Schooner Allen

The three masted schooner E. B. Allen had an eventful yet short life on the Great Lakes. She was built in Ogdensburg, N. Y. in 1864. The Civil War was ending and the development of the Continent was in full swing. Huge numbers of lake boats were needed to move the agricultural products from the upper Midwest to the population centers in the east. For the westerly trip the boats usually carried coal. With a crew of 7-10, an active sailboat could pay for itself in several years of lake trade. By 1885 there were about 7 to 9 thousand craft similar to the Allen working the Great Lakes.

Photo of E. B. Allen

On the night of September 16, 1868 in the pre-dawn hours, the Allen overtook the schooner Persian just north of Rogers City, Michigan. The Allen struck the Persian on the starboard beam aft of amidships. The Allen sailed off in the dark while the Persian sank in 168 feet of water with the loss of all hands. The Allen suffered only minor damage and was returned to freight service.

Three years later it was the Allen's turn to get rammed . She was downbound with a load of wheat from Chicago to Buffalo when on November 18, 1871 in a heavy fog just south of Thunder Bay Island, the bark Newsboy came at her from the port side. There was a heavy crash as the bow of the Newsboy plowed deeply through the side of the Allen, opening up a mortal wound to its cargo hold. The Newsboy drifted off into the fog. As the Allen settled to the bottom, the crew escaped safely in the yawl.

Simplified dive guide to the Allen

The Allen sits upright on the bottom with numerous examples of early schooner construction to view. The large windlass forward is especially impressive. The gash that sent her to the bottom can also be seen clearly. Depth to bottom is 102 feet.

Here is a good shot of the large anchor windlass on the Allen, with some chain still attached. Setting anchor was only done when absolutely necessary because the retrieval, without power, required a long time by the full crew heaving on the crank levers of the windlass. Penetration diving is possible but there are many bolts and planks strewn about to catch on.

The sheet winch shown here, was used to raise the sails. It too was non-motorized, with the crew supplying the muscle. A sail boat used the wind for fuel, thus had low overhead expenses. In periods of calm or low winds of summer, the early steamships plowed along delivering their cargos while the sail boats lingered. By 1900, very few sailboats had survived the competition in the commercial trade.

Color photo of the E. B. Allen created from photo of J. W. Wing, courtesy of Milwaukee Public Library.

Simplified dive guide to the Allen