F. Leighton – Port Huron

F. Leighton was a shipbuilder based in Port Huron, Michigan, active during the mid-to-late 19th century. The year 1867marks the construction of several vessels under his name, including the Topsy, a wooden schooner.

Port Huron, located at the southern tip of Lake Huron, was a significant shipbuilding center during this time. The city was well-situated for shipbuilding with access to the Great Lakes, making it an ideal location for the construction of schooners, steamers, and other types of vessels used for transporting goods across the region. Shipyards in Port Huron built a range of vessels—primarily wooden schooners—which were instrumental in the bustling trade between the lakes and other waterways.

The shipbuilding era in Port Huron, including Leighton’s shipyard, coincided with a period of rapid industrial growth on the Great Lakes. During the 1860s, the demand for transportation of raw materials like lumber, coal, and grain was high, and schooners, with their large cargo holds, were the workhorses of the Great Lakes fleet.

Though F. Leighton’s shipyard isn’t as well known today as some of the larger shipyards in other cities like Cleveland or Detroit, it played a crucial role in the development of the Great Lakes commercial fleet. Unfortunately, many of the exact details about Leighton’s operations are sparse, but based on the available records, we can infer that vessels built by him, like the Topsy, were built for hard work—primarily cargo transport across the Great Lakes and into the surrounding rivers.

• The Topsy was a wooden schooner built in 1867 by F. Leighton in Port Huron, Michigan. The vessel was 101 feet long, 25 feet wide, and had a depth of 8 feet. It had a gross tonnage of 146 tons and a net tonnage of 139 tons, which placed it in the smaller range of Great Lakes schooners. At the time of its loss, the Topsy was carrying a hold and deckload of lumber. On June 9, 1891, while downbound near Waugoschance Point in the western Straits of Mackinac, the Topsy encountered a fierce storm. The storm caused the vessel to strand, and despite the crew’s efforts to escape, the ship was wrecked. Fortunately, all crew members survived the ordeal. However, the Topsy was a total loss, valued at approximately $3,000.