[River] Firsts
The Waterways Journal
7 March 2011
By Alan L. Bates
There is a children's book rattling around in libraries and schools
that purports to tell about the first steamboat trip on the Western
Rivers. One of its flaws is that the pilot tells somebody to blow
whistle signals. The fact is that the whistle did not arrive on the
rivers until 38 years after that famous trip. Authors and editors know
such errata are easy to make and hard to find. We herewith hope to tell
about a number of "firsts" in Western Rivers history for future
archivers.
When was the first landing stage suspended from a swinging boom? In
1869 it was on the famous Natchez, the one that raced the Rob't E.
Lee.
When did officers begin to wear uniforms? The Anchor Line introduced
them in the late 1880s.
Bull rails. those horizontal board fences at the main deck, were
introduced during the Civil War.
Who built the first texas cabin? The Litherwood Shipyard on the steamer
Cincinnati in 1844.
Pilothouse fronts were wide open except for wood brow boards and breast
boards with viewing holes cut in them until about 1910. That is when
truly flat glass became available.
Capt. J. Stut Neal introduced the whistle on the steamer Revenue
in 1844 after seeing one in Philadelphia. It was made at the A. Fulton
shop in Pittsburgh.
The Francesco Montoya was the first American-built packet with
a steel hull in 1878. James Rees & Sons built it. The first
American steamer with a steel hull was the Chattahoochee, built
in 1881, also by Rees.
Two government lights were erected at Twin Hollows and Jefferson
Barracks on the Mississippi in 1874. The first light tender was the Alice,
a sidewheeler from the Missouri River.
In the 1840s, the first navigation light was built at Gundy Lawrence's
Tavern at the foot of Mulberry Street in Madison. Ind. This light
presumably led thirsty river men to the door, then navigated them back
to the boat.
The first iron-hull towboat was the Alex Swift, built at Covington.
Ky., in 187:3. After many years of towing service. this hull lasted as
a wharfboat until at least 1934.
The initial steamboat on the Western Rivers, the New Orleans,
was built at Pittsburgh in 1811.
The Harvey, built by Nashville Bridge Company in 1923, was the
first true diesel boat. Before that, internal combustion engines burned
gasoline, distillate or anything else that would burn. It was owned by
T.L. Herbert & Sons, a sand company.
Thomas K. Litch built the first compound engines for the Clipper,
a Pittsburgh-to-Cincinnati packet in 1843.
The first depth sounder/recorder was installed on the mv. Harry S.
Truman in 1950.
The propeller steamer A.M. Scott, built by Ward Engineering
Company at Charleston, W.Va., in 1906, had the first installation of
steering and flanking rudders.
The Admiral Dewey was fitted with a radio in 1913 for use
during the flood of that year. It was a receiver, only. It was removed
after the flood. Federal Barge Lines adopted telegraph-key radios
starting in late 1919.
The first radar set was put on the mv. Tri-State in November
1946 by the Sperry Gyroscope Company. It is presently at the Howard
Steamboat Museum.
Spars used for getting over reefs and bars were on the steamer Allegheny,
built in 1830.
The steamer George Washington, built in 1825, had the first
cabin on the boiler deck.
Balanced rudders were first used in 1855 on sternwheel boats.
James Rees & Sons claimed the first steam-powered capstan in 1855.
The A-frame shear type of stack lowering rig was adopted in 1819. This
A-frame was hinge mounted on the roof The stacks were used to raise the
shear, which then lowered the upper part of the stacks. In March 1873,
John Christy patented a screw jack system for the same purpose.
The kort nozzle appeared on the Dravo-built towboat Pioneer in
1937.
The doctor, an independent feed water pump, appeared on the steamer Orleans
in 1839. but was used earlier on Shreve's snagboats. The last was on
the Belle of Louisville.
Independent sidewheels were first set up on the steamer George
Washington, 1825.
Ladies were first segregated on the Duke of Orleans in 1812.
The after end of the main cabin was reserved for them and no
unaccompanied gentlemen dared go there.
The first packet with an electric searchlight was the R.R. Springer
in 1879.
We offer no guarantee, actual or implied. that these dates are
accurate. We will welcome additions, discussion, argument and proof for
other claims.