The Oak Leaf (U.S. Registry 19106) was originally
constructed in 1866 by Peck and Kirby in Cleveland, Ohio
. The two-masted
centerboard
schooner
was built for Captain
Henry Kelly, whose fleet routinely traded between Lakes Erie
and Michigan. The vessel's original dimensions of 130 feet
in length by 32 feet in beam were small to average for the
time period. The ship was doubtless intended to carry bulk
cargo such as grain, corn, lumber, ore, coal, riprap, gravel,
and crushed stone, commodities in which sail could still
compete with rail transportation and the ever more efficient
steam ship.
 |
| The Ida
Corning (left) alongside a stone
crib. Credit: Door County Maritime Museum. |
The
schooner's original crew of six to eight men was commanded
by Capt. Hugh Morrison, a one armed man whose handicap demonstrated
the dangers of a seafaring life. Manual labor, essential
to the operation of these vessels, was innately dangerous.
Maiming from loading, unloading, and sailing accidents was
not uncommon, and few lifetime sailors completely escaped
the working man's curse of the nineteenth century.
The Oak Leaf apparently
had a routine early life. Like most vessels in the nineteenth
century, she changed owners many times. Routine repairs and
maintenance occupied many off-seasons, and an entirely new
deck was installed in 1874.
The
schooner was rebuilt in 1886. Only five years later, she
was converted to a
barge
, losing her masts and receiving
30 more feet in length. This conversion reflected the economic
times, as smaller sailing hulls on the Great Lakes found
it increasingly difficult to compete in bulk commodities,
which were now transported in great quantities by immense
steel-hulled, steam-powered, purpose-built bulk carriers
whose cargo capacities eclipsed those of any wooden carrier.
Economy dictated that older wooden sailing vessels be converted
to barges. Barges' small crews reduced overhead costs,
and their cargo capacities enhanced those of their small wooden
steamer escorts, which were themselves fast becoming obsolete. |
