History of the Great Lakes. Volume II by J. B. Mansfield, ed.

Excerpts

“The navigators of the Great Lakes are a distinct class from those who sail the ocean, but their calling is none the less exacting in the requirement of skill, physique, and powers of endurance, united with good judgment and genial personality. Perhaps no master mariner about the chain of lakes has combined these characteristics to a greater degree than the subject of this sketch. Commodore B.B. Inman, the prominent tug owner of Duluth and Superior. There is no better criterion by which to judge a man than by his standing as an exponent of the calling which he follows, and it may be said that as a tug man, the Captain has but few equals. He is the son of Jerome B. and Cordelia (Smith) Inman, both natives of Ray, Macomb Co., Mich., which was also the birthplace of Captain Inman, who was born May 3, 1849. A few years later he removed with his parents to Port Huron, Mich., where he attended the public schools and enjoyed the other episodes natural and essential to the life of a boy, until he reached the age of fourteen years.

At the high tide of his affairs the Captain owned twenty-two vessels of all classes and engaged largely in raft towing and wrecking. At the time of this writing he operated ten tugs - the W.B. Castle, B.B. Inman, Record, Bob Anderson, L.L. Lyon, M.D. Carrington, Buffalo, J.L. Williams, Ed Fiske, and A.C. Adams. He has twenty-seven issues of master's license, and during his long career on the lakes in responsible positions has never lost a vessel or caused the insurance company any expense. Not a life has been lost or an injury of a serious nature while he was in immediate command.

Captain Inman has invented and patented a model of a steamboat, with a ram bow for the purpose of winter navigation. The salient or important features of the purposed new craft is in shape of the bow; the forefront of the ram bow extends about twenty feet beyond the perpendicular bow; making the forward part of the ship partake somewhat of the design of the ploughshare, the projecting ram going under the ice and throwing it up and away from the boat, on each side. The widest part of the boat will be at the bluff of the bow and will be constructed after the lines of the iron tug Record, or some of the new modern steamers. The forefoot and bow of the new steamer will be plated with steel one and a half inches thick, and by the force of the great horse power will be able to cut her way through the ice of any thickness likely to be found on the lakes. Expert engineers and marine architects, to whom the Captain has submitted the plans, speak very highly of its utility for the purpose to which it is to be applied.

Possessed of a personality so rare and magnetic, he gains friends rapidly and retains their respect and esteem.”