Erastus Corning is remembered as the last of the full-rigged barks to sail the Great Lakes.
in 1867, the 204-foot-long vessel was found to be improperly rigged to easily navigate the many turns and twists connected
with traversing the waterways connecting the Great Lakes.
1877 the Corning was converted to be a schooner which allowed
more control of the sails from the main deck and faster conversions to deal with changing winds and weather patterns.
Corning was named for the late Erastus Corning, a New York
Congressman, industrialist and railroad pioneer. While the record does not show it, Corning
may have been behind the construction and operation of the ship that bore his name. The vessel was primarily engaged in hauling
iron ore and Corning was heavily involved in the steel industry.
bark was under the command of Capt. George H. Clarke in 1872 when it attempted to rescue passengers and crew on the stranded
steamer Galena on a reef off Alpena. Strangely, after sailors
from the Corning braved the stormy seas and rowed a lifeboat to the Galena,
the Galena declined the offer of rescue. While anchored just
off the reef, the bark took a heavy pounding, with one large sea rolling completely over the deck, nearly swamping the ship.
incident was believed to have been the only serious trouble the Corning
had during its 22-years on the lakes.
vessel was reduced to the status of a tow-barge by the time it met its fate on May 21, 1889, when it grounded on Gull shoal,
off Lake Michigan’s Poverty Island
during a storm.
Corning was laden with its usual cargo of iron ore, and under
tow behind the streamer Roumania, when it hit the shoal, broke her tow line, and started taking on water. The old wooden hull
drifted ashore where the crew got safely away. Before it could be pulled back into deep water the rotting hull broke up under
the heavy pounding of the seas.