The Success is arguably the most famous sailing ship in history. During an extraordinary 106 years afloat she served as a merchant ship, emigrant ship, prison or penal hulk, boy’s reformatory, women’s prison, and defense store before touring the world on exhibition. When she was falsely advertised as a “convict ship” the Australian government tried unsuccessfully to have her stopped. Convict Ship Success, Prison Ship Success, Prison Hulk Success, Penal Hulk Success, Exhibition Ship Success, Floating Hell, World’s Most Hated Ship, Wax Figures, teak, teakwood, Moulmein, Burma, show ship, oldest ship afloat, Houdini, D.H. Smith, Joseph C. Harvie, E.W. Nottingham, Frederick Mangles, Cockerell & Co., Phillipps & Tiplady, emigrant ship, immigrant ship, Swan River, ship wreck, Lake Erie, Port Clinton, Sandusky
The Sailing Ship Success
The Convict Ship Hoax (1912-1942)
Above: Billboards advertising the Success on show in Atlantic City Below: Newspaper ad accompanying the ship’s appearance at Muskegon Michigan
In 1911 Success was bought by an Isle of Man syndicate assembled by David Smith of Worthington, Indiana. Her rig was changed to that of a barkentine. But the biggest change of all was to her history: Her American audiences would be told that she had actually transported convicts from England to Australia. This claim was totally false, but in an era where P.T. Barnum style showmanship was not only tolerated but encouraged, and with the participation of a willing press, the ship was destined to draw large crowds.
In 1912 Canadian master John Scott sailed her to Boston after a stop off in Cork, arriving to much fanfare. Between 1912 and 1915 visitors on the Eastern seaboard flocked to see the ship. In 1915 Success passed through the Panama Canal to the west coast and was a major attraction at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Later she drew large crowds in Seattle and Portland. From 1917 to 1919 she was shown on the Mississippi and Ohio River systems, going as far as Pittsburgh. A little known fact is that the ‘Success‘ was used as as Marine Corps Recruiting Station at Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. (see photo at lower right)
From 1920 to 1923 she was exhibited on the east coast of the U.S. and then began her first showing on the Great Lakes. After a markedly successful tour in fresh water, she returned to the east coast in 1928 amid rumors that she would be sold to Australian interests and returned to that country. If true, this sale nonetheless never materialized.
In about 1930 she was sold to the owner of a Cleveland, Ohio, printing company. Around 1931 David Smith ceased to be affiliated with the ship and returned to Indiana to pursue other interests.
In the 1933 she returned to the Great Lakes for the last time and was on display in Chicago during the time of the Chicago Exposition. From there she continued touring the lakes. After being on display at Cleveland for several years (her last official exhibition site), in the fall of 1942 she was towed to Sandusky and the following March a storm caused more leaking and she sank at the dock. The end was near...
~continued from Exhibition Ship~
Upper right: This newspaper ad accompanying the ship’s appearance at Muskegon Michigan was typical of the lurid, visceral, promotion undertaken by the ship’s management. Lower right: A sign identifies the ship as a recruiting station for the U.S. Marines.