1878 City of Detroit 1 1940
Composite sidewheel overnight passenger and package freight vessel, later barge
Built at Wyandotte MI by Detroit Dry Dock Co., Hull 31
Launched Dec 22, 1877
234’ LBP, 35’ beam, 22’9” depth
2 decks, coal-fired boilers, vertical beam engine, 1800 IHP (engine from steamer R. N. Rice of 1866)
Enrolled at Detroit MI May 11, 1878 (#85)
234.0 x 36.0 x 13.0, 1094.68 GT, 811.94 NT US 125662 to:
Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Co., Detroit MI (home port Detroit MI)
Entered service 1878
Renamed City of the Straits 1893
Fleet name changed 1898 to Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co.
See history in Detroit Marine Historian July-Aug 1958
Also in Great Lakes Ships We Remember p. 107
X082
Hi:
I believe my great grandfather was a pilot on this ship.
I would appreciate any history or pictures with regards to it.
His name was Malcolm McLachlan.
Thank you!
My notes say there were two McLachlan captains on D & C boats at the beginning of the 20th century, Archibald and Duncan. Don’t find a Malcolm. Ask Roger LeLievre to get you a picture of the vessel at knowyourships@gmail.com.
I am searching for information about Archie “pilot” McLachlan, Son of Archibald McLachlan 1818-1901 & Catherine McIntyre 1820-1897 Brother of Capt. Duncan and Malcolm McLachlan and would appreciate any information about Archie,
Great Lakes Maritime History…History of the Great Lakes Vol. 2 by J.B. Mansfield Published Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co. 1899
https://www.linkstothepast.com/marine/captainsMc.php#mclachlanah
MALCOLM MCLACHLAN Born Dec.14, 1849 – May 8, 1921
Son of Archibald McLachlan 1818-1901 & Catherine McIntyre 1820-1897
Malcolm McLachlan, pilot on the City of Detroit, belonging to the Detroit & Cleveland line, is a native of Argyleshire, Scotland, and a son of Archibald McLachlan, a fisherman and sailor of that place, who in 1869 brought his family to the New World and has since made his home in Canada. In tracing the ancestry of our subject we find a sturdy race of seafaring men and fisherman living on the coast of Scotland, and coming down to the present time there are two other members of the family beside himself on the water, his brothers commanding boats of the Detroit & Cleveland line. On his father’s fishing boats in Scotland Malcolm McLachlan obtained his rudimentary knowledge of sailing, and soon after coming to America he found employment on the Great Lakes, first as wheelsman on the J. L. Hurd and later on the R. N. Rice, remaining on the latter boat for some time; he was serving as second mate on that vessel when she was burned at Detroit. The following season he accepted a similar position on the City of Detroit, which is now the City of Straits, and during the ten years of his connection with that vessel he rose from second mate to pilot. On the completion of the new City of Detroit, he was made pilot on her and has since acceptably filled that responsible position. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic order.
On January 6, 1885, Mr. McLachlan wedded Miss Margaret Leitch 1860-1936, a young lady of Scotch parentage and Canadian birth, and to them have been born six children -Duncan 1885-1929, Malcolm, Archie 1888-1892, James, Nicol and Mary Bell, all living, with the exception of Archie. The family reside in Detroit, where Mr. McLachlan’s marine duties keep him the greater part of the time.
Have 1880 Census record that states my GGF Thomas C. Robinson was a ‘steamboat clerk’ and believe it may have been with this ship. Living in Detroit at that time, age 60. Born in New York.
Thank you