HERMAN H. HETTLER

The steambarge VAIL, also known as HETTLER, HERMAN H., was built in 1890 in West Bay City, MI. This wooden-hulled vessel featured steel arches, diagonal straps on frames, a steam windlass, steam pumps, a steel boilerhouse, and a reinforced bow for ice. It had one deck and was assigned the hull number 34. James Davidson served as both the builder and master carpenter of the VAIL. The original owner was H.W. Cook and others from Michigan City, Indiana.

The VAIL was powered by a screw propulsion system with a for-and-aft compound engine consisting of two cylinders. It had three masts and a single propeller. The engine, built by H.G. Trout of Frontier Engine Works in Buffalo, New York, in 1889, generated 483 horsepower at 88 revolutions per minute. The vessel was equipped with a 9’6″ x 16′, 120-pound steam firebox boiler constructed by Lake Erie Boiler Works in Buffalo in 1890.

Measuring 200 feet in length, 35 feet in beam, and 13.3 feet in depth, the VAIL had a gross tonnage of 726.33 and a net tonnage of 641.58. It had a capacity of carrying 1600-1800 tons of cargo. The VAIL’s final location was a reef off Trout Point, Grand Island, in Lake Superior. On November 23, 1927, the vessel grounded during a snowstorm. It was transporting bulk salt from Ludington, Michigan, to Duluth, Minnesota, at the time of the accident. The crew members were saved, but the VAIL became a wreck in the underwater depths ranging from 10 to 40 feet.

The VAIL’s history included various ownership changes and notable incidents. It towed BALTIC and ADRIATIC in the Lake Michigan grain trade. In 1896, Henry J. Pauly of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, became the new owner and initiated a rebuild that included the addition of a second deck. The VAIL experienced groundings in Toledo Harbor, Ohio, in Lake Erie in April 1898 and in the Straits of Mackinac. The vessel was repaired in Buffalo, New York, after the latter incident. In 1901, the VAIL underwent bottom caulking.

In May 1906, the VAIL was rebuilt as a lumber barge in Milwaukee, with dimensions of 210 x 34.7 x 13.2 feet and a capacity of 789.51 gross tons and 536.87 net tons. It operated with a single mast. In March 1907, the vessel came under the ownership of W.H. Wood and J.A. Calbick, among others, from Chicago, Illinois. The Herman H. Hettler Lumber Company of Chicago acquired ownership on April 15, 1913, and renamed the vessel HERMAN H. HETTLER. It towed the INTERLAKEN.

The Wenonah Transportation Company of Michigan City, Indiana, took ownership on April 21, 1925. Tragedy struck on November 5, 1925, when the VAIL lost the towbarge JOHN L. CRANE near Crisp Point in Lake Superior, resulting in the loss of seven lives. The vessel was operated by O.W. Blodgett from Bay City, Michigan, around 1925-26. Finally, on November 23, 1926, the VAIL was wrecked, bringing an end to its seafaring days.