Steamboating colleagues:
Bruno and Pat are so right in their comments RE: 'Gilded antlers' on the below thread. I darted to the junk box here and pulled out a vintage copy of TIME dated July 7, 1930 reporting on the TOM GREENE/BETSY ANN steamboat race. [*TIME issue now archival and available to copy as per their CNN agreement.] Capt. Fred Way also covered steamboat races and antlers in his classic book, SHE TAKES THE HORNS, Young & Klein, 1953. This a must book on the subject. Antlers since earliest times are symbolic of 'power, speed, notable maritime expedition or trips, renewal of the messenger.'
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"When the packets TOM GREENE and BETSY ANN raced on the Ohio river last year [*TIME, July 29, 1929] the BETSY ANN was the second to reach the finish line but the first entirely across it. They started an argument which could not be settled until, last week, they lined up again, their engines roaring nd their stovepipe smokestacks belching smoke black as ink. ...A small cannon boomed; both started for the line, the TOM GREENE accelerating with the quick pick-up tat has made river people call her 'Hopping Tom.' Nailed firmly on the front of the wheelhouse [sic] of the 'Hopping Tom,' where stood young Capt. Tom Greene himself, were the gilded antlers that go to 'the fstest packet on the Ohio River,' From the wheelhouse [sic] of the BETSY ANN peered Capt. Fred Way Jr. who had said: 'Those antlers belong on the BETSY ANN and that's where they are going.'
At Constance, KY. the calliope of the showboat BRYANT of Marietta soughed squealingly 'Beautiful Ohio' and then the BETSY ANN'S tune, 'Dixie.' The TOM GREENE had an edge, but the boats were still so close that the resting shift of black stokers [*Probably mean roustabouts] jibed at each other across the dividing strip of foamy yellow-brown water. ...Coming into Cincinnati, special policemen sweated to keep order in the dense auto lines of spectators along the river side streets." END
The vintage photo on Pg. 8 of Fred's ...HORNS book shows the geat bell on the roof of the CITY OF LOUISVILLE with the huge rack of antlers mounted on the top. May be wrong but I 'think' I recall Shipyard calling attention to the young man standing by the bell as none other than Albert Kelly, long-time pilot on the DELTA QUEEN. Am I correct? Shipyard knew Kelly better than me, but he was the only man on the river I ever talked to who had vivid memories of 'Commodore' fred Laidley from the old L&C LINE here. There was a real gentleman. Well, what do I know?
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick
'Typos' crept in. Sorry for a few typos above. I did the edit thing and something nearly went POOF! I hate typos worse than my ignorance.
Cheers,
R. Dale Flick