Captain Alexander McDougall (March 15, 1845 – May 27, 1923) was a Scottish-born American

seaman Seaman may refer to: * Sailor, a member of a marine watercraft's crew * Seaman (rank), a military rank in some navies * Seaman (name) (including a list of people with the name) * ''Seaman'' (video game), a 1999 simulation video game for the Seg ...

who built the

whaleback A whaleback was a type of cargo steamship of unusual design, with a hull that continuously curved above the waterline from vertical to horizontal. When fully loaded, only the rounded portion of the hull (the "whaleback" proper) could be seen a ...

style of cargo and excursion ship. In 1880, he designed a

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

that he felt could withstand the worst lake water and carry the greatest

cargo In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in cas ...

in the least depth of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

. In 1917 he founded

McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company The McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding Company was a large-scale wartime ship manufacturing shipyard, located at Riverside (Duluth), the city of Riverside, near Duluth. McDougall Duluth Shipbuilding was at 110 Spring Street, Duluth, Minnesota, now th ...

to build

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

ships.

Early life

McDougall was born on March 15, 1845, on the island of

Islay Islay ( ; , ) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll and Bute just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The island's cap ...

, Scotland. He was the eldest son of parents Dugald and Ellen McDougall. In 1854, when McDougall was ten, he

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

with his parents to the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

-Scots settlement of Nottawa,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, now part of Collingwood. In 1862, at the age of seventeen, McDougall shipped out on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

after limited schooling. He had time to pursue his hobby of designing ships of

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

, and his experience with the violent

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

s of the Great Lakes prompted him to design the whaleback.

Whaleback

McDougall built his first whaleback

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

on his property in

Duluth Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

, on a site now occupied by Jeff Foster Trucking (formerly Superwood Corp). A whaleback was made of

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

with an unusual design: when fully loaded, only the round portion of the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

could be seen above the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...

. It had a rounded neck so that water would not stand on board, and a spoon shaped

prow The bow () is the forward part of the hull (watercraft), hull of a ship or boat, the point that is usually most forward when the vessel is underway. The aft end of the boat is the stern. Prow may be used as a synonym for bow or it may mean the f ...

to reduce water resistance. Because of its rounded hull, it was also easier to load and unload goods. McDougall conceived of a whaleback that could withstand the worst lake weather with maximal capacity of cargo. At first, he designed it to carry

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

, but later it carried almost every

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...

freighted by cargo ship. Between 1890 and 1893 McDougall built fifteen whalebacks, in collaboration with

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the List of richest Americans in history, wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern hist ...

. Among them was the famous steamer ''Christopher Columbus'', the only passenger carrier. The ''Meteor'', the last whaleback in operation, was constructed as the ''Frank Rockefeller'' in 1896. In all, McDougall built 44 whalebacks. He died on May 27, 1923, at the age of 78.

Drawbacks

The primary problem of the whaleback design was its hatches. The edges of the hatch openings and their covers would get bent, destroying the watertight seal. Collisions between unloading equipment and the hatch edges also often occurred, resulting in slow loading and unloading.

References

General References

*Kucera, Barbara, U.S. Maritime Hall of fame to honor whaleback creator, Duluth News Tribune, May 5, 1982, 2 *Sanders, Carol, Shipping giant was a pioneer, Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, March 10, 1993 *S.S Meteor Designer Hall of Fame Inductee, Superior Evening Telegram, April 12, 1982 *Wilterding, John, McDougall's Dream: The American Whaleback, Printed by Badger Bay printers, Green Bay Wisconsin Jr. Lakeside Publications Ltd, Copyright 1969, {{DEFAULTSORT:McDougall, Alexander 1845 births 1923 deaths People from Islay Scottish emigrants to the United States American shipbuilders * People from Clearview, Ontario