She was built as a side-wheeler in 1869 at Cincinnati, Ohio for Capt. Thomas F.Leathers, who also commanded the vessel after delivery till 1870.
Tonnage 1.547 tons. Dim. 301 x 42.6 x 9.8ft.
After delivery used on the Mississippi River between Natchez and New Orleans.
Early June 1870, the NATZECH went up to St Louis in 3 days, 21 hours and 58 minutes, this breaking a long standing record set by the J.M.White in 1844. This set the stage for the famous race that began in New Orleans on June 30, 1870.
30 June 1870: NATCHEZ left New Orleans a few minutes behind the ROBERT S. LEE which had refused all freights and even removed the glass windows from the pilothouse.
The NATCHEZ, on the other hand, carried her normal complement of passengers and freight and continued to make regular stops on her way to St Louis.
Despite lithographs depicting the two racers side by side, such was not the case, for the boats were never in sight of each other.
The NATCHEZ was also delayed by fog and fuel stops, and she steamed into St Louis six and a half hours, after the ROBERT E. LEE set a record of 3 days, 18 hours and 14 minutes.
Despite her loss the NATCHEZ made 401 trips between New Orleans and Natchez the nine and a half years that she ran on this trade.
Oct. 1870 command was taken over by Capt. Richard Holmes.
Contemporary accounts claim that she ran on the water with the grace and ease of a swan. One of the tall smokestacks contained her whistle, which sounded like a enormous bumblebee.
As Captain Leathers put it, the whistle is for awakening the people on the shore not on the steamboat.
When she was taken to Cincinnati to be dismantled in 1879, she could claim the distinction of never having flown the American flag.
Her hull was taken to the Refuge Oil Mill, where it was used as a wharfboat.
1881 Broken up at Jefferson, Indiana.
Liberia 2002 $20 sg?, scott?
Bhutan 1988 5n sg731, scott? (the other steamer on this stamp is the ROBERT E LEE).
Zaire 1996 105000 NZ sg?, scott? ( she is the vessel on the left of the sheet.)
NATCHEZ sternwheeler
Re: NATCHEZ sternwheeler
Natchez
Bhutan, 1989, S.G.; 731, Scott; 742.
Bhutan, 1989, S.G.; 731, Scott; 742.