Gerald C. Metzler Database

This resource consists of a comprehensive index of pre-1900 Great Lakes ships with about their construction, home ports, and ownership. Photographs are not currently included in this database since most of these vessels pre-dated photography. Gerald C. Metzler compiled the data from over 50 years of exhaustive research and the database is in the process of being digitized from a collection of over 30,000 handwritten vessel records. The creation of the online database was made possible through the support of the Offield Family Foundation, Henry & Alice Barkhausen, and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.