was
built at a cost of $220,000 by the shipbuilding firm F.W.
Wheeler & Company of Bay City, Michigan. Launched in 1890,
it was the company's second steel vessel and one of the largest
lake carriers at the time. At 300 feet in length, the
Emily P. Weed was as long as a football field. It was
41 feet in
beam
,
21.2 feet in
depth of hold
,
and had a height under its
spar deck
of
8.2 feet. Its
gross tonnage
was
2,362.51 and
net tonnage
was
1,899.65. It had a plain head, round
stern
,
two
decks
, and
four
masts
. It
was powered by a 1,560-
horsepower
,
triple-expansion steam engine
,
which drove a four-bladed propeller with a diameter of 14
feet. It was used for bulk and package freight carrying.
|
|
| Steamer Sevona
before (left) and after being lengthened in 1905 |
The
Emily P. Weed had several owners before James McBrier
and five other Pennsylvania men bought the vessel in 1896.
They renamed the ship Sevona the following year and
probably used it exclusively in the Lake Superior iron ore
trade. In 1905, Pennsylvania Steamship Company Vice President
John Mitchell purchased the Sevona and enrolled the
vessel at Cleveland.
That
winter, Mitchell sent the Sevona to dry dock facilities
in Buffalo, NewYork, where the vessel was cut in half. To
enable the Sevona to carry more cargo, 72.5 feet
of length were added to the middle of the ship. That increased
its gross tonnage to 3,166 and its net tonnage to 2,258. In
addition to being lengthened, the Sevona's hold depth
was increased to 24.6 feet.
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