Topic starter
01/06/2011 9:22 pm
I'm back from working on my latest draft of my novel. Below is the beginning of Chapter 3, in which our hero has boarded a steamboat going from St Joseph, Missouri to St Louis in 1848. Please tell me if there is anything inaccurate or incorrect in the descriptions.
Thanks in advance very much.
It was my first time on a steamboat and I set out to explore the double sidewheel James Monroe from bottom to top. Above a shallow hold on the main deck gangs of blacks stoked the furnaces with bolt after bolt of firewood, the open doors affording glimpses of the infernos that heated the enormous boilers. The boilers themselves were enormous cylindrical cast iron kettles entwined with steam pipes, water pipes, vent pipes, flue pipes and more pipes. The steam powered an engine on both sides, each consisting of a single massive piston driving its respective thirty foot side-mounted paddlewheel. Valves, levers and myriad brass gauges with trembling needles pointing at mysterious markings were tended by the engineer and his assistants, with one man always standing by to respond to engine signals from the pilothouse far above. I watched a while, marveling, before the heat and noise drove me out to the fresh air on deck.
Recovered, I went upstairs to the boiler deck where the main cabin of the boat ran along the centerline with passenger rooms along either side. I realized much later that she was just a scruffy little Missouri boat, but on this trip she dazzled me. The cabin stretched away farther than our barn, the ceiling seemed even higher, and there was real carpet underfoot with sofas, easy chairs and dining tables. Light fixtures hung from the ceiling every few feet, virtually all the visible woodwork was elaborately carved, and each cabin door had a wildlife scene painted upon it. Men lounged around smoking, ladies talked, and stewards moved about setting tables.
I moved outside to the promenade and strolled the railed and covered walkway that ran the length of the Monroe on each side. I climbed another stairway to discover the texas, a much smaller deck that contained the cabins and mess of the captain and officers of the boat. Finding still another stairway I climbed it to emerge in the pilothouse, a glass-walled rectangle that was the highest place on the boat. Two figures had their backs to me: a young man about my own age standing at the wheel and a grizzled figure gazing forward at the river.
I gazed around with great interest. The wheel was huge, large enough for the helmsman to stand at either side and see up and down the length of the vessel. Signaling devices, speaking tubes, telescopes, spittoons and tall, high backed wooden chairs stood placed in precise positions so that overall the pilothouse was remarkably uncluttered, it being designed to give the pilot an unfettered view of the river in all directions. The older man turned from that unfettered view and sighted me.
“Who in the Sam Hell are you?”
01/06/2011 11:59 pm
Loren, sounds pretty good to me, except for the fact that the officers mess would not have been in the Texas. The officers ate in the main cabin with the passengers. Deck crew ate on deck out of pie pans.
02/06/2011 12:39 am
Loren: Bob's quite correct. Also, there is no carpet in the front half of the cabin (men's cabin)...only in the after part, which is the ladie's cabin. Looking the length of the boat, the sheer was quite obvious in the cabin "tunnel" In 1848, there MAY have been NO blacks as crew north of the Mason Dixon line. See Louis C. Hunter's book Steamboats on Western Rivers under negros as steamboat crew in the index. THere were lots of legal, social and economics reasons involved. Cap'n Walnut.
02/06/2011 2:32 pm
*RE: Novel research*
Loren & Steamboating colleagues:
Bob and 'Cap n' Walnut' correct in their postings RE: your research. You're on a fine start and I commend you in this daunting task. Even a 'novel' must be based in historical accuracy. I suggest one fine book focusing on steamboats of the period you mention, with anatomy of a Missouri River sternwheeler RE: side views, photos etc. and that is THE RIVERMEN, Time-Life books, 1975 [With copyright (C)]. Others on this web with keen minds, fine collections can add more. A copy of WAYS' PACKET DIRECTORY, 1848-1983 is a 'must' in such work along with visiting your closest library or university collection for other books, materials, relics, ephemera.
I'd humbly suggest you also research on the 'smells, sensations and sounds' of a boat operating in those days. There are impressions visual, aural and olfactory--and on old boats there were plenty of 'smells' in addition to the heat of summer, cold of winter like "A chicken coop on a raft." One old letter here of the time mentions, "The clang of the boiler doors, flash of roaring fire, scraping of the grates, bellowing heat, voices of the firemen day and night, livestock bellowing, mooing, clucking on the lower decks, roustabouts sleeping where they could on cargo, canvas covers." Sanitation aboard minimal, lavatories usually on the stern or over the sidewheels. The 'cook house' with cooks, waiters, cabin personnel a study alone. Cap n' Walnut correct RE: the divided cabin for ladies and men with the carpet ending where the men's cabin began for various reasons: smoking, chewing tobacco, muddy boots. European visitors here then were horrified at the american habit of spitting wherever or in spittoons of brass or white/blue china. Cabins had a slop jar under the bunks for passenger use emptied/cleaned by the chambermaids or cabin boys daily. In the early days the DELTA QUEEN had chamber pots under beds in rooms without facilities and I recall that well down unto the early 1960s. A liquor bar often found in the area haunted by the men. Most bars on boats even then were 'concessions' to the bar manager with a % profit split. On some boats a heavy velveteen' curtain or 'portiere' on a brass rod divided the two--but not always. 'Manners' then allowed unmarried men to enter the section for ladies upon 'invitation' with chaperones. In cold weather one or more heavy cast iron potbelly stoves resting on steel plates were found usually polished. In warm weather some stoves taken down. Later boats did install steam pipes for heat but with minimal to no inuslation boats were either hot or cold. Passenger cabins opened inside to the main cabin, outside to the deck with transoms above the doors for ventilation. Illumination by whale oil/kerosene. Fire a constant dread as the history of boats indicate. Uniforms as such for officers didn't appear until later years.
The long central cabin tables set up, broken down for each meal of the day with chairs against the walls, tables covered with heavy near tapesty cloths. Other tables with chairs around for games, conversation, writing, Bible reading. Now and then a potted palm or potted plant struggling to survive is pictured. A piano could be found on "higher quality boats." Naturally, things varied from boat to boat.
Other than Capt. Clarke Hawley, Shipyard Sam, I know of no others who ventured up the Missouri River on either a passenger boat [DQ] or excursion vessel who could give you a feel/sense of all even in later years. Are there others? Several years ago I examined a fine old diary written by a young woman in the 1860s who steamed the Missouri for a local antique/auction house here. Fascinating information when it could be found. Alas, the diary didn't move at auction and was returned to the consignor unsold. Where it is today I have no idea. Cheers!
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.
03/06/2011 12:44 am
Loren: Dale took the time to give you some good, detailed information on the conduct of the "hotel" end of the riverboats and more. Good stuff! Cap'n Walnut.
Topic starter
03/06/2011 1:11 am
Thanks
Thank you all for your informative, detailed replies.
I will correct the detail about the texas deck not containing an officer's mess, and I'm thinking about correcting the mention of black stokers. It's one of those things where it is good for the story as it develops later in the book, and so long as it is possible that the stokers on the boat were all black I may keep it, but if it was highly unlikely I may remove it. I believe I will also alter my description of the cabin somewhat, based upon your inputs.
The book is not about steamboats, it's an historical novel, but our hero travels on steamboats in the course of the tale and I want the details to be as correct as can be. As a reader it really annoys me when a detail is incorrect - one example is in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I recently read, and in one scene the heroine flicked off the safety on a Glock. (Glock pistols have no manual safety.)
Based upon earlier recommendations here my research library includes Old Times on the Upper Mississippi (Merrick), A-Rafting on the Mississippi (Russel), The Rivermen (Time-Life), Black Life on the Mississippi (Buchanan), The Western River Steamboat (Kane), Way's Packet Directory (Way), and, of course, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi (Twain). 🙂
I have another scene that I will post before too long in order to see what you all think of it with regard to the steamboat details.
Thank you.
Loren
03/06/2011 9:16 am
Do you need an editor?
Loren: Do you need an editor? That's my profession. Send me a PM and we can discuss details.
03/06/2011 12:39 pm
Loren: I, too, have written an historical novel...part of it anyway...and I know what you mean about detail. The Glock anology is well taken though I've owned many, many pistols, never a Glock although I know it is "double action only". In my opinion, not much of note has been done in the firearms industry since about 1873 and certainly not past 1911! I think that you could get away with the blacks on the crew...mebbe even stating that they were recruited specially. Hunter states that at least one mate preferred them over the Irish in that they accepted authority better and did their work cheerfully. I will risk saying that in my personal working life experiences, I would tend to agree with him, but don't mean to single out the Irish as Hunter's mate did...Cap'n Walnut
03/06/2011 3:12 pm
A Little Nitpicking
No one else pointed these things out, so I will. I would just say "sidewheeler" and not "double sidewheeler" as it was generally implied that sidewheelers had 2 paddlewheels. I would also say "spyglass" instead of "telescope", athough either is correct. The word "telescope" conjurs up an image of a large structure on a hill that peers at the stars. But then, "spyglass" conjurs up an image of Capt. Jack Sparrow.
Another Missouri River book that is fun to read and has some history is Steamboat Treasures by Dorothy Heckmann Shrader. Also, it has a beautiful piece of art work on the dust jacket and John Hartford's ode, Mystery, within. Lots of old photos as well. She also wrote Steamboat Legacy, which is about the Missouri River, but I have not read that.
03/06/2011 4:25 pm
*RE: Writing history/Editor's skills*
Hi, Lexie & Steamboating colleagues:
A good editor is a real treasure and Jeffery's skills are excellent from what I hear--an art, skill, talent. Many 'knowing' eyes can detect historical errors in various writings and it often 'Takes a village' to sleuth texts. Indexing another dauting task.
Not to belabor all here or waste posting time and space. I mused about life on the old boats after posting yesterday. The business contracts, ledgers, freight bills, letters, memoirs from that era rich in information needing intense research. Life on the boats different from life in the wharfboat office back in town. As we know in the early days many captains were also owners or share investors wearing many hats. The bottom of the cash ledger books was all telling and definitive in black or red ink. Black ink in the front office kept the wheels turning, boilers fired, officers/crew paid. There were 'bean counters' back then like now with all it implies. There was no 'romance' only to those who beheld it from a distance like the crown upon a king's head, "More beautiful to those who beheld it than him who wears it." The boats were often a means to an end and not an end in themselves. Again and again old letters I have here mention the trip on steamboats ending, "We were all glad when we landed and went ashore...home to a bath and clean linen."
Cap n' Walnut's comment on my interest in the "Hotel" angle of boats/ships correct. Many of the big 'brag' boats had not only the men's bar but a barber shop available again on a % commission basis. Smaller boats often had a cabin waiter or steward who in free time barbered for men aboard in addition to shining shoes, cleaning boots. If no central wash room; then passengers 'bird bathed' in cabins with water brought by chamber maids, cabin boys in crockery pitchers and basins. Forget any laundry facilities aboard. Until the advent of large commercial laundries ashore, boat linens were farmed out to washer women in town near the the river with all done by hand. Old Cincinnati directories or ads list such services by "Mrs. So and so at her home." How many here recall the customary green American Linen truck pulling up on the GREENE LINE wharboat or at stops along the way picking up, dropping off?
Before commercial refrigeration in/around 1890 + or - ice for boats was carted by wagon for the cook house and was an expensive commodity even then by the ton costing so much by the hundred weight. This stored often in cork lined cool rooms aboard. The purity of the ice ofen an 'ify' proposition depending on the city or town. Food related illness aboard a common malady in hot weather as old records, letters indicate being called 'summer complaint.' Typhoid Fever a problem and we won't go there now. Boat cleaning products minimal relying on old standards or remedies applied with lots of elbow grease and sweat by the crew, maids, cooks, cabin boys. Dishes, pans, glasses, cutlery hand washed and scalded--hopefully. One common remedy for 'summer complaint' down to the days of the L&C LINE here was to have the ailing eat uncooked tomatoes from glass jars or cans. Metal canning well know back to the 1830s. Dry-cleaning of clothes mentioned here in the 1840s but was very expensive and for the well heeled.
Those barrels of drinking/cooking water often suspect also. Even small boats then did offer bottled water--but it was costly. Song writer Stephen Foster also wrote about the muddy, cloudy drinking water on steamboats he traveled on. His fellow passengers from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati shrank back in horror refusing to drink "boat water." Light fixtures washed with vinegar water. Until the advent of oil drilling, kerosene, boat lights were usually whale oil. Well, what do I know?
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.
Topic starter
03/06/2011 11:04 pm
More good information - thank you.
I'm trying to work in enough accurate historical detail to evoke the time period, but I don't want to overwhelm the reader with minutia, either.
For example, at various points I have my characters drinking 'water tinged a Mississippi brown', 'cleaning up at the washbowl in the cabin', and 'using the article behind a screen'.
Before long I hope to post another scene for you guys to review for accuracy.
Jeffrey: PM sent.
05/06/2011 10:32 pm
*RE: "Article behind a screen."*
Dear Loren and Steamboating colleagues:
In this posting I noted a mention of an "article behind a screen" referencing, no doubt, the ever present chamber pot in homes, hotels, boats/steamships of the day. I'm quite certain, other than the big 'brag' boats of the era and later, no "screen" would be found in boat cabins featured in your Missouri River steamboat. The public lavatory or wash room for men and women outside of the small cabins were provided. Later emerging big steamers had one or more larger cabins or Bridal Suites but a shielding screen would have been a rarity. Such shielding screens were common in some fine homes, hotels etc. of the day with frosted or etched glass. This in the Victorian age, Gilded Age here or Belle Epoch in Europe surviving until not many years ago.
I remember some old period hotels in Paris, Vienna, Rome, Prague with frosted glass screens shielding a cubicle in the corner fitted by then with a commode and bidet with a small sink. In other cases you hoofed it down the hall to a bath/lavatory. Well, what do I know?
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.