit. And it was the first steamer to wreck on Lake Erie.
There is a legend that the ship got its strange name from an Indian who watched Robert Fulton's famed steamship Clermont huff and puff its way up the Hudson River eleven years earlier. This man was amazed to see a ship moving upstream against the current without the help of sails and wind. He saw the turning paddles on the ship's side-wheels and remarked that the Clermont "walked in the water."
The builders of this new steamship at Black Rock, New York, now part of Buffalo, obviously heard the story and drew from it to create a name for their vessel. The name was awkward to use, so people started calling the vessel ''the steamboat." It still identified Walk-in-the-Water because at the time, it was the only steamer operating on Lake Erie. The Walk-in-the- Water was financed by a group of New York businessmen interested in starting a commercial shipping business on Lake Erie. These men included marine architect Noah Brown, who built the ship, and Robert McQueen, a machinist who designed and built the engine.
Walk-in-the-Water was launched in the spring of 1818 and was proclaimed an immediate success. But it was an odd looking, smoke-belching, wood-burning ship that created sensation wherever it went. The paddle wheels looked too large for her one hundred thirty-eight-foot long hull, and her single smokestack towered above the wooden deck. McQueen knew what he was doing when he designed the stack. He didn't want embers from the wood fires under the boiler falling back down on the ship and setting it ablaze. The ship's first trip across Lake Erie to Detroit began on August 25, with Capt. Job Fish in command. She left Buffalo with general freight and twenty-nine passengers bound for Erie, Grand River, Cleveland, Sandusky, and Detroit. The vessel reached Detroit in forty-four hours running time. It was said the cabins of the Walk-in-the-Water were elegant, and passengers considered a trip from Detroit to Buffalo aboard the vessel a very pleasant experience.
The Walk-in-the-Water made the trip into lakes Huron and Michigan during the summer of 1819 with a load of supplies for the American Fur Company at Green Bay, Wisconsin. Thus it was that it became the first steamboat to traverse those upper lakes. Strangely enough, the trip was identical to the one made by an earlier historic vessel, LaSalle’s sailing ship Griffin, which was the first ship to enter the Great Lakes above Niagara Falls, in 1679. There were interesting parallels between the stories behind these two vessels. They both were built in the forests of New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie. They were both built for commercial reasons. They were the first vessels of their kind to make the trip to Green Bay from the east end of Lake Erie. They both made the trip to serve the fur-trade industry. LaSalle bought furs and wanted to use the Griffin to bring them to New York. The Walk-9in-the-Water brought supplies to the fur business. Both ships stopped at Mackinac Island on their way. Both ships were wrecked in storms.
The Walk-in-the-Water probably created more of a sensation on the Great Lakes in its day than the Griffin because the area was more heavily populated in 1818, the ship was something extraordinary that belched steam and smoke, and it survived three full seasons compared to the Griffin’s few months. Though it may have made other trips into Lake Huron and beyond, the vessel did most of its work between Black Rock and Detroit. The ship was on that route the night of October 31, 1821, when it encountered the storm that wrecked it.
Walk-in-the-Water was under command of Capt. Jebediah Rogers when it steamed out of Black Rock about 4:00 PM, bound for Cleveland with eighteen passengers and a general cargo. By 8:00 PM a violent gale developed from the southwest, after the ship was only a few miles along on its journey. The passengers became alarmed as the ship’s timbers creaked and groaned at every roll. Rogers found that the engines were not powerful enough to make progress against the storm, and he was fearful of turning around against the seas and trying to get back to Black Rock in the dark. He ordered the anchors dropped and tried, instead, to ride out the gale in mid-lake. One passenger, the wife of the Reverend Alanson W. Welton, said the ship anchored a few miles above the old Buffalo lighthouse.
The storm increased in intensity as the night wore on, and after several hours the vessel’s hull began to leak. To compound the problems, the anchors dragged, and Walk-in-the-Water drifted before the wind toward the Canadian side of the lake. At about five o’clock, Welton said the captain gave an order to cut the anchor chains so the ship could drift ashore at Point Albino. Her account of what happened after this was graphic. “Tired out with anxious watching, I had taken my berth with my children, keeping my own and their clothes on. My husband was still on deck. When the captain’s summons came to the cabin passengers to turn out, as the boat was going ashore, the floor of the cabin was ankle-deep with water. I will not attempt to describe the anxious, prayerful, tearful upturned faces that were grouped together in the cabin of the Walk-in-the-Water on that terrible, cold morning as we looked into each other’s faces for probably the last time.”
Prayers were answered. The ship went aground near the lighthouse, and the passengers and crew were safely removed to the lighthouse within a few hours. Before the storm was over the hull of Walk-in-the-Water was cracked and the ship declared a total wreck. The engines later were salvaged and used to power the Walk-in-the-Water’s successor, the Superior.
By James Donahue
Even though she lived only three years the steamboat Walk-in-the-Water made a dramatic mark on Great Lakes history. The Walk-in-the-Water was built in 1818 and was one of the pioneer steamboats of the world. It was the first steam ship built on Lake Erie. It also was the first steamship to travel on Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Michigan, and make the trip up the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers. It was the first steamship to offer passenger and freight service on Lake Erie between Buffalo and Detroit. And it was the first steamer to wreck on Lake Erie.
There is a legend that the ship got its strange name from an Indian who watched Robert Fulton's famed steamship Clermont huff and puff its way up the Hudson River eleven years earlier. This man was amazed to see a ship moving upstream against the current without the help of sails and wind. He saw the turning paddles on the ship's side-wheels and remarked that the Clermont "walked in the water."
The builders of this new steamship at Black Rock, New York, now part of Buffalo, obviously heard the story and drew from it to create a name for their vessel. The name was awkward to use, so people started calling the vessel ''the steamboat." It still identified Walk-in-the-Water because at the time, it was the only steamer operating on Lake Erie. The Walk-in-the- Water was financed by a group of New York businessmen interested in starting a commercial shipping business on Lake Erie. These men included marine architect Noah Brown, who built the ship, and Robert McQueen, a machinist who designed and built the engine.
Walk-in-the-Water was launched in the spring of 1818 and was proclaimed an immediate success. But it was an odd looking, smoke-belching, wood-burning ship that created sensation wherever it went. The paddle wheels looked too large for her one hundred thirty-eight-foot long hull, and her single smokestack towered above the wooden deck. McQueen knew what he was doing when he designed the stack. He didn't want embers from the wood fires under the boiler falling back down on the ship and setting it ablaze. The ship's first trip across Lake Erie to Detroit began on August 25, with Capt. Job Fish in command. She left Buffalo with general freight and twenty-nine passengers bound for Erie, Grand River, Cleveland, Sandusky, and Detroit. The vessel reached Detroit in forty-four hours running time. It was said the cabins of the Walk-in-the-Water were elegant, and passengers considered a trip from Detroit to Buffalo aboard the vessel a very pleasant experience.
The Walk-in-the-Water made the trip into lakes Huron and Michigan during the summer of 1819 with a load of supplies for the American Fur Company at Green Bay, Wisconsin. Thus it was that it became the first steamboat to traverse those upper lakes. Strangely enough, the trip was identical to the one made by an earlier historic vessel, LaSalle’s sailing ship Griffin, which was the first ship to enter the Great Lakes above Niagara Falls, in 1679. There were interesting parallels between the stories behind these two vessels. They both were built in the forests of New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie. They were both built for commercial reasons. They were the first vessels of their kind to make the trip to Green Bay from the east end of Lake Erie. They both made the trip to serve the fur-trade industry. LaSalle bought furs and wanted to use the Griffin to bring them to New York. The Walk-9in-the-Water brought supplies to the fur business. Both ships stopped at Mackinac Island on their way. Both ships were wrecked in storms.
The Walk-in-the-Water probably created more of a sensation on the Great Lakes in its day than the Griffin because the area was more heavily populated in 1818, the ship was something extraordinary that belched steam and smoke, and it survived three full seasons compared to the Griffin’s few months. Though it may have made other trips into Lake Huron and beyond, the vessel did most of its work between Black Rock and Detroit. The ship was on that route the night of October 31, 1821, when it encountered the storm that wrecked it.
Walk-in-the-Water was under command of Capt. Jebediah Rogers when it steamed out of Black Rock about 4:00 PM, bound for Cleveland with eighteen passengers and a general cargo. By 8:00 PM a violent gale developed from the southwest, after the ship was only a few miles along on its journey. The passengers became alarmed as the ship’s timbers creaked and groaned at every roll. Rogers found that the engines were not powerful enough to make progress against the storm, and he was fearful of turning around against the seas and trying to get back to Black Rock in the dark. He ordered the anchors dropped and tried, instead, to ride out the gale in mid-lake. One passenger, the wife of the Reverend Alanson W. Welton, said the ship anchored a few miles above the old Buffalo lighthouse.
The storm increased in intensity as the night wore on, and after several hours the vessel’s hull began to leak. To compound the problems, the anchors dragged, and Walk-in-the-Water drifted before the wind toward the Canadian side of the lake. At about five o’clock, Welton said the captain gave an order to cut the anchor chains so the ship could drift ashore at Point Albino. Her account of what happened after this was graphic. “Tired out with anxious watching, I had taken my berth with my children, keeping my own and their clothes on. My husband was still on deck. When the captain’s summons came to the cabin passengers to turn out, as the boat was going ashore, the floor of the cabin was ankle-deep with water. I will not attempt to describe the anxious, prayerful, tearful upturned faces that were grouped together in the cabin of the Walk-in-the-Water on that terrible, cold morning as we looked into each other’s faces for probably the last time.”
Prayers were answered. The ship went aground near the lighthouse, and the passengers and crew were safely removed to the lighthouse within a few hours. Before the storm was over the hull of Walk-in-the-Water was cracked and the ship declared a total wreck. The engines later were salvaged and used to power the Walk-in-the-Water’s successor, the Superior.