The Gray Oak

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: The "Gray Oak," a Misnomer : I recently came across a copy of my 1982 /83 Conservation Archaeology Report, The Gray Oak. I am logging a bit of couch time due to medical problems so I thought I would take a second look at it for the first time in a great many years. : It occurs to me that my studies on the site still remains far from complete. My thinking on the site has changed with the passage of time and I thought other researchers might find my thinking interesting regarding this site. The Gray Oak is likely misnamed. If I can just ask you to let your minds fall back to what life on the frontier of Bayfield was all about in 1884-85 when the Gray Oak was built. In that century much of the original old growth forest was cut down. There are numerous accounts of giant, ancient trees from this period being felled. As you know old growth Bird's Eye Maple that became waterlogged and sank is currently being harvested via diving operation in the area. The wood is used in instrument and furniture making and is of great value as are many old growth hardwoods. : There is a clear account of the Gray Oak being christened March 14, 1885 (Bayfield Press, March 14, 1885, I'm quoting Holden, 1982). In this account Captain Pike christens the vessel and names it after the beautiful "Gray Oaks" in the area, of which the ship is constructed. : It may be that Captain Pike was actually staring out at those beautiful Red Oak's, Quercus rubra, of the area. It was only after I moved to a small farm in the Simcoe area that I spent enough time on the wood lots to learn the different species associated with Carolinian Forest and I also spent some time in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence and so familiar with the vegetation in the area. The differences in vegetation is profound from my Boreal Forest hometown of Thunder Bay. : : The name Gray Oak is still used in some areas to describe what the rest of the world call red oak both plants are Quercus rubra,. This has some rather interesting ramification as I again think of that pathetic little scow schooner that was subsequently reduced to a barge. A shipbuilding medium it has a number of interesting characteristics. If you take a piece of Red Oak lumber and dip it in soapy water and then blow on the other (dry) end bubbles will appear. : As a scow schooner it is not likely the Gray Oak set a lot of speed records. On the first dives, divers Dan Kuss and Rick Oldale both commented on the extremely blunt bow, which at first more resembled a landing craft than the more common great lakes schooner lines. : A large portion of the vessel, particularly in her later years would have been habitually waterlogged and I suspect that pumping was necessary on a regular basis through out the life of the vessel and on the Gray Oak it would have been a more frequent, event as opposed to vessels either built from other woods. Due to the tremendous strength of Oaks in general it is a sought after wood for boat building. In certain applications Red Oak would have been an economic substitute for English Oak or White Oak. It's strength and the possibility of finding trees with crooks in them that lend themselves to the construction of a ships knees and similar shapes. This negated or reduced the amount os steaming necessary to get the wood to take the shapes need for complex/compound hydrodynamic shapes may have made it a tempting, limited application alternative. : In the case of the Gray Oak, as a vessel you may be able to understand the type of problems unique to this craft. Red Oak, Quercus rubra, is a wood that can and has been used to make fine barrels. These barrels can only be used to store dry goods. It would be interesting to conduct as study on the sight taking core samples for analysis to have the different wood types used on the vessel. Clearly there is some confusion as to what the ship was actually made of. I have already suggested that the cabins and other superstructure features were of an inferior wood such as pine. It is of course entirely possible that the historical description is incomplete the hull planking might be of another material. : If the vessel is constructed entirely out of Red Oak, Quercus rubra, it main have been known as "the boat that would not float" pre Mowat. Alternatively, the forest would have carried a number of other Oak or Beach typologies that may have been locally known as Gray Oak. : December 14, 2002 : Scott McWilliam

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