Johnson was now a man of means, the successful transactions with the army having given him more money than he had ever possessed at one time before. His voyages and trading success had given him a taste for similar occupations in the future, and his first step was to build a vessel for himself. His first essay in ship-building was something novel. The keel was laid for a ship of thirty-five tons, to be named the Pilot. There was no iron for spikes, but wooden pins supplied their place. Other devices of similar primitiveness were resorted to in the course of the work, and at last she was finished. Now came the question of launching, and it was not lightly to be answered. Modern builders sometimes meet with a difficulty owing to the ship sticking on the "ways," but this early ship-builder of Cleveland had a greater obstacle than this to overcome. He had built his ship with very slight reference to the lake on which she was to float. For convenience in getting timber, and other reasons, he had made his ship-yard about half a mile from the water, near where St. Paul's Church now stands on Euclid avenue, and the greasing of the "ways" and knocking out of the blocks would not ensure a successful launch. Here was a dilemma. Johnson pondered and then resolved. An appeal for aid was promptly responded to. The farmers from Euclid and Newburgh came in with twenty-eight yoke of cattle. The ship was hoisted on wheels and drawn in triumph down the main street to the foot of Superior street hill, where she was launched into the river amid the cheers of the assembled crowd. This was not the first of Cleveland ship-building. About the year 1808, Major Carter built the Zephyr, used in bringing goods, salt, &c., from Buffalo. After good service she was laid up in a creek, a little below Black Rock, where she was found by the British during the war and burned. In 1810, the firm of Bixby & Murray built the Ohio, an important craft of somewhere about sixty tons burden, the ship-yard being lower down the river than the point from which Johnson's craft was subsequently launched. Towards the close of the war she was laid up at Buffalo, when the Government purchased her, cut her down, and converted her into a pilot boat. Whilst Johnson was building his vessel another was under construction on the flats near the present location of the works of J. G. Hussey & Co. This craft, the Lady of the Lake, about thirty tons, was built by Mr. Gaylord, brother of the late Mrs. Leonard Case, and was sailed by Captain Stowe, between Detroit and Buffalo.