115 (barge)

48°41′53″N 86°39′17″W / 48.69806°N 86.65472°W / 48.69806; -86.65472

115 (also known as Barge 115, No.115, or Whaleback 115) was an American whaleback barge in service between 1891 and 1899. She was built between May and August 1891, in Superior, Wisconsin (or West Superior, Wisconsin) by Alexander McDougall's American Steel Barge Company, for the "McDougall fleet", based in Buffalo, New York. She was one of a class of distinctive, experimental ship designed and built by McDougall. The whalebacks were designed to be more stable in high seas. They had rounded decks, and lacked the normal straight sides seen on traditional lake freighters. 115 entered service on August 25, hauling iron ore from Superior.

In December 1899, while being towed by the whaleback freighter Colgate Hoyt from Two Harbors, Minnesota, for Lake Erie with a load of iron ore, the two vessels encountered a storm. After 40 hours of slow progress across Lake Superior, 115 broke away from Colgate Hoyt at 6:05 a.m., on December 13. Colgate Hoyt searched for her for four hours, but due to the scarcity of fuel on board, she was forced to proceed to Sault Ste. Marie. After drifting around Lake Superior for five days, 115 crashed into Pic Island, near Marathon, Ontario. Her crew made it to shore in a makeshift raft, walking for several days, before being located by crew from the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The wreck of 115 was located in 1980, at a depth of between 40 and 80 feet (12.2 and 24.4 m) of water.

115 was a whaleback, an innovative but unpopular ship design of the late 1880s, designed by Alexander McDougall. A Scottish immigrant, Great Lakes captain, inventor and entrepreneur, McDougall developed the idea of the whaleback as a way to improve the ability of barges to follow a towing vessel in heavy seas. Whalebacks were characterized by distinctive hull shapes with rounded tops, lacking conventional vertical sides, and conoidal ends. Their rounded hulls enabled water to easily slide off their decks, minimising friction, and letting them sail quickly and smoothly through the water. Their superstructure was located on turrets mounted on the main deck. The rounded contours of whalebacks gave them an unconventional appearance, and McDougall's ship and barge designs were received with considerable skepticism, resistance, and derision. As they had porcine-looking snouts for bows, some observers called them "pig boats".

After McDougall was unable to persuade existing shipbuilders to try his designs, he founded the American Steel Barge Company in Superior, Wisconsin, in 1888, and built them himself. McDougall actively promoted his design and company by sending the steamer Charles W. Wetmore to London, and starting another shipyard in Everett, Washington, which built the steamer City of Everett. Despite McDougall's further efforts to promote the design with the excursion liner Christopher Columbus, whalebacks never caught on, with only 44 of them being built.

115 (also known as Barge 115, No.115, or Whaleback 115) was constructed in 1891, in Superior (or West Superior), Wisconsin, by the American Steel Barge Company. Her first hull frames were laid down on May 21, 1891. She was launched on August 15, of that same year. 115 was identical to the barge 116, launched later in August. She was 256 feet (78.0 m) long and 36 feet (11.0 m) wide, and her hull was 18.75 feet (5.7 m) deep. She had a gross tonnage of 1,169 tons, and a net tonnage of 1,110 tons. She was an unrigged barge, and was towed by a steam-powered ship.

115 was built by the American Steel Barge Company for the fleet of the same name based in Buffalo, New York. She was enrolled in Duluth, Minnesota, on August 20, 1891, and was given the US official number 53268. Her home port was Buffalo. 115 entered service on August 25, carrying iron ore from Superior, Wisconsin.