Topic starter
05/02/2014 5:26 pm
I was finishing up a paper on steamboat boiler explosions this morning when I can across a website entitled "Steamboat Dangers." I was looking for information and verification on a few loose ends. I was wanting facts and instead found a brief synopsis on the evils of a society that fosters greed and selfishness - very critical of a "mindset" that is described as being typically
American. I'm not saying that some criticism isn't warranted here, however, I was really surprised to find such a political attitude infused with the information. Here is the summary from the website:
"Most dangerous, though, were ill-maintained boilers. Rushing captains and inattentive crews that did not release steam from the boilers caused numerous violent explosions. After an explosion on the steamboat Moselle in 1838, a committee of inquiry blamed the haste of the captain in leaving the dock and commented bitterly on the American mindset that had developed."
"Such disasters have their foundation in the present mammoth evil of our country, an inordinate love of gain. We are not satisfied with getting rich, but we must get rich in a day. We are not satisfied with traveling at a speed of ten miles an hour, but we must fly. Such is the effect of competition that everything must be done cheap; boiler iron must be cheap, traveling must be done cheap, freight must be cheap, yet everything must be speedy. A steamboat must establish a reputation of a few minutes 'swifter' in a hundred miles than others, before she can make fortunes fast enough to satisfy the owners. Also this seems to be demanded by the blind tyranny of custom, and the common consent of the community."
The website was produced by Janet Havens/The American Studies at the University of Virginia. I'd be interested to hear any comments.
05/02/2014 9:46 pm
*Those 'telling' quotes*
Hi Jerry,
Very interesting posting and I'm glad you included the somewhat longer quotes. No doubt you know those quotes came from someone else than your source as given. I'm searching my brain now knowing I've read those before but can't nail down the source. Somebody once wrote back then, "First comes money and then comes politics." Just as Mark Twain commented on water as the state of California is experiencing now. "Bourbon is for drinking; water is for fighting," Twain penned. Emerging steamboats and railroads came with at a very high "poltical" cost. Europeans--especially the British-- minds back in the 1830s knowing vessels were, indeed, very critical of the construction of not only our steamboats but emerging railroads in America. A few did have compliments, others horrified that then steamboats still fitted with rope tillers and not the "metal chain" system in case of fire with resulant loss of steering. The brilliant mind of scientist and doctor Daniel Drake, investigated the MOSELLE disaster here with his findings, report literally bristling. Read Capt. Fred Ways, 'She Takes The Horns' on period steamboat racing, the then mind set and the results. Fred covers the MOSELLE disaster here in Cincinnati down at Fulton on present day Eastern Avenue in full detail as his lead chapter in the poetic prose only Fred had--clear, brisk, elegant. Thanks for posting and sharing.
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati
Topic starter
06/02/2014 2:25 am
Dale,
Thanks for your comments concerning the quotes. My comments were more directed at the fact that I felt the information was presented unnecessarily in a way that was not favorable to America. (i.e) "mammoth evil of our country" - "an inordinate love of gain"
- "the blind tyranny of custom." These are not the words of someone who is particularly pleased with this country. I was just curious as to why they found it necessary to present the information in such a negative way. I felt they used the topic of steamboat explosions to further a political point-of-view. Again, not that some criticism wasn't justified, I just felt that it wasn't the place for being up on the soap box giving a political science critique on the country. Oh well, as you have often said, what do I know.
08/02/2014 5:31 pm
Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
If Mark Twain were alive, he would see that little has changed in the ensuing decades since his death. He liked to rip into the politicians and industrialists of the day, but are we any better now? You get the Steamboat Inspection Service, which did some good, then the NTSB, which does some good, but stuff still explodes into massive fireballs. Ships still sink. Greed, corruption, evil, or just dumb human error? "Present mammoth evil of our country" is maybe a little over the top, though.
09/02/2014 1:44 pm
Over the top indeed. The greedy will always gamble for "this one time", or "just until we can get to _______." Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes not. As Alan Bates used to say, the USCG (and other agencies) can be a pain in the neck, but without them owners would take and take and the result would be unsafe for all.
09/02/2014 9:53 pm
Human Nature being what it is, Free Will being what it is we read about Adam making a choice some many, many Moons ago we still see today what is the result of "choices", and yes Mark Twain was spot on in some cases involving Congress; however would Rivermen/women be faced with Radar Observer Rivers w/o a "choice" being made, would we be faced with drug testing, without a "choice", medical waivers be what they are (right or wrong)----and now Medical Certificates---without the Staten Island Ferry or the San Francisco Bridge Incident.....in one people died, the other pollution in the Bay. Ah yes the United, Nations & the IMO. How I wish I could read Mark Twain's comment on that.......or at least Alan Bates comments!
10/02/2014 8:28 pm
I agree, Jim. Everything that has affected the waterborne trade has been driven by an event(s) that has brought about change, either through an unfortunate event or legislative actions addressing revised statutes. I am an anomaly of sorts as I see positives in change...my vessel is safer, the folks I work with are more professional, and by golly the pay has sky rocketed which is never a bad thing! I actually wrote a thank you letter to the USCG Licensing Center in Washington, D.C. when the "Operators" license was tossed and cited that a long over due wrong was corrected. My only real beef is that your signature no longer appears on my renewals. You signed off on my license every renewal from 1980 and on...even my Steam Endorsement so I could operate the JBS. When my new "credential" arrived, I immediately noticed that I was renewed by a stranger. Now I'm not a superstitious person by nature, but always thought I was guaranteed safe voyages because I was always signed off by Jim Blum! And you know what Jim, you're hunch about me was right...34 years accident free! Luke
12/02/2014 1:59 pm
Luke: I wish you many more years...accident free! In my working life I was the point man for OSHA, EPA, MSD the local fire department and odor complaints. I worked at agency people and am proud to say that when I called something in, chances were they'd not come in to see about it. I'm embarrassed to say that some of the legislation had to be passed to get folks to do things that cost money...but save money in the long run. Cap'n Walnut.