Wire mooring lines.

[Mr Link]

Interesting question.

Looking at the on-line version of the 1869 Thompson's Coast Pilot there are no ads for wire rope. The 1878 version on Google Books does not contain any advertisements, but it is noted that book was falling apart before donation to whatever library scanned it.

http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlak ... p?PubID=22

The earliest ad for wire rope in the Great Lakes region that I could find on Google Books was in this 1873 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory. (link below) On page 388, Gilbert Hubbard & Co. Chandlers in Chicago, advertise " Wire Rope, either Iron or Steel, for Mining, Hoisting or Ferry Purposes" I wonder if they meant cable ferries that used cable for propulsion, or swing ferries, like the one at Port Edward/Fort Gratiot, that used the current to swing across the river. Perhaps they meant both.

Anyway, marine and business directories just a few years later are full of wire rope advertisements.

http://books.google.com/books?id=747hAA ... &q&f=false

[gerry o]

Here's an historical question that I have not come across in my Great Lakes reading. What was the first vessel on the Great Lakes to utilize braided wire mooring lines? Braided wire rigging began c.1864. How far back can wire mooring lines be dated? Thanks all. gerry o.