Remember, too, that Great Lakes steamers have a virtually unlimited supply of fresh water. I'm not so sure that salties want salt water in the boiler system, which is why they would want to use condensers.
Then, again, I'm not a marine boiler expert...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
I took the tour of the City of Milwaukee a couple of years ago, and I am thinking that is where I got the idea that lakers were condensing. While the open waters of the lakes are amazingly clear, the harbors are another story, with both river silt and waste products. They say you don't want to put any water in your boilers that you wouldn't drink, but maybe that just applies to railroad boilers.
I think Leo is our resident marine expert.
They have to have a tank, in order to apply water treatments to it to remove oxygen, help minimize the build-up of scale with chemical additives, etc. While I'm unsure of the capacity (I wish I knew more about what goes on in the engine room), it wouldn't surprise me if it was more than enough to allow the Badger, for instance, to dock and depart without having to draw water directly from the harbor to supply her boilers.
They do the same thing with what you drink, shower, and wash with. They don't draw that on demand from rivers and harbors, but far out in the middle of the lake into a holding tank before treating it (Although I bet the Badger draws their drinking water from municipal sources).
That's why a ship like the American Republic, once a regular on the Lorain to Cleveland ore shuttle up the Cuyahoga River, would routinely depart that run for a trip before returning.
They'd basically detour, just to replenish their water supply. You wouldn't want to drink the water close to shore in that part of Lake Erie (And even today, I wouldn't want to even just shower with water taken from the Cuyahoga), so they'd go load ore up in Duluth for instance and fill up in the middle of Superior (And get their mail and replenish their provisions by mailboat near the locks at Sault Saint Marie).
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