Until the late 17th century, records show no vessels other than birch canoes were used to cross Lake Erie. These must have been incredibly dangerous trips for those Native Americans and French traders, but danger was a way of life for everyone of that time.
When migration began in earnest here, the French explorer, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, ordered the first vessel built to make journeys with cargo to trade and sell, as well as for passengers traveling for a variety of reasons. He placed the project under the charge of Henry de Tonti and the missionary Father Lewis Hennepin in early 1679. They built the wooden two-masted Griffon in the wilderness just north of Niagara with local forest materials. It was approximately 45 feet long and weighed between 45 and 60 tons, with five brass cannons. The vessel was launched in August of 1679 and headed to Lake Michigan to participate in fur trading.
In September 1679, the bark Griffon was sent to Fort Frontenac, at the mouth of the Cataraqui River, where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario. She was loaded with furs to be used to pay la Salle's creditors and to deliver supplies to his expedition at the southern end of Lake Michigan. By the end of November 1679 the Griffon had not arrived, having gone down in a September storm in northern Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes’ earliest shipwrecks.
Although Ottawa County did not have a major shipbuilding industry, scows, schooners and steam boats were being built on and along the rivers and shores here from the late 17th century on. Then, between 1872 and 1874, the schooner C. B. Benson was built by Captain John Duff, a “veteran saltwater skipper” of Port Clinton, on the river near the current Port Clinton Yacht Club’s property. The ship was “three-masted and square rigged forward,” 720 tons and 136 feet long, and one of the most famous to be connected with Portage River commerce, including Port Clinton.
On the Benson’s first trip, Capt. Duff and his son John, first mate, sailed from Toledo with 23,600 bushels of corn, docking at Cork, Ireland, after a perilous journey. The cargo was delivered to England, then the ship was loaded with coal she delivered to South America, where she took on bone phosphate and headed to London. There the Benson loaded steel rails for Montreal. She carried lumber to Buenos Aires from Canada and then bone phosphate to England. From there she took a short trip to Glascow, picked up coal and sailed to British Guiana. The Benson took on sugar for New York, carried coal up to Montreal, then returned to Lake Erie.
After that lengthy and treacherous trip, the “Great Storm of 1893” ravaged our lakes, causing the loss of 60 ships, including the Benson. She was lost near Canada’s Port Colburn, with all aboard. The Duff family also lost the Nellie A. Duff, built by Captain Curtice, off Lorain in 1895, and the Kate Winslow off Manistique in 1897.
Meanwhile, during the 1880s, the steamer B. Ingwerson had been built in Port Clinton, and the steamer Philip Walters was built and run by Captain Isaac Gillespie. Also built were the above-mentioned Nellie Duff; a schooner by Captain Harper; a schooner by Captain Thomas Knight; and a schooner called Faugh-a-Ballagh. This last vessel may have taken her name, translated from the Gaelic as “Clear the Way,” from her construction, which was described as an “ungainly scow with a tremendous beam,” difficult to maneuver. The Philip Walters was hit by a water spout and went down in 1887 off Lorain. Capt. Gillespie, two sons, and Louis Floro escaped, but Mrs. Gillespie and their two other children did not.
That same decade saw relatively heavy commerce conducted on the Portage River, and consistent dredging and other navigation necessities kept the waterways in prime condition. This dangerous but productive era gave way to a time of more efficient means of transport and commerce. The following decades saw fewer ships in this area, but more commercial fishing, charters, and pleasure boating. The dangers of Lake Erie’s shallow waters became well known and generally respected, and Port Clinton took its place in maritime history, its people having worked with the elements on both land and water in order to move into its future.