Production Note
Cornell University Library produced this volume
to replace the irreparably deteriorated
original. It was scanned using Xerox software
and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution
and compressed prior to storage using CCITT
Group 4 compression. The digital data were used
to create Cornell * s replacement volume on paper
that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984. The
production of this volume was supported in part
by the New York State Program for the
Conservation and Preservation of Library
Research Materials and the Xerox Corporation.
Digital file copyright by Cornell University
Library 1994.THE WRECK OF
THE WALK-IN-THE-WATER-,
PIONEER STEAMBOAT ON THE WESTERN LAKES.
BY MARY A. WITHERELL jlALMER,
A passenger on its last trip, 1821.
COMMUNICATED TO THE BUFFALO HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN 1865.
The first steamboat built, on the upper lakes was named
the Walk-in-the-Water, not only for its appropriateness, but
for a chief of the Wyandot Indians, who lived with his band
about 12 miles below Detroit, on the margin of the Detroit
River. His Indian name was Mier, and signified a turtle
and his totem or signature was the figure of a turtle.
The boat was built at Black Rock, which place continued
for some time to be her most eastern port and the terminus
of her route, Buffalo at that time having no pier or dock to
accommodate her. She was hauled up the rapids by 16
yoke of oxen, aided by the power of her engine. She made
her trial trip in August, 1818. I was a passenger on her first
regular trip as well as her last. She left Buffalo on her first
. regular trip, Wednesday morning, Sept, i, 1818. She carried
at that time considerable freight and a large number of pas-
sengers, among whom were the Earl of Selkirk, Lady Sel-
kirk, and two children; Col. Dixon, the British Indian agent
for the Northwest; Col. John Anderson, United States En-
gineers, his wife, and wife’s sister, Miss Taylor; Col.
Leavenworth, U. S. A., wife and daughter; Col. Joseph
Watson of Washington City, and Maj. Abraham Edwards.320
WRECK OF THE WALK-IN- THE- WA TER.
She reached Detroit about 9 o’clock Sunday morning, Sept.
5th, and as she ushered in a new era jn the navigation of the
upper lakes, her arrival was hailed * with delight and an-
nounced by the firing of one gun, which custom was con-
tinued for many years. Capt. Job Fish, I think, was her
commander at that time.*
It so happened that on my return from New York with
my husband, Mr. Thomas Palmer, and his sister, now Mrs.
Catharine Hinchman of Detroit, we arrived in Buffalo just
in time to take passage on her last trip. She lay at the pier
on the middle ground. We went on board in a yawl. The
Walk-in-the-Water immediately got under way at 4 o’clock
p. m., the last day of October, 1821, and steamed up the lake.
Before we reached Point Abino the wind came on to blow a.
gale. Captain Rogers, her commander at that time, made
every effort to get behind the Point, but the wind was too
strong ahead. It rained incessantly,. the night was very
dark, and to add to the danger of the situation, the boat be-
gan to leak badly. About 8 o’clock, the captain, finding it
impossible to proceed, put about and steered for Buffalo.
The sailing master (Miller) proposed running the boat into*
the river and anchoring, but the captain said it was so dark
that she might strike the pier in the attempt, and in such case
no human power could save a soul on board. The boat was
run within a few miles of the pier, as the captain supposed,
no light from the lighthouse being visible, although as we
afterwards learned it had been kept brightly burning. Three
anchors were dropped, one with chain, and two with hempen
cables. The boat plunged heavily at her anchorage. This,
I think, was about 10 o’clock in the evening. The leak con-
tinued to increase. The whole power of the engine was ap-
plied to the pumps. The boat dragged her anchors.
* During her short career the Walk-in-the-Water carried many notable pas-
sengers ; among others, Gen. Peter B. Porter, and other officials, of the U. S.
Boundary Commission, under the Treaty of Ghent; Gen. Winfield Scott, and other
officers and troops, en route to Western posts. It was customary, after a success-
ful passage, for her officers to publish testimonials, signed by distinguished pas-
sengers, certifying to the safety, etc., of the steamer. The columns of the Niagara?
Patriot in 1819 and ’20 contain several of these impressive vouchers, which pretty
clearly indicate, by the emphasis laid on the boat’s safety, that a part of the public,
must have steadfastly disputed that point.WRECK OF THE WALK-IN- THE- WA TER. 321
The night was one of terrible suspense. It was the im-
pression of the greater number of those on board that we
should never see the morning. The water gained gradually,
despite every exertion, and it became evident as the night
wore on, that the boat must founder or be run on shore,
which the captain concluded, * either frorfi the sound of the
breakers or from calculation of distances and courses, could
not be far off.
Most of the passengers were calm. One instance of cool-
ness I remember. A Mr. Thurston, when requested to go
on deck and prepare for the worst, replied :	“No; I have
great faith in Captain Rogers. He promised to land me in
Cleveland, and I knpw that he will do it.” He wrapt his
cloak around him and lay down on a settee.
About half past four o’clock in the morning the captain
sent down for all the passengers to come on deck. He had
decided, although ignorant of the exact location, to permit
the boat to go on shore. We could see no lights.. The chain
cable was slipped, and the two hempen ones cut. Drifting
before .the gale, the Walk-in-the-Water, in about a half an
hour,' grazed the beach. The next swell let her down with a
crash of crockery and glass, and the third lifting her farther
up the shore, fixed her immovably in the sand. The swells
made a clean breach over the decks. Some of the ladies
were in their nightclothes, and all were repeatedly drenched.
When daylight came, a sailor succeeded in getting ashore
in a small boat with one end of a hawser, which he tied to a
tree, the other end being tied on board. By the aid of the
hawser all the passengers were taken ashore in the small
boat. I was handed down by the captain to a sailor in the
small boat, who placed me on a seat. My husband was not
so fortunate. A swell carried the yawl ahead just as he
jumped and he went into the water shoulder deep. Ashore,'
we found ourselves about a mile above the lighthouse* in
* Henry Daw’s MS. history of the Walk-in-the-Water, in the Historical So-
ciety’s archives, says: “about eighty rods east of the. lighthouse.” Not far from
this spot the schooner Kingbird, bound for Portland, with a cargo of salt, was
wrecked, Nov. 6, 18J9. In the same gale the British schooner Elizabeth was blown
ashore below the mouth of Buffalo Creek. These wrecks stimulated the citizens of
the village of Buffalo in their determination to make a harbor.322
WRECK OF THE WALK-IN-THE-WATER.
dismal plight, but thankful for the preservation of our lives.
In company with a Mr. Cahoon [Calhoun], who was engi-
neer of the steamer, I ran to the lighthouse. After the lapse
of so long a time, it seems to me that I almost flew along the
beach, my exhilaration was so great.
The lighthouse^keeper, anticipating wrecks or disasters
(I think signal guns had been fired during the night on
board the Walk-in-the-Water), had a roaring fire in his
huge fireplace, by which we remained until carriages came
down for us from Buffalo. The citizens had supposed it
impossible that the boat could iive through the night, and
when at break of day she was descried upon the beach, their
efforts were directed‘to the care of the passengers and crew.
All that could be done for our comfort was done. We were
taken to the Landon House, a two-story frame building,
then the principal hotel in Buffalo. It stood on the brow of
the hill as we went up town from the creek.
We returned to Detroit by wagon, through Canada, a
trip occupying two weeks.
The day after we got back to Buffalo Capt. Rogers called
upon me, and, in the course of conversation, told me that his
assurances to us of safety during the storm, were anything
but heartfelt; that during the gale he had secured the boat's
papers on his person, thinking that should the boat and he be
lost his body would be washed ashore and they v/ould be re-
covered.
Among the passengers now remembered, were Major Jed
Hunt, Lieut. McKenzie, U. S. A.; John Hale, then a mer-
chant of Canandaigua, afterwards a merchant of Detroit;
Jason Thurston of Michigan, Rev. Mr. Hart, a missionary
to Michigan, and wife; John S. Hudson and wife, and a
Miss Osborn, who were on their way to Fort Gratiot, Michi-
gan, to establish a mission for the Indians; Mr. and Mrs.
Latimer, Mr. Palmer, myself and Mrs. Palmer's sister, now
Mrs. Catharine Hinchman of Detroit.
A young gentleman of Buffalo, named J. D. Mathies,
went down to the beach where the wreck lay, and being an
amateur artist, took sketches of it in two different positions,
painted them and sent them to me at Detroit. They are now328
WRECK OF THE WALK-IN-THE WATER.
deposited among the archives of the Michigan Historical
Society.
The deck of the Walk-in-the-Water was like those of
sailing vessels of the present day. The cabins were beneath
the main deck, the afterpart partitioned off for ladies; the
rest was devoted to gentlemen and answered for a lodging,
dining and baggage room. The mast ran down through the
gentlemen’s cabin, and that part in the cabin was set in octa-
gon with small mirrors.
In visiting the wreck a few days after the disaster, I re-
member that, as it lay broadside on, I could almost walk
around it dry shod, the sand had been deposited around it to
such an extent. The oakum had worked out of the seams in
the deck for yards, and the panel-work had become dis-
jointed in many places.
Note.—There are in the archives of the Buffalo Historical Society numerous
other MSS. relating to lake harbors and the early lake marine. Besides the
voluminous memoranda of Capt. Augustus Walker already referred to (p. 287)
there is a very detailed but unliterary history of the Walk-in-the-Water by
Henry Daw, who helped build her; a picturesque memoir of Mr. Daw himself,
by Henry W. Rogers; A History of Black Rock Harbor, Pier, Water Power and
Flouring Mills, by Richard Williams; Lake Travel and Building in Buffalo,
i823j33> being the recollections of Jesse Peck; miscellaneous papers of Capt.
Daniel Dobbins relating to the lakes, 1812-1854; and numerous other unpub-
lished records which shed light on the early years of lake traffic. Some of these
will no doubt appear in subsequent volumes of the Buffalo Historical Society
Publications; and all may be freely consulted at any time at the Society’s
building.