Short Blast - "Make Sail"
by Jay Joslyn
From the middle of the 19th century, the lumbering industry and the Great Lakes had a close working arrangement. Timber was skidded into rivers and floated to the lake shore to create huge rafts in the lake. The timbers were then lifted by cranes and stowed aboard barges. Timber in more landlocked stands was carried to the lake shore by train in special cars that dumped the timber within reach of the lumber lunkers that were loaded by hand.
The transportation was more than moving a laden steamer or schooner across the waves. The transportation evolved into something of a ballet with incredible courage serving as the underlying accompaniment. The tow developed early in the timber-lake partnership. The moving force was a steamer which was loaded hold and deck. Accompanying the steamer was a consort of "barges" which actually were schooners with their masts unstepped. The consort could be one barge or as many as four. The tow was given its name from the boats involved. One of the more famous tows was the Myron-Grampian which figured prominently beyond the first quarter of the 20th century.
Communication was a prime problem for the tows. Separated by about twenty yards of hawser, the boats were out of hailing distance and with the lakes' great appetite for bad weather, the consort was often out of visual contact. The Blodgett Transportation and Insurance Co. — and very likely many others of the lumber carriers — devised a system of signals.
Of course, the steamer had plenty of power to make the signals. The barges often had steam mules which were used to assist in the loading and stepping the masts, as well as carrying the barge's end of the communication. The signals are more or less self-explanatory if the towing arrangements are known. The steamer would pull up alongside the barge and take aboard its hawser. The tow was broken free during bad weather. After the blow, the steamer would seek out her barges — like a hen gathering in her chicks, the old time carriers used to say. The consort would gather into a more or less tight circle until all tows were in tack and the steamer would lead out once more.
Ideally the barge captains were old time schooner sailors. Often when the steamer cut the barge free, the masts would be stepped, the sails shaken out and the old schooner man would be so much in his element that often the barge rode out the storm better than the steamer and beat the steamer to port.
Nevertheless, a shiver of excitement must have danced down spines at the sound of 1 long, 1 short, 1 long, 1 short blast and knowing that when you made sail, your bark, with its hold groaning with cargo and a mountain of cargo challenging the wind on deck, was all on its own.
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Wisconsin
Marine Historical Society
814
West Wisconsin Avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233-2385
phone 414.286.3074
email info@wmhs.org
