Christmas on the steamboats

I had to spend ONE Christmas on the DQ, and that cured me. I thought it would be fun, but the Grinch was present. I was running mate and we had a real bunch of goof balls on the deck crew. Nothing new there. I had the after watch and came on watch at midnight, only to have the Captain threaten to fire me because the potable water tanks had not been topped off at Baton Rouge. I was off watch at Baton Rouge, but I was still being held responsible. A bad mood ensued. Then we stopped at some little Louisiana town, I don't remember where or why, and the off watch deck crew (see above) went to town. It wasn't long before trouble arrived at the gangplank in the form of deck hands and toughs from the town, all filled with Christmas spirits. The locals wanted to follow the crew onto the boat and the only thing stopping them was me. I had to do some serious defusing, and I guess my bad mood convinced them that they had better stay on the shores of Louisiana. Or maybe the Grinch was standing behind me and scared them off. Thus, I swore off Christmas on the steamboats, if at all possible.

Mel,

My Christmas memories...well, Holiday memories aboard the boats could fill a book! I will share a few here.

My favourite holiday season aboard the DELTA QUEEN was 2004. There was a camaraderie amongst the crew that year. We knew what was coming...or “the plan” for 2005 Delaware North had for us. 2004 was a transitional year for Delaware North and steamboatin'. There was a lot of contempt for what lied ahead. So we steamboaters were going to do the holidays in steamboatin' style one last time.

The Christmas cruise had one very distinct memory for me. Our Assistant Cruise Director, Bob Stevens came to me in the Officers Mess on that Christmas Eve night and asked me if I had a copy of the late Captain John Hartford's piece “Christmas Eve”. The memories that went through my head of listening to that song...it was a tradition in my household, to remember our river family and where they may be on Christmas. Of course I had it aboard. Bob wanted to play it before the show that night for the passengers. I had my copy up there so fast it made heads spin. The Orleans Room was silent as Capt. Hartford's voice and banjo rang out.

2004 was the coldest Christmas I ever remember out on the river. On Christmas morning we had ice on the decks and a light dusting of snow (which blew away before breakfast). Yet, the passengers enjoyed every moment of it.

On Christmas eve we tied up the the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN at Natchez, MS. Many of her passengers came over to visit the DELTA QUEEN and experienced our tight-knit home on the river. Many verbally lamented their decision to be aboard the bigger boat. I don't think they realized what they were seeing here...for each boat (and I have been aboard both of them at Christmas time) is different in her own unique way. The DELTA QUEEN is like visiting at Grandmas House for the holiday. The MISSISSIPPI QUEEN was filled with the energy of a young family celebrating Christmas. There isn't a bad boat to be on to celebrate the holidays!

The 2004 New Years cruise was also very memorable. As we left New Orleans on the 29th of December, the temperatures had returned to the upper 50's and the river was covered in a misty fog. In this warm damp setting is where I found Lil Smith, out on the Texas Deck towards the stern on the port side. We had a wonderfully scintillating political conversation where we saved the world from all its problems (if only they had listened to us on our high perch on the DELTA QUEEN!!) . All the while the DELTA QUEEN navigated and wove her way through endless ships form ports all over the world. As we ended our conversation (a couple of great hours later) we noticed a very well-lit vessel coming around the bend, it was the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN...both boats exchanged whistle salutes and the late nighters were all out on deck waving back and forth. I saw many of my friends form the previous season on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN...what a wonderful moment that was!

The Prater clan was aboard for that New Years cruise and the Matriarch, Helen Prater and I became friends on that cruise. She is a very talented pianist and the daughter of Capt. Jesse P. Hughes, one of the first Pilots Capt. Gordon C. Greene hired for his company Greene Line Steamers. Helen told me great tales of the early days before the Delta Queen Steamboat Company...she even consented to playing a number on the calliope for me. I have been told I am one of the few who could get her back there to the calliope. She performed “Goodbye, Little Girl, Goodbye” and told me it was just the way Mr. Homer Denny did it on the Big Liz back in Cincinnati (Big Liz was the nickname for the ISLAND QUEEN, a Cincinnati, OH based excursion steamboat of the 20's-40's). several years later I would come upon a recording of the late Homer Denny doing the same number...and I'll be Helen was spot on!

Speaking of past passengers (or FRN as we steamboat crew members call them....they know what that means and aren't offended, I assure you! It is merely a term of endearment!), who will forget some of the illustrious members of our past passenger lists! I will never forget the Mullen's and the Peters and their endless bounty of electronic toys..like computers, radios, GPS units...they always shared them with crew and passengers alike! What an education those gave us all! And then there was Butch Guenther and his 1937 Flood Crest Mark. Each cruise he was aboard he would make this sign on paper with a big red line noting the height the river got to. He would put it on a window, prominently displayed, in the Texas Lounge. Every cruise some poor sap would read it and state” Wow, the water got all the way up here in the Texas Lounge!” We would all laugh heartily! One sure way to see smiles on the faces of the crew is to see Barbara Hamiester come across the stage. Kathy Lake is another great person who brings happiness to the crew. Judy Patsch at Lock 15 with her world famous chocolate chip cookies...or an offer to take crew members to stores they need to go to while stopped at Davenport, IA. The Krauses were always found holding court in the Texas Lounge with friends, their new steamboatin friends and the band. Who could forget Miss Peggy Geisler on one of her numerous “rotations” aboard as she sat out on deck and knitted. Pat Carr brought the showboats back to life for us with her excitement and knowledge of the great institution of Showboating! Tom Denny would come aboard and always knew what it took to bring cheer to his fellow passengers and crew! Pat Traynor would come across the stage and you could feel her excitement for the DELTA QUEEN way before she came up the stairs into the Forward Cabin Lounge.....Visitors from the past incarnations of the DELTA QUEEN were always welcome, for they brought such insight to what she was. Over on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN we had regulars, too...like Miss Reva, the consummate débutante!

Of course the crew...who could forget the welcoming smiles of some of them! If I even start to mention names we will be here all day!

Sorry if I bored you all with my droning on about this.

There is nothing like a steamboat at Christmas...doesn't matter what year...there will be names, faces, experiences and fun to savour for a lifetime!

I have been blessed to have had the experience. If I couldn't be with my family on Christmas (or the Holidays for that matter) I can't think of anywhere else I would rather be than on some ol' steamboat!

Gee, if this diatribe is any indication of what some of the rest of the group are gonna post on here...it will be a trip down memory lane few of us will ever forget!

“Out on the river...On Christmas Eve”

Travis

That was great Travis! your memory is pretty vivid. "Aintcha got no Family, no place to be, out on the river...... on christmas eve". one of my all time favorite songs John wrote and performed.

well the first one I spent was on the MQ in 1977 and Sharon Shrake(Mrs. Robert Reynolds) was one of the people I remember spending it with and Capt. Dave Rainbolt, Cheif Mate at the time, threw a great christmas party in the crew mess with his Champagne, ice cream, and Everclear punch. I spent a few more on the MQ and one on the DQ. I do remember one absolutley freezing one on the MQ, 1983 I think it was. I remember going to NOLA for christmas of 84 and wading out in the Gulf at Pas Cristian Ms. on Christmas Eve.

Donaldsonville, LA

Lexie, I remember that night and it was a pretty tense moment. Obviously much more tense for you since you had to stop them. Was that at Donaldsonville, LA? I thought I would never forget the name but that is what time will do for you.

I spent Christmas on the boats several times and the crew always made the best of the situation. However, since the Purser's Office upstairs always faced the passenger with a problem first then the atmosphere always seemed somewhat less than festive for me. I always felt many of the passengers on holiday cruises were usually trying to escape the holiday for one reason or another.

the frigid 1983 MQ trip

I was Jr. Activities Director for the MQ's Christmas 1983 trip, 7 day round trip to Vicksburg. When we left the Robin St. wharf, Vic Tooker played a couple of tunes on the sour calliope and said he'd play it later in the trip when it got warmer. WRONG. It was 42 when we left NOLA, and the temps kept dropping. I and 12 passengers had our baggage lost and so I was resplendent in MQ gift shop red sweaters and sweatshirts. Our bags showed up at Capital Marine in Baton Rouge on Christmas Eve, a great present. It was 28 degrees in both BR and Natchez. They kept the wheel rolling slowly to keep it from freezing. I have pix of icicles on the fantail, which I'll post later(bingo at the nursing home is calling me now). When we got to Vicksburg, the streets were closed due to the freezing rain which had coated them. I could envision a car sliding down that hill into the boat.... I took a walk around town and had no problems, being a midwesterner used to that stuff. Then when we stopped at BR downbound, we got the word to fill up with water, as there was no water pressure in NOLA. It had dropped to 6 there, and pipes broke and burst all over town. We had the warmest and best water supplied place in the city when we returned. Needless to say, the calliope was never played again that trip... More later....

If I may be so bold as to extend the parameters to "riverboats" ....

Christmas 2004 for me was as an Assistant Cruise Director on the Empress of the North. The Cruise Director gave me free rein to write and arrange a Christmas show. It was a review of popular Christmas songs performed by various members of the entertainment staff. In keeping with the Lewis and Clark theme of our cruises along the Columbia, our historian, Bill Knowles, read excerpts of the L&C journal for Christmas Eve. The rest of the crew asked if they could participate too. They had written a hilarious parody of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" using references to life aboard a riverboat. The Captain's wife and small children were aboard and the two little girls sang "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and I was able to convice the Master of the vessel to read "Twas The Night Before Christmas" in his Class A uniform, surrounded by the entire off duty crew sitting around him on the stage. We closed with White Christmas. It was a true true family affair.

Since the little ones would be aboard for Christmas Eve, I correctly assumed that they would wonder how Santa would find them aboard the Empress of the North. There are two small, faux stacks on the sundeck of the EON and they have a couple of small storage areas built into them. So we had the kids put milk and cookies inside the "stacks", ensuring that Santa would indeed have some riverboatin' subsistence.

To top it all off, the deck hands, God bless 'em, cooked up a scheme to make it all real for the kids. At a prearranged hour, they climbed on the roof above the Captain's cabin, and using folding chairs, imitated the sound of eight tiny reindeer galloping across the superstructure salted with some hearty Santa like ho-ho-ho's.

Perfect!

Who says steamboaters don't have a family???

Paul

the frigid 1983 MQ trip pix

Here are pictures from the 1983 MQ Christmas roundtrip NOLA-Vicksburg. The high temp was 42 when we left NOLA, it was 28 in Baton Rouge and Natchez, and while we were gone, it had dropped to 6 in NOLA, bursting many pipes, freezing fountains, and causing little or no water pressure in town.
Christmas Day shots: 1) icicles on fantail, ice on wheel
2) icicles on bow
3) ice on shrubbery

Fairly early in the MQ's Career the ONLY Christmas (yes, I'm non PC, it was Christmas folks) was a couple cassette tapes that I had made at home from 33 1/3 RPM records to my little Panasonic $20.00 (purchased used) Portable Cassette tape player/recorder. It was plugged into the MQ muzak in the area opposite the original Pursers Office. The same tapes also made an appearance sometime later in the Pilot house of the DQ.

the frigid 1983 MQ trip pix

More: 1) closeups of stern ice
2) Grand staircase decorations - there was a big tree in the Paddlewheel Bar, where we sang carols on Christmas Eve. Vic Tooker was working the Paddlewheel Bar that trip, and I think Fred Dodd was with him. Mel, do you remember for sure?
3) Officers lounge with a little tree

the frigid 1983 MQ trip pix

and finally...1) the officers' dining area
2) taken during my August trip as Jr. Activities Director in Vicksburg. That trip it hit 105 - I couldn't win! I title this one: Homeland Security before there was such a department!

One more story from that Christmas trip: Capt. Arthur McArthur was Master. About the third evening after I had supervised the 20 some kids all day, I had just sat down at the Paddlewheel Bar around midnight, with Mich E. Lob, and I was paged to a passenger room. Seems as if some of my charges had set their stateroom sink on fire - don't ask how they managed that, but they did. Capt. McArthur wanted me to see their faces and to let him know if they ever were alone on deck, as he had just placed them 'under house arrest' - they weren't allowed anywhere without their parents the rest of the trip. Fortunately that was the only problem we had with the kids on either of my trips - kids rode free that year with 2 paying adults. Several trips in the summer prior to my arrival had over 40 young people aboard, many of whom relieved their boredom on a slowmoving steamboat in less than acceptable ways, like cutting firehoses, throwing glass in the pool, stuffing towels down toilets, etc. That's when VP Fred Martin called in the meanest teacher he knew to help out. Mel, were you ever on any of those summer trips? Mike Menard and his wife Becky were crew then, don't remember who else.

Christmas on the Kanawha

None of my Christmases were spent on a steamboat, for we always had 'em snugged up tight for the winter and the crew laid-off for a long winter's rest before the holiday. But I had a wonderful sometime-before-Christmas time on the P. A DENNY when I brought a friend, John Combs, along on a long train ride from Cincinnati to Charleston, WV for a celebration aboard the boat sponsored by Cappy Lawson Hamilton and hosted by Ross and Sandy Tuckwiller. It must have been the winter of '77.

Before the party, however, Ross, Tony Harrison, John, and I don't remember who else was aboard expect that our very special guest was Captain Clarke C. Hawley- home for the holiday season with his family in C'town. Tony had just gotten his license that fall, and had never ran a trip on his own, yet, as I remember, but he was operating the boat that afternoon when we turned her loose and took a private ride up the Kanawha to the Capitol Building- so with the "T" at the wheel, I was free to party.

Ross charged up the Frisbie Calliope and he and Doc took turns playing Christmas carols as we paddled up and back along the Charleston riverfront. Somewhere there is a tape of Doc and Ross at the callyope. Doc also threw in some other favorites of mine; especially "Avalon" and "Little Alice Blue Gown".

That night, inside the snug little sternwheeler, gifts were passed around, and when it came time for my present to Tony, there was no trinket in paper wrapping for him, and he seemed somewhat disappointed until I said:

"You're standing on your gift."

That made him all-the-more confused until I revealed,

"I'm giving you the P. A. DENNY. You're the Captain, now. I won't be coming back next season."

Captain Tony Harrison lit up brighter than the Christmas lights atop the Capitol dome.

Judy Patsch;19732 wrote: and finally...1) the officers' dining area
.

Tablecloths and place settings in the MQ Officers' Mess????? This was just for Christmas, right?

Paul

I, too, experienced an ice storm in Vicksburg in 1961. Vicksburgers are not accustomed to driving on glare-ice but they are well-adjusted to swamps. The highway department sanded the bridge and the hilly streets - 8" deep. This converted them to swamps and drivers got around just fine.

Wow Judy you really do have a good memory for this stuff. Yes I remember Cap'n Mac was Master and Ed Winford was one of the Pilots, I was 1st Mate and Mike Menard was 2nd Mate. Was Sherry Conner cruise director? yeah Fred and Vic were there, Tony Martin was usually wherever Fred was. The rest of it is a little foggy. Those are great Pictures Judy. I cant remember if John and Tracy Davitt were on. John would have been Cheif Mate. And speaking of weather, does anybody remember the Fort Jackson trip. When were northbound and started seeing ice flows in big chunks and Mac had us turn to and head south. We got NOBRA 70, Capt. Ted Davisson back as a pilot for a few days.

I believe I remember that Christmas Capt. Blum. It was the only one I remember someone piping Christmas music through the boat. Was that 78 or 79?

MQ crew

mel hartsough;19736 wrote: Wow Judy you really do have a good memory for this stuff. Yes I remember Cap'n Mac was Master and Ed Winford was one of the Pilots, I was 1st Mate and Mike Menard was 2nd Mate. Was Sherry Conner cruise director? yeah Fred and Vic were there, Tony Martin was usually wherever Fred was. The rest of it is a little foggy. Those are great Pictures Judy. I cant remember if John and Tracy Davitt were on. John would have been Cheif Mate. .

Yes, the Red Hot Mama was Cruise Director. I don't remember if John D. was there or not. The other pilot was John Ritchie.

I think it was Donaldsonville. If you haven't read Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham, it's a funny take on trying to get away from the Christmas hoopla by taking a cruise. A movie was made based on the book called Christmas With The Kranks.

Thats right Judy we had our own Santa Clause. I just remember it being so unbelievably cold.

What wonderful stories. I never had a Christmas on the river. I thought I found the career I would retire with...then Congress and Majestic...and no more boats on the rivers. I do so envy those of you who spent so many years on the boats, whether it be the Empress or the MQ or the DQ...or any of the others. Thank you so much for sharing your memories.