Str. SPRAGUE

Keep 'em coming Keith, great pictures. I especially like the different angle of the second picture versus the same shot so to speak, that most of us have seen.

And skinny at 15? Weren't we all? Ahh, to wear 32 Levis again, especially bells... 🙂

I have a question...Why was the pilotwheel so big? For needed torque assistance to move the rudders? If so, couldn't that be done with longer lever arms at the rudders, but would require more turns of the pilotwheel? I guess a bigger wheel would also allow a more "fine tuning" of the rudder position. From what I gather the hollow rudders weighed very little in the water, but I suspect the effort to move the wheel wash to one side or the other required some muscle. Am I right to assume the boat was steered by pilots sitting down looking through the pilotwheel spokes?

Or was the big pilotwheel a status thing, just like the whistles, bigger "because we can" and all that...

Bruno, you have the right idea excepting one: the pilots stood or sat at the side of the wheel farthest from the nearest shore. If the port side was closest to the bank the pilot was on the starboard side. This gave the pilot a better angle with relation to the nearest bank. When the boat crossed the river, the pilot moved to the other side. Like all such rules, this one did not apply at all times or with all pilots.
My mother steered the family car looking through the wheel, but pilots on steamboats didn't.

Glad you enjoy them Bruno! I have lots of slides taken aboard "BIG MAMA" during various visits, but here are a few more vintage views that are a bit faded with the passage of time. These snapshots were taken in the spring of 1972. The first is looking out of the pilothouse up the Yazoo. The second image is a portrait of Capt. Tom Greene by Vicksburg artist Caroline Compton. View number three is yours truly by one of the many capstans that were on the forecastle and even along the guards of the mammoth towboat.

Many portraits, by Vicksburg artist Caroline Compton, of famous river personalities were hung in the "River Hall of Fame" in the cabin of the SPRAGUE. Beneath them were dioramas containing models. Here is showboater Capt. Augustus Byron French and a model of "French's New Sensation". All of the portraits and models were destroyed in the April 15, 1974 fire that reduced the boat to the main deck and sternwheel. Also found another view of the 13.5 foot in diameter pilotwheel.

Even better than being skinny, it would be really nice if that big wheel was still around.

I blanch at the thought of trying to maneuver that tremendous boat with its even more tremendous tow. She was apparently pretty good at making mice out of men. Eek!

Lexie, you are right about pawing that wheel around. Surely the SPRAGUE had steam steering gear? Taking a tow up or down the river would be bad enough; my nightmare would be spotting barges with her at a dock, or making up tow.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm being a pest but I have a few more. What are the conduit looking things with junction box looking things on either side of the pilotwheel kickboard, coming up through the floor? Non-original maybe, however the same items are shown in earlier pictures. And Capt. Bates, would the rudder of a turn of the century towboat be steam assisted? And assisted or not, if the pilot needed to go hard to port/starboard, could he just give that wheel a monster tug, spinning the wheel and turning the rudders quickly to the stops? Or was it a hand over hand thing, as quick as the arms could flail?

And Keith, that portait of Capt. Tom, I believe it's the same one, is also hanging port side, Betty Blake Lounge on the DQ... would the DQ's be a copy of the original that was lost, or am I all wet here?

Yes, the SPRAGUE had steering levers and steam steering gear, but I don't remember what kind. Last night while I was digging through a box of slides, I was surprised to find one of that steering gear! The stairs to the pilothouse from the cabin passed under the pilothouse floor and the steering rig and bottom portion of the pilotwheel were very visible. The "brakes" for the pilotwheel can be seen in the 1969 photo I posted earlier. In Edwin and Louise Rosskam's wonderful book, Towboat River, there is a picture of one of the pilots on the SPRAGUE standing with his full weight on one of those brakes!

Knowing how the 8 foot pilotwheel on the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE can spin around until it's a "blur", I can only imagine what that 13.5 foot wheel on the SPRAGUE could do! I used to stand in that big pilothouse and try to envision a huge tow of barges out in front of her. It must have been an awesome feat to steer "BIG MAMA" -- especially back in those days with NO radar or other modern marvels of today -- and NOT for the faint of heart!

Bruno: The portraits of river personalities that were displayed in the River Hall of Fame aboard the SPRAGUE were all done in 1957 by Vicksburg artist Caroline Compton. None of them survived the 1974 fire. The portrait of Capt. Tom that hangs aboard the DQ is quite similar and is undoubtedly done from the same photograph. The booklet for Greene Line's 75th anniversary that was researched and written by Richard Stewart and published by Betty Blake in 1965 contains a photo of the portrait.

Those switch boxes on conduits controlled electrical devices such as floodlights and searchlights. One of them may have activated the general alarm. Another the ceiling light in the pilothouse - who knows?
There were two power steering systems around in 1900. One was the Crawley & Johnson, a modified version of which is on the Belle of Louisville today. As originally designed the steam valve to the steering engine was controlled by the slack, or lack of it, in the steering cable. The vertical steering handle(s) controlled a brake that pressed against the pilotwheel rim to hold it when backing.
The other was a more positive arrangement made by the Gardner Company in New Albany, Indiana. The Gardner rig was far more popular.
I am not sure which, if either, is on the Delta Queen. Later rigs used hydraulic cylinders rather than steam. The Natchez has that style.
Yes, the Sprague had steam steering.
On non-powered pilotwheels the pilots stood at the side of the wheel and literally climbed the spokes during heavy going. Because the rudders were ahead of the paddlewheel there was terrific force applied when the boat backed. Pilots could get broken limbs when a wheel got away from them, or could be literally hurled to the side of the pilothouse.
Bruno, at the risk of tooting my own horn, you need to buy two books from the Howard Steamboat Museum. They are:
The Western Rivers Steamboat Cyclopoedium; and,
The Western Rivers Engineroom Cyclopoedium.
Both are by Alan L. Bates and will answer many of your questions. They are copiously illustrated. The profit goes to the Museum.

Thanks Capt. You are not the first to tell me that I really need both of those books, a few engineering staff on the DQ also gave me that same advice. I'm thinking June 28th will probably be the day, think I could convince you to sign them? That is assuming you're going to be there, of course. 🙂

And concerning the conduit, I'm just surprised ANY interior electrical wiring installed between 1900 and 1950 would be in metalic conduit, then again is any part of a towboat considered interior in the eyes of the authorites? I was actually assuming the the items were something mechanical, not electrical...interesting...

I was informed by an engineer on the DQ 2 or 3 years ago that she lost her steam steering gear at the time the new hull was fitted. She now has an electric over hydraulic system, I believe. Perhaps chief Dennis can elaborate?

The DQ had a reputation for not backing around very well. Many pilots attributed that to having four main rudders and the "venetian blind effect" when they were hard over.
The new hull design incorporated only two main rudders over the objections of many in the pilot house and yours truly. Most stermwheel boats were built with three main rudders for good reason.
She now has two main rudders and a bluff stern and still doesn't back well.

The marine geniuses also felt that old mechanically controlled, steam powered hydraulic system should be replaced by a more compact, modern system with more redundancy.

There was abolutely nothing wrong with the old system as many on this board can attest. Moving the sticks did take a little muscle as the pilot was moving about 200 ft. of mechanical linkage but it was certainly tolerable.

The new system was package built and welded to the stern ribs woithout any special foundation. All the lever arms and cylinder strokes are much shorter than before. This greatly increases unit loads on the structure. Until much additional plate and foundation was added, the new system tried flex itself right out of the hull.

That has of course been long corrected but the poor design still eats tiller and link rod bushings at a greatly accelerated rate.

Long slow smooth strokes kept the old engines running forever and would have done the same for the steam/hydraulic steering gear.

Modern corporate decision makers are not interested in the long view. I think they do not intend to stay anywhere very long so the bottom line at the end of the quarter or the end of the year is all that counts to them. Next year may be a hazy idea in their mind but planning beyond that simply has no value to them!

Sorry to run on so long. I am feeling particularly grumpy this evening I guess.

Hmm, and the new system with all its redundancy still failed last year! Veedry Interstink!
It is interesting that even a "land-lubber" like myself would have also argued for three rudders. I suspect many of today's marine engineers do not fully understand paddlewheel propulsion--and why would they, it's not used in today's world!
S'
David D.
PS, Dennis, if you want to see grumpy, ask me about outlawing incandesent light bulbs so we will purchase Compact Flourecents! ARRRG!! (and I've probably misspelled something there too)

Boats change! Laws change! Crews Change! The wiring may have been changed on the Sprague at one time or another. I'll bet those switches replaced unprotected open knife switches with knob-and-tube wiring at one time or another. As for before 1950 my knuckles are still hurting from boring holes through concrete with a star drill and sledge for the passage of steel conduit in 1941. Yes, and I bent conduit with a Hickey 'way back then. Conduit was common in most industrial and hazardous locations, interior and exterior long before then.
I do not know when conduit was introduced in electrical work, but it was many years before my apprenticeship in 1941.

The deck outline lights on the Idlewild were installed in 1928 with conduits, condolets - the whole works.

Captain Powell and I argued for doing away with the spade rudders and using three long rudders like the Belle of Louisville's. We lost the argument. Dollars won.

NATCHEZ rudder pictures

Of course, the NATCHEZ, designed by Alan Bates, has 3 rudders and handles magnificently. The rudders were on the CLAIRTON and were reshaped to fit the NATCHEZ' hull shape, correct Alan? And the NATCHEZ has no monkey rudders...
These pictures were taken in the Zito drydock in January 1987, shortly after the N. came up out of the water. In the third pix I believe you can see the weld marks where the section was added to conform to the N's rake.

2 more NATCHEZ rudder, 1 DQ rudder pix

Pix 1 is looking aft straight at the middle rudder. Pix 2 gives you an idea of the size of the rudders. That's Chief Chris Wirtjes posing by the starboard one. Pix 3: the DELTA QUEEN was also in drydock across the river. By pure coincidence this is posted today, because it was Chief Fred Klein who brought me aboard the DQ in the drydock to get photos... note her 4 rudders, one of which is an obvious replacement. Again, these photos were in January 1987.

Judy, what are those fins or skegs forward of the rudders?

Note; that was the old days when the DQ had four rudders.

Handsome Harry Hamilton, who piloted both the SPRAGUE and the DELTA QUEEN, always said to allow the QUEEN to back on a straight rudder to get the water flowing between those "barn door" rudders before putting them hard over. It worked for him.

Chief, isn't grumpy a requirement in the job description for being a Chief Engineer?

Harry had it right. Also she would often back around better at about 25 or 30 deg rudder rather than hard over.

Re Grumpy: I suppose it comes with the job. However there are many fine shadings and nuances of same. 🙂

Alan, is this a test? If so, my answer is "the bustle", or a variation thereof. Keeps drift from getting hung up between the forward edge of the rudder and the hull, jamming the rudders.