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January 9, 2006 -- Vol. 6 Issue 2 Written by Jack R. Simpson (unless otherwise noted), owner of J.R. Simpson & Associates, Inc. and contributing editor to The Waterways Journal.
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 In This Newsletter:
Thought For The Week
“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be” — Abraham Lincoln. A Personal Note From Jack
This is one of those strange weeks when I got a whole barge load of emails related to maritime language. I hold Charlie Lehman and Alan L. Bates responsible. But because of the give and take on the subject, I am foregoing my personal comments until next week. Never let been-around-awhile rivermen get started.  Newsletter News
Timing was not in our favor last week to include the picture of Paul Striegel, 87, standing at the Paducah, Ky., river front with his namesake vessel in the background. But it is included in the Photo Center this week, compliments of Jeffrey L. Yates. Another mystery boat! This one should not be hard to identify, so set your brain gears working and let’s see how many can name her. You’ll find her in the Photo Center. Answers will appear next week (we hope). Web Site News
I keep reminding you about the Christmas package specials presently on our web site because they will change or be discontinued at the end of January. There really are some good books there. I once again invite B&B readers to visit our river recipes on the web. We are always open to receiving more. Also, if no one sends them, we’re going to have a tough time publishing a book of them down the road. For Those Inclined To Pray
 We have modified the steps for joining our Prayer Circle. If you visit the Prayer Circle link on at www.littleriverbooks.com, you will find that those who sign up are completely anonymous. We do not ask for first names nor states of residence. Joining is as simple as providing an email address to which we can send future prayer requests. Each prayer request list includes a link for including requests.
By joining our Prayer Circle, you can tap into the prayerful support of circle members wherever they are. Membership and prayer requests are open to everyone.
On The Waterfront
Newspapers Report Death of Crewman Who Fell From Boat The Coast Guard and area authorities are investigating the death of Corey Stockl, 27, a boat crewman, who newspaper reports say fell from the boat he was working on into the Mississippi River between Charleston and Cairo, Ill., early on December 31, 2005. Stockl reportedly was pulled from the river by co-workers and ultimately air-lifted to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The preliminary autopsy indicated death by drowning, but complete results of the tests will be available in 3-4 weeks. Crops Lost To Manmade Missouri River Rises Not Insurable The Risk Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that crops exposed to risk by manmade spring rises [on the Missouri River] will not be insurable under Federal Crop Insurance guidelines. The announcement came during an early January public meeting held by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to unveil the 2006 Annual Operating Plan for the Missouri River.  According to Paul Rohde, president of the Midwest Area River Coalition (MARC 2000), it was unwelcome news for downstream farmers and other landowners.
The Corps is proposing spring pulses in March and May, a move that Rohde says it being made despite a lack of emperical evidence that it will cue spawning of the pallid sturgeon. Rohde said, “The Missouri River will have the dubious distinction of being America’s largest laboratory — and now with no recourse for people who will have the flooding imposed upon them.” Goals (Of Missouri Delegates) for 2006 As pointed out to us in “Corps Clippings.” a frequent online news distribution service of the Corps, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) plans in 2006, among other things, to continue efforts to revive a measure that would upgrade locks to speed barge traffic on the upper Mississippi River. Missouri Rep. Mike Skelton, also among other things, is concerned about possible flooding from a controversial “spring rise” that the…Corps plans next year for the Missouri River. The release from upstream reservoirs is supposed to encourage spawning by an endangered fish, the pallid sturgeon. He and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) are seeking a legislative remedy. New Orleans To Wait On Demolition It was announced on January 6 that the city of New Orleans plans to wait two more weeks before beginning wholesale demolition of thousands of storm-damaged houses. In the meantime, a federal judge is deciding whether to hear a challenge by community activists. Bunge Executive Interview With “Post-Dispatch” Touches on Towing Industry Among many thoughts shared by Bunge North America head man Carl Hausmann in a January 6 interview published in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” was that the locks and dams on the Mississippi River are “a vital link” of U.S. agriculture to world trade. He said it is really a key element in determining the value of U.S. grain products. “When that pathway is congested, it has very significant negative consequences,” Hausmann told the “Post”. He also said that he is not concerned about the lack of grain coming down the Missouri to the Mississippi. “We don’t need Kansas and western Missouri and western Iowa grain going down the Missouri to the Mississippi,” he said. Difficulty With Checking River Traffic Explained After having difficulty checking Ohio River traffic on NIC, Dan Owen of the Boat Photo Museum, Maryville, Ill., made some queries to find out why. Below are the responses. Tamara S. Loose, Corps information technology specialist, informed him: The web-server in Huntington had to be replaced. They are still working at getting the old flat files up and working on that server. She added: Dynamic OMNI reports http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/mvrimi/omni/webrpts/omni_vl/river_lock.asp works properly and should be used in the mean time. Dan said he was able to find every river except the Cumberland. Crossing The Bar
Henry R. Gross, 93, a retired riverboat pilot of Ocala, Fla., died December 15, 2005, at Timberridge Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. A native of DeWitt, Mo., he moved to Ocala in 1993 from Wickliff, Ky. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, et al. Capt. Gross was called out of retirement to pilot the Delta Queen in the late 1970s when it was carrying President Jimmy Carter and his family down the upper Mississippi to St. Louis. (Editor’s note: I boarded the DQ after President Carter made his speech below the Gateway Arch. I interviewed some crewmembers and took pictures. I may unknowingly have met Capt. Gross.) advertisement
The River School - Deck and engineer licenses, radar observer, tankerman, fire and water safety courses, video programs. Travel classes in convenient locations. (800) 238-7113 www.riverschool.com From Our Readers
(Editor’s note: Last week I made reference to the term “norman bar”, which had appeared in the Old Boat Column written by Alan L. Bates for “The Waterways Journal”, and “norman pin”, which is (according to my communications officer in the Navy in 1953) a wooden pin through the top of the king post in the bow of a motor whaleboat. Actually I had a memory failure, and as I clearly recall now, the “norman pin” went through the top of the “sampson post”. Little did I know what a string of emails this would encourage. But if maritime language interests you, it will be entertaining and educational.) Charlie Lehman wrote: Re: norman From “Falconer’s” NORMAN NORMAN, a name given to a short wooden bar, thrust into one of the holes of the windlass in a merchant-ship, whereon to fasten the cable. It is only used when there is very little strain on the cable, as in a commodious harbour, when the ship is well sheltered from the wind and tide. Keep ’em coming, Charlie Then I wrote to Charlie asking if I could use Alan’s response to him. Then Alan wrote to me: You can use my reply. I just looked up kevel in my OED. 1. round stick used for a gag; 2. a cleat for tying ropes; 3. hammer for trimming stone(s); and 4. a name in Senegal. I choose to not get into an argument about spelling. Alan Then Alan wrote to Charlie: Charlie, I had no idea I was starting something. Yours is the second bit of fan mail I’ve received about that article. I have always assumed, maybe improperly, that the Old Boat Column is more for amusement than education. Yes, a lot of what I write is technical in a broad way, but my intent is not to correct anyone’s ideas or commit an offense. To me a kevel is a deck fitting, the common one that looks like a big cleat. Conversely, a cleat is a little wall or pole fitting that looks like a kevel. Cavil means to argue pointlessly about trifling matters, like kevel, cavel and cavil. Also, I always thought a granny knot was square knot gone wrong, when the tie-er turned the line the wrong way allowing the knot to slip when strained. Wednesday was payday on the Belle of Louisville. It was drinking day for Jay Ellis, my best deckhand. He always ran the capstan, and I knew when he came on watch he would break the headline when we landed. I got so much practice I could make a short splice quicker than tie a bowline! No riverman I knew ever called the chimbleys uptakes. He also used the term smokestack. An uptake occurred after a challenge. Alan Then Charlie wrote to me: When I answered your column in Bitts & Bytes the other day, I had not received my copy of the WJ and had not read Alan’s column. I gave you Falconer’s late 1700s definition of NORMAN, i.e. “a name given to a short wooden bar, thrust into one of the holes of the windless in a merchant-ship, whereon to fasten the cable. It is only used when there is very little strain on the cable, when the ship is well sheltered from wind and tide.” Never had I heard of the description for the cross piece in a set of bitts as described by Ross in his book, which is basically a reprint of the booklet published by the USCG, “Language of the Western Rivers”, with some corrections, a few additions, and some local vernacular attributed mainly to the Upper Ohio region which, with variations to other river areas, becomes Cajun, or the heritage of the Ozark’s, the Norwegian’s, or other ethnic groups. After seeing Alan’s article I reread Falconer’s terminology and thought, “well this is what we call on the river a “capstan pin” and the bar used on a manual capstan, a “capstan bar.” Then I looked in Smyth’s, “The Sailor’s Word Book” of 1867, and found in addition to the Falconer definition more language stating: “…..Also fixed through the head of the rudder, in some ships, to prevent the loss of the rudder. Also, a pin placed in the bitt-cross-piece to confine the cable from falling off.” Now that rang a bell, as “Norman’s or Norman Pins” are usually referred to as stout upright pins that form a fairlead for a line or wire leading from the stern or side of a vessel, especially a tug, to a deck fitting or a capstan or windless. These “Norman’s” now are usually fitted with rollers and are often a closed which are now more commonly called a “roller chock.” Nobody that I can remember on the river, or at sea, or in the Navy, applied the term “Norman” to the cross member of a set of bitts that form a type of squat “H” with the horizontal line of the “H” sticking out on each side, and which are referred to on the river as “H-bitts” or as a “Cross-Tree Bitts” (but not too often) probably because the latter were made of wood in the days before iron and steel construction. As to a “farmer’s lashing” or “polack hitch”, we heard it called a “granny knot”, a “coon-ass knot”, or as Alan aptly described it more often as an “axe knot” along with a few well thought out cuss words aimed at the person who made the tie. One of the other words used in Alan’s article was “kevel.” The use of this word in nautical venues has been in dispute for years, depending on what you read and where you received your type vessel waterborne training. About 25 years ago or so Bill Wolter of Cairo Marine wrote a lengthy letter to the editor (I think) of the WJ disputing how the word was used on the rivers. He gave what he believed was correct definitional usage of “cleat”, “kevel”, and “cavil.” I can not recall the exact wordings he used for them but he was sure worked up about the subject. Perhaps you could have someone in WJ research it. It would certainly be worth reproducing. At any rate, when I was working deep sea, and then on Navy ships, the deck fitting was called a “cleat”. When I was on the river, from day one, it was called a “cavil”, or inter-changeably spelled “cavel.” The term “kevel” referred to the piece of hardware used to secure the flag rope or some other small piece of line. A “cavil (cavel)” was used for fastening the lines between vessels, or to docks, or other structures. The term “kevel” in my on-line dictionary states it is, “a sturdy belaying pin for the heavier cables of a ship”, (I wonder where they worked?), coming from the middle English “kevil”, derived from Old French “Keville”, a wooden peg, and that from the Latin “clavicula”, a diminutive of “clavis”, a key. WOW! About all I can say to this is that all I will continue to say and write for now is “CAVIL”. Now, on to other terms the article used: “Cheater Bar” and “Breakdown Bar”. The “cheater” is, of course, the piece of pipe, usually 3 to 5 feet in length, with sufficient diameter to fit over the handle of a ratchet used to tighten the wires between barges in a tow. However, that said, it can be, and is called on occasion, a “breakdown bar” when it is used to put over the pelican hook at the end of a ratchet giving a deckhand leverage to bend, or breakdown, the hook to the link in the ratchet and slip the keeper over it securing the wire to the pelican hook. More often, the deck mate will call for a “cheater” as it is used for both purposes, besides being used for beating on the wire as it comes into tension making it easier for the deckhand to tighten the ratchet. Also makes a good weapon for fighting off pirates. I am sure Alan will agree with me that a lot of terminology changed on the river after WW II when a lot of the men working on the river came out of the Navy where we used “head”, “overhead”’, “bulkheads”, which is commonly now used in “river-speak”; and though maybe we no longer go “aloft” very often in the steel Navy as it is more a sailing term, we did go “above” from a lower deck to an upper one, terminology which is now also used on the river. Also I do believe when I first went to work on riverboats for Socony Vacuum in 1950 that the term “galley” was used, but that, of course, was long after Sam Clemen’s finished his piloting. Keep the faith, and I have to say that from a lot of people I talk to whose interest lies with the river is that each week when they get the “Waterways Journal” in the mail, that they turn to Alan’s column before reading anything else, me included. May you lived longer than I, but let me stay a while longer to observe the changes that are sure to come, but may we also preserve some of the language of the past. Charlie And I wrote to Charlie: While looking up kevel, which my [Miriam] Webster’s [Collegiate Dictionary] doesn’t have, I ran into cleat, which it does have; then wondered down to cleavage, and after reading it all, I assumed that would be a good term go get people to define…but I won’t… Then Alan wrote to somebody — perhaps to Charlie Re: maritime language Fred Way’s lexicon is not a separate book. It is contained in “Pilotin’ Comes Natural.” Alan And finally, Charlie wrote to both Alan and me: Ah, Alan, Alan, when I had to I spelled the term “cavel” as c - a - v - e - l, BUT then I did see it spelled “caval” and “cavil”. This latter, however, was mostly used by those in the upper Ohio Valley from Louisville east. Being as a lot of these river persons were from “snake country” they probably liked to “argue pointlessly about trifling matters” as your Webster’s indicates. Going through a lot of maritime dictionaries I found some info on the subject, but it was of little use in definitively defining any of the terms; but as I said in the Navy 50 years ago the Bos’n said it was a CLEAT. It’s been an interesting search. In Ansted’s A DICTIONARY OF SEA TERMS he combined the variations all together as follows: Cleat, kevel, or cavil. ---- A species of hook, usually of two arms, fastened to the deck or any other suitable and convenient part of a boat, around which sheets, halyards, springs, etc., may be wound without being knotted. Cleats are various forms, as will be seen by the figure. They are required to sustain great strains and sudden jerks, and must, therefore, be securely fixed. Where several are placed close together they are, for additional security, fixed to a strengthening plate, or plank, which is called a rail. A thumb-cleat or spur is a small wedge let into a spar to prevent a rope from slipping; it is also found in various parts of the vessel. Now, I tain’t sure wat dat thumb-cleat or spur might be, but then again, it dun don’t worrie me nun such neither! Others, such as Bradford’s MARINERS’ DICTIONARY differentiated the fittings as follows: CAVIL -- a large fore and aft cleat for belaying lines. KEVEL -- another name for cavil. The kevel-heads are timber heads used as a cleat. (???) CLEAT -- a piece of wood or metal with two horns around which ropes are made fast. Some maritime dictionaries described “cleat” only as a piece of wood on a sloping gangway to give sure footing, with no definition of either kevel, cavel/caval/cavil. A “cleat” is pictured in the AMERICAN MERCHANT SEAMAN’S MANUAL as a deck fitting. It showed no “kevels” or “cavels”. You will note, Alan, the spelling of the deck fitting in question in the supposedly very, very distinguished tomes as C - A - V- I - L. Apparently the author/editors must all have Upper Ohio River origins or heritage, don’t you think? By the way, went to the hardware store the other day and THERE IT WAS, a “cleat”, about eight inches long, all wrapped up purty lookin’ in its plastic wrapping attached to a piece of cardboard labeled C L E A T so everyone who couldn’t figure it out would know. Came from China, like everything else these days so maybe they didn’t know what it was until Walmart told them. At any rate I don’t think my Walmart cleat is going to hold a tow of barges. You were right in my reference to a “granny knot”, and I will admit I misspoke, a granny will usually simply slip, but it can also jam under tension requiring other forces to get it loose. I guess a “fisherman’s lashing”, “polak”, “coonass”, “hillbilly”, or whatever suits one’s ethnic background, can be used to describe a bend, hitch, or knot in a line which requires an axe to be used to get an object or vessel loose. It follows that a tie of this kind may have been the TRUE Gordian knot that Alexander the Great could only loosen by cutting with his sword. Since we don’t have swords on towboats, at least the ones I worked on, we use an axe instead. Therefore, the term “axe knot” is NOW the appropriate and official term required by all to use when an inappropriate tie is made requiring it to be cut in order for to become untied. Suitable cuss words will be allowed to be attached to the term and can be directed at the offender. I still use “head” as an appropriate term as it was used on the old Socony towboats. I don’t always go to a “bathroom” to take a bath, nor do I go to a “restroom” to rest, and sometimes go to the “head” to simply wash my hands, not to use the toilet (“tarlet”). But, when ya gotta go, ya gotta go ---- wherever. “Funnel” seems to be more in use on liners. I think the Navy used “stack”. I’ve been told the funnel term was used on early steam vessels because when the early ones were installed they looked like an inverted funnel. Guess they got modern before any were installed on western river steamboats. One term that never migrated to the river from our deep sea or coastal cousins is “Charley Noble” for the galley stack. It came into use by an East Coast tug owner-Captain who had a brass galley stack that he required to be kept well polished and his tug became a distinctive feature in the harbor as in, “There goes Charley Noble’s tug”, and the name was adopted for the galley stacks on all the tugs in the port as well as migrating to other coastal ports and deep sea vessels. Don’t know if all the vessels have brass galley (cookhouse) stacks. Stairs in the Navy were called “ladders” -- never figured that one out, kept wondering if what we call a ladder on the river might be called “stairs” in the Navy. Was afraid to ask for fear I might be court-martialed, put on bread and water, or the very least given a couple of weeks of extra duty cleaning the “head”. To explain “an easy distance off” in exact terms to a person who has never piloted a tow is somewhat challenging. To a riverman it is fairly simple -- don’t get too close to the shore and don’t get too wide be in the slacker water and take a chance of catching the point of a bar; however, each situation is different and only the person saying it and the person executing it know what it means, but they DO know. When I looked up the USCG “language” pub for the “line through” I guess I missed it before and, as with you, it sure didn’t make any sense. You’re probably right; I guess (?) they were trying to objectively define the process of cordelling a keelboat upstream. They dismally failed in that too. In doing some further investigation on the term “Norman”, it was, or is, used to describe a horizontal pin through a bollard, or stout pin used on a pier or vessel that would serve to keep a line from slipping off when it might have a fairly severe vertical lead, especially from an unladen vessel -- makes sense. Still don’t believe it is the term for the horizontal bar between two vertical bitts that is normally referred to as “H-bitts”. Jack Simpson asks if the “head” is ever called the “can”. Since you don’t believe in a “head” I’ll have to defer to you to answer. Do you think we should tell him about what we referred to as the “p-can” and a few other artful descriptions, for use by the Pilot on watch; and then some of the incidents when a most unfortunate wind direction change when it was discharged? Do you believe it would be appropriate for the tender ears and eyes of a non-riverman type? Jack also wants to know where the term “toothpick” comes from. Well, Jack, it seems that when Alan and I were working for Mike Fink some time ago, and ol’ Mike was chewing on the hind quarter of that there deer he shot he done got some o that there sinew stuck in a couple of his pearly whites, so he broke off a low lying limb off a big ol’ willow tree along the bank, used an axe to sharpen one end and done poked that ol’ sinew out from between his molars. Said, “that there’s a damn fine toothpick, think I’ll keep her around”. Later that day when Mike and Alan and me went on down the river we needed to secure some barrels of whiskey we were taking to New Orleans as a storm was coming up. So, Alan and me got us a line, doubled it up around them barrels, put a short piece of a tree limb between the two bights and started twisting it to make the tie as tight as possible. Mike’d been fearsome mad if those whiskey barrels broke loose. That was our payday when we hit the Crescent City, minus, of course, the evaporation rate during the trip. After getting the line tight, Alan asked how we were going to keep it from untwistin’. Said I didn’t know, so I called to Mike and asked him. The ol’ boatman, as the was about six plus score in age then, came over with his 6 foot plus newly made toothpick and said, “Stick this here toothpick in those lines a ways, then jam it under the bulwark.” Worked fine. Ol’ Mike was the best. So now when deckhands go out on a tow and have to string wires between barges hooked up to a ratchet, they insert a “toothpick”, a heavy steel bar, about two feet or so in length, in a link of a ratchet to keep it from turning when it is being tightened. Ain’t as big as the ol’ toothpick Mike had, but it does the job. Bet tain’t one knows where dat there term came from. So there you have it Jack, straight from those that were there when history was being made on the river, but now don’t go asking either of us about that there “p-can”. Some gentler types may read this. Besides, Mike never used one. You also asked all about that “lay stuff” -- lay here, lay there. On the river we don’t “lay aft” or “lay below” or “lay topside”; we just go there. The “lay” we use is to describe the way a line or wire is twisted, most cordage used on the river has a right hand lay. Sometimes when we are at a dock, waiting for cargo, a crew, or something else, we “lay by”. Then “lay days” are those allowing free time to load or unload barges at a dock when the dock owner doesn’t have to pay demurrage on a barge to a barge operator. When there’s no business for us to operated our keelboat, we have to “lay up”, at least until ol’ Mike can find some more cargo to move to New Orleans -- hope it’s some more whiskey (fringe benefits). If Mike can’t get something to move then me and Alan will face “lay off”, and will go and “lay down” on a river bank, put a line out and hope some big dumb catfish will bite. Hope this clears up some of the confusion until Alan gets back from stuffing hisself in the “cookhouse” and starts an argument with me about what willow tree our keeler is now passing before he relieves me on watch at the tiller and I can go to the “galley” and get me some of that there deer meat before Mike wolfs it all down, here’s Happy Riverboatin’. Charlie And finally, I am now writing to all of us: Enough is enough! I knew when it all started that Webster didn’t have all the words. But Webster didn’t have all the gas either. By the time I got done trying to shake out all of these emails and responses to emails and responses to responses, I am sure I missed a few and got the rest out of order. Probably good that I did. And Charlie, I think if you read closely, you will find in Kathy Flippo’s “Between The Saints: Louis and Paul” a detailed explanation of the “P-can” and how it is used in the pilothouse. (I don’t think she used that term, however.) Of course you already know. When asking Charlie about the “head” and “can”, I never mentioned that in laymen’s vernacular, adults in my teenage years used to refer to the toilet as the “biffy.” I don’t dare ask where that came from. These guys probably know. Anyway, “A rose by any other name is still….” I, for one, think this has been delightfully entertaining, and even educational. But since I am the captain of this vessel, I am dropping anchor and securing the working party. Hope all our readers enjoyed it as much as I did. I have known both of these gentlemen many years, and between them they probably have 10,000 to 15,000 river books in their libraries. I will not even try to compete with that! If you have questions I can’t answer, I threaten to send you to them. Jack Re: Civil War Navy Re-enactors and the Steam Tug Baltimore Subject: Coaling decks come alive with new living history thrust Message: Wanted to update you on Baltimore’s latest happening Civil War Navy Re-enactors. Many potential recruits swarmed over the Steam Tug Baltimore yesterday [January 7] for a photo op as the year-long 100th birthday celebration planning got underway. The sailors posed for images in the wheelhouse and engine room and were fascinated with some of Baltimore’s mid-nineteenth century technologic gems. The tug, built along the lines of its namesake original, circa 1857, retains the sleek narrow hull design features of the many Civil War era harbour tugboats. While Baltimore will be used to interpret time periods from the 1850 to the 1960s, yesterday was an opportunity for the 1860s maritime living historians to descend below to the coaling decks and rediscover the role of the Navy’s 1860s black gang. A special thanks goes to living historian Bob Urban for serving as wardrobe manager for the many potential recruits. Tug Baltimore’s web design and site content has been recently overhauled, with many new areas including ship’s drawings, notes on preservation and three new forum sections. We’d love to have you drop by and leave your cyber calling-card: http://www.steamtug.org Away All Lines! Walt Mathers (Editor’s note: This information can also be found on our message board on the web site.) Re: Capt. J. B. Goode Article on Boat Vibrations [Help needed] I’m trying to locate an article on Boat Vibrations by Captain J. B. Goode. David Bolino responded to it and got it published. It was written back in 2003. I’d appreciate any information you might come up with on this subject. I’m very interested in the information and journeys the barges make. I have a very special friend on the River Wildcat. His calls and conversations are quite interesting. I’ll be waiting for your response. Mary Schmidt Union, Mo. Reply to: mary1996@sbcglobal.net Photo Center
 We have another nice selection of pictures for you this week, including a mystery boat from Ron Richardson. Also in the selection is a picture from Craig Nowack of the Jennie Dehmer before she experienced the engine room fire. Other pictures from Craig include the Logsdon, Richard E. Waugh, J. B. Kleinpeter, Reggie G and Darin Adrian. Having just run a picture of the Mv. Paul Striegel on January 2, we thought it would be appropriate to include a picture of the boat’s namesake himself, supplied by Jeffrey L. Yates. Jim Currens has supplied two pictures of Lock and Dam 13 activity on the upper Mississippi at Fulton. Boat names involved include the David L. Fields, Theresa L. Wood, Phyllis, Andrea Leigh, Julien Dubuque and White Angel. Recipe Box
Do you have a good recipe you’d like to share? Submit your recipes here! The Book Beat
I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be able to introduce you to:  “Ol’ Man River: Memoirs of a Riverboat Captain”
by Capt. Wm. D. Bowell, Sr., the man who turned the Padelford Packet Boat Company into reality at St. Paul, Minn. “He envisioned a thriving St. Paul riverfront decades before anyone else…,” wrote Norm Coleman, a U.S. Senator and former mayor of St. Paul. According to Paul Verret, president emeritus, St. Paul Foundation, “That Bill Bowell returned to St. Paul from World War II to get a college education, raise a family, make a fortune in printing and plastics, and build a successful riverboat excursion company is a riveting tale in itself. That he also beat the odds as a child of the Depression doubles the intrigue. His life’s story is a model for how he and others of ‘the greatest generation’ shaped this country.” Now to my own impressions. First you should know that I have know Capt. Bowell for some 30 years. Basically all I knew about was his Padelford Packet Boat Company and about the time he charged into my office at “The Waterways Journal” and asked why we didn’t have a photographer and writer at the Tall Stacks event in Cincinnati. We should have and didn’t. He convinced the publisher of that and shortly thereafter, we published a spread of Tall Stacks pictures provided by Capt. Bowell. Upon receiving a call from Capt. Bowell in recent days about the release of his new book, I was obviously interested. “A new river book,” I thought. I looked forward to it. But was I ever in for a surprise. First off, this book is absolutely beautiful in its production. It is virtually all in color. Included in its 224 pages are appendices listing (1) boats owned and operated, (2) rivers worked, (3) honors and awards, (4) portrait gallery, and (5) National Rivers Hall of Fame. This is prime stuff for river historians. Short for time, I sat down reluctantly on Friday last to read at least a chapter of Capt. Bill’s book, knowing I could never get it read before this week’s issue of B&B came out and before I could order books. I was reluctant, also, to order books without having first read it. If it were appropriate to say “Damn that man!” I’d say it. His book kept me reading all day Saturday. I finished it wishing there were more. When Paul Verret wrote that it was a “riveting tale,” he surely wasn’t using hyperbole. 
“Ol’ Man River” is a river book, but it is much more. Every child of the Great Depression will see mirrored in it experiences they themselves went through. It is a tale of a hard fight to succeed after a very difficult time for the entire country. Capt. Bowell was never a big bruiser. Weighing in at around 145 pounds, he would not seem to be the best candidate for the paratroopers during WW II. But his success only bears out the persistence of this man in pursuing whatever goal he sought. Every challenge was an invitation to fight harder and win. He has made a bunch of millionaires in his trek through life, and readers will not overlook that he has a pretty penny himself. As one example, years after his excursion boat company was founded and operating successfully, he decided to purchase a boat from a casino company. The company had plans for it but changed them and let Capt. Bowell buy the Spirit of St. Charles for $650,000 cash on the barrel head. He simply wrote out the check on the spot. As the good Captain tells us, the boat was “practically new and worth at least $1.4 million.” With a stroke of the pen he had increased his net worth by $750,000.
This book is also a great lesson for those who would like to get ahead in life. Success is due to determination and the gumption to move ahead with new projects. Capt. Bowell lacked neither of these attributes. Readers will find that this man is not just a river man. He is a man who discovered early that by helping make things better for others, he could also make things better for himself. He is an inventor and producer of successful products and has earned a place in history that most of us have never known about. You will love the book. I did! It is a hardcover, 8 x 10 book with dust jacket, profusely illustrated with color pictures and professionally drawn cartoon renditions of various aspects of Capt. Bowell’s experiences. Price: $32 plus S&H. I will include a free copy of “For Wood And Water: Steamboating on the Missouri River” by Mark Bettis (a $12.95 value). Our Price: $32.00 The Gift Shop
Steamboat Clock & Barometer - The hinged porthole-style case is solid brass with a lacquered antique finish. It has quartz movement for convenience and accuracy and runs on one AA battery. The matching Steamboat Barometer has visible aneroid barometer movement, and the antique brass case is hinged so that the movement is accessible from the front.280522 Steamboat Quartz Clock $136.49 280722 Steamboat Barometer $146.99 Get More Visitors To Your Web Site - Join The U.S. Inland Waterways Site Ring!
This is a web ring owned by Little River Books. It is dedicated to those who work, rest, or play on the inland waterways of the United States. Owners of commercial and private sites can apply to join, bringing together as many waterways related sites as possible. Sign up (FREE), put the code on your page, and watch your hits skyrocket! Let’s see if we can make this one of the biggest and best river site rings on the web. Benefit from other river sites’ traffic and gain new visitors. If you sell a river-related product on your site, this is the ring for you! (You must add the site ring graphic and code onto your website.) Check out the sites currently in the ring and their hit statistics as a direct result of being in the site ring. Tow Talkin'
January 9, 2006 By Kathy Flippo  Happy New Year everyone! Apparently I slept through everything because I missed writing last week. I’ve always said I could sleep propped up in a corner in the middle of the noisiest place imaginable.
People wonder how on earth anyone can sleep on a towboat. They think that because it is noisy on the outside, it is noisy on the inside, too. It isn’t unless you are in the engine room. Then it is LOUD, and to work down there you wear hearing protectors. But the rest of the boat is no noisier than your house. Sleeping is fine! For one thing, you are tired, so just crawl in bed, cover up and you are out like a light. There is just one thing that will wake you right up out of a sound sleep on a towboat and…to continue reading this column, click here. See you on the Web, Jack Little River Books jacksimpson@littleriverbooks.com Don't forget to visit our website! |
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