EARLY DANBURY-MARBLEHEAD TRANSPORTATION - Lorrie Halblaub

The First Ships in the Area

Before the invention of the automobile, transportation on the Marblehead Peninsula was by walking, or by horse, horse-drawn wagon, buggy, or sleigh. To travel off the Peninsula, one could go by boats that were propelled by oars or sail.

In 1818, the first Great Lakes steamboat, Walk-in-the-Water, provided service to the area. The boat transported people and supplies all around Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan. The ship could travel anywhere, anytime, without having to worry about which way the wind was blowing.

Built in Black Rock, New York, by Noah Brown of the Lake Erie Steamboat Company, the dimensions of the sidewheeler were: 132 feet long, 32 feet wide, and had a draft of 6 ½ feet. She also had two masts with sails in case the wind was favorable, thereby saving on fuel. Eyewitness accounts say the ship had a white hull with black transom and gold-painted decorations. An interesting fact is that since she was a sidewheeler, she was launched sideways!

The engine was built in New York by Robert McQueen. It was a 73-horse crosshead steam engine that burned wood and could reach speeds between six and ten miles per hour. It took about nine days to go from Buffalo to Detroit, with stops at Cleveland and Sandusky. The cost was $18, including a cabin. For a bunk in steerage, the fare was about half that. Around a hundred passengers could be booked in cabins and more could rough it on the steerage deck. Passengers aboard the ship enjoyed a dining room, smoking room, and baggage room.

A four-pound cannon was mounted to the deck. Was it there to fight the natives? To fight the British? Scare off pirates? No. It was to announce the coming and going of the sidewheeler. She drew a crowd whenever she came to port. The cannon was used until the invention of the steam whistle.

The demise of Walk-in-the-Water came a little over three years after her launch. On November 1, 1821, she was wrecked during a gale near Buffalo. It was the first steamboat wreck on Lake Erie. The hull of the vessel, stressed by the force of the storm, began leaking and around 10 pm. Three anchors were dropped but could not hold the ship. Around 4:30 am, the captain called all the passengers to the deck so they would not be trapped below. Without being able to see any lights on shore, they cut the anchors and drifted toward land near the Buffalo lighthouse. A huge wave lifted the ship and it crashed down on its keel on the beach. All hands and passengers survived, but the cargo and the ship were a loss. The engine was later salvaged and put in a new steamboat, Superior, which took over Walk-in-the-Water’s route.

It was not long before regular public transportation was available on all the Great Lakes via ferry, passenger boats, and ships. As soon as Marblehead Peninsula had a dock, around 1835, it became a destination. Lakeside’s dock, in 1873, brought passengers regularly, and Bay Point was the place to catch a ferry to Sandusky.