As we casually jump into our vehicles this Christmas season to visit family, it is easy to forget that this ease of transportation did not always exist. In probably the earliest newspaper I've read, the Maumee Express, Maumee City, Ohio, published on June 17, 1837, an account of available transport on the Maumee River was advertised. I would guess that travel was not available during some of the winter months, but the time here was summer.
"Upper Maumee Navigation
The steamboat, Gen'l Wayne, H. C. Williams, Master, will leave the head of the rapids every day at 1:00 P.M. for the foot of Flat Rock where there will be coaches and teams in readiness to covey passengers and freight to Defiance.
Passengers leaving Maumee city and Perryburg in the morning will arrive at Defiance the same day. Returning will leave Defiance at 6 o'clock in the morning and arrive at the head of the rapids at 12:00 M, where coaches will always be ready for Maumee city and Perrysburg.
Also a barge fitted up for passengers and freight will leave Defiance every Friday for Fort Wayne (Ia.) running through in three days.
During high water the steamboat will run regularly between the head of the rapids and Fort Wayne. For freight or passengers, apply to the Master on board or to:
O. H. Harris - Providence
G. C. Mudgett & Co - Brunersburg
White & Kirtlaad, S. A & J. H. Sargent - Maumee city
June 3, 1837"
The Anthony Wayne (General Wayne) steamboat was brand new at this time, having been built in Perrysburg in 1837. It was a wooden hull boat with engine and boilers. Several times during her use, she caught fire or had high wind damage.
In 1849, the General Wayne went through a rebuild and was given a new engine and boilers. Her last voyage was on April 28, 1850, in Lake Erie. Two of her boilers exploded and down she went. A full account of the disaster was found in the Clermont Courier, Batavia, Ohio, on May 2, 1850.
"TERRIBLE EXPLOSION OF THE STEAMER ANTHONY WAYNE ON LAKE ERIE - FROM 35 - 40 PERSONS LOST
Cleveland, April 29, 1850 - The steamer Anthony Wayne blew up opposite Vermillion. The first mate says the Wayne came to Sandusky with 10 steerage passengers and 20 in the cabin. From Sandusky, she took from the train 24 passengers and her crew numbered 20. Total 74, Nineteen of the crew and 30 passengers saved, are likely to recover. The total lost and missing estimated at from 35 to 40.
Passengers known to be killed are: Matthew Falkner of Sheffield, Massachusetts; Henry McDonough of Trenton, Michigan;Wiley Robinson, John Williams, and Harvey Kelly, cooks and waiters, and Ebix Cartwright, a deckhand.
The missing are: John Bioner and James O'Neal, fireman; Whitney Parson, porter. Henry Blair, deckhand, badly scalded.
Fifteen of the crew, including both mates, clerk, saloon-keeper, two wheelmen, three firemen, one porter, two deckhands, the barber, and chambermaid were saved. The passengers saved are: D.A. Eddy of Cleveland; C. Mollen, H. B. Pellinger, of Cleveland; Dr. Balcom, John C. Waggoner, Chas J. Smith, of Hillsdale, Mich.; Cole VanHorn of Alton, Ill.; John Wood of Oxford, O.; Caroline Kimball and child of Springfield, O.; John Ellis of Mt. Hope,Mich, H. W. Guyon, wife and children of Toledo, O; a passenger from St. Louis, name not known; Edmond Kelly, wife and two children; -- Fitch of Peru, Huron County; Mrs. Smith, wife of the keeper of Smith's Hotel at Doane's Corners; Edward Cavanaugh of Troy, N.Y.steward of Mt. Clemens, Mich.; Franklin Freeman of Detroit; A. H. Meade, bar-keeper, Myron Titus of Dayton, O.; O. W. Hart of Perrysburgh; the wife and child of John M. Ellis, of Mount Hope, Mich.
The explosion occurred about one o'clock on Sunday morning. The schooner, Elmira, Capt. Nugent was hailed, and she brought the killed, wounded and surviving to Sandusky,
The Wayne was an old boat, not in the regular line with the Buffalo and Sandusky steamers. She was owned by Chas. Howard of Detroit. Insurance $10,000. The accounts vary as to the number on board."
The wreck was discovered on the lake floor in 2005 in 50 feet of water, and in January 2018, the wreck of the Anthony Wayne was listed on the National Historic Register.
Read the story of its discovery HERE. The law does not allow for these wreckages to be brought up from their watery home, as researchers have found that the wood dries and crumbles when exposed to air. Then all historical value is lost. But, on this website, photos of the Anthony Wayne underwater may be seen.
