You are watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. We are providing this Great Service to the world sharing great lakes maritime history. Schoolkids everybody gets a , chance to see the ships, go sailing, hoist lines and learn about the old times. They get to feel it. They get to feel the rolling of the ship, and it is all real. The Maritime Heritage alliance was started by a number of boat enthusiasts historical , wooden boat enthusiasts, really, back in 1982. It started because there were no tall ships anywhere. There were no big sails or masts made of wood anywhere around here. There was no particular interest or focus for young people towards great lakes maritime history. We sat around there were five or six of us, and it became evident that we could do something with this. We got together and set up the Maritime Heritage alliance here in Traverse City, and we decided , well, the first vote we should do, if we are going to do both, is a replica of a mackinac boat. They were kind of the pickup trucks of the mid1800s, they delivered lumber and other commodities to villages around the great lakes. Trains were the only source of travel, but even those were sparse in the mid to late 1800s. We decided to replicate the mackinac boat, but normally they are 35 feet long, but that is just too big. We decided to build a 19 foot version that could be trailered to use as an educational prop, shows and schools and things like that. These people that have rallied around the organization are immensely resourceful and the idea of sitting in a chair listening to somebody blab on about maritime history did not even come across the plate as a useful idea. Instead, it is like, lets just build a mackinaw boat. Something visual that is tactile that you can sail, that you can watch, sit in and touch that is , the interpretive tool that we need. I cannot vote were used very commonly in the mid1800s. They were everywhere. But you have to put yourself back into those times people were super resourceful. Building a boat like that, you would just do it. You would go find a carpenter and he would just build you a mackinaw boat. They were almost throwaways because they would only last for 10 years or so, and then you they would begin to rot, and then you would build another one. There was a fleet, tons of them. I cannot picture how many there were, but there were hundreds, maybe thousands around the great lakes area for that use. The summer of 1982, we built a boat down at the bottom of west bay, launched it i think it was early november of that year, and the mayor cracked a bottle of cherry champagne, of course on the bow, and we launched it. , that was 1982. People thought this was the coolest thing. Back then, there was no evidence of a schooner in this bay in 1982. Zero. Really maybe in all of the great lakes, there was no evidence. So the boat represented probably the schooner, even though it was first little, 19 feet, it was the first one that people could see. With that spirit, back in 1982, we began figuring out what is our next project . Steve harold, who was one of our original founders, researched something and came up with this idea of the madeleine, which represented the first organized school in northwest michigan. The original was launched in 1845 in fairport, ohio, and it was in the upper lakes for many years and planted in west bay. There were five sailors aboard, three of them were brothers, and instead of wasting their winter frozen in the ice someplace, they wanted to hire a teacher to come aboard from Traverse City, stephen edward, 17 years old, to be their teacher for that winter. The guy ran the school with those five sailors on the original matalin, six miles from here, right here in west bay. Thehis is why we chose madeleine as the vessel to build because it represented education, the spirit of learning, it exemplifies that whole thing. It is not just a schooner that was out there, it is this amazing schooner. But these boats are much bigger to operate and require a crew of usually five to fly around. Whereas mackinac mackinaw boats, you can go with one or two guys, usually you could tool around on a mackinaw boat. It is a schooner, but it is fast and easy to rig and easy to sale. It has two masts, with the main then another at the top. Orming a rectangle sail the bow, those are four sails on this, triangle shaped. All of the rigging is intact. It is made of very strong rope and wire. The cool thing about this boat, every single thing was built by our group. The mast hoops, which hold the sails and slide up the mast when it is pulled up, who is going to build those . Who is going to keep them strong and functioning . It is one of 10,000 things on this boat that make this thing to. Tick,. The matalin was launched in 1990, so we are having our anniversary next year, 30 years, which is unheard of in traditional senses of a schooner. Most schooners would have lasted 10. This one survives because of volunteers that come aboard, because they are at a point in their life where they want to do something amazing. When you see any of our boats , which are wood all the way through, sailing on the lakes, there is an organic energy that comes off of these boats. When you sail on one of our boats made of 100 wood, these are alive. These are not a steel hulled yacht. You can feel the history. Hundreds of years of growth in the wood where it came from. If you look at it and stop and let that energy come into you, it opens up this part of your brain where you kind of let the modern world kind of fade away, and then you just take a vacation. Go to something simple that takes the tone down, takes that energy, that chaos down to a point where it is just you and the boat. Our cities tour staff recently traveled to Traverse City, michigan to learn about its rich history. To watch more video from Traverse City and other stops on our tour, visit cspan. Org citiestour. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Announcer 2 next on lectures in of statekaren markoe university of new York Maritime College teaches a class on the 1920s. She talks about politics, prohibition, and organized crime as well as popular music and sports of the era. Dr. Markoe ok, well good , morning, everybody. Today we are going to discuss age, and at least i am and your part of the discussion will be at the end. Please write down any thoughts you have, questions, responses, that would be good