21/12/2014 5:58 pm
Bye and happy holidays
Thank you
21/12/2014 7:29 pm
Nothing Found So Far...
I checked in my Way's Steam Towboat Directory and Way's Packet Directory to find nothing with the name CORAL KING, or CORAL QUEEN... there was a CORAL SEA in the towboat directory, but was listed 1940-1960, which would mean you're timeline would have to be off. I'll search more... perhaps it had a different name. The problem with that is there are probably more than just one steamboat on the rivers between 1970-73. Thanks for the mission... it gives my directory books a chance to be read again. I'll inform you with any new information.
Merry Christmas,
ML
21/12/2014 11:24 pm
Unless I missed something, the steamboat that pushed the record tonnage tow on the Miss. was the Sprague. It primarily resided in Vicksburg until its demise by fire. You can't always believe what you read in the papers. I'm sure our St. Louis authorities may be able to help you and hopefully the rest of us as well.
22/12/2014 1:38 am
Sprauge 1970-73
Yes, I had a feeling that was off... but it couldn't be the Sprauge if it was found in St. Louis in the 1970's, as the Sprauge was retired. It did say "at one time," so perhaps its just that its record was broken later. But otherwise, something has to be wrong with this. I still haven't found a single steamboat under CORAL KING. The CORAL SEA in the Way's Steam Towboat Directory is a mystery to me, as I don't know what area it operated. I just know, really, its name, its crew, and that it existed to the 1960's.
Merry Christmas,
ML
22/12/2014 3:13 am
Steamboat Sprague Data
Also called Big Mama of the Mississippi.She was built in 1902.She set the record for the largest tow in history. 63,301 tons of coal.After 46 years on the river she became a museum and was also used in the movie SHOWBOAT. The Sprague burned in 1974. Carole Matthews Pompano Beach Fla 33064 [email protected] Thanks for reading.
22/12/2014 3:57 am
Marcus, the CORAL SEA referred to in "Way's" was a big steam twin-screw towboat, known as a "D.P.C." boat, so named because they were built by the Defense Plant Corporation during WWII. They were all named for battles in the Pacific theatre of WWII: CORAL SEA, LUNGA POINT, JAVA SEA, to name a few.
22/12/2014 4:00 am
M Chirro, if no one else on this forum is able to help in the next couple of days, my suggestion is you get in touch with Dan Owen, retired from the Waterways Journal in St. Louis. I'm sure they can put you in touch with him, and I'd bet money he'll have the answer.
22/12/2014 2:33 pm
boat seen 40 yrs ago M Chirro
Bob Good idea about the Waterways Journal a very timely an interesting publication. Keith Norrington writes an Old Boat Column at the back of each issue an it always involves old steamboats and steamboat history.Keith is curator and director of the Howard Steamboat Museum in Jeffersonville Indiana an I bet he would know or how to find out. Carole Matthews Pompano Beach Fla 33064 [email protected] Bye.
22/12/2014 5:24 pm
Great Idea WJ
Contacted WJ and got info
My memory was wrong
28/12/2014 1:29 am
M Chirro;33925 wrote: Bye and happy holidays
Thank you
For those of us whom straggled in late, what was the question?
28/12/2014 2:06 pm
Chirro Question
Chirro was asking if anyone knew about the sternwheeler she saw a while ago (1970-73). She believed the boat's name had a "Coral" in it, and that there was an article on it in the newspaper.
ML
28/12/2014 2:28 pm
M.Chirro an boat seen 40 yrs.ago
Chirro was going to contact Waterways Journal the weekly publication to see if they could find something.Keith Norrington director an curator of The Howard Steamboat Museum and Mansion in Jeffersonville,Indiana writes an old boat column which appears in the back of this publication an its about old steamboats and history.I bet he could find out something or at least give it a try. I wonder if Chirro had the name correct? Carole Matthews Pompano Beach Fla 33064
28/12/2014 4:18 pm
The original question is just like the boat...
They both disappeared. Did the original poster delete their first question? Keeping it there could be worthwhile - quite often people stumble across an old posting who have information on it that those of us who read and post regularly don't have. So I'd suggest to the thread originator to repost your opening information for future reference... I just saw that you edited it because you found info. But in order for the thread to make any sense, the original should be there for future readers, who just might have even more info!