Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks - Explore Shipwrecks


	hold
	The interior of a ship or plane, usually referring to the cargo compartment.


	gross tonnage
	The overall volume of a ship's hull, including crew cabins, storerooms and machinery spaces. A ton equals 100 cubic feet. The calculation of tonnage is complex, and a major revision in tonnage calculation laws occurred in 1864. The term "old measurement" reflects measurements before this change. See also net tonnage.


	net tonnage
	The volume of cargo a ship could carry, equal to gross tonnage minus the crew cabins, storerooms and machinery spaces. One ton equals 100 cubic feet.


	mast
	A long wooden or metal pole or spar, usually vertical, on the deck or keel of a ship, that supports spars and sails. On a sailing ship, supported on the keelson.


	deck
	Horizontal or cambered and sloping surfaces on a ship, like floors in a building.


	stern
	The aftermost part of a ship.


	horsepower
	A unit of power equal in the United States to 746 watts; nearly equivalent to the English gravitational unit of the same name that equals 550 foot-pounds of work per second.


	triple-expansion steam engine
	An engine with three steam cylinders of different diameters. Steam passes from a small-diameter high-pressure cylinder to an intermediate cylinder to a large-diameter low-pressure cylinder. These cylinders power the pistons that drive the engine.


	surfman
	A member of the U.S. Life Saving Service who rescued stranded crews from shipwrecks.

Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks - Explore Shipwrecks - Fedora

FEDORA

The Fedora was built by the renowned shipbuilding company of F.W. Wheeler in West Bay City, Mich. Ordered by James McBrier, E.D. Carter and Lewis Steuben of Erie, Penn., the steamship was completed in 1889 and worth $125,000. The Fedora was named after a popular stage play and was christened by the show's star, Miss Fanny Davenport.

The Fedora was almost as long as a football field -- 282 feet. It was 42 feet wide and had a 20-foot-deep hold . Its gross tonnage was 1,849, and its net tonnage was 1,477. It had four masts , two decks , a plain bow and rounded stern . It had a 900- horsepower , triple-expansion steam engine with cylinders of 20-, 32- and 54-inch diameters. These cylinders turned a 12-foot 6-inch, four-bladed propeller at 85 revolutions per minute.

The Fedora was almost as long as a football field. It's three-cylinder engine turned a propeller 12 feet in diameter.

The Fedora was launched on April 17, 1889, and enrolled at Erie, Penn., on May 14. Built of oak and iron, the Fedora was considered one of the best-built vessels on the Great Lakes. The Fedora proved its strength in 1900 when it was stranded on Minnesota Point near Duluth, Minnesota. Surfmen and a tugboat were able to pull the Fedora off the point without causing any apparent damage. The vessel was known for carrying more grain out of Duluth than any other ship.

Although F.W. Wheeler built the Fedora to be sturdy, there was a terrible flaw in the vessel's design: The firefighting pumps were installed in the engine room -- the likeliest place for a fire to start.

Read the tale of the Fedora's fateful last trip



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