River Packet built 1848 at Freedom, Pennsylvania. Length 241'. Beam 30'7". Draught 7.7'. Side wheeler.
Part owned and commanded by Capt Newman Robirds of St Louis. Served on Louisville‑New Orleans run. From 1852‑2 Capt Clayton was Master and H S Philips the
clerk. She was burned and lost at New Orleans 6 Feb 1854. (above details from WP Nov/Dec 1988)
Mississippi River boats bring two thoughts to mind Gambling and Theatre, but Packet Boats dominated the River, ranging from huge floating palaces offering express service between ports hundreds of miles apart, and small insignificant boats making a couple of short 10 miles trips a day.
Every town had a ferry connection with the county road on the opposite shore.
Railroads ferried their trains on fast small steamers.
Maintenance of the channel was carried out by a variety of dredgers and light tenders. During the American Civil War gunboats prowled nearly every Western river and great naval battles were fought between opposing sides.
All of these craft shared common features. Extremely shallow draught, being framed very lightly with thin scantlines spaced as wide as their builders dared. The cabins were very flimsy and all had engines of great power to fight against the swift currents.
Boats drawing over five feet were severely handicapped in their operations. For example the Ohio river dried up every year to the point where boats drawing over 15 inches had to pack up.
A typical sidewheel packet in general service had its main deck protected by the boiler deck guards was of lozenge shape being widest at the paddlewheels tapering to the bow, the deck was much wider than the hull.
Sternwheel packets were built with narrower guards and the sides were practically straight. The hog chain framing system (a chain running the full length of the
hull, supported by braces holding up the ends of the hull) was a prominent feature, cabin and boiler deck were narrower to allow cargo to be stacked to a great height. The sternwheel cotton packets had another main feature, the smokestacks were very tall to allow sparks to burn out before they fell on to the cargo of cotton.
The magnificent 'showboats' that one usually saw in the cinema were not steamboats at all, but theatres built on usually (worn out) barges, towed by steamboats, all control being operated from the showboat pilothouse.
The engineroom bells and tiller lines were connected from boat to showboat by cables.
Log Book November 1989
Turks and Caicos Is SG850