[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.