Robert Logan (naval architect)

Robert Logan
Robert Logan, circa 1911
Born	(1861-03-14)March 14, 1861 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	July 22, 1918(1918-07-22) (aged 57) Cleveland, Ohio
Alma mater	University of Glasgow Royal College of Science and Technology
Occupation	Architect
Practice	Naval architect[1]

Robert Logan (March 14, 1861 – July 22, 1918) was a Scottish naval architect. He was a university graduate of mathematics, science, and engineering. Logan designed and constructed several large ships for various shipbuilding firms worldwide. His first ones were passenger cruise excursion boats and later constructed freighter ships for the American Shipbuilding Company that carried railroad trains across Lake Michigan. He designed the world's first steel train ferry, followed by several more Logan boats that ultimately developed into the world's largest carferry fleet that operated out of Ludington, Michigan.

Early life[]

Logan was born in Scotland, on March 14, 1861. He was a graduate of the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh.^[1] He attended the Royal College of Science and Technology in Glasgow. In 1882 he won the Queen's Prize for mathematics for a college scholarship.^[2]

Mid life and career[]

Logan became chief draftsman for the shipbuilding firm of Mansell and Aiken in Glasgow after graduating from college. Here he gained shipbuilding experience on the River Clyde, where the firm was located.^[3] Logan emigrated to Canada in June 1888 and settled in Owen Sound in Ontario. There he got a job as the superintendent of construction of vessels for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR).^[2] One of the steamships he was involved in constructing was the SS Manitoba from 1888–89.^[4] This passenger steel ship was 320 feet (98 m) long and one of the first large metal vessels to be constructed in Canada. It was in connection with the building of the steamer Manitoba that A.O. Rankin met Logan, who had gone to Canada in the interests of the CPR to superintend the building of this steamer.^[3]

Logan eventually opened his own design firm with A. O. Rankin in Toronto after working for the railroad for several years. The naval architect firm name was Logan & Rankin and they became marine engineers. Logan moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1903 and got a job at the American Shipbuilding Company eventually becoming their general manager. He designed large freighters for the Pere Marquette Railway to use on the Great Lakes to transport their trains across Lake Michigan. The Pere Marquette ferry service for the railway out of Ludington proved to be a great success. It ferried some 27,000 railroad freight cars in 1900 and about 75,000 in 1904.^[5]

Logan designed several ships of railroad transport freighters until his retirement in 1910.^[2] A series of these developed into the world's largest carferry fleet that operated out of Ludington, Michigan.^[6] The entire fleet was in port and photographed on October 29, 1930. They were the Logan designed steel ferries S S Pere Marquette 15, S S Pere Marquette 17, S S Pere Marquette 18, S S Pere Marquette 19, and S S Pere Marquette 20. The S S City of Saginaw 31 (1929) and the S S City of Flint 32 (1930) were there also on that date as sister-ships of the fleet which were added after Logan's death. These subsequent vessels that were constructed were patterned after his boat designs.^[7]

S S Pere Marquette 15 in 1899 loading rail-cars

Logan boats[]

S S Pere Marquette 15 in 1907 about to dock

The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad ("F & PM") ordered in the late nineteenth century the construction of train transport carferries to carry their trains across Lake Michigan.^[8] Their first carferry was given the company's name to keep their name out front in public view.^[9] The SS Pere Marquette was the first steel train ferry in history.^[10] Logan was specifically selected to design it in 1895.^[11] This carferry was constructed in 1896 as a cross-lake ferry to endure the extreme weather conditions of Lake Michigan with the ice.^[3][12] The "Logan boats" had pilot houses with open upper levels and elevated bridge wings, twin smoke stacks with a slight angle slant, and no sea-gate.^[3][13]

The Pere Marquette Railroad merged with two other railroad lines in 1900. The newly formed conglomerate company was called the Pere Marquette Railway company. It renamed and renumbered their freight ships in 1901.^[14] They started their numbering system with number 15.^[15] The first Logan boat constructed thereby received the number 15 designation. The ship's crews referred to her by just the number at the beginning. The name change which involved both the name with its number was not actually done until 1924. From then on it was officially known as the S S Pere Marquette No. 15.^[13] It was originally owned by F & PM and had departed on its maiden voyage out of Ludington on February 19, 1897.^[16]

The merged companies brought in a wooden ferry from one of the other companies called Shenango No. 2. It was renamed the Muskegon since its original travel route across Lake Michigan was out of the town of Muskegon in Michigan and went to the city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin. It was the railway's fourth boat and renamed again later the S S Ann Arbor No. 4 with the "S S" standing for steamship. It ultimately received the name S S Pere Marquette 16 when F & PM's new numbering system took place in 1901.^[5] The system started with the number 15. At that time there was already an order for a new all-steel ferry that was placed with Logan in 1895. This boat while in construction had been referred to as the No. 15 as it was the first in a series of boats designed by Logan.^[13]

The Pere Marquette Railway company ordered in 1901 a steel ferry from American Shipbuilding Company to be designed by Logan. it was the first freighter for the new railway. F & PM was pleased with the performance of their first steel ferry constructed by the naval architect in 1896. This second steel boat ordered from Logan of American Shipbuilding received the designation S S Pere Marquette 17 since the number 16 had already been taken. This steamship was an upgraded version from the previous Logan boat and it was 338 feet (103 m) long, 56 feet (17 m) wide, and had a depth of 19.5 feet (5.9 m) to the main deck. This steamship was constructed with extra strength metal parts and lavish luxury accommodations and had triple expansion engines powered by four boilers like those on the modern Scottish ships at the time. They were 13 feet (4.0 m) high and 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter and generated 175 lb (79 kg) per square inch of steam pressure producing 2,300 horsepower (1,700 kW). The transport ship could carry thirty standard railroad freight cars on its four-track internal platform and had luxury passenger staterooms with better facilities than the first Logan launch. The vessel was 2,775 gross tons and officially registered as US #150906.^[13]

Sinking of Pere Marquette 18 in 1910 and coming to
the rescue is Pere Marquette 17 in the background.^[17]

The third railroad train car ferry ordered from Logan, designated SS Pere Marquette No. 18, was launched at the Cleveland shipyard dock of the American Shipbuilding Company on August 1, 1902. She was christened by Beatrice Logan, the daughter of Robert Logan, who was the design engineer of the all-steel vessel. The new steamship was 350 feet (110 m) long, 56 feet (17 m) in beam, and had a depth of 20 feet (6.1 m) from keel to top of the shell plating. She had six boilers and triple expansion twin engines. The engines were triple compound vertical jet condensing and were equipped with air and cooler pumps. All the engine parts, including shafts and propellers, were extra heavy duty for service in working through the thick lake ice. The boilers worked at a pressure of 175 pounds per square inch (1,210 kPa). They were 13 feet (4.0 m) in diameter, 12 feet (3.7 m) long and had furnaces 3.5 feet (1.1 m) in diameter. The entire hull had inch thick steel shell plates and were doubled for 75 feet (23 m) from the keel to a line 3 feet (0.91 m) above the water line as extra protection against ice.^[18]

The No. 18 ferry was not only a railway freight-car delivery vehicle, but also a cruise ship that could accommodate 5,000 excursionists. It had fifty state-rooms and additional berths for sleeping 250 passengers overnight. It ran at 15 miles (24 km) an hour in two regular twenty-four hour round trips on her Lake Michigan route from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. F & PM superintendent William L. Mercereau authorized Logan's all steel transport cost of $400,000.^[19] It was claimed by The Daily Herald newspaper to be one of the fastest boats on Lake Michigan.^[19] The first No. 18 sank to the bottom of Lake Michigan with 31 out of its 64 crew members dying.^[20] A second No. 18 ferry was built in 1911. Ships No. 17, No.18, and No. 19 followed the general Logan boat layout design of Pere Marquette No. 15 ferry.^[5][6]

Personal life[]

Logan was a Thirty-second Degree Mason, Mystic Shrine, Scottish Rite, and a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.^[2] He married a Eliza Boyd in Scotland in 1883.^[1] Logan was general manager for the American Shipbuilding Company until his resignation in 1910. He then maintained a private office in Cleveland as a consulting engineer, which he operated until his death.^[2] He died in his home in Cleveland on July 23, 1918.^[21] At the time of his death he was survived by three daughters. He was also survived by a son, Corporal Edmund A. Logan. He had two sisters residing in Scotland at the time.^[22]

References[]

Sources[]

• "Obituaries". Transactions of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers 1918. New York: Society of Naval Architects. 1919. p. 309.
• Penton (1911). Marine Review. Penton Publishing Company.
• Penton_Steel (1918). Steel, Volume 63. Penton Publishing Company.