The Steamer Chippewa

The steamer Chippewa served as a passenger boat in the Lake Erie islands region from 1922 to 1938, for the Sandusky and Islands Steamboat Company. From 1884 to 1909, the vessel was named the William P. Fessenden, and served as a revenue cutter for the United States Treasury Department. 

During the 1924 tornado the Chippewa stayed afloat, but the Columbus sank into the waters of Sandusky Bay.

     

In an advertisement which appeared in the August 7, 1923 issue of the Sandusky Register, passengers aboard the Chippewa were treated to music by an orchestra on their return trip from Put in Bay.

Pictured below are passengers disembarking from the Chippewa in the 1930s.

  

The Chippewa offered “twilight rides” for those attending the state convention of the American Legion, held in Sandusky in August, 1934. In 1939 it was sold to the Peerless Cement Company, for use as a barge, and in 1943 it was scrapped in Hamilton, Ontario. 

Here is a postcard featuring the Chippewa from its days as a passenger boat in Lake Erie on the Sandusky, Put in Bay, Lakeside route: