Tag Archives: shipbuilding

Josefa – To Spain and back again, a vessel’s tale

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Josefa departing Duluth on Monday, November 8, 1920 at 1:30 p.m. Photo from the Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection, University of Detroit Mercy

Josefa departing Duluth on Monday, November 8, 1920 at 1:30 p.m.
Photo from the Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection, University of Detroit Mercy

The abrupt end of the First World War in November 1918 left the United States’ shipbuilding industry in a rather large quandary. Though the United States Shipping Board honored the contracts already on the books, it certainly meant the end of the lucrative contracts enjoyed by the “pop-up” companies who had rushed to fill the void. Some of these had provided vessels of indifferent build quality, while others had engaged in outright graft. The exorbitant contracts extended to all firms to pressure them to expand and build faster and in greater numbers also would plague the USSB until the 1930s. It also provided valuable lessons for the Second World War where contracts held different terms, and only a select number of shipyards built the famous Liberty and Victory ships.

The end of the war posed a serious challenge to the McDougall-Duluth Company and it’s Riverside shipyard. Unlike Globe Shipbuilding in Superior, Wisconsin, company president Julius Barnes had structured McD-D to last far beyond the war. Even before the end of the war, Barnes and A. Miller McDougall sought new contracts for the firm. Using the basic Frederickstadt design, the hull received linings to serve as tankers, notably for molasses in the lucrative Caribbean sugar trade. Five vessels were constructed on speculation in the hopes of attracting purchasers

Two were purchased for the Compania Contrabrino de Navegation of Barcelona, Spain, through a Belgian broker with cash not being an object. Problems started immediately when the Cuban sugar market crashed and the Spanish company struggled to find financing. Finally the financing came through, but to be certain the yard would send representatives to ensure a smooth transition.  To great fanfare the Josefa and Antonio departed Duluth at 1:30 and 4:20 p.m. respectively on Monday, November 8, 1920. The vessels had Spanish crews with a few Americans under the command of the yard’s tugboat skipper, Captain D.E. Stevens, to take the vessels across the Atlantic for its new owners to take possession in Genoa, Italy. Upon reaching Montreal a new complication cropped up. The combination of an American supercargo seeking clearance of an American-flag vessel, manned by a Spanish crew, from a Canadian Port to an Italian destination was something of a problem.

Upon arriving in the Mediterranean the Spanish crew discovered that they were heading to Genoa instead of Barcelona and promptly filled the fresh water tanks with sea water forcing the Josefa into Barcelona. Having worked on an American-flag vessel, the crew demanded of Stevens the higher U.S. wage rate and mutinied by walking off the ship and appealing to the U.S. consulate. The remainder of the American crew, contracted only to get the vessel across the Atlantic, departed for home and left Stevens to man the ship. The ambassador left the matter to his staff, and after a lengthy period of wrangling it was found that the original purchasers could no longer pay for the ships. The McDougall-Duluth Company repossessed the vessels and managed to find a new purchaser in Barcelona. At long last, Captain Stevens could finally return home.

Josefa would be renamed and continue sailing throughout Europe, surviving both the Spanish Civil War and  World War II until its 1964 scrapping in Spain.

Collingwood Shipbuilding and the Howard M. Hanna Jr.

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1913 has been a recurrent theme as of late, both on the blog and then in my professional life. Collingwood Shipbuilding constructed the ill-fated James Carruthers and also its follow-on ship, the J.H.G. Hagarty. In the months following the Carruthers’ loss, the yard’s superintendent, John Leitch, carried on correspondence with the firm’s leadership regarding how to address the perceived shortcomings of the design. The A.A. Wright, the head of the St. Lawrence and Chicago Steam Navigation Co., the owner of the Carruthers and the Hagarty had his own ideas of how to improve the design. As Leitch observed in a letter on July 20, 1914, “we do not want a repeat of the Carruthers.”

Leitch’s letterbooks, housed at the Town of Collingwood Museum, provide some insight into both that process and then their view on their major repair task, the Howard M. Hanna, Jr. The Hanna, built by the American Shipbuilding Company facility at Cleveland, Ohio in 1908 was a standard steel bulk freighter of the early twentieth century. In the 1913 storm the Hanna was driven onto the Port Austin Reef on the tip of Michigan’s Thumb on Lake Huron. Salvaged the the Reid Wrecking and Towing Company, the Hanna made it to Sarnia under its own steam and was offered for sale. James Playfair, operator of the Great Lakes Transportation Company agreed to purchase it and have it reconditioned at Collingwood Ship.

When the Hanna arrived at the yard, Leitch had few complimentary things to say. Though the vessel suffered splits in the hull, and then significant denting and damage to the outer hull, it had not split in half completely. However, the cabins of the Hanna had taken significant damage and Leitch observed that this was exactly what the redesign of the Hagarty would avoid. He also noted that: “The starboard side of the forecastle has been stove in with heavy seas and the structure there shows how lightly she was built.” The discussion in the letters appears to ignore the fact that much of the critique of the Hanna ignores the loss of the supposedly superior Carruthers. That sense of ego jars with the seemingly lack of hubris that the Carruthers had sailed with the prior year, harking back to a similar sense with the Titanic.

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The Hanna as built with an open pilot house in the service of the Hanna Furnace Company.
Photo from Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection, University of Detroit Mercy.

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On the Port Austin Reef after the storm.
Photo from Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection, University of Detroit Mercy.

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In dry dock of the Collingwood Shipbuilding Company – note the damage to the starboard bow on the Hanna as noted in Leitch’s letter.
Photo from Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection, University of Detroit Mercy.

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After rebuilding as the Glenshee in the Playfair fleet.
Photo from Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection, University of Detroit Mercy.

Rebuilt and put back into service, the Hanna would go on until 1983 as the Lionel Parsons when it was scrapped after serving as a grain storage facility. The Hagarty would sail on until it was sold for scrap in 1968.

Riverside in the Fall

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I couldn’t help but upload a panoramic image of Riverside that I took prior to leaving on Sunday. The colors are spectacular and it was great to walk through the community with a great group of McDougall enthusiasts. Hats off to Superior Public Museums’ staff and volunteers for organizing a fine event and to all the attendees.