[asu_thomas]

> Trinidad’s owners didn’t invest much in the vessel’s upkeep and her career was relatively short for her era.

> There, Captain Higgins told his story to the marine reporters. Loathe to blame the owners, Higgins speculated that the schooner’s hull may have been cut by ice in the Straits of Mackinac. However, a review of the vessel’s career suggests that she was little more than a floating coffin by the time of her final voyage. Most vessels of the Trinidad’s era lasted twice as long as she did, but they also received regular recaulking and replacement of decayed or rotten wood and rigging. The insurance records suggest that Trinidad received little of the normal maintenance and was essentially sailed into the bottom of the Lake.

A classic tale of capitalist barbarism and how American workers are manipulated and propagandized into shilling for their masters. Disgusting stuff, and sadly nothing has fundamentally changed in over 150 years.