01/03/2011 7:34 pm
Hey All,
Cap'n Bates recent WWJ article about keeping the wet side down reminded me of a few stories I've read or heard about high water and drastic measures to keep the freight moving. The one I recall most vividly was about the SPRAGUE upbound with loads in a rising river. The boat would not make the vertical clearance at the next bridge, so the captain ordered water pumped in the hull to gain the needed inches to clear the bridge. Was this a more common practice then we would tend to believe? Other stories I remember involve lowering the stacks, whistle, pilothouse gobble-de-gook, to make clearance under bridges. Anyone have any other stories about this. With the Ohio going to flood this weekend in Cincinnati I thought it might be a fun an appropriate topic of discussion. How about the modern towboaters, I know there are stories out there.
Aaron
03/03/2011 9:30 am
You can lower all the masts and radars on top of the pilothouses of towboats. I've never had.to do it myself however. I have got stuck on the Mon for a few days because the Mary Ellen Jones wouldn't fit through the Pittsburgh bridges. The upper Ohio at and above Wheeling is really the only place to worry about.
03/03/2011 2:00 pm
I remember having to lower those radar masts on the MQ and they were very heavy. We would have to stand out there with a cane pole we marked to check clearance but I do remember at least one time I jumped off the pilot house it looked so close.
04/03/2011 3:59 am
The Flood of 1884
Capt Thomas S Calhoon achieved renown for his relief efforts in the flood of 1884. The crest at Cincinnati was 71 feet 12 inches. To enable the str Katie Stockdale passage under the railroad bridge at Pt Pleasant, Capt Calhoon ordered the boat's carpenters to remove the top of the pilot house. My take on the story is called The Mercy Mission.