On May 9, 1930, the gunboat YANTIC was burned, on purpose, in the Detroit River.   Her burnt remains were filled in and over as part of the Belle Isle bridge approach.   The planned cremation of the 66 year old wooden steamer was due to her sinking at her dock on October 22, 1929, in five minutes, during an autumn gale – reason natural deterioration. 

      Photo at top of page: YANTIC built 1864, photo dated August 2 1905

         YANTIC in Milwaukee at the State Street Bridge, 1917

      The YANTIC was built in 1864 at Philadelphia at the US Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.   Originally she was to be a presidential yacht for Abraham Lincoln but at the time a gunboat was needed more than a presidential yacht.  She was launched on March 19, 1864, measured 180 feet in length and 30 feet in beam, and was a three-masted bark with an auxiliary steam engine.

       On August 12, 1864, the USS YANTIC was commissioned. She was named for a river in Connecticut. She saw action late in the Civil War and then served in the ocean fleet from 1865 to 1897. While being steam powered, she relied more on her sails while cruising.

       In 1897, the navy removed YANTIC from the active fleet and loaned her to the state of Michigan for use as a training ship by the naval militia. For freshwater service her rigging was changed substantially leaving only the foremast, and she received new engines. YANTIC was based at Detroit until 1907 when she moved to Hancock, Michigan.

         YANTIC in Milwaukee for the Oliver Hazard Perry Centennial in 1913

        In addition to training local units in Michigan, YANTIC also took part in maneuvers with other state naval militias on the lower lakes. YANTIC visited Milwaukee and then Green Bay in August 1913 as part of a centennial celebration commemorating Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory over a British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.

          YANTIC with USS ESSEX (built 1874) in Ogden Slip, Chicago, August 8, 1919

       When the United States entered World War I, YANTIC was brought back into the navy fleet and moved to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station north of Chicago. After the armistice, YANTIC was assigned to the Ohio Naval Reserve based in Cleveland.

       In 1926, YANTIC was again decommissioned and loaned to the state of Michigan where she sank at her dock in 1929.  Her anchor is on display in front of the Detroit Naval Armory with a memorial plaque.

Suzette Lopez

Photo credit:  Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library and Wisconsin Marine Historical Society