APPOMATTOX (SHIP)

The American ship 'Appomattox' was a wooden bulk steamer, and one of the largest wooden ships ever built. The ''Appomattox'' had a length of 97.2 meters (319 feet) and a beam of 12.8 meters (42 feet).^[2][3] It was built in 1896 by James Davidson of West Bay City, Michigan. It had a triple expansion steam engine. Because of its immense length, the ''Appomattox'' used metallic cross bracing , a metallic keelson, metallic plates , and multiple metallic arches. Several syphons and steam-driven pumps were required to keep the ''Appomattox'' afloat. ''Wisconsin's Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Appomattox'' University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and Wisconsin Historical Society,
2003
The ''Appomattox'' operated mainly on the Great Lakes, carrying Lake Superior iron ore on her eastward voyages, and then returning westward with a load of coal. The ship usually towed the steamer barge ''Santiago'', which had a length of 98.76 meters (324 feet), to increase the amount of cargo carried each trip. The ''Appomattox'' alone could carry more than 3000 tons of iron ore, and in combination with the ''Santiago'', the pair had a capacity approaching 8000 tons. The ''Appomattox'' went aground in a fog on the Great Lakes in 1905.

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1. National Register Information System
2. ''Vessel Detail Information for: Appomattox (1896)'', Wisconsin's Maritime Trails website.
3. The "Door County Advocate" published an article on August 8, 1896 on page 5 in which it listed the beam as 43 feet, or about 13.1 meters.