Topic starter
14/08/2008 3:03 pm
I have to do another interpretive history presentation this month and could use some input. I plan to talk my audience through the boat, telling them about what they would see and who they would meet, and use this framework to hang some tales on. I will be talking about a typical Red River sternwheeler, ca. 1870. Now the questions: Who was in charge of the housekeeping crew? (Cooks, waiters, chambermaids laundress etc.) Who did the Carpenter and blacksmith, if they had one, work under? How common was it to have a separate smith aboard? Before the swinging stage came into use, how was the plank gangway put out? Did the deck crew just jump off and wrestle it into place? From much that I have read, it seems to have been common to have had only a single pilot aboard for the run up the Red. Any idea if this is correct? What were the mud clerk's duties other than dealing with the receipt and delivery of cargo on the levy (and whatever else the Clerk didn't want to do)? Thanks in advance.
14/08/2008 3:31 pm
The master, or captain, was in overall charge of everybody.
The pilot(s) were in charge of navigation and had no "crew". If the work was hard a pilot may have a steersman to help. If the boat had but one pilot, then the master would double as pilot. An apprentice pilot was called a cub-pilot.
The mate had charge of all deck operations, loading and unloading of freight, rigging, etc.
The housekeeping crew was headed by the steward, who bossed cooks, waiters, chambermaids, laundresses, etc.
The engineer led the firemen, the strikers (oilers) and was usually a fairly competent blacksmith and it was not common to carry a blacksmith.
Gangplanks were laid on horses resting on the river bottom or, if long enough, directly from deck to shore. Before the swinging stage was adopted circa 1869-70 stages were stored crosswise on the head of the boat and were handled by the spar derricks. It was primarily main strength and awkwardness.
The carpenter was pretty much independent, but could be directed by the mate or the master.
The clerk was in charge of sales of tickets and freight bills and the collection of money as well as the on-board bookkeeping. The mud clerk, working alongside the mate, kept track of the packages, parcels, barrels, bales, crates, anilmals, and so forth. The clerk was the mud clerk's boss. In today's language the clerk would be a purser.
In addition there were probably lamp tenders and watchmen, whose jobs were more or less self-explanatory.
Pilots, mates and the master were addressed as Captain. If the clerk was also a licensed pilot or master, he too would be called Captain. Thew owner(s) were usually called Captain. Captain was thus not a rank, but was a title.
Topic starter
14/08/2008 4:31 pm
Was the mate in charge of the boats overall maintenance and condition in the same way as a Bosun, or was this the carpenter's charge?
14/08/2008 6:56 pm
The mate was in overall charge of maintenance. The carpenter was usually neither fish nor fowl. The one we had on the Belle of Louisville was uncontrollable - a nice guy but wild as an elephant in musth. Ask Jim Reising about him.
Topic starter
21/08/2008 1:52 pm
One more question. How would you make a lot of smoke on a wood burner, so as to look fancy at a landing?
23/08/2008 6:17 pm
Mark Twain addressed this in his Life on the Mississippi:
"...the captain stands by the
big bell, calm, imposing, the envy of all; great volumes of the blackest
smoke are rolling and tumbling out of the chimneys--a husbanded grandeur
created with a bit of pitch pine just before arriving at a town...."
I just happened to be reading the book when I remembered this question. Hope it helps.
Topic starter
25/08/2008 12:53 pm
Thanks. Its been too long since I read "Life on the Mississippi"!