There was a Whaleback that sailed to the UK with a cargo of flour. Made it in good order. It was said that the flour was dry and you could see the levelers foot prints in the flour.
My maternal Great Uncle served as porter of the S.S. Clifton. He rests with his crewmates on the floor of Lake Huron. Thank you for this beauty of a video.
Sorry to hear that. They only recently found the Clifton. He does not rest alone, there are hundreds of thousands of mariners in the lakes with him- and that is no inflation of the truth.
Thank you for these historical facts and stories. I got a chance to see my first " whale back " ship. On the side of the road in Wisconsin, Not Far fron Duluth Minnesota. God bless all those who have and are still sailing the Great Lakes.
We named our 6th St. Bernard Orca, hoping we would have a whale of a dog. We volunteered to help paint and clean on the Meteor, Orca ended up all thru it. Maybe some people remember the weekend. God bless America
@@authorwes Hi Wes I am originally from kincardine I was 9 when the whale backs were in goderich I started going out on the fish tugs when I was 5 and for 10 cents a day I steered the boat 3 hours out in the lake and back when I was 7 I picked up enough skills to make a dollar a day They called the whalebacks Cigar boats I never seen them runin the lake but the fellows told me when it was rough and they were loaded as much water went over the top as went under them Do you have a e mail address where I could send you a picture ? Have a great day !
It's interesting how unloading equipment and clearance and speed dictates so much even today. The modern bulk carriers have no longitudinal separation to make loading and unloading faster which makes cargo that is subject to liquifaction tricky if it's moisture is too high. Likewise the small hatches of the whalebacks sealed their fate as unloading them was slower and more expensive the larger the unloading equipment got.
I have never seen these before but the hull reminds me of a submarine. I am curious if the name of the Bartlett was a relative of mine, I know that side of the family was from Michigan and I believe my great grandfather was a freighter captain. I don't know anymore than that but I will have to do some research now!
As a young boy in the early 1960s I remember my father (born 1929) pointing out a whaleback coming through the Western Gap in Toronto. Is that possible or does my recollection deceive me? Or could my father have been mistaken? Were there any whalebacks on the lakes as late as the 1960s?
An interesting article but doesn't tell much of why they were designed that way. One blurb of handling storms doesn't say much of how well they performed, outside of the sinking of the last one mentioned.
I build model boats for RC, and one of my long term goals is to build a large scale version of a Lake Whaleback. If anyone knows where to get a decent measured drawing, suitable for scaling, please drop me a note...
Another excellent, informative video. Thank you sir. 🌹⚓
Glad you enjoyed it
@@authorwes Your channel is excellent.
There was a Whaleback that sailed to the UK with a cargo of flour.
Made it in good order.
It was said that the flour was dry and you could see the levelers foot prints in the flour.
My maternal Great Uncle served as porter of the S.S. Clifton. He rests with his crewmates on the floor of Lake Huron. Thank you for this beauty of a video.
Sorry to hear that. They only recently found the Clifton. He does not rest alone, there are hundreds of thousands of mariners in the lakes with him- and that is no inflation of the truth.
Thank you for these historical facts and stories. I got a chance to see my first
" whale back " ship.
On the side of the road in Wisconsin, Not Far fron Duluth Minnesota.
God bless all those who have and are still sailing the Great Lakes.
Indeed the METEOR is a great place to visit
We named our 6th St. Bernard Orca, hoping we would have a whale of a dog.
We volunteered to help paint and clean on the Meteor, Orca ended up all thru it.
Maybe some people remember the weekend.
God bless America
you were recommended to me by a viewer of my channel after I did a quick video after touring the Mather in Cleveland. Cheers and good work. Max
Thanks
Great video thanks for all the work and research!
Thanks for watching!
Another awesome video!/Thank you!
My pleasure!
First time I seen this video
Excellent Wes
I remember seeing 4 of them tied side by side in goderich harbour in 1958
Wish I'd have been there to see that... but I was on 1 year old in 1958.
@@authorwes
Hi Wes I am originally from kincardine I was 9 when the whale backs were in goderich
I started going out on the fish tugs when I was 5 and for
10 cents a day I steered the boat 3 hours out in the lake and back when I was 7 I picked up enough skills to make a dollar a day
They called the whalebacks
Cigar boats I never seen them runin the lake but the fellows told me when it was rough and they were loaded as much water went over the top as went under them
Do you have a e mail address where I could send you a picture ?
Have a great day !
Very good. Looking forward to more. I've always been fascinated with the Whaleback steamers. If we could go back in time.
Thanks Steve.
Been reading your books, interesting, thx matt.
Glad you like them!
Enjoyed every minute of this presentation!! Gratitude!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hey Mr. Wes, I want to say that I love the stuff you post on your channel.
I appreciate that!
fascinating engineering
Indeed
Oh! Bigger! Me stuff sunk. Fascinating. Great Lakes eats boats.
It's interesting how unloading equipment and clearance and speed dictates so much even today. The modern bulk carriers have no longitudinal separation to make loading and unloading faster which makes cargo that is subject to liquifaction tricky if it's moisture is too high. Likewise the small hatches of the whalebacks sealed their fate as unloading them was slower and more expensive the larger the unloading equipment got.
I agree!
Whalebacks looked like Submarines with tophouses
Indeed
Note to self: Find out what a “whaleback” is so I don’t set foot on one, sink and die.
They were actually quite safe and highly efficient when left in their designed form and during their era on the Great Lakes.
I have never seen these before but the hull reminds me of a submarine. I am curious if the name of the Bartlett was a relative of mine, I know that side of the family was from Michigan and I believe my great grandfather was a freighter captain. I don't know anymore than that but I will have to do some research now!
As a young boy in the early 1960s I remember my father (born 1929) pointing out a whaleback coming through the Western Gap in Toronto. Is that possible or does my recollection deceive me? Or could my father have been mistaken? Were there any whalebacks on the lakes as late as the 1960s?
Totally possible. The METEOR was running in those days.
Did you do the Christopher Columbus?
Yep
An interesting article but doesn't tell much of why they were designed that way. One blurb of handling storms doesn't say much of how well they performed, outside of the sinking of the last one mentioned.
View the other parts- Part 2, Part 3 etc.
Love the content, Wes, but the audio on the endings is distracting. I would suggest shortening or changing the sound. Thanks for the good videos!
Maybe, the Whaleback design should be brought back. Only, make them a little wider so that crews can have an easier time on Deck.
The design could not be practical in lengths beyond 450 feet
@@authorwes, even then, the current advancements in technology could definitely make up for such issues.
so do they still build these ships
Nope
So, only 1 of the whalebacks lasted out it's whole service life, all the rest sank? That's crazy
Actually only about 1/3 sank, the rest went to scrap, save 1.
Fictional corporation Name Idea: The WhaleBack Bulk & Oil Corporation.
(It’s just some idea I had).
I build model boats for RC, and one of my long term goals is to build a large scale version of a Lake Whaleback. If anyone knows where to get a decent measured drawing, suitable for scaling, please drop me a note...
I love how Easterners say Oh-Ree-Gone when they pronounce Oregon
Hummmm
@@authorwes
Its more like Or-Gun. That's basically the native way to pronounce it