John DeSana

John DeSana was born in Amherstburg, Ontario in 1840 and settled in Wyandotte, Michigan during the 1860’s. In 1865 he walked the entire distance to Detroit for his marriage. He returned to Wyandotte with his bride and took up residence in the third block on Vinewood Street, where his home still remains today.

After the Riverside was launched in 1873, he accepted its captainship for which he had prepared by shipping out to sea as a cook at the age of 12. With this appointment he became one of the firsts in boat passenger service to Wyandotte.
In 1892 he transferred to the newly launched Wyandotte. After the Wyandotte discontinued service he purchased a small steamer named the Douglas which he used in the extension of freight and passenger service until 1908. Between 1908-1910 he added the Fremont for freight only and in 1910 purchased the Vanietta and the tug McCormick, which he was never able to launch into service since death intervened his plans in June, 1910.

A son, John, Jr., had joined his father as an engineer on the boats, but upon his fathers’ death he lost the incentive to carry on alone. The DeSana boats were sold immediately and John, Jr., joined the Put-In-Bay boat as a wheelman, continuing in water transportation for many years thereafter. Capitan DeSana was typically of the stern, arbitrary old sea captains. Whether the pioneers of Wyandotte, Michigan considered the Captain friend or foe, transportation on the water was safe and certain under the trustworthy guidance of Captain John DeSana and his son John, Jr.

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