A Brief History of Great Lakes
Science Ships
Mike Quigley
NOAA Great Lakes Environmental
Research Laboratory
Ann Arbor, MI
History of the U.S. Lake Survey
ƒ Based on information from Charting the
Inland Seas – A History of the U.S. Lake
Survey by Arthur M. Woodford, 1991
Additional History of Other Science
Ships
ƒ Based on information from:
ƒ Beeton, A.M and D.C Chandler, The St. Lawrence Great
Lakes, Ch 19, Limnology in North America, 1966, D.G
Frey, Ed.
ƒ Fishing the Great Lakes 1783 - 1933, Bogue, M.B., 2000
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1807 – President Thomas Jefferson establishes the Survey of
the Coast to support safe maritime commerce by surveying
the coastline and seafloor and creating nautical charts for
safe navigation
1841 – U.S. Lake Survey formed in Buffalo, NY to conduct “a
hydrographic survey of northern and northwestern lakes” –
topographic surveys, hydrographic surveys, bottom areas
of rivers, harbors and coastal waters (using 6-oared
cutters)
1842 - Captain William G Williams requests $10K for
construction of iron steamer for survey work
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1843 – U.S.L.S. Abert christened at Buffalo’s Ohio Street
shipyard, sea trials
Abert specs – ¼” steel plate, 97 ft long, 18.5 ft beam, 8ft
depth, 3.5 ft draft, (2) 25 hp high pressure steam engines,
(2) submerged horizontal paddle wheels
1844 – extensive re-fitting of Abert, re-named Surveyor
conducts western Lake Erie survey
Operating Cost estimate for Abert 1844 Field
Season
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1845 - U.S. Lake Survey Office moves from Buffalo to
Detroit, Michigan
1854 – Second survey ship requested – built in Philadelphia
Navy Yard, the steamer Search was launched in spring
1856 – 143 ft long, 21 ft beam, depth 8.5 ft, 105 ton
displacement
1857 – Captain George Gordon Meade takes command of
Lake Survey
1857 – 1859 – Completion of Lake Huron survey
1861 – Captain Meade transfers to Washington, DC
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1864 – Three vessels in operation Surveyor, Search, and schooner
Coquette (leased at $200/month). Coquette runs aground near
Washington Island, Green Bay and is abandoned
1865 – Lake Survey acquires new vessel - iron-hulled propeller Ada built
in 1863 on Clyde River, Scotland was captured by Union forces as
Confederate blockade runner – 125 ft long, 18 ft beam, 9.5 ft depth
1897 – Great Lakes Water Levels Study begins – six vessels acquired for
project – steamer, 2 steam tugs and 3 catamarans
Steamer Search built 1896 as yacht, steel hull, 158 ft long, 18 ft beam,
depth 10 ft, 200 tons displacement, triple expansion engine, single
screw prop
Tugs – Steamer No. 1 – 70 ft long, 13 ft beam, 6.5 ft depth 48 ton
displacement; Steamer No. 2 – 58 ft long, 12.5 ft beam, 4 ft depth, 16
tons displacement
Catamarans – 30 ft x 5 ft
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1902 General Williams – converted tug acquired from COE
Grand Rapids District, built in Manistee 1884, 125 ft
long,19.3 ft beam, 12 ft depth, 295 ton displacement
Lorain L. – purchased from G.T Arnold, Mackinac Island,
built 1891 in South Haven as freighter converted to
passenger steamer , renamed Surveyor – 98 ft long, 20 ft
beam, 8.4 ft depth, 176 ton displacement
1905 – General Williams renamed Col. J.L Lusk
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1918 – Lake survey acquires minesweeper Bautzen,
renamed Peary
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1920 – Lake Survey purchases 175-ton Margaret, 140 ft
long,18 ft beam, 10.5 ft depth
1920 – Fire severely damages Steamers No.1 and No.2 and
they are sold for scrap
1921 – Lusk and Surveyor de-commissioned leaving only
Margaret, Search and 4 motor launches
1926 – Margaret broached and grounded in severe storm on
Saginaw Bay, later repaired and readied for 1927 field
season
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1935 – Revisory survey needs prompt purchase of new
survey boat Haskell , 40 ft long 10 ft beam, 5 ft depth, 13
ton displacement
1937 – Peary outfitted with new sonar echo-sounding gear for
use in locating shipwrecks and other underwater hazards
1947 – Peary sold and later sank in Atlantic in 1961 while in
use as cargo ship. Peary replaced by diesel tug from Army
Transportation Corps, named Williams, twin-diesel
powered, top speed 16 knots, 143 ft long, 33 ft beam, 17 ft
depth, 505 tons displacement
Two small boats added F.G Ray and M.S. MacDiarmid
both built by Electric Boat Co., Bayonne, NJ
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
F.G. Ray – 60 ft long, 14.5 ft beam, 4 ft depth, 35 ton displacement,
wooden hull, two diesels, top speed 16 mph
MacDiarmid – 45 ft long, 12 ft beam, 6 ft depth, 20 ton displacement, twin
diesels, wooden hull
Ray sold 1953, MacDiarmid sold 1959
1961 – Williams sold to Seaway development as buoy tender, then
transferred to NY District and sold to Pakistan
1962 – Lake Survey Research Division established to conduct fresh-water
oceanography on Great Lakes
Begin use of new survey boat Johnson 25 tons, 45 ft long,18 ft
beam,3.5 ft depth, catamaran-type construction, originally powered by
dual hydro-jets, but difficult to control and in 1970 hull refitted to 50 ft
and re-fitted with standard propulsion engines
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1964 – Lake Survey acquires R/V Shenehon from Army
Transportation Corps, 65.5 ft long 18 ft beam,9 ft depth,
125 ton displacement, 270 hp diesel, top speed 12 mph
(named in honor of Francis C. Shenehon,
Chief Civilian Engineer of Lake Survey from 1906 – 1909
and inventor of long wire sweep)
1967 – Acquired new survey vessel Laidly built by Paasch
Marine Service of Erie, PA, 54 ft long, 14 ft beam,
depth 3.75 ft, 20 ton displacement, twin GM diesels, allwelded steel hull, top speed 26 mph
U.S. Lake Survey - Timeline
1970 – Nixon White House announces Reorganization Plan No.4 of 1970
establishing NOAA. On October 3, 1970 the Lake Survey was redesignated the Lake Survey Center and officially transferred to NOAA,
becoming part of the National Ocean Survey, the former Coast and
Geodetic Survey
Certain Lake survey elements remained with COE – lake regulation
and hydraulic branches of the Engineering Division transferred to
Detroit District COE
1974 – April, NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
(GLERL) takes over Lake Survey limnology and research operations.
1976 – June 30th Lake Survey closes.
Early Great Lakes History
1583 – Jacques Cartier sails up St. Lawrence River to Quebec City and
Montreal
1608 – Samuel de Champlain forms city of Quebec
1615 – Champlain and Brule explore Lake Huron and Georgian Bay
1622 – Brule and Grenoble reach Lake Superior
1634 – Jean Nicolet reaches Lake Michigan
1679 – Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle’s ship, Le
Griffon built in a Niagara River shipyard sails Lakes Erie,
Huron and Michigan then disappears on September 18,
1679 on Lake Michigan
Early Great Lakes Science Efforts
1848 – Louis Agassiz and 15 fellow scientists depart Sault
Ste. Marie on first scientific expedition on Great Lakes with
mission to study natural history of north shore of Lake
Superior ( 1 Mackinaw boat and 2 canoes)
Early Great Lakes Science Efforts
1871 – J. W.Milner’s two cruises on Lake Michigan supported
by revenue vessel Johnson which served as platform for
dredging and trawling
1893 – Jacob Reighard conducts study of Lake St. Clair
biology for Michigan Fish Commission
1898 – 1902 Reighard study of western Lake Erie
1928 -1929 Eastern and Central Lake Erie studies
Support by 85 ft steamer Shearwater
Early Great Lakes Science Efforts
1930 – 1932 Major fishery-limnology study on Lake Michigan
supported by Bureau of Commercial Fisheries vessel
Fulmar
Information on Other Vessels?
Please let me know
Mike Quigley
[email protected]
734 741 2149