Str. Natchez Relocated !

Thanks, Ted! I had wondered where the NATCHEZ was. I came through S/B the other night and did not see her at Toulouse St. I had not been looking for her up above, and so was curious. Too bad they can't run cruises from Robin St.

Does the Natchez have stack extensions that are removed in favor of a shorter set when she makes trips up north? It just seems that when I saw her in Louisville couples years ago and when she was at Tallstacks, they seemed shorter, maybe I'm just crazy?

The Natchez's stacks ARE shorter than they were. The original stacks were not built as drawn and are, indeed too tall for up-river trips. In my opinion the shorter stacks look much, much better.

Capt Alan,

I agree 100%...The NATCHEZ looks so much beter with realistically sized stacks. Gives her back the length she lost with those large ones. 'Cause they made her appear shorter.

~Travis~

Stack clarification

When the NATCHEZ went up to the '82 race, they built shorter stacks which were attached to the base sections. Upon returning to NOLA, the old stacks were put back on. If you look at pictures you'll see the fluting to be different. The original stack tops were 75 feet above the waterline. In preparing for the '05 Relief Trip, they removed approximately 12 feet from the original stacks, which is what she still sports today. You'll note that one spreader bar is no longer there too. As to the actual question about stack extensions, the answer is NO. As I mentioned previously, the NATCHEZ was going to have to move from the Toulouse St. wharf so that the wharf area could be cleaned too. Here are 3 pix, roughly the same angle, showing the 3 stack versions.
1) June 22, 1985 These are the original stacks and height, 3 years after the foray up north. That's Capt. Roddy Hammett on the wingbridge and Capt. Steve Nicoulin in the pilothouse.
2) May 1, 1982 Taken by Keith Norrington at the Louisville wharf. These stack tops were made for that trip and were about 10 feet shorter than the originals. They are still stored somewhere...in NOLA, not in RI! The originals were reinstalled soon after they returned from the race trip.
3) April 2008 This was the day the river stage hit 17 ft. The boat's guards are actually above the wharf decking. Note that there is only one spreader bar now. Again, the other one is stored in NOLA... The jack flag is cut out of the picture, but that turquoise pennant flying below it is the New Orleans Hornets, NBA team which was in the playoffs at that time, or heading to them.
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Judy,

Those 1982 Steamboat Race stacks had a fluting welded onto their bases much like the streckfus steamer WASHINGTON. However, they were much simpler. They also had the welded cat walks where the workers removed the original stacks on when she arrived at Louisville.

Personally, I think she looked so good with shorter stacks I was willing to accept them then!

Now, with her stack crowns in place on the shorter stacks she looks even better to my eye.

~Travis~

If you look closely, you can see the perches in the '82 pix. Those crowns on now are the originals because those are the original stacks, just with 12 feet cut off from the bottom end. I would like to see the 2nd spreader bar put back on, since they still have it.

Roddy thought that we should festoon fruit on those perches to get the Carmen Miranda effect. It would have taken a lot of fruit. At the risk of being thought a Philistine, I always liked the taller stacks, due to the environment, which consisted of high bridge clearances, tall buildings, and ships that simply dwarf the Natchez, all higher than the old stacks. For example, I would look short if standing next to an NBA team, but way too tall if standing next to a team of Olympic gymnists.

That makes two of us. I thought the taller chimneys looked much better.