Oh, Steamboat Bill, Steamin' Down The Mississippi

I wanted to do a series of unusual pictures of late 19th. early 20th. century working boats, rather than fancy passenger liners. In my research I came across photographs of  'Mississippi Paddle Steamers."

Steamboat Bill was the pilot of the Whipporwill. He was under orders from the vessel's owners to try to beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.

Now I had images in mind of the Paddle Steamers as floating Casinos ...the film, 'Showboat,' comes to mind But that's all Hollywood. It seems that those types of craft were simply barges with flat roofed houses on them - pulled by a 'tow-boat.'

Oh, Steamboat Bill, steamin' down the Mississippi
Steamboat Bill, a mighty man was he 

Oh, Steamboat Bill, steamin' down the Mississippi

Gonna beat the record of the Robert E. Lee.

The REAL paddle steamers were, what we in the aviation world called, PCF: Passenger Cum Freighter. Whilst the passengers occupied the upper deck(s) the freight travelled below. Also, directly below the passengers, were the massive steam boilers that drove the paddles.

Up then stepped a gambling man from Louisville 

Who tried to get a bet against the Whippoorwill

 Billy clasped the roll and surely was some bear 

The boiler it exploded, blew them up in the air. 

 The gambler said to Billy as they left the wreck 

"I don't know where we're going but we're neck and neck."

 Said Billy to the gambler, "Tell you what I'll do; 

I'll bet another thousand I'll go higher than you!" 

Exploding boilers killed many thousands on the rivers. In the first 40 years over 4000 people died and 500 vessel sunk. The worst was the Sultana, which in 1865 was ferrying  home Union Troops, recently freed from Confederate prisons. The boilers blew! 1700 died - still the largest loss of life on the rivers.

There were/are two kinds of Paddle Steamer: Side Paddle and Stern Paddle.

Here's my impression of the Side Paddle Steamer, Arabia, probably about 1885.

Paddle Steamer, Arabia (c1885),                  John Simlett, Shipwright  (2012)
Pen & Ink   15" x 12"