Boatnerd Discussion Forum

The Iron Queen was one of a half dozen wooden bulk freighters, half powered and half schooner barges, built for a Detroit operator at the old Detroit Dry Dock Co. in the 1880s. The shipyard moved to Wyandotte as the Detroit Shipbuilding Co. when steel hulls replaced wooden ones (For a short period any wood vessels were built at the Detroit yard and the steel ones at Wyandotte -- with all cabins installed at Detroit.)

The Iron Queen was the last of the series, built in 1887. She was sold off the Lakes in 1913 and foundered in the Atlantic in 1926. One of the class was an early barge for the Pringle Barge Line Co., which many of you may remember in the coal trade from Toledo to power companies on the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers.

Was this a sailing freighter (I see masts & sails in the photo) or was it propelled by an engine? What was the chimney for? Is the part of the boat nearest the bottom of the photo the bow or the stern? And how would the anchors be repositioned on the deck rail when they were retrieved from the water?

The Iron Queen was one of several large wooden schooner-barge consorts built in the late 1880s by the Detroit Dry Dock Company for Capt. James Millen's Detroit Transportation Company. She was launched 30 September 1887, and was towed by the steamer, shown, Iron King, built the same year at Wyandotte. The sails were used primarily for emergency propulsion should the schooner-barge be separated from its towing steamer, or on occasion used to provide additional handling stability while under tow. The "chimney" was for a donkey boiler that served a small, one-cylinder steam engine that was used to hoist sails and the anchors. The anchors were raised with the engine, and then, using the capstan clearly shown, raised by hand, then positioned and secured upon the two "catheads" (the large white blocks shown beneath the anchors), in standard schooner practice. I believe one can see a line attached to the top of the left anchor and leading to the capstan in the photograph. The Iron Queen went to the East Coast for use as a tow barge in the Virginia-New England coal trade, and was lost off New Jersey in 1926.

I believe the Iron Queen to be a sailing schooner that was towed by a powered vessel. This was quite common on the Great Lakes about 1870-1900. It had fore and aft sails which were used at times when the schooner was in open water ways. It was towed when transiting through confined water ways such as river and locks. Yes, they had a boiler on them for heat, cooking, and most important steam for winches and donkey engines. As to the anchor, look at picture again and seen a capstan next to the man of the forecastle, the bow, it looks like he is holding a capstan bar. The bow appears in the picture near the viewer.

I think she was a barage towed by the Iron King which is along side her. The stack was most likely for steam power and heat aboard the vessel.

In the latest Historical Perspectives there is a photo of the Iron Queen. Was this a sailing freighter (I see masts & sails in the photo) or was it propelled by an engine? What was the chimney for? Is the part of the boat nearest the bottom of the photo the bow or the stern? And how would the anchors be repositioned on the deck rail when they were retrieved from the water?

Thanks in advance.