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The "Sport" holds special interest to
me as my g,g,g,grandfather Johannes von Steffke, was one of
the organizers of the Wyandotte Iron Shipbuilding Works and
was hired directly by Kirby to help start the initial iron
shipyard for Captain Eber Ward - he was a Prussian
shipbuilder (from Stettin & Danzig Pomerania) and was one of
the few men in the country with practical experience
building steel merchant ships. At the time (1870) only
the Clyde region of Scotland and the German cities of
Stetting & Danzig had produced successful and cost
effective, steel vessels in any substantial numbers
......four generations of my family worked in managing the
various yards from 1870 to 1920...
I have built about a dozen models of the "Sport" (in her
various rigs) for collectors and museums and I am constantly
refining her lines and details, based on new information I
am always on the look-out for. In the photo here, she is
depicted as originally built c. 1880 (though, of course, she
was launched in 1873). She was very different from the "Port
Huron era" of her tenure (and the wreck) as a work boat, at
this time. The details and color scheme are taken from a
very poor, but surviving photo of her in Ludington, her
original home port.
More info on the
wreck of the Sport.
Great model of the classic
Great Lakes Steam Tug, the Sport. This tug can still be
visited, at the bottom of Lake Huron, just 3 miles off the
Lexington shore. Keith did a fine job with this model!! |
