Topic starter
05/01/2007 8:42 pm
Back on the old steamboats.org message board we had a thread about the disposition of remaining Howard boats. The list was something like this:
HOWARD BOATS THAT STILL EXIST
=============================
MAMIE S. BARRETT, beached at Deer Park, LA, b. 1921
KANAWHA, BELLE CAROL (et. al.), b. 1924
BECKY THATCHER, MISSISSIPPI's hull, Marietta, OH, b. 1926
LORETTA HOWARD, Lamb, IN, b. 1929
DETROITER, Nelson's whistle barge; COP-R-LOY, b. 1929
M/V BROOKLYN, wrecked on KY River; HELEN H, b. 1930
SERGEANT FLOYD, Museum in Sioux City, b. 1932
M/V STEEL CITY, (to be scrapped in 2005), FRANK COSTANZO, b. 1940
I got my new 2007 IRR, and happened to open to page 55 and read a listing on a single-screw towboat named AUNT POLLY. I was surprised to read that it was built in 1921 by Howard, as the sternwheel gasboat "D.A.B.". Converted to propeller in 1958. Apparently it is up on the Allegheny now.
Anyone know for sure if the FRANK COSTANZO was ever scrapped-out?
05/01/2007 10:38 pm
Steve & steamboat colleagues:
Interesting information on 'Howard boats still in existence.' Right you are Re: AUNT POLLY of 1921, originally launched as the 'D.A.B.' She is listed in Howard records as being 60 X 16 X 3 ft. for work out of Pittsburgh. Entry by Howard is 'gaw' for gas sternwheel. For some reason the Howard records from the yards fail to list any completion prices for boats from 1920 to 1923.
I've no knowledge of the FRANK COSTANZO at this time [*Capt. Bill Judd may know for sure]. She was the last Howard built boat of 1940 at 71.4 X 20 X 5.4 ft. registered as 'ols' in records meaning 'oil engine, screw propeller' for work in Louisiana. Only two Howard boats from 1939-1940 are listed with completion prices. I'm the weird one here who likes sleuthing old records with calculator in hand to figure prices, labor, materials, operating costs.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
Topic starter
06/01/2007 12:09 am
Dale,
Yes I was so surprised to find another extant Howard boat, that I had to look in the "From Paddlewheels to Propellers" book to verify it was so.
Got word from Dan Owen that the m/v STEEL CITY (ex FRANK COSTANZO) was indeed scrapped in '05. So the revised list looks like this:
HOWARD BOATS THAT STILL EXIST
=============================
MAMIE S. BARRETT, beached at Deer Park, LA, b. 1921
AUNT POLLY, originally sternwheel gasboat D.A.B., b. 1921
KANAWHA, BELLE CAROL (et. al.), b. 1924
BECKY THATCHER, MISSISSIPPI's hull, Marietta, OH, b. 1926
LORETTA HOWARD, Lamb, IN, b. 1929
DETROITER, Nelson's whistle barge; COP-R-LOY, b. 1929
M/V BROOKLYN, wrecked on KY River; HELEN H, b. 1930
SERGEANT FLOYD, Museum in Sioux City, b. 1932
RECENTLY DEPARTED
=====================
M/V STEEL CITY, (scrapped in 2005), FRANK COSTANZO, b. 1940
Topic starter
06/01/2007 3:36 pm
Through the wonders of the internet, I found one more existing Howard boat, and perhaps the last. The m/v P.W. Ritchie still operates out of Belpre, Ohio, and was built by Howard as the Wm. B. Brokamp in 1939.
06/01/2007 8:19 pm
Could that boat have been built for the Brokamp and Bressler (sp) Coal company not far upriver from Coney Island, Cincinnati? A Company of that name had a Cincinnati, Georgetown & Portsmouth Wooden Interurban for an office. I saw the former CG&P car once after the place was abandoned.
06/01/2007 9:02 pm
Jim, I think that may have been the case. The boat was later sold to Central Barge Line, and Dick Bissell of Dubuque and I believe also Norm Hillman worked on her under their auspices. Later sold to American Barge Line, forerunner of today's ACBL.
Topic starter
06/01/2007 9:20 pm
Yes, that's probably correct. The book on the Howard Shipyards "From Paddlewheels To Propellers" doesn't say much about the Wm. S. Brokamp, except that it was built for Two Rivers Barge Line, Cincinnati. It was a small boat, 44' x 14'. Apparently it is 54' x 14' today as the P.W. Ritchie.
06/01/2007 10:13 pm
Jim: The car ( office) at Brokamp & Bressler was a " Black Line" car from the Cincinnati- New Richmond-Ripley line, which ran right through the B & B coal yard. The " Black Line" and the C. G. & P. interchanged equipment all the time as they shared a yard in the East End. Now down at "Sheet Metal" by the big crane, old " Cap" Beatty's office was the C. G. & P car # 505. The boat in question was built for Brokamp & Bressler. Two men owned B & B, Bill Brokamp who was well known in the Ohio-Kanawha coal business and his partner was Rube Bressler, a star of the Cincinnat Reds, era 1930's.