Edwin N. Bisso

Not sure

Not sure but here is a picture of a Bisso harbor Tug In NOLA circa. 1977

I remember seeing bits of that movie a few years ago and posting the same question here, but I don't think there was an answer at that time. If I'm thinking of the same movie, it was one of those steam catamaran ferries, probably Howard built, similar to the ones that worked the Algiers point area. But that is just a guess. Didn't one of these catamaran ferries go to Florida, and eventually disintegrate there? I've forgotten the details about that...
Attached is a photo of one of these ferryboats.

Edwin m. Bisso

Steve, I believe that IS the EDWIN M. BISSO. I have that same picture, but of course I can't find it now for the annotations. Anyway from Way: "catamaran ferrry built by Nashville Bridge Co. 1925. 130x46x7.5. Handled 273 passengers and 50 cars. Owned by Bisso Ferry Co. until sold in 1965 to Mississippi River Bridge Authority. Converted to diesel in 1968 and renamed CITY OF GRETNA. Off the lists 1976." So Hank, if those dates work with whenever your movie was made, this could have been the boat. There were several Bisso ferries. The ferry business was private until the MRBA run by the state took over in the '60s. As Mel picture points out, the Bisso name is still prominent in the NOLA harbor with their tugboat service.

Bingo, Miss Patsch! I have the movie and that IS the EDWIN N. BISSO, which blows her whistle in one scene. There are good photos of her, as well as the ferries CITY OF BATON ROUGE and LOUISIANA in the David N. Plowden book, Farewell to Steam, published in 1966. There are also photographs of the DQ, BELLE, LONE STAR, ARKANSAS (snagboat) SAINTE GENEVIEVE and various other vessels plus a section on trains.

The December, 1966 issue of American Heritage also contains a nice spread of pictures from the Plowden book and an article entitled A Whistle Good-Bye.

Numerous copies of both publications are available on EBAY and from BookFinder.com: Search for New & Used Books, Textbooks, Out-of-Print and Rare Books.

Algiers in Sanibel, FL

Here is the link to an earlier post about the Algiers hiatus as a home in Florida.

Re: Another Howard built steamboat to add to the extant list

Wesley

Thanks! Unusual to find a boat under her own name in the movies! I had looked in Way, but obviously missed it because when I looked again, there she was. I think that the movie was made in 1966, so the time would be about right. The gas boat the landed McQueen at the prison camp was a right nice vessel also. Wonder if either of them siill exist.

I looked on the internet for a photo of a catermaran ferry, and that was the first image I found. Couldn't read the nameboard, although I have seen the photo before.

Just a lucky coincidence that this was the actual boat we were looking for!

M or N

Nah, you're just being modest Steve! You knew all along it was the very boat in question! But a question: was it N or M for the middle initial? Fred Way has M in the directory, which is what I posted. But everyone else is saying N, so I'm guessing that is correct. Oh, if only I could find anything around here!

The pictures of the boat in Farewell to Steam clearly show the pilothouse nameboards and the name is EDWIN N. BISSO.

Seems to me I have that book somewhere. I'll have to try & dig it out.