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From: John V.
Category: Shipwreck Research
Date: 28 Sep 2004
Time: 13:01:37
Remote Name: 63.158.210.164
Dave,Economics probably was the main reason for conversion of sail to steam.Think about it..sail schooners need stiff wind in a favorable direction to move cargo quickly.But steam needs only coal and firewood,can sail dead into the wind,and follow that straight line between two points.It can also tow obsolete vessels the same way.As for wood in constuction,wood simply was the most plentiful product on hand.Everybody at that time was skilled in wood constuction,and it was a proven technology.A lot of insurance companies wouldn't insure early metal hulled ships,because they feared that they weren't seaworthy.Remember "composite" ships?This was the turning point. The massive number of wrecks was due to the massive amount of traffic on the lakes in those years.My Dad ,who is 78,remembers even back in the 30's there was a lot more ship traffic than we see today.During the war, it was even greater. The early boats had a compass,a watch,maybe a chart.If they were lucky a taffrail log.The majority of wrecks would probably be atributed to human error.The wrecks we see today are just a small fraction of the actual number,the majority of which were salvaged. Some of Jim Donahue's books have interesting small stories on early wreck salvagers. John V.