Thomas, Mike and I took some photos of a 24Pdr. onboard a recreation of the ship Michigan/Wolverine, the U.S. Navy's first iron hulled ship, launched in 1843 from an Erie, Pennsylvania shipyard. She maintained peace on the Great Lakes for 79 years and was armed with quite a collection of guns and rifles including two 24 Pdr. Dahlgren Boat Howitzers, one of which is on the ship recreation in the Erie Maritime Museum and one in a local Erie Park. The ship had several 20 and 30 Pdr. Parrotts a few of which were converted to breech loaders.
The ship Michigan, laid down in 1843, was the U.S. Navy’s first iron hulled warship. She sailed the Great Lakes for her entire, long career, until 1923 and was scrapped in 1949. We found some interesting information about the ship at www. maritimemoments. wordpress.com among other sites.
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The USS Michigan Launches Herself The builder, Samuel Hart, watched his creation proudly as she poised to slide into Lake Erie on that December day in 1843. Then his pride turned to embarrassment because she stuck on the ways and could not be moved backward, forward or sideways. The onlookers grumbled impatiently. After all, they had come to see the
U.S.S. Michigan sink. After a few hours of watching the dock workers sweat and struggle to launch her, the spectators gave up and went home. The next morning, Mr. Hart and some of the workers came back to the dock, crowbars in hand, to have another tray at launching her. They were stunned. There she sat already launched and floating serenely. During the night the blocking had given way and the
Michigan slid down the ways all by herself and drifted over in back of a warehouse. The
U.S.S. Michigan had launched herself.
As she sailed out onto the lake,
the U.S.S. Michigan was indeed a handsome sight with her clipper bow, three tall raking masts and a tall smokestack. In her first years of Great Lakes life, she was painted black to the top of her gun ports with a white stripe along the bulwarks. Her draft was kept to nine feet so she could use most of the small harbors on the Great Lakes. Because of her draft and the then limited knowledge of metal construction, her hull was flat-bottomed like a box in the cross section. This combined flat bottom, shallow draft and large upper works made her at times hard to handle. One old quartermaster was asked why he kept moving her helm from side to side while she was on a steady course. He said, “You have to keep her confused so she won’t take a sheer.”
Please see photos below.
Tracy & Mike
Mounted in broadside. The weathering came, no doubt, from it's years in the park with it's boat howitzer companion.
24 Pdr. Markings.
Breech details.
24 Pounder Dahlgren Boat Howitzer business end.
