science

PS Cumberland

PS Cumberland is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand PS Cumberland rather than just read about it. In short: Cumberland was a wooden-hulled side paddlewheeler built in 1871; it was wrecked off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1877 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Key takeaways

PS Cumberland belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect PS Cumberland to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of PS Cumberland from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Cumberland was a wooden-hulled side paddlewheeler built in 1871; it was wrecked off the shore of Isle Royale in Lake Superior in 1877 and the remains are still on the lake bottom. The wreck was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

History

The Cumberland was constructed in 1871 by Melanchthan & Simpson of Port Robinson, Ontario for Perry & Company, a Toronto steamship line. The ship was launched on August 8, 1871. The Cumberland's design was typical of the sidewheel steamers built for Great Lakes travel in the 1840s-1880s. It was a wooden-hulled, sidewheel paddleboat, 208 feet in length at the keel and 214 feet in length total. The ship had a beam of 28 feet (48 feet overall), a draft of 10 feet 6 inches, and measured 750 tons gross. The ship was powered by a 400HP walking beam engine with a single boiler and possessed paddlewheels 30 feet in diameter. The Cumberland was built for Northern Railway of Canada, the parent company of the Toronto and Lake Superior Navigation Company, to run between Duluth, Minnesota and Collingwood or Owen Sound, Ontario, and was named For Fred W. Cumberland, Northern Railway's general manager. The ship first saw service in May 1871. During its service, the Cumberland was involved in a number of serious incidents. In November 1872, the ship was frozen in the ice in the St. Mary's River; most of the crew trekked on foot from the ship to Collingwood, Ontario; leaving a few crewmembers and passengers on the vessel. The fate of those left aboard is not known, but it is likely the ship overwintered in the ice. In November 1874, the Cumberland was caught in a storm on its way to Thunder Bay. Caulking of the ship's hull came loose in several areas, and it began to take on water. To lighten the load, livestock on the deck was thrown overboard. The ship made it to port with six feet of water in the hold and promptly sank. In November 1875, the Cumberland was again caught in a storm, and was grounded near Silver Islet, Ontario. Luckily, there was little damage from this incident, and cargo and passengers soon arrived safely in Thunder Bay. In September 1876, the ship ran aground again, this time at Owen Sound.

Final voyage In July 1877, the Cumberland was grounded for three days on a sand bar in the harbor at Nipigon. It arrived in Thunder Bay on July 24, three days behind schedule, and probably left the same day. However, once out of port, she began taking on water. The day was clear and dry, and passengers were transferred to another vessel. On July 25, 1877, the ship struck a reef near the Rock of Ages Light. The bow section of the ship was stuck on solid aground. Other ships attempted to free the Cumberland, but she was stuck fast. Salvage operations began, with a number of tugs and other vessels attempting to save the ship. However, the wreck was rapidly deteriorating, and by August 12 salvage operations were given up. The ship broke apart entirely on August 18; sections remained visible for several weeks, but the ship was completely submerged by early September.

Wrecksite

Large portions of the ship remain in 20 to 80 feet of water, including the wooden hull, side-wheel, and boiler. However, most of the superstructure is missing, as well as nearly all of the engine. The wreckage of the Cumberland is intermingled with some portions of the hull of the Henry Chisholm, which sank later in 1898, and not far from the remains of the George M. Cox. Approximately 40 dives were made to the Cumberland in 2009 out of 1,062 dives made to wrecks in the Isle Royale National Park. The ship is significant as the only known example of this size, style, and age of ship available in Lake Superior as a shipwreck.

References

Illustrations

PS Cumberland: Diving the wreck of the Cumberland — Diving the wreck of the Cumberland

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with PS Cumberland

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what PS Cumberland claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to PS Cumberland before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about PS Cumberland ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of PS Cumberland

In research: PS Cumberland appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses PS Cumberland in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: PS Cumberland is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1871 ships, Great Lakes ships, Maritime incidents in July 1877, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for PS Cumberland outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study PS Cumberland in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what PS Cumberland means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain PS Cumberland out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is PS Cumberland in simple terms?

Why does PS Cumberland matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study PS Cumberland?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on PS Cumberland.