Topic starter
02/11/2006 5:41 am
I was reminded, while looking at the photo of the YEISER, that as the ROBERT P. GILHAM she was nick named, "The Rob 'Em, Starve 'Em, Kill 'Em." Rousters called the KATE ADAMS, "The Lovin' Kate", and C.W. Stoll often regarded the DELTA QUEEN as, "The Cast Iron Monster". Oh yes, the D.T. LANE was the "Rowdy Dick", and the GENERAL WOOD was known as, "The Bull In The Woods".
How many other steamboat nick names were used by the old timers? How many can we come up with and pass along?
02/11/2006 6:08 am
nicknames
Hi Frank,
I usually refer to the DQ as the "Mother Ship" as do some others.
And within the past couple of weeks we have also come up with some creative nicknames for the MQ too, but I won't repeat them here. All in the name of tension relieving gallows humor, of course.
I can truly say that the only upside of all this is that the entertainers got an unexpected week to actually go home - something we have not done all year!
take care
Paul
02/11/2006 1:12 pm
The Duncan Bruce was known as the Drunken Brute.
Going the other way there was an old-maid school teacher in Jeffersonville, Indiana, nick-named Minnie Bay by her pupils. The Steamer Minnie Bay had staggered wheels, which made them spank the water twice as fast as other boats. The teacher wore hobble skirts, which forced her to make short, quick steps as she walked around the classroom, hence the nick-name. I was told this by Faye Dorsey who was in her classes.
02/11/2006 1:18 pm
Capt. C.W. Stoll affectionately referred to the Str. IDLEWILD (now the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE) as the "Izzlewizzul".
02/11/2006 1:41 pm
Hi, Frank, Paul, Alan, Keith:
Interesting topic on 'nick names' and sure to bring some smiles. The last ISLAND QUEEN was called 'Big Liz,' the famed racer ROBT. E. LEE 'da big BOB' by her roustabouts, the JOE FOWLER at times 'Jumpin Joe' or 'Slow Joe,' NEW MARY HOUSTON the 'Sloppy Molly,' Louisville & Cincinnati Line boats, the 'Boss steamers.'
Now for the 1st prize of the giant SNICKERS BAR, what boat was called, 'Last of the Mohegans?'
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
02/11/2006 1:53 pm
The racer ROBT. E. LEE was also called "The Hoppin' Bob" by her crew. The GOLDEN EAGLE was known as "The Goldie" and lest we not forget that the famed towboat SPRAGUE was long referred to as "Big Mama"!
02/11/2006 2:27 pm
JAMES F. COOPER, snagboat on the Hudson River...the only side-wheeler to have cross compound engines and staggered, galvanized 11 qt. buckets, wood hull, 43 x 110 x 16, Engines 5's & 52's - 20 ft stroke, built Rabbit Hash, Ky 1832...still running. This one seems to have eluded Way and Rutter but is a sister to the well known SUE SKINNER (which see)
02/11/2006 2:32 pm
Among the old time Red River boats, the John D. Scully was known as "One Arm John", the Gossamer was called the "Goosehammer", and the L. Dillard was, for some reason, also known as "Rantidotler". I've seen the Robt. E. Lee referred to as "Hoppin' Bob".
02/11/2006 7:11 pm
Oh Boy, Capt. Walnut and Tom have been in the anti-freeze barrel at the shipyard again !!
02/11/2006 8:20 pm
Workhouse and Rag Town Boats
Some of the best boats, like Captain Harry Louden, had their origins in Rabbit Hash. Cap'n Louden oft told of one such famous RH creation that had a "straw hull, brick chimneys, and leather boilers... and carried a bricklayer and shoemaker on each watch."
Captain Wagner was heard to call the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE the "Belly of Looieville". That was usually around race time each May. Old-time rousters sometimes referred to a boat where the labor was long and hard as a Workhouse Boat, a name I tacked onto the DELTA QUEEN on occasion. Any steamboats hailing from Cincinnati were always Rag Town boats.
02/11/2006 8:23 pm
Fred Way dubbed the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN the MISS-Q in his Reflector articles about her multiple maiden voyages and trials and tribulations. Betty Blake and company people didn't care for that, but because it was Fred Way, and because it was true, it stuck. Of course, over the years that boat has probably acquired more monikers than any other, many due to her misadventures.
02/11/2006 9:55 pm
Now, Bill, You don't hafta go and tell ever thing you know...besides, the antifreeze barrel has been MT since this past sping when Clifford was gettin' the fleet ready for summer. If you check Way and Rudder re the Sue Skinner, you will find that they dutifully report (and, I quote Fred and Woody) that: "(she) has been laid up in Snagtown, Ak awaiting green signal oil for her starboard stack light."
02/11/2006 10:14 pm
Sam,
one of the level-headed members of the Belle of Louisville operating board was Steve Click, Jr., who weighed in at roughly twenty three stone. He was known around Louisville as The Belly of Louisville, and he didn't like it. The James Rumsey was renamed for him by Louisville Sand & Gravel Co. Toting around all of that weight did him in at an early age.