Topic starter
24/04/2009 7:36 pm
Yet another date for STEAMBOAT TRIVIA! Today marks the 85th anniversary of the christening of the Str. CAPE GIRARDEAU, at the namesake city on April 24, 1924. The beautiful new steamboat was fresh from the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Indiana on the Ohio, the pride of the Eagle Packet Company of St. Louis and her master Capt. W.H. "Buck" Leyhe, one of the most beloved steamboat captains of all time.
As most steamboat buffs and buffettes know, the boat was sold to the Greene Line in 1935, renamed GORDON C. GREENE and rather drastically altered to accomodate more passengers, giving her a much plainer look. Retired in 1952, the boat became a restaurant at various cities, ending up at St. Louis in 1964 where, as the RIVER QUEEN, she sank on December 2, 1967 and was lost. Pieces of her steel hull remain in the river above the Eads Bridge and can be seen occasionally during low water periods.
At the Howard Steamboat Museum we are delighted to have a wonderful model of the CAPE GIRARDEAU, built by our own Franz Neumeier. Come see it!
24/04/2009 10:35 pm
Interior
Keith here is a photo I found of the interior in one of the steamboat books we have here at the nautical library!
26/04/2009 8:32 pm
Belated CAPE pix
As usual, Keith was very timely in his posting of the CAPE pix on her anniversary. I had these out to post, but the DSL went AWOL so I was computerless until now.
The first pix shows the graceful CAPE GIRARDEAU underway(She was the 3rd boat so named).
The second pix shows the added Texas and the enclosures Greene Line made to her.
The third is a cabin shot, which shows not only the fans, but the chandeliers. Each chandelier has an eagle on the chain, for the Eagle Packet company. Ruth Ferris long had one of these chandeliers in her bedroom, and there were some on her Midship Museum on the BECKY. Those were later sold in Marietta: one now lights the stairway down to Keith's river room, while another reposes unrepaired in my basement. Seated at the table in the right foreground are Larie A. Greene and Letha Greene...
There is a photo album of GORDON C. GREENE pix on steamboats.org, but alas nothing, yet, on the beautiful CAPE GIRARDEAU.
Topic starter
27/04/2009 12:46 pm
More images of the beautiful Str. CAPE GIRARDEAU ...
(1) A nice scene, showing lots of detail, at a remote landing. The ball between the stacks was the "trademark" of the Eagle Packet Company.
(2) A view taken by Ruth Ferris, from the deck of the excursion Str. ERASTUS WELLS, in 1934, just after the CAPE had departed St. Louis bound for Muscle Shoals, Alabama. You can almost hear her scape pipes "chuffing" and the big sternwheel churning!
(3) A stern shot of the CAPE landed at her namesake city during high water.
Topic starter
27/04/2009 1:47 pm
And even MORE of the CAPE GIRARDEAU ...
(1) A snapshot by Ruth Ferris on the roof of the CAPE, showing the transplanted roof bell of the Str. GREY EAGLE, lost in the 1918 ice gorge at Paducah which also destroyed the PEORIA and ALTON of the Eagle Packet Company fleet. Capt. Buck Leyhe had the whistle and bell from the GREY EAGLE salvaged and installed on the new CAPE GIRARDEAU in 1923. The bell today resides on the roof of the excursion boat BELLE OF CINCINNATI.
(2) Starboard engine of the CAPE.
(3) Roustabouts on the fantail, tending the stern line while the CAPE locks through. The bumper has often been mistaken to be a "body" dangling in the river!
Topic starter
27/04/2009 7:04 pm
Thanks Mathew! The CAPE GIRARDEAU/GORDON C. GREENE/RIVER QUEEN had a pretty cabin with mirrored stateroom doors. Herewith are a few more images of what Mark Twain described as a "long resplendent tunnel". Some of the cabin finials, stateroom doors, chandeliers, ceiling fans and transoms survive in museums and private collections.
