Experiment in Resolution

Didn't show up very big for me, but I did notice this....is the hull white? I'm beginning to think black hulls weren't necessarily the norm and wheel weren't always red?...I'm sure some of you on here know this for sure....so what was the normal paint schemes back then?

RE: Str. GORDON CL GREENE/Louisville, 1938.
Hi, Jim and Phillip:
Great photo Jim and many thanks for 'fiddlin' with it to get the 'resolution.' Wonder if this was a 'casual' photo snap or the photographer possibly used a filter? One fine photo composition: light and shadow, sky, smoke. Even the push cart with vendor and the vintage auto with the man strolling on the right add much to this period scene. Hope the fine artistic eye of Michael Blaser sees this one.

Phil is right about the "while hull" on the GCG. Good chance Capt. Mary B. Greene is there as was GL Purser Bob McCann for sure. Keep the photos coming. This is fun!

Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River.

This photo

I printed this photo from the original 8x10 negative, it was taken by local photo studio Caufield and Shuck. They hardly ever took random photo's, no money in that, so they probably took this photo for some special reason. I have no idea what the occasion was but the GCG sure had the bunting flying. Could it have been Derby Day???? Whatever the reason, they captured a good dramatic shot. A strong off shore wind is blowing and they have her backing hard on the head line to get the stern in.

The Louisville wharf was the biggest parking lot in town until I-64 pre-empted it. It was a source of irritation to steamboat mates. Cars frequently blocked access to mooring rings and sometimes parked directly over them. When the wharf got crowded cars would be parked at the waterline.
One day the Belle of Louisville landed with the stage a few feet above the wharf. A beautiful maroon Pontiac was parked with the water almost lapping its wheels The paint was so shiny one could use it as a mirror for shaving. There was a strong onshore wind, just before we came to the car a gust blew us shoreward, The end of the stage raked down the side of that car from end to end, peeling the paint. Oddly, the car was not dented.
Captain Paul Underwood told me, "You hit it. . .you handle it!"
The owner was on the boat, and when he reached the head I braced myself for an argument. He looked at his fine car and said, "Well, I shouldn't have parked it there," in the mildest manner, climbed in and drove away. I was one RELIEVED mate.

Ah, the Good Old Days, when people accepted responsibility for their own actions!

Don't ypu believe it, Jim. There were as many people ready to sue or fight then as now. Actually, I was in little peril, for I had four deckhands ready and able to join in any quarrel. I had an argument with a navy veteran one night that looked really bad when suddenly the guy shut up. Jay Ellis had come up behind me. Now Jay was a fighter from 'way back and he could look murderous when at ease. There he was. After the guy left Jay said, "He wasn't goin' to hurt you, mate."
Another time a fellow threatened Captain Paul Underwood, and four deckhands were escorting him ashore before he could double a fist.

The boat was sued several times while I was on her and I was obliged to appear at the bar of justice as a witness.

Down at Central City, Kentucky, we managed to break the window out of a truck with the stage. I was faced by an irate farmer at least 50% bigger than I.
We had a purser, a Mr. Prinz, who had worked carnival shows in his somewhat checkered past. He was a small man of not more than 130 pounds. He came along, nudged me aside and said to the farmer, "Here is five dollars," waving the bill under the guy's chin. "Will that cover it?" The farmer took the money and departed. Mr. Prinz told me, "Always offer them money. They'll nearly always take it."

Parking Lot Procedures

Cap, as you are well aware, a steamboat crew had to be trained in the where-with-alls of knowing how to run lines ashore without damaging the automobiles parked right where the steamboat had to land. Lines were run under the cars beneath their frames and threaded between their wheels.

A time or two, however, as we came ahead on the capstan line, a car was lifted off the ground as the line tightened, so we were obliged to slack off and run the line a different way. It was quite a sight to see as a automobile was hoisted off the ground by the lifting force of the headline. No one was hurt in the act.

Toggle bars and shackles tossed from the stage onto a cobblestone grade had to be aimed so they didn't ricochet off the granite stones and into the side of a vehicle, or worse, bowl over a local rube standing in the way.

Shipyard, it is easy to see you been there-done that. We used 4"x4" wood toggles almost always. Shackles were used only for permanent ties and laying up over the winter.

For those who do not know how toggles were used, the Louisville wharf had mooring rings inconveniently placed here and there. A toggle is a piece of wood or pipe about three feet long. To moor a boat the eye of the line was run through the ring and back over the standing part. The standing part was lifted through the eye and the toggle was inserted to hold the system together. At departure all the deckhand had to do was get a little slack and yank the toggle out of the standing part. Instantly, the line was released.

The farmers among you will recognize a shackle as a clevis.

At 400% I could see the pixels. At 200% it looked pretty good, but not real sharp. As I looked at the other enlargements you sent, I was kind of wondering what they might be doing. The line on the capstan is small. Could it be attatched to the stage? The line being pulled down the stage - spring line or another head line? I bet you could play a tune on that headline that is already moored, which would have to be grass. Think I would be standing back a leetle farther. Which one is CW?

RE: Cars on landings/'toggles' Etc.
Hi, Alan, Shipyard and steamboating colleagues:
Interesting memories RE: parked cars on sloped public landings in Louisville and here in Cincinnati. Shipyard, and others, probably could tell more about things happening here on the now gone Cincinnati Public Landing. In the winter with ice more than one parked car--or car with driver inside--hit the ice and took a notion to slide down into the river. KERPLASH! Once a big travel bus with DQ bound passengers rolled down and into the river under the GREENE LINE wharfboat. Police/rescue crews came and, luckily, the bus was empty of passengers with all luggage taken off. Took two big trucks to slowly haul it out. Water gushed and drained out of that big bus for ten minutes.

One Labor Day cruise on the DQ years ago the boat was preparing to leave. We all stood by the rail looking over. The stage was taken up with plenty of room to spare gliding over the top of a beautiful gold four door ROLLS ROYCE car. A couple had driven in from St. Louis to board just locking the car and coming aboard with luggage. I asked them why they didn't park in one of the secure garages up in town. "Oh, um...er...do you think our ROLLS will be okay?" I backed off on that one knowing some of the 'heavy traffic' that hung around the landing in those days--not just stray dogs. The couple seemed not worried one bit. I couldn't wait until the boat slid into Cincinnati several days later. The big, beautiful ROLLS was still there totally intact with not one mark on it or any sign of vandalism or theft. Our Cincinnati Police Dept. wondered also and saw that it was checked constantly for the duration of the trip. Wonder if that would be the case today?

Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River.

Floating Fiats?

Hey Dale, I have a good one for ya. It was not a Rolls but it was my new Fiat. (at least both cars are foreign) When I reported to the boat in Cincy the very first time in 1974 for my dishwashing job, I barely had time to get from Beaver Dam, KY to the DQ by sailing time. I had no idea where to park much less the time to search for a place. (Whada ya mean in a parking garage? Didn’t have none of them such things in Beaver Dam) I left the car on the landing for a week and luckily it was still there when I got back. It never even occurred to me that the river might rise and wash the little Italian away. Talk about young, dumb, and green as grass.

Togglebars

Oak made the best togglebars. My favorite wood was red or white oak 2X ‘s or 4X’s lumber that often turned up in drift piles or found alongside the riverbank after high water left them stranded with other flotsam. Finding free material suitable for crafting a toggle bar was tantamount to uncovering a diamond in the rough.

The newly found treasure was first tested for strength and flaws by rapping the stock on a solid surface like a baseball player will do by tapping the end of his bat on the ground to find if it is cracked, or not, before stepping up to the plate. If the piece passed the initial inspection, it was taken back to the boat where it began a transformation from a piece of discarded driftwood into a useful tool to aid in the tying of a steamboat to the shore during bank landings.

The oak blank was cleaned as necessary and the four sharp longitudinal edges were chamfered for the whole length to keep from chaffing the mooring lines that the toggle would secure to a tree, post, or ringbolt. Next, each end was beveled with the working end made “pointy” so that it would easily work-in between two heavy strands of line. The top would be rounded, or faired, to give the bar a pleasing appearance.

A couple or inches, or so, below the top end, a hole would be drilled of sufficient diameter so that at least a three-quarter piece of manila line could be passed through and woven into a grommet of significant circumference that served as a handle for easy carrying and to provide purchase when pulling the toggle from between a tightly compressed mass of heavy mooring line.

Finally, the newly formed tool was given a heavy coat, or two, (depending on how fast it was needed on deck) of brilliant yellow or paddlewheel red paint that made the togglebar stand out and be easily seen. Enormous delight and energy were expended on something as simple as a togglebar. Such was everyday life on the steamboat.

Steel pipe togglebars, though stronger than wooded ones, had no such pride of craftsmanship. Just pieces of pipe that were fond of slipping out of the knot securing the line to the tie. Pipe toggles are untrustworthy.

The MQ actually sunk a Subaru in Memphis. Back when we could dock at the city front landing we docked either at beale St. or further up the Wolf River at Court St. While docked at Court St., with the head line around a huge tree, a freak gust of wind came up and caused the line to part. We were docked with head upstream, so the boat swung over to the port side about 45 degrees. A Subaru had been parked on top of the stern line, and when that line parted it catapulted the car into the river and sank, stren first. The owner returned about 5 PM and Capt. Keeton and I met him on the landing. He was much more interested in getting a vessel tour than anything else...