Day-by-Day / August 23, 1803

August 23, 1803

Ocean-going ships

Pittsburgh, PA While Lewis waits for his barge, F. André Michaux tells of an ocean-going ship built in Pittsburgh in 1802.

Shipbuilding

skeleton of a large wooden boat

By Wikimedia Common user jrtaylor08 who has published it under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shipbuilding_-_Alexandria_-_panoramio.jpg.

Ocean Going Ship

On my journey to Pittsburgh in the month of July 1802, there was a three-mast vessel of two hundred and fifty tons; and a smaller one of ninety, which was on the point of being finished. These ships were to go, in the spring following, to New Orleans, loaded with the produce of the country, after having made a passage of two thousand two hundred miles before they got into the ocean.

[Note:] I have been informed since my return, that this ship, named the Pittsburgh, was arrived at Philadelphia.
—François André Michaux[1]François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 63–4 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. … Continue reading

Related: Historic Philadelphia Port | Building the Barge

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 63–4 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 160.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

This site is provided as a public service by the
Logo: Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:

Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).