SS Monarch: Construction

SS MONARCH in its early years.

Great Lakes Maritime Collection, Alpena County George N. Fletcher Public Library, 95491_95603_F

Construction

Monarch was built in Sarnia, Ontario on the St. Clair River for a cost between $150,000 and $200,000 (Chicago Inter Ocean, June 27, 1890; Duluth Evening Herald, June 28, 1890). The vessel was built for extended season service on Lake Superior and was strongly reinforced with iron. The hull was of white oak. The vessel was 259.0 feet long overall with a beam of 34.8 feet and 14.8 feet depth, with a waterline length of 245 feet. The registered tonnage was 2,017 gross tons and 1,372 net. The hull was originally painted white to the main deck rail; the cabins were also white.

One of the best descriptions of Monarch appeared in the Duluth Evening Herald (Oct. 22, 1890):

A Beautiful Ship: The magnificent New Monarch of the Beatty Line. Far the Finest Running to Duluth, Destined to be the Popular Passenger Ship of the Upper Lakes ....

On her first trip, which was enjoyed by about thirty passengers, she made an average speed of thirteen miles and hour. She was built, however for a speed of fourteen miles an hour and that rate can easily be attained .... This will make her the fastest passenger boat running into Duluth harbor.

The smoking room and washroom for the gentleman as well as the offices for the captain and purser are on the main deck.

The cabin is finished in white and gold, and will be lighted by electricity. There are sixty-two staterooms and a bathroom. Doors between each alternate stateroom can be thrown open .... Each stateroom has a double lower and single upper berth for nearly 200 passengers.

In the center of the cabin is the pantry and steam tables, the kitchen being on the main deck below. Forward of the pantry is the dining room, there being twelve tables with room for ten people at each. The ice box is a model one and is large enough to hold several tons .... There are five separate holds, the hoisting machinery being operated by pony engines...

The stack of the Monarch is a trifle smaller than that of the Empire, and is a little further astern. The low steel sustaining arch visible amidships on the upper deck of the Empire is in the Monarch clear out of the way below decks thus entirely obliterating one objectionable feature.

SS MONARCH

Patrie Collection

The engine of Monarch was a three cylinder, triple-expansion, inverted, vertical steam engine. The engine required 160 pounds of steam from the two Scotch marine boilers. These boilers were 11 feet 4 inches long and 16 feet in diameter, and were built by the Lake Erie Boiler Works of Buffalo, New York and installed there in July, 1890 (Chicago Inter Ocean, June 27, 1890).

Monarch was appointed with luxury fittings and was unsurpassed for elegance of furnishings until the company built the 321-foot steel steamer Huronic in 1902. Monarch's cabins were finished in white enamel trimmed with gold moldings and carefully crafted.

On the first trip the boat was loaded to capacity, and the working of the new vessel in a heavy sea wedged the stateroom doors shut. When the vessel returned to Sarnia, this was corrected (London, Ontario, Free Press, Dec. 1, 1956). The original appearance of Monarch was completely white; later, its hull was painted black. The pilot house was later raised, and the Texas deck lengthened some 30 feet. Examinations of photographs taken before and after the alteration reveal that there were also port holes installed in the aft crew quarters.

Shipwrecks of Isle Royale

Operational History of the Monarch SS Monarch Home