Search the Database About the Feltner Great Lakes Vessel Database Explanation of Search & Result Terms Usage Guide & Search Tips Key to Causes Granted and Surrendered Other Online Enrollment Databases Collections of Great Lakes Customs House Vessel Documents Learn more about Great Lakes Customs House Vessel Docs Contact

Dr. Charles E. Feltner Great Lakes Vessel Certificate Master Abstract Database 1810 - 1868

Explanation of Search Results and Terms

The following fields are provided in the Feltner database search engine:

Vessel Name - This field accepts a text String that will be compared against and text in the Name field of the database. As such, if you type "ing St" into the search box, it will return results for vessels named Morning Star, Evening Star, etc. If you enter "America" you will get results for North America, Fair American, American Venture, America, etc. This search allows you to enter First Name, Last Name, Middle Initial, or any other data you think might help find the vessel. It is best to begin with last name and vessel type, rather than typing a full First, Middle, Last string. The vessel names in the Feltner database have been standardized to the extent possible. This was done to correct the many variations in names used for the same vessel. In many cases we see a vessel as "Wm" on one paper and "William" on the next. These variations have been standardized wherever possible.

Vessel Type - This field is a drop down list box giving all the different vessel rigs that appear in the Feltner database. The names given in the drop down correspond to abbreviated types in the database. It is important to realise that many vessel changed rig types and/or were referred to using general terms in reports of the day. Thus, a ship that was referred to as a schooner in news reports, might actually have been enrolled as a scow schooner, a brig or a bark. As such, it is sometimes useful to try searching without a vessel type or two try multiple types. The Vessel Type key is as follows:

Schooner - sch - A fore/aft rigged sailing vessel of 2 or 3 masts
Sidewheel Steamer - stp - A steam vessel propelled by paddlewheels on the vessel's sides
Propeller - sts - A steam vessel propelled by a stern propeller or propellers
Sloop - slp - A single masted sailing ship
Brig - brg - A square rigged sailing ship with 2 masts
Bark - brk - A square rigged sailing ship with 3 or more masts, one being fore/aft rigged
Scow Schooner - scs - A fore/aft rigged sailing ship with a square turn of the bilge and/or square bow shear
Scow - scw - Often an unrigged scow schooner, but sometimes used interchangeably with Scow Schooner
Barge - bge - An unpowered, unrigged tow hull
Sternwheeler - stw - A steam vessel propelled by one or more paddlewheels on the vessel's stern
Centerwheel Steamer - stc - A steam vessel propelled by one or more paddlewheels mounted amidship
Canal Boat - cnb - An unrigged, unpowered vessel of specific design used on inland rivers and canals
Lake Boat - lkb - An unrigged, unpowered vessel common on Lake Champlain and the New York finger lakes
Lighter - ltr -An unrigged, unpowered shallow draft vessel used in harbors to unload larger vessels
Vessel - ves -A generic term for a newly launched hull, prior to installation of masts or engines
Flat Boat - flb - An unrigged, unpowered shallow draft vessel used primarily on rivers
Steam Yacht - sty - A steam powered vessel designed for pleasure cruising with no significant cargo capacity
Ship - shp - A square rigged vessel with at least three masts
Durham Boat - dbt - A unpowered, rowed vessel used on rivers and in harbors
Yacht - yht - A sail powered vessel designed for pleasure cruising with no significant cargo capacity
Horseboat - hbt - An unpowered, unrigged vessel designed to be towed by a horse on canals & rivers

Gross Tonnage - For the purposes of this database, Gross Tonnage (gt) refers generally to the dead weight or to the volumetric capacity of the vessel's hull. Over time, the way this figure was calculated has changed significantly, with one of the most important changes occurring just at the end of the Feltner database's period of coverage. From 1720 to 1864, most countries used the Builders Old Measurement system to calculate tonnage. This measurement used only length of keel and maximum beam to calculate the vessel's dead weight, which was not particularly useful or accurate for commercial purposes. Following the adoption of the Moorsom system in 1864, a more complex calculation was done, which estimated the vessel's carrying capacity by calculating volume, adding above deck cargo space and subtracting non cargo space, such as crew's quarters. Under the Moorsom system, most vessels were readmeasured to a substantially smaller tonnage. This change can be seen in the many causes granted/surrendered for readmeasurement with a new tonnage. The Feltner database is also notable in that it does not give decimal tonnages. Instead, the decimal portion of the tonnage was simply truncated. Thus, a vessel of 345.98 tons would show in Feltner as 345 tons. This convention was adopted because, strictly speaking, it is not correct to express the tonnages as decimals. On the certificates, the tonnages are actually given in 95/100ths. The decimal tonnage also varies from paper to paper for the same vessel and adds little value to the data. In the search engine, any tonnage entered will be searched in a range of +/- 10 tons. As such, an entry of 50 will result in a search of matching vessels from 40 to 60 tons. This convention was adopted because exact tonnage matches would generally be counterproductive to searching, filtering out desired results in most cases.

Enrollment Port - During the period covered by this database (1810 - 1868) there were dozens of customs houses on the Lakes at which vessels could be enrolled or registered. Some of these customs houses were very short lived and enrolled very small numbers of vessels. For many of these small customs houses, their actual certificates have not been preserved. Their abstracts are the only record we have of their enrollments, in some cases. It is also notable that for many of these small houses, their papers have been included with those of larger houses on NARA listings. The following houses existed in the Lakes and served for the following approximate periods:

Enrollment Year - The Enrollment Year given in Feltner represents the calendar year in which a specific enrollment was made. Although the master abstract entries do give a specific date, Feltner did not include the full date. Instead, the year and the enrollment number are given. When searching Enrollment Year field, please enter a four digit number between 1810 and 1868.

Causes Granted/Surrendered - The Causes Granted/Surrendered fields list a limited number of Causes by which you can limit your results. For a complete list of causes, see the Causes Granted/Surrendered page. In general, these search criteria should be used sparingly, as causes are not uniformly given for all vessels and many variations exist for specific causes.

Result Fields:

Certificate Number - This field indicates the ordinal number of the certificate or registry for that year as recorded by the clerk in the abstract. It will be noted that the results may contain a number beginning with TR, T or R. These numbers indicate that the entry is for a certificate of registry or for a transcript of registry.

Tonnage - The Tonnage field indicates the vessel's capacity using the Builders Old Measure system prior to 1864 and using the Moorsom System after 1864. The tonnage system changes did not occur at a uniform date. Rather, each vessel was readmeasured under the new system as it came in for new papers. The database does not indicate which system a given tonnage is expressed in, but it can be deducted by looking at the vessel's prior or subsequent entries. The Tonnage is also expressed as an integer with the decimal portion truncated.

Rig - See Vessel Type.

Certificate Confirmed - This field may be either blank, y or n. It represents Dr. Feltner's efforts to verify the existence of a certificate for the given abstract entry. If the field is blank, it indicates that Dr. Feltner did not attempt to verify the existence of a paper. If the field is n, it means that Dr. Feltner attempted to locate a paper, but one could not be found in the NARA collection.