SS ADMIRAL photos

I hope this does not get lost in this long thread, but as to the Admiral's calliope I seem to remember a story going around about the Admiral hitting a bridge and scrapping the calliope over the side. This about 1973 ?? Hope some of the St. Louis bunch can shed more on this fact or fiction.

Secondly there has been talk on the Admiral's engines, question for Judy or Keith. Were the engines still on board at Paducah when you both were on her in the in the middle 1980's ??

We didn't get aboard her then, but I think I remember seeing the big areas cut out where they pulled the engines out....

Cap'n Bill: I, too, have been told by reliable sources that the calliope was damaged when the ADMIRAL squeezed under the Poplar Street Bridge during the last days of the BIG flood of 1973. While the calliope, which was atop the pilothouse, was not lost, it did suffer some damage. A platform was built for it, behind the pilothouse and lower, and it remained there, later played by compressed air after the ADMIRAL was dieselized in 1974. One of the last issues of STRECKFUS STEAMERS MAGAZINE has a brief article and photo showing the calliope being lifted off the ADMIRAL by helicopter. The instrument was on display at a St. Louis convention center for a time and it states that excursionists on the ADMIRAL were disappointed by its absence. Shortly after that, the calliope seems to have disappeared from radar!

When we visited the ADMIRAL at Paducah in the spring of 1983, it sticks in my mind that the engines were still in place. The big pitmans, named WIMPY and POPEYE are now displayed at the Museum of Transport in St. Louis. They also have a little towboat, the HERMAN T. POTT, as well as the pilotwheel from the CAPITOL and a few other river items.

I'm probably thinking then of a scene in St. Louis when they cut the bulkheads out to remove the diesels in preparation for the Six Flags Wonderland afloat post cruising days...

Annie: Wasn't the little steam tug SUSIE HAZARD also operated by Streckfus under the Steamer Service name? Capt. Bill Carroll told me once how he used to take the tug out in the St. Louis harbor and that his wife, Betty Streckfus Carroll, often steered for him. It always amazed me that such a little boat had such a BIG pilotwheel. After the boat was stripped and scuttled near Jefferson Barracks in 1959, Ruth Ferris bought the pilotwheel and it was long displayed in the now dismantled and stored River Room of the Missouri Historical Society. Ruth later donated it to the Mercantile Library, where it can be seen today on exhibit in the Pott Waterways Library.

I believe Betty Carroll earned her pilot's license through working on the SUSIE HAZARD, didn't she? And wasn't that the boat which hauled the remains of the SAINT PAUL down to Jefferson Barracks for sinking?

Susie Hazard

Here's the SUSIE HAZARD by the ADMIRAL.

Yes, there's a sad photo of the SUSIE towing what's left of the SAINT PAUL/SENATOR down to Jefferson Barracks for scuttling. I think that was about 1953. There's also a photo of the SUSIE, taken in her last moments behind a wing dam, when she was about to meet the same fate in 1959. The cute little iron hulled tug was stripped, but other than the BIG pilotwheel, which Ruth Ferris obtained from Streckfus, I don't know if other artifacts from the SUSIE are in existence.

Sigh! The SUSIE had so much character, that it gave her class! Never saw one quite like her. I can see that the wide pilot house might have been made so to accommodate that big pilot wheel. I wonder if there's a door just below the wheel into the deck house as you might hafta step thru the spokes to get in or out! It looks like

admiral caliope

Judy
I believe the man in the posted picture playing the calliope is my father Anthony Fazio. He passed away three years ago. Thank youfor posting it. Do you have any more pictures like these?

As for where the calliope is now, contact the University of Missouri St. Louis. I believe they have records of where it is stored.

Admiral Hitting Poplar St Bridge

I was told by someone on this site not to be sure of any memory UNLESS YOU WERE THERE. I can tell you exactly when the Admiral squeezed under the Poplar. It was JULY 1969. I WAS THERE AND SAW IT. I took a girl named Carol on there and it poured about an hour before we went out. When the boat left at 9ish I noticed it was close....real close to the Poplar on the way downstream. I made it my business to be on the Lido deck as the boat labored its way back upstream 3 hours later. We got under the MacArthur OK, then straight ahead was the Poplar. It was scary. It looked like we were headed right for the main span. As we got closer an officer climbed on top and crouched down....as we got to the navigation light he did something to it.....turned it red or something. After that the light passed
through the calliope making a terrible racket, with some of the smaller chimes hitting the deck. The boat did not make any more cruises for several days until the river stage went down. If I am not mistaken, I think it was the same night Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. They fixed the calliope....I heard it play several times after that over a few years....

Calliope from JS?

Judy Patsch;2389 wrote: and of course, the PREZ's calliope, which came from the JS DELUXE, was rebuilt for her casino days here, so how much of what little is left is original is questionable...

Please help me......I understood from somewhere on the many many pages of this forum, that the Calliope came from the Capitol. No? I heard that the
whistle came from the JS Deluxe. Yes, No?

Travis Vasconcelos;2438 wrote: Judy,

From what I have seen, it looks like the manifold and about 4 completely intact whistles are left aboard the Str. PRESIDENT calliope (Parts of others remain, about 3 in all). The keyboard and electronics are definately added by Kim S. Graham when he rebuilt it back in 1990 or so. The keyboard style is definatly his (as it is identical to the one he built for the M/V CREOLE QUEEN) and not original to the Thomas J. Nichol (the original builder of the calliope) design.

I would say the only original parts are those whistles and the manifold. Dave Miner of Miner Manufacturing rebuilt the calliope for Tall Stacks 1988 and added the first player unit and new keyboard to it then. About 3 years earlier Gary Frommelt (Chief on the boat at that time) rebuilt the mechanical action and it all worked. The only answer I could get out of anyone as to why the calliope was electrified (since it was in excellent working order as it was) for Tall Stacks was they couldn't get anyone to play it if they didn't. Yet, the King of the Tracker Calliopists, Capt Clarke C. (Doc) Hawley was employed as the performance artist. So that excuse doesn't float with me! I had penned an offer to play it for Tall Stacks in April of 1988 year and recieved a response letter stating they already had a Calliopist in St. Louis who was coming with them to Tall Stacks.

I would love to find out what happened to the keyboard, brass keys, and all those old brass manual valves. Bet someone somewhere has a great cache of parts from that calliope.

Seems the ADMIRAL's calliope has been a mystery for several years. Last thing I heard about it was it was supposed to have been played in a parade in St. Louis back in 1981 on air. I have met the person who was said to have played it. The instrument he describes is not a steam calliope at all but, a Tangley Calliaphone (air-operated circus calliope) not unlike the one in my living room. So I doubt this story to be true.

~Travis~

PRETTY SURE the keyboard from the Calliope is at the Mercantile Museum at the University of Missouri, St. Louis Campus, Library Bldg. I sawr a calliope
keyboard; assuming it is from the SS Admiral.......who knows....

President's calliope...

This is what the President's calliope looked like a couple of years ago...

The calliope on the ADMIRAL formerly was used aboard the Str. CAPITOL. The whistle was from the sidewheeler J.S. (De Luxe).

Why is the port side aft of midships so dirty?

Judy: Attached is a picture of the boat I found on the web. Why is the area on the photo so dirty (looks like a fire) and why is there a clean area like a rectangle. This was pre 1973 so it was still under steam. You are getting this cos you seem to be the most knowledgeable about Streckfus history....

Thanks so much from an area 1 mi north of the confluence of the Mississippi and the Meramec Rivers.

Steve McMullen

n.b. If someone has reserved rights to this photo please contact me and i will remove or pay a reasonable fee.

Dirty Admiral

The first few years after the ADMIRAL was converted to diesel the engine exausts were routed out from the paddle boxes to just above the for the two side engines,the one aft headed directly astern. The port side was up against the wharfboat at St. Louis and against the pier at Spanish Plaza in New Orleans hence the exhaust fumes tended to collect and resulted in a lot of exhaust grime on the side of the boat. I know this first hand since one day in New Orleans I was standing there when they started the port engine. The "diesel scape pipes" were added later on to try and allieviate the problem with moderate success.

ADMIRAL Image

That color image of the ADMIRAL was auctioned on Ebay last week. It was listed as having been taken in 1975, so was AFTER the boat was dieselized, hence the dirt on the side.

Indeed Keith,in their steam days both the the PRESIDENT and ADMIRAL were kept pretty clean! Here is some food for thought! Have you noticed that in most of the ADMIRAL photos she is burning cleanly (ie no smoke from her stacks,)whereas the PRESIDENT seemed to always be smoking! The ADMIRAL had steam atomizing burners and the PRESIDENT has straight mechanical burners which is the only reason that I can come up with . The instructions for the burners used to be posted in the firerooms but after she was converted to an "entertainment complex" that notice somehow ended up posted in the remains of the pilothouse. I remember seeing that the night we all explored the "revitalized" ADMIRAL and discussed how we were going to procure that model behind the bar on the 4th deck and get it off of the boat!

Adventure on the ADMIRAL

Oh yeah! I remember that night, in the spring of '87, when we roamed all over the ADMIRAL, then owned by Six Flags. It was fun to go up into the pilothouse and we thought it was so cool that somebody would make a big model of the ADMIRAL!

Incidentally, the landing barge, with the theatre aboard, is currently tied up above Jeffersonville after it was purchased for $370,000 and towed over from St. Louis to replace the city's RIVERSTAGE. The new mayor and administration now say it will cost some 2.3 million to revitalize the ADMIRAL wharf barge (which would have been HUGE on the waterfront) and have decreed that it must be sold and the old barge renovated instead.

Steam to Diesel Changes

Just wondering .... when the Admiral was steam and getting ready to tie up at the wharfboat, two officers would walk out on the catwalks, and communicate (I guess) with the pilot house to give distances to help tie up. When it went to diesel, there were control stands at the end of the catwalks which meant, I guess, that those officers could take the "con" of the vessel directly from the pilot house and dock it themselves. Would those officers have to be licensed pilots to do that?

Don't know why I come up with these questions but this seems like a good place to get them answered, no?

The Admiral always carried a Roof Captain & FCP. At departure the Roof Captain would go out on the Wing Bridge and give instructions to the Pilot. Upon landing the Roof Captain would go out on the wing Bridge and the process would be reversed. A deck steward would go out on the stern wing as he could see the Deckhand and the wharfboat deckhand (who would toss the handyline to the boat and pull in the first stern line).

In Diesel days the Roof Captain had control of all three M & T units from the wing, however the boats rudders were used (in landing as well as departing) and operated by the Pilot.....via instructions from the Roof Captain on the wing bridge.

Rudders

How many rudders did she have?

Two. Original steam operation then compressed air. The machinery was still on until into the gambling boat days. Removed as a weight reduction measure sometime during the coin use days as the storage for coin and all the security "stuff" was at the stern.

Making casinos that float has its problems. All those slot machines and all the change that is needed for them is a tremendous weight. Then you add the avoirdupois that is sitting at them...well, you get the picture.