The fleet during its "down time"

Shipping on the Great Lakes has always been seasonal. The poor visibility, heavy seas and ice that came each year with the gales of November prompted ship owners and captains in the 1800s to "lay up" their ships. Every winter ice choked docks and harbors, preventing vessels from entering or leaving the usually busy ports. Critical navigation buoys were pulled out until the spring thaw.
During the winter layup, sailors drained a ship's plumbing, plugged drains, covered lifeboats and deck equipment, and removed lines and tackle. Shipboard machinery was dismantled, inspected, and repaired. In wooden vessels, crewmen stood on the ice to caulk the hull planking. Sailing vessels required constant maintenance of their miles of rigging. Most "winter work" actually took place in early spring, when the waterfront came alive with the bustle of fitting out for the new season.
Locally owned ships lined Alpena's docks from the 1870s through the early 1900s. Lumber steamers and their tow barges lay on both sides of the Thunder Bay River each winter, while harbor tugs found space among them or in bayfront slips. Pleasure boats were pulled out on land. After 1910, the layup fleet was comprised primarily of fishing vessels and private yachts.

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Show me all markers in:  Alpena, MI  |  Alpena County  |  49707  |  Michigan  |  United States of America

The Third Ward
The Ties That Bind
Alpena City Hall
Treaty of Saginaw
Harbor Tug Ralph
Tragedy in the Mist: The Schooner E.B. Allen
Squeezing The Profit Margin
The Fletcher Coal Piers
Fast Steel Flyer: The Bulk Freighter Grecian
A Shipbuilding Revolution

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