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Queen of the Lakes is an unofficial but widely recognized title bestowed upon vessels on the Great Lakes of the United States and Canada, honoring the largest vessel currently in service on the lakes. A number of vessels, mostly lake freighters, have been known by the title. Since 1981, the title has been held by MV Paul R. Tregurtha, a lake freighter of the 1000-foot category operated by the Interlake Steamship Company. MV Paul R. Tregurtha is 1,013.5 ft (308.9 m) long, and is the longest-running holder of the title.

History of name

Queen of the Lakes has been used as the name of three vessels that sailed on the Great Lakes, but none was the longest on the lakes at the time. The first was a three-masted Canadian schooner built in 1853 as Robert Taylor, measuring 133 feet (41 m). It was renamed Queen of the Lakes sometime before 1864. She sank nine miles (14 km) off Sodus Point, New York on November 28, 1906. The second was a propeller-driven vessel launched in Cleveland Ohio, on May 12, 1853, measuring 196 feet (60 m). She was lost to fire in port on June 17, 1869. The third was a small side-wheel steamer built in Wyandotte, Michigan in 1872, measuring 108 feet (33 m). While anchored near South Manitou Island she caught fire and burned in 1898. The iron hull was later scrapped.

The title has also been bestowed upon vessels that were especially liked or those considered to be especially beautiful or richly appointed. Such was the case as late as 1949, at which time Noronic was so honored. It has been applied to the United States Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw for its long and significant role in facilitating Great Lakes shipping and safety. The most common use of the title, however, at least since the early 1940s, is to honor the largest vessel on the lakes. On April 20, 1841, the Detroit Free Press referred to the steamer Illinois as "Queen of the Waters", but given that three vessels in that century were named Queen of the Lakes, its use as a title for the longest ship was not then common. The title is applied retroactively to vessels launched before this use of the title became popular. While some use gross tonnage, capacity, or length between perpendiculars as the criterion, the most commonly accepted standard is length overall (LOA). This article uses LOA as the standard.

Early Queens

The earliest vessels on the Great Lakes were human powered canoes and bateaux. Sources differ as to what vessel qualifies as the first real "ship" on the lakes. Many say it was Le Griffon, built by LaSalle through the winter and spring of 1678 and 1679, and launched in May of that year to sail the upper lakes (above Niagara). Reports of its size vary from 40 to 70 feet (12 to 21 m) long. Contemporary chroniclers called it both a bark and a brigantine. Le Griffon was soon lost. It was last seen on September 18, 1679 and was lost with all hands. Her final location is unknown. Those who consider Le Griffon to have been the first ship on the lakes—and hence, the first Queen—also consider her to have been the first lost.

Other sources say the first ship was a smaller vessel built by LaSalle at Fort Frontenac beginning in September 1678, for the purpose of conveying supplies and material to Niagara. This vessel, which is called Frontenac in some reports, is said to have been about 10 tons burthen, measuring from 35 to 45 feet (11 to 14 m) long. Expedition journalists called it a brigantine. It departed Fort Frontenac under La Motte's and Louis Hennepin's leadership on November 18, 1678, and arrived at the east bank of the Niagara River on December 6, 1679. Shortly thereafter, LaSalle and Tonty came with more supplies, and their vessel (carrying the anchor, rigging, and guns for Le Griffon) foundered in the surf less than thirty miles (48 km) from Niagara. Hennepin called this vessel a "great bark." One source says the loss occurred on January 8, 1679. Supplies and extra clothing were lost, but LaSalle and his men rescued material for the ship, dragged them to the mouth of the Niagara, rested a few days in an Indian village, and arrived at the settlement above the falls on January 20. Some say the lost vessel was Frontenac. Historian Francis Parkman says that by 1677, there were already four vessels on Lake Ontario between 25 and 40 tons burthen. He does not say if any of them were named. Tonty's journal indicates that the vessel he and LaSalle used was a 40-ton vessel, but he does not associate a name with it.

Records of ship sizes on the lakes between 1678 and 1816 are rare. According to the Detroit Tribune, the vessels Gladwin, Lady Charlotte, Victory, and Boston were on the lakes in 1766 and Brunswick, Enterprise, and Charity were launched in 1767, 1769, and 1770, respectively, but no dimensions are given. HMS Ontario, at 80 feet (24 m), was launched on Lake Ontario on May 10, 1780, and sank in a storm on October 31, that same year. A history of Washington Island in Door County, Wisconsin notes that the schooner Washington, used to supply the fitting out of Fort Howard at the head of Green Bay in 1816, was the longest ship on the lakes at the time, but no details are given.

A succession of Queens

On September 7, 1816, the steamer Frontenac was launched. She was fitted out as both a schooner and a side-wheel steamer and designed for both passenger and freight transport. At 170 feet (52 m) she laid claim to the honor of longest active vessel on the lakes, though she saw service only on Lake Ontario. She was scrapped at Niagara in 1827, and the next verifiable Queen was not launched until 1830.

The chart below identifies the succession of vessels known to qualify as Queen of the Lakes from 1813 to the present. The succession of queens is not known to be continuous before David Dows. Those from Frontenac through City of Buffalo were side-wheel steamships, though Michigan, like Frontenac was dual fitted as an operational schooner. The heyday of the luxurious passenger steamers was waning even as some of them were launched. Mississippi, Plymouth Rock, and Western World were all out of service by 1859, and the Queens that had not already been lost by 1862 were rebuilt as barges or schooners or dismantled within a year. Nebraska was a propeller-driven steamer for freight and passenger use, but given what had happened to her predecessors, she was likely not so richly appointed. In 1904, Nebraska was refitted as a lumber carrier, after which time she resembled a classic bulk carrier. David Dows was a 5-masted schooner used primarily for transporting wheat. Susquehanna, Owego, and Chemung were propeller-driven package freighters. The whaleback Christopher Columbus was a celebrated passenger vessel. Onoko and all other vessels from Curry on were or are propeller-driven bulk carriers.

The steamship Quebec, launched in 1865, appears in lists of Great Lakes vessels. At 283 feet, she was longer than both Nebraska and David Dows, but her service was on the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec, not on the Great Lakes proper. She continued in service for many years and was dismantled in 1938.

Notes

1. USS Superior and HMS St Lawrence were still afloat, but were inactive.
2. Available records indicate only her tonnage. At 1,605 tons she was 80% larger than USS General Pike. Her length, therefore, could have been about 180 feet. At her launch she was the largest ship in the U.S. Navy
3. Two other U.S. Naval vessels, USS New Orleans and USS Chippewa, were under construction at Sackett's Harbor, New York in 1815. At 204 feet and 2,805 tons they might have shared the title, but they were not finished before the end of the war and were never launched. They were sold for scrap in 1833.
4. Not active after the war
5. This is the length of her gun deck. LOA was slightly more. At 2,305 tons she was not as large as the American vessels planned and under construction the following year.
6. She was the only first-rate ship-of-the-line built by the British Navy for fresh water seas.
7. See further details at HMS St Lawrence
8. The files at BGSU say she was 147 feet. The report in say she was 160 feet. Contemporary length figures sometimes refer to keel length, sometimes to deck length, sometimes to length overall. If the Kingston Chronicle figure is correct, Great Britain eclipses Michigan. The hull of Great Britain was converted to a barque in early 1845, and renamed Eleanora. The final disposition of Eleanora is not known. Links accessed March 12, 2011
9. Thompson says that Great Western was the largest for a time, as do a number of contemporary reports. Built in 1839, at 183 feet, Great Western was the first ship with a second passenger deck. A search of transcripts of contemporary newspaper articles at indicates that three other vessels were longer, even though Great Western with a wider beam had greater capacity. The Great Lakes paddle steamer Great Western is not to be confused with the oceangoing SS Great Western.
10. Not to be confused with a later side-wheel steamer of the same name.
11. Contemporary reports list 330, 340, and 350 feet.
12. Dismantled in 1862 her hull was converted into a propeller freighter April 11, 1864.

Citations

1. The source of data for this article, unless otherwise cited, is the book Queen of the Lakes by Mark L. Thompson or the vessel files included in the Historical Collections of the Great Lakes Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. Where contradictions in records have been found, the data from Mark Thompson's book has been given preference.
2. Boatnerd Great Lakes Shipwrecks Q Archived May 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Accessed February 28, 2011
3. Lewis, Walter Queen of the Lakes (Propeller) Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Image search; Accessed February 28, 2011
4. BGSU Accessed February 28, 2011
5. Modderman, Mary; March 27, 1998 Requiem for a Ferry Queen Accessed February 28, 2011
6. Death of a Great Lakes Queen Archived February 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine LostLiners.com; Accessed February 28, 2011
7. United States Coast Guard, April 21, 2006 "The Need for Ice Breakers on the Great Lakes". Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2011. Accessed February 28, 2011
8. Detroit Free Press Illinois (Steamboat) 20 Apr 1841 Maritime History of the Great Lakes; Accessed March 3, 2011
9. See LaSalle's Griffin and Thompson, pp. 13-14
10. Mansfield, John Brandt (ed.), History of the Great Lakes, J.H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1899, p. 81
11. Cox, Isaac Joslin; The journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle. Volume 1, (hosted by the Portal to Texas History Archived February 10, 2000, at the Wayback Machine)
12. Parkman, Francis; LaSalle and the Discovery of the Great West; Little, Brown, & Co.; Boston; 1879; p. 109
13. Cox, p.2
14. About the Great Lakes Early Sail and Steam Vessels Archived February 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Accessed March 3, 2011
15. About the Great Lakes History and Development of Great Lakes Ships Archived January 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine; Accessed March 3, 2011
16. Eaton, Conan Bryant (1966). The Naming: A Part of the History of Washington Island. Sturgeon Bay, WI: the Door County Advocate. p. 7.
17. Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 by David and Jeanne Heidler; Accessed March 15, 2011
18. Ships-of-the-Line; Accessed March 20, 2011
19. The Kingston Chronicle on May 14, 1831
20. Cleveland Weekly Herald George Washington (Steamboat) Maritime History of the Great Lakes; Accessed March 14, 2011
21. Maritime History of the Great Lakes
22. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser Empire (Steamboat), 5 Jun 1844 Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Images; Accessed February 28, 2011
23. Lewis, Walter Passenger Steamboat Empire Maritime History of the Great Lakes; Accessed February 28, 2011
24. Buffalo Daily Republic Plymouth Rock (Steamboat) Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Images; Accessed February 28, 2011
25. Buffalo Commercial Advertiser Western World (Steamboat), 21 Apr 1854 Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Images; Accessed February 28, 2011
26. Buffalo Daily Republic Maritime History of the Great Lakes; Accessed March 2, 2011
27. Buffalo Daily Courier (Maritime History of the Great Lakes; Accessed March 2, 2011)
28. The Buffalo Post, et al Maritime History of the Great Lakes; Accessed March 2, 2011
29. Lewis, Walter Empire (Steamboat) U8559, 10 May 1862 Maritime History of the Great Lakes, Images; Accessed February 28, 2011

Sources

• Thompson, Mark L. (1994). Queen of the Lakes. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 9780814343371.
• Historical Collections of the Great Lakes Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio (BGSU) Accessed February 28, 2011

• Queen of the Lakes
• Great Lakes freighters
• Ship names