Cornwall & Lester – Newport (Marine City)

Cornwall & Lester – Shipbuilders of Newport (Marine City), Michigan

Overview

Cornwall & Lester was a shipbuilding firm based in Newport, Michigan (now known as Marine City, Michigan), a significant center for Great Lakes shipbuilding in the 19th century. The company was active during the mid-to-late 1800s, producing wooden steamers, schooners, and other commercial vessels for use on the Great Lakes.

Marine City, located on the St. Clair River, was home to several shipyards that built freight haulers, passenger vessels, and tugboats, playing a key role in the Great Lakes maritime industry. Cornwall & Lester contributed to this legacy by constructing vessels suited for bulk freight, logging, and passenger transport.

Notable Vessels Built by Cornwall & Lester

One of the most well-documented vessels built by Cornwall & Lester is the sidewheel steamer WAVE (1864–1874):

• Built in 1883 by a shipbuilder named Lester in Marine City, Michigan, the C. W. Wells was a 66-foot-long wooden tug with a narrow 14-foot beam and a 7-foot draft, making her well-suited for both harbour work and operations in shallow coastal waters like those near Bar Point in Lake Erie. Her wooden hull, common for tugboats of the era, housed a steam-powered propeller engine that provided the force needed to tow much larger vessels. Despite her relatively small size, she played an important role in regional maritime commerce, particularly around Detroit, where the busy waterways of the Detroit River and Lake Erie required constant tugboat support.
• Wave (1864) – The Wave was built in 1864 as a wooden-hulled, sidewheel steamer designed for bulk freight transport. Her primary role was hauling logs and timber—a crucial industry in Michigan’s lumber boom during the mid-to-late 19th century.

Marine City, Michigan: A Key Shipbuilding Hub

During the 19th century, Marine City (formerly Newport) was one of the leading shipbuilding centers on the Great Lakes, with several shipyards constructing vessels for:

• The timber trade (hauling logs and sawn lumber from Michigan forests).
• Bulk freight transportation (coal, grain, iron ore).
• Passenger steamboats (serving ports between Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo).
• Tugboats and support vessels (for harbor and river operations).

Cornwall & Lester operated in competition with other well-known Marine City shipbuilders, such as:

• J.B. Butler
• John Oades Shipyard
• A.J. Miller Shipyard

Their contributions helped develop Marine City’s reputation as a center for wooden ship construction before the rise of steel-hulled vessels in the late 19th century.

Further Research and Resources

• Marine City Museum (Marine City, MI) https://marinecitymuseum.org Houses historical records on local shipbuilders and shipyards.
• Maritime History of the Great Lakes http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca Contains ship lists, shipbuilding records, and ownership transfers from Marine City.
• Michigan Shipwreck Research Association https://www.michiganshipwrecks.org Documents wrecks of vessels built in Michigan, including Cornwall & Lester ships.
• Library of Congress – Historic American Engineering Record May contain shipbuilding contracts or records for Cornwall & Lester vessels.

Conclusion

Cornwall & Lester was a mid-19th-century shipbuilding firm in Newport (Marine City), Michigan, contributing to the construction of wooden steamers and schooners for Great Lakes commerce. Their best-documented vessel, the steamer Wave (1864), was destroyed in a fire in 1874. As part of Marine City’s historic shipbuilding legacy, Cornwall & Lester played a role in Michigan’s maritime and industrial expansion. Further archival research may reveal more details about their shipyard, the vessels they built, and their impact on Great Lakes shipping.