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Chief Wawatam The Story of a Hand-Bomber by Frances D. Burgtorf SIGNED #’ w/DJ
Chief Wawatam The Story of a Hand-Bomber by Frances D. Burgtorf SIGNED
Chief Wawatam The Story Of A Hand-Bomber
Frances D. Burgtorf Signed and Numbered # 994
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
320 Pages
Copyright 1976
Contents
Part I - 'Chief Wawatam' - The Railroad Car Ferry At Work
A. INTRODUCTION5
B. A TRIP ON THE BOAT AS SHE CROSSES THE STRAITS THRU THE ICE7
C. THE MEN ON THE 'CHIEF' DESCRIBE THEIR WORK AND THEIR CAREERS1'3
THE FORWARD END14
Thomas A. Jewell . . . John A. Sucharski . . . Patrick Nichols . . . Roy Bauers . . . Leo Forrest Brown . . . James Bishop . .
John Francis Coveyou . . . Harold Taylor . . . Gordon Trainor . . . Bernard F. Lasch . . . Fred J. Grant.
THE AFTER END71
Wirley Stilwell . . . Robert McNamee . . . Richard Kage . . . Robert Thomas Tamlyn . . . Robert C. Wheaton . . . Ivien Barnum . . . Leon Stilwell Sr. - "Dick" . . . Francis Potter . . . William Gallaway . . . Edward Sheber . . . Joseph J. Sayles . . . Kevin McLean . . . Walter Douglas Litzner Jr. . . . Peter Robert Jonas . . . Earl 0. Smith . . . Donald Sutton . . . Leon Stilwell Jr. . . . Perry Yager.
D. MEMORIES OF THE GALLEY BY129
Jake Sheber . . . Harold Thilhorn . . . Joe Lambert . . . Leona Brown.
E. MEMORIES OF FIVE RETIREES 136
Amos Leveille . . . Charles Leveille . . . Joseph Sterk . . . Frank Davis . . . Stan Bauers.
F. FINALE147
Part II - The Former Officers Of The 'Chief Wawatam'
A. THE CAPTAINS149
Louis R. Boynton . . . William McDowell . . . Albert and Granville Boynton . .. William P. Robertson . . . Louis Goudreau . Fred G. Ryerse . . . John Stufflebeam . . . Gerald Stufflebeam . . . Charles "Paddy" Brown . . . Emile Potvin - "Putty" . . . Alexander Tromblay . . . Hillard Bentgen . . . Melvin I. Bishop - "Mike" . . . Charles Closs . . . Robert E. Tamlyn.
B. A WORD ABOUT THE MATES170
C. THE CHIEF ENGINEERS172
Richard Walsh . . . Joe Taylor ... John Goulding ... William Lowery . . . Burton France . . . Leo William Specht . . . Harry Cheeseman . . . Tom Chambers [temporary for Harry Cheeseman] . . . Peter Jonas . . Ivo Coveyou . . . Roy Closs [relief chief] . . . George Thomson [temporary for Clayton Cheeseman] . . . Clayton Cheeseman . . . Wirley Stilwell [served as chief more than once] . . . Evart Powers ...Douglas Bynorth [served as chief more than once] . . . Robert Bentgen [served as chief more than once].
D. A WORD ABOUT THE ASSISTANT ENGINEERS186
E. THE PURSERS187
Joseph Wenzel . . . Stephen Doud . . . Charles E. Lytle, Jr. . . . Robert Clyde Barnes.
Part III - The Formal History Of The 'Chief Wawatam'
A. THE PREDECESSORS OF THE 'CHIEF' IN THE STRAITS OF MACKINAC193
Single quotation marks will be used to identify names of vessels.
NOTE When initials are used for picture credits R. M. F. refers to Robert Morris Fowler,
C. E. B. to Carl E. Burgtorf, and F. D. B. to the author.Page 3
Part III - Continued
B. THE 'CHIEF' IS BUILT IN TOLEDO i96
Charles Calder's Diary ... The keel is laid . . . Work on the boat from keel-laying to launching . . . The 'Chief' is launched . . . Excerpts from the Toledo Blade . . . Specifications . . . Blueprint of the 'Chief' . . . The 'Chief' is admeasured . . . The meaning of the name "Wawatam" . . . Work on the boat from launching to maiden voyage.
C. THE MAIDEN VOYAGE205
The 'Chief' is ready for her trip north . . . The Detroit Free Press is impressed with the new boat . . . John McLaughlin's diary when he was overseer to bring the 'Chief' out ... Richard McLaughlin's memories of the maiden voyage . . . The log for the maiden voyage trip, compass headings, tank capacities.
D. THE EARLY YEARS 210
"We Sang to the Boat" . . . Charles Fulmer remembers the 'Chief's first years . . . Early pictures of the 'Chief' and her ports . . . The 'Chief' celebrates her first Thanksgiving dinner . . . Uniforms and dress in the early days . . . The 'Chief' goes aground at Fly Point ... News items from 1912 . . . The 'Chief' acquires a sister-ship in March, 1913 . . . The officers recommend a crew member in a personal matter . George La Way remembers oiling on the 'Chief' soon after she comes out .. . The 'Chief' has a narrow escape ... The hailing port is changed . . . Alfred Thibault remembers gold, fishing and snake days on the 'Chief' .. . World War I I. . . Early trips to dry dock pages from the trip log . . . The 'Chief' is part of the railroad.
E. THE TWENTIES 225
The twenties a busy time for passenger, freight and auto traffic . . . Dr. Jack Georges recalls traveling by train to the Upper Peninsula . . . George Coffman shares his memories of ninety-three years . . . James Kelty the Santa Claus of Mackinac Straits . . . The winter of the ice blockade . . . Harvey Sailler helps free the 'Chief' with dynamite . . . Don Densmore remembers the ice blockade and hobos . . . 1922 A young lawyer walks across the ice to get to court ... The ice blockade in pictures . . . Pictures from the album of Charles E. Lytle Jr. taken during the twenties . . . A near tragedy while loading the 'Chief' . . . Working on the 'Chief' in the twenties made happy memories for Sarah Proctor Tamlyn . . . Jim Tamlyn's picture and "ticket" . . . The 'Chief's crew pose for their picture on the fantail of the boat picture, list of names, log for that day, time-book entry for that period . . . Joe Merchant explains the picture on the fantail and shares photos from his album . . . Rum on the 'Chief Wawatam' . . . 1923 The 'Chief' is joined in the straits by the State ferry boats . . . Going to school by train and ferry in the twenties . . . Automobile traffic becomes an important item . . . Mrs. Clare Hendee recalls the importance of the 'Chief' in her life . . . 1929 The 'Chief' puts out a fire . . . Depression years . . . Laurence [Pooch] Tamlyn remembers wages and work during the depression and a day when a superstition came true . . . Six interesting sheets from the log of the twenties.
F. THE THIRTIES259
1937 on the Shoals . . . Ice-breaking for the Lake Carriers' Association . . . Hand-written log of the ice-breaking from Cheboygan to White and Lansing Shoals, Escanaba, and Whitefish Bay . Pictures of ice-breaking . . . The late thirties a teenager watches as her father repairs the 'Chief' by Judy La Way Ranville . . . 1939 On the Shoals again . . . 1939 Pictures of 'Chief' on Shoals and diver suiting up ... 1939 Home from dry dock and into the ice . . . Photographing the 'Chief' in the ice explained by Raymond B. Desy illustrated . . . 1939 A broken bucket.
G. THE FORTIES .272
Tidbits from the log . . . Readers Digest records an ice-breaking experiment by Captain Paddy Brown . . . The 'Chief' goes to Buffalo, New York . . . The 'Chief' is joined by the U.S.C.G. Cutter 'Mackinaw' . The 'Chief' helps MGM make a movie on Mackinac Island.
H. THE FIFTIES278
Crew pictures 1950 . . . The 1950's The 'Chief' suffers from loss of revenue . . . Taxi for the MRA . . . Items from the log in the fifties.
I. THE SIXTIES 281
The 'Chief' is replaced twice and returns twice . . . The boilers are repaired . . . The galley closes.
J. THE SEVENTIES286
The 'Chief' survives the I.C.C. hearings . . . July 19, 1971 The 'Chief' goes to dry dock for five-year inspection . . . Pictures in dry dock.
A narrow escape from fire at Manitowoc . . . The 'Chief' is seaworthy and ready to start her sixty-first year of steamboating.
Part IV - A Special Selection of Photographs
By Robert Morris Fowler as the gems book goes to press 297
Although all of us are part of history and all of us have happy moments we seldom recognize a particular occasion to be outstanding either for history or happiness until we have the advantage of retrospection. But on February 12, 1971 when my husband, mother, and I were guests aboard the train ferry, 'Chief Wawatam', for one of her regular trips across the Straits of Mackinac I knew that this was a memorable time in the history of this remarkable boat and the end of a chapter in the history of shipping on the Great Lakes.
Out of all the railroad and automobile ferry boats that used to cross the Straits, night and day, around the clock, the 'Chief Wawatam' was the only one left.
Not only was she the last large ferry boat on the Straits, but because she was built in 1911 she was also a museum piece . . . a traveling museum . . . and still doing the work for which she was specifically designed over sixty years ago. Moreover, she was doing it with much of her original equipment.
Although repairs and replacements had been made through the years, and the installation of modern equipment such as radar and gyroscope had made sailing easier and safer on the ship, the men from her original crew could have come aboard today and felt at home . . . same engines, same Chadburns, same whistle-pulls and whistles, same compass.
The original crew would have felt at home in much of the work also . . . the train table is still cranked up by hand; the captain and mates still send signals to the engineers on the Chadburns; the wheelsman uses the same wheel: the watchmen still watch the pendulum-type list gauge; the water-tender still watches the water glass; the oiler still oils with portable oil cans; the bilges still get scraped with a hand spatula; and the furnaces are still fired by hand.
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