Before there was any hype at Silo City, there was 'Swannie' Jim and his boat. Swannie has been helping to take care of the Silo City site ever since Rick Smith first purchased the property. In his spare time, in-between cleaning out the silos, Swannie began to piece together the seaworthy craft of his dreams. It was an admirable project that took up much of Swannie's spare time. The pure passion behind the initiative - one man building a sizable ship - was enough to get the craft to a state of near completion. Then, as Silo City began to evolve, Swannie found himself spending less and less time on building his ship - a tall ship replica of the sloop Trippe.
As years passed, Swannie's incomplete boat sat at Silo City, just waiting for Swannie to return. Eventually some friends realized that Swannie was not going to get back to working on the Trippe, and a plan was needed that would see the ship to completion. In stepped the Buffalo Maritime Center to deliver the ship from Silo City to its new home in Black Rock (see images). At this point, the Trippe is in safe hands, and is waiting to be worked upon once more. I asked Chris Andrle at the Maritime Center about the future of The "Swannie Jim" Boat and this is what he had to say:
"The "Swannie Jim" boat is in the shop but no work is being done until funding is available. Kevin McCarthy is leading that project. He is attempting to assemble a consortium of local history related groups including the Maritime Center, Friends of the Cotter, Lower Lakes Marine Historical Society, and others. The plan is to turn it into a tall ship, a replica of the sloop Trippe, the smallest ship in Perry's fleet at the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie."
Here is a little about the Trippe as provided by the Buffalo Maritime Center:
The Trippe was originally a merchant ship called the Contractor, 64 tons, built at Black Rock during the winter of 1802-1803 by Porter, Barton & Co., the company that had a contract to supply the military posts on the upper Great Lakes. She was built under the superintendence of Captain William Lee who captained her until 1809 and afterwards by Captain James Beard. Described variously as a sloop or schooner, she was one of the earliest American built ships on the upper lakes.
On June 1, 1812, Captain James Sloan "...got my effects down to Detroit and shipped them on the sloop Contractor, Captain James Beard. We came to anchor in Buffalo bay about the 20th of June, 1812. The Captain went ashore and when he returned he said it was reported that war had been declared. The official declaration came a few days after. The sloop was laid up in Scajaquada Creek and was one of Commodore Perry's vessels in the action on Lake Erie.
In 1812, the Contractor was purchased at Black Rock from Porter, Barton & Co. by the U.S. Government. She was armed and renamed the Trippe, and commanded by Lieutenant Holdup under Perry during the Battle of Lake Erie. She likely carried one long eighteen-pounder.
After the Battle of lake Erie, Trippe was sailed to Buffalo where on October 25, she was driven ashore by a storm on the beach near Buffalo along with the Sloop Little Belt and schooner Ariel where they were all burned by the British on December 19 when they burned Buffalo.
Buffalo Maritime Center
90 Arthur Street
Buffalo, NY 14207-2046
716-881-0111
This proves that we can build a large replica of Adm Perry's ships in the War of 1812.
TAKE A LOOK AT "THE NIAGARA" @ THE MARITIME MUSEUM IN ERIE PA. THIS IS WHAT BUFFALO MUST HAVE FOR ITS NEW CANALSIDE HARBOR!!!
http://www.eriemaritimemuseum.org/
While I applaud the Buffalo Maritime Museum for rebuilding the Trippe, we must think bigger!
-there are other command ships from Adm Perry's fleet that faced the British: Lawrence (20), Niagara (20), USS Ariel (4), USS Caledonia (3), USS Scorpion (2), USS Somers (2), USS Porcupine (1), USS Tigress (1), and USS Trippe (1).
How could Erie PA have THE NIAGARA which could carry 20 guns and Buffalo rebuild a ship that could only carry 1 gun? Its good that we will have a ship in our harbor to commemorate the War of 1812 but its embarrassing considering Buffalos cost (Buffalo was burned to the ground) and our role to have the smallest of the small.
Is Buffalo still FLW and Sullivan and Green and Richardson or are we suburban dry-vit and parking lots?
Is Buffalo the USS Trippe (1 gun) or is Buffalo USS Lawrence or USS Niagara (20 guns)?
Is Erie PA willing to think bigger than Buffalo? Sadly and shamefully the answer is yes!
If you want a small ship in the Harbor then rebuild LaSalles Griffon famed with being the first to explore the Great Lakes north of Niagara Falls. Why didnt we do reconstruct that as a first attempt?
So, just go to http://buffalomaritimecenter.org/ click on the link to make a donation and we're on our way!
If I'm not mistaken, this began as one man's project and not as Team Buffalo's definitive offering.
But I do like your idea of building another replica of the Niagara, which we could battle against that Pennsylvanian mockery for supremacy of the Lakes and parking lots.