Capt. Bob Zang Story

Sam,

One of my favorite DQ stories was about Capt. Bob Zang. As you know, the front window on the DQ's pilothouse was on hinges to allow it to be raised and hooked in place. I don't know if it still can be raised now that the PH is air-conditioned. Anyway, on one rainy, blustery afternoon, Capt. Zang was on watch. When the mate or deckhand got up to the pilothouse to see if the pilot wanted anything or needed a hand lowering that window and latching it in place, there was an unforgettable sight that greeted their eyes as they reached the top of the stairs and opened the gate into the pilothouse. There stood Bob Zang between the levers, wearing one of the yellow rain slickers, puffing away at his pipe, window wide open with him leaning forward and braced against the wind and rain blowing in his face -- just like those pictures of the ancient mariner on the wind-swept sea! Oh how I would have loved to have seen that! Harry Louden liked to keep that window open most of the time, too. I think a lot of the old-timers did, actually. Thanks for the link to the story. Oh, the memories of those wonderful, priceless days on the DQ!!

That is SOME yarn, Sam.
either Ms Maddux or Bob Zang is pulling our leg.

The Captain Hates the Sea.....

Great story, Dave. Captain Zang surely had a fit with the DELTA QUEEN pilothouse window you so aptly described.

On another occasion the wind was blowing a gale against the large square pane, and wouldn't you know it, the wiper(s) quick working in the midst of it all. So he had the two Night Watchmen, one Roddy Hammett and the other, a Gabriel Chengery, standing on a ladder outside in the storm, between rounds, wearing a long yellow raincoat and swabbing the offending window with a deck mop as Cap'n Zang muttered over and over:

The Captain hates the sea. The Captain hates the sea.

You may have seen Captain Roddy, in later years, doing his imitation of Captain Zang on that terrible, blustery night somewhere on the Mississippi River.

Oh? Do tell! Inquiring minds want to know. Really... Was it the Big Ferris that tipped you off? Just curious. I mean, what do I know. I wasn't around then... Enlighten us.

Yup! It was the Big Ferris and her adventures.

It reminded me of an escapade of Capt. Jesse Hughes's. At an S&D meeting a guy showed up from the Cincinnati Library with a recording outfit hoping to get some river "color."

His technique was bad. He would jab a microphone into his victim's face and demand, "Tell me a river story, Captain!" He approached Captain Jesse Hughes first.

Cap'n Jesse told him the old story of the Katie Prather and the load of turkeys that flew out of Brush Creek. (The same story is told today about semi-trailers with flat tires.) Cap'n Jesse then alerted Harry Kraft, Bill Dugan, Roy Barkhau and several other old-timers. Soon the interviewer had six or seven versions of the Katie Prather up Brush Creek.

Ask David Tschiggfrie about recording pilothouse talk sometime.

Brush Creek

What's it with Brush Creek, anyway? Didn't the DELTA QUEEN end up in there once when a pilot, unnamed, was following the shoreline on a foggy night? John Beatty's salvage fleet also followed the same mysterious siren song and wound up with everything John owned stuffed up Brush Creek and abandoned by the two-man crew who were skunk-drunk while taking the fleet to a job site where Cap'n Beatty was impatiently waiting.

Ah, yes, Sam. It's that self-same Brush Creek.