Kentucky Bourbon at the Bottom of the Auglaize

APRIL 27, 1813

If you've ever canoed the Auglaize River between Wapakoneta and Fort Jennings I'm sure we'll agree on 2 things; you'll spend a lot of time dragging your boat over the shallows and it has what seems like an endless number of hairpin curves.

We know some of the boats carrying supplies from Amanda to Defiance and beyond were pretty large. In fact some carried as much as 60 barrels of flour. Now I'm not certain how big those barrels were at that time, but 60 of anything is a lot to transport.

Nothing has been found to date that accurately describes the types of boats built at Fort Amanda. We do know they built pirogues (dug out canoes) and used those for travel and shipping small shipments of materials.

Pirogues

Because of the descriptions of quantities shipped, its very possible they used "punt" boats like that shown in the picture below.

Punt Boat

A traditional punt is about 24 feet long and 3 feet wide. The sides are about 18 inches deep. Both the bow and the stern are cut square, with a long shallow "swim"; meaning the underside of the boat slopes very gently at the front and the back.

So Where is the whiskey?

On Tuesday, April 27th, 1813, Ensign Schillinger wrote in his journal that 2 boats carryin flour and whiskey had sunk.

Tuesday the 27th
This morning Showery. busy weighing Meat for the regiment all hands Loading boats -- got them ready for the voyage to the rappids. The boats 7 in number push,d of a 9 A.M. commanded by Capt Price of the regulars, the regiment of Militia march,d by land, Mr Picket our comissary who started with the boats returned at 2 P.M. with the unpleasant inteligence that 2 of the boats were sunk. One flour

Schillinger wrote that 7 boats left Ft. Amanda at 9 o'clock the morning of the 27th of April,1813. At least 2 of the boats were carrying flour and whiskey. Around 2 o'clock that afternoon, Mr. Picket (the forts Commissary agent) came back to the fort with news 2 of the boats had sunk;1 carrying flour and the other whiskey. Now for my theory on where I think the boats san

Some factors that may have contributed to this accident

1. Fort Meigs was under siege by the British at the time. Col. Dudley and his regiment of the Kentucky troops was on his way to support. (he never made it and he and most of his men were killed before they got there) Search Dudey's defeat on the net for all the gory details. In other words, Dudley was in a h

2. Dudley and his infantry left Amanda the morning of the 27 and began their march toward Meigs. Remember, they were in a hurry

3. We know there at least 50 barrels of flour being shipped. They had been brought up the day before from Fort Logan.

4 The 7 boats carrying the flour, whiskey and other supplies was commanded by a Captain Price of he Regulars. I think it a fair assumption to say that there was also a sense of urgency for Captain Price to get his 7 boats to Meigs as quickly as possible.

Now Consider This

First of all it had been raining for several days prior to the accident. Schillinger wrote that the rains actually began on April 21st (almost a week earlier) and had continued on to the 27th and some were thunderstorms.

(Personal note): I've seen the Auglaize after several days of heavy rains and I guarantee you there is no way I'd go out on that river in any kind of boat let alone one loaded with barrels.)

We know 50 barrels of flour were brought up from Fort Logan (Wapakoneta) April 26, the day before the accident so the guess is those 50 barrels were part of the shipment.

So Where Did The Boats Sink?

Clue: Schillinger wrote that the shipment left Amanda at 9 that morning and at 2 o'clock Mr. Picket came back to the fort to report the accident. This is a time span of about 5 hours.

To pinpoint the site of the accident, lets look at the timetable in reverse.

We know Mr. Picket left Amanda by boat; ""Mr Picket our comissary who started with the boats returned at 2 P.M. with the unpleasant inteligence that 2 of the boats were sunk"

The sinking site couldn't have been too close to Fort Jennings otherwise Picket would have gone to Fort Jennings for help rather than returning to Amanda. It is 23 miles from Amanda to Jennings by water.



For the sake of argument lets say that the sinking took place before the mid-way point between Jennings and Amanda by river (near the bridge crossing the Auglaize on Piquad Rd. (Allen county). In other words, the boats carrying the flour and whiskey probably sank before they reached that spot.

Fort Amanda to Fort Jennings Midway Point by River

While the Auglaize River was running fast (because of the rains), one might assume that the loaded punt boats were traveling pretty quickly as well. However, its important to keep in mind that the Auglaize river is one of continuous hair turns so while they the boats could travel fast on a straight run, a crooked river would be much more difficult to navigate especially since the boats were loaded.

We know Mr. Picket didn’t go back to the accident site and instead stayed at Fort Amanda because on the 29th Schillinger gave him letters to take back to Cincinnati. He probably either rode a horse or walked back to Amanda from the site and in no particular hurry because he wasn’t going back. There would have been some time lapse at the accident site so for the sake of argument let say he “stuck around” for an hour.

Being a commissary agent, the assumption is Mr. Picket was an older gentleman perhaps in his late 30s or ever older. According to the internet, the average walking speed of a younger individual is 3.3 mph The average of an older individual is 2.9 so for the sake of argument lets split the difference and say Mr. Picket traveled at 3 mph on his way back to the fort. If Mr. Picket had borrowed a horse the speed of a horse with a rider is approx. 4 mph. So regardless of how Picket returned his return speed was about 3 miles per hour.

Now let’s assume that despite the fast running river, the heavily laden punt boats, taking into considerations the extremely number of hair pin curves could only travel an average of 2 miles per hour.

Pinpointing the Spot

The Auglaize River miles from Fort Amanda to Fort Defiance is 70 miles and it was a 3 day trip. This averages out to 23 miles a day. Using an average of 10 hours of travel time to day means the approx. speed on the river was 2.3 miles per hour.

The total time span from when Picket let Ft. Amanda until he returned was 5 hours. Assuming he spent an hour at the accident site, means we need to account for 4 hours time to help us find where the boats may have sunk. The only known factor Is when the boats left and when Picket returned. The timeframe may have looked like this:

The boats left Ft. Amanda at 9 o’clock. Traveling for 2 1/2 hours at 2.3 mph putting them 5.75 miles from the fort when the accident happens around 11:30. If Picket stayed at the accident site for approx. 1 hour and left around 12:30, traveling at 3 miles per hour he would have made the almost 6 mile trip back to Amanda around 2 o’clock that afternoon which agrees with what Schillinger wrote (returned at 2 P.M).

So where is the spot on the river 5.75 miles from Fort Amanda


The spot 5.75 Rive rmiles From Fort Amanda

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS

In case you’re giving some thought to trying to rescue those barrels of whiskey from the “briney deep,” you're lucky because you have at least 3 things in your favor.

1. Each soldier received 1 gill of whiskey a day. There are 32 gills in a gallon so a 53 gallon barrel would have had enough whiskey for 1696 rations. Considering the size of the garrison at Fort Meigs and the number of Kentucky troops there, a barrel might have lasted 1 to 2 days. That said, we can assume that they didn't ship single barrels at a time and that there were several barrels of Whiskey that went overboard. According to an article on the internet, barrels of whiskey spilled overboard would not float, they would sink.. That's good news.

2. If the barrels contained 25 gallons, they would weigh almost 200 pounds. If they were the 53 gallon size, they would have weighed almost 425 pounds. Trying to haul them up to the surface, even in a shallow stream would have taken a Herculean effort, so it is very possible at least 1 barrel couldn't be rescued.

NOW THE BAD NEWS

       Whiskey                         Plus                   Tobacco         =    rotgut whiskey

If you are fortunate enough to find a barrel of whiskey at the bottom of the Auglaize River filled with 200 year old whiskey, don't start celebrating too fast. The contents weren't good old Kentucky Bourbon, it was good old Ohio rotgut whiskey (which they flavored with tobacco to give it a better taste.).   So if you find exactly where the barrels sank, even if they did raise those that fell overboard, with all the activities that would have taken place, its possible that some artifacts were lost during the salvage operation.  To be honest,  I'd rather have a rusty 210 year old barrel hoop than the whiskey anyway.  Happy Hunting!