Sandusky residents prepare to race their ice boats on Sandusky Bay. The Dutch were the first to use ice boats. By the nineteenth century, ice boating had become a popular sport among residents of the Hudson River Valley. Within a short time, the sport caught throughout the Great Lakes. Commodore Robert Denig, a native Sanduskian, is credited with introducing ice boating to the Japanese while serving as captain of the U. S. Navy gunboat "Petrel." Stranded in the ice on the Liau River near Newchwang, Denig ordered the ship's carpenter to assemble an ice boat. Hundreds of Japanese flocked to the river to watch in amazement as the "Petrel's" crew sailed across the ice.