Operational Steamboats - PT 2: And the Rest

[ranwhenparked]

This rounds out the second half of all the steam-powered paddle wheel boats in active commercial service, or, in the case of a few, have some realistic chance of returning to commercial service. Obviously, there's many more that have been converted to static use, along with many more modern diesel-powered paddle wheelers, but that's outside the scope of this.

JULIA BELLE SWAIN (1971) – engines from 1915
128ft. long
98 tons displacement
135 passengers

This excursion boat was originally built in 1971 by Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works of Dubuque, Iowa as Julia Belle to run cruises on Peoria Lake out of Peoria, Illinois, and along the Illinois River to Starved Rock State Park. Her compound oscillating steam engines were built way back in 1915 by Gillett & Eaton Co. for the ferry City of Baton Rouge, which had been withdrawn from service in 1964. The engineless City of Baton Rouge , somewhat amazingly, survives, and is currently moored in Le Claire, Iowa as a restaurant and boarding terminal for riverboat cruises (though the stacks and pilot house were lost in a tornado some years ago and never replaced). Julia Belle was sold to the Great River Steamboat Company in 1995 for excursion cruises out of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and renamed Julia Belle Swain. Great River Steamboat shut down in 2009 due to the effects of the recession, and Julia Belle Swain was laid up until purchased by a nonprofit organization, the Julia Belle Swain Foundation, in 2013, with the goal of returning her to service by 2017. That, of course, hasn't happened, she remains laid up in La Crosse in a state of partial restoration while fundraising efforts continue, though there has been no updates by the foundation since around 2018. So, not operating, but intact, and, I guess, could theoretically come back into service at some point.

LIBERTY BELLE (1973)
113ft. long
100 tons displacement
450 passengers

Built in-house by the Walt Disney Company in 1973 as Richard F. Irvine for use on the Rivers of America attraction at Walt Disney World, like her older counterpart in California, the Mark Twain, this boat runs on an underwater track, but does float and is self-powered by its own steam engine, also built in-house by Disney. Originally constructed with a traditional wood superstructure, which proved a maintenance nightmare, Richard F. Irvine was extensively rebuilt with a new aluminum superstructure in 1996, and renamed Liberty Belle. After a pause during the COVID pandemic, Liberty Belle reopened along with the rest of Walt Disney World and is currently in service.

NATCHEZ (1975) – engines from 1925
265 ft. long
1,384 gross tons
1,200 passengers (max), less for dining

Natchez was built for the New Orleans Steamboat Company in 1975 by the Bergeron Machine Shop in Braithwaite, Louisiana for excursion cruises out of New Orleans. Her engines were originally built in 1925 by Federal Shipbuilding Corp. for the Carnegie Steel Corp.'s towboat Youghioheny (later B.F. Fairless, later Clairton). Clairton was laid up in 1960, her engines were removed in 1972 for use in Natchez, and the hulk was finally scrapped in 1984. Natchez remains in service with New Orleans Steamboat on dinner and sightseeing cruises, having had a fairly stable career over the past 45+ years. Although sharing her name with no less than 8 previous steamboats named Natchez, this one isn't modeled on any of them, but is actually designed as a near-copy of the famous 19th century riverboats Virginia and Hudson. Natchez was laid up for several months during 2020 as a result of COVID restrictions, but New Orleans Steamboat do have cruises on their 2021 schedule from January onward and are actively selling tickets.

CHAUTAUQA BELLE (1976)
98 ft. long
60 tons displacement
120 passengers

Chautauqa Belle was constructed by James Webster in Mayville, New York beteween 1974-1976. Her Skinner Uniflow steam engine was fabricated in 1975 by Harry McBridge. Since 1976, she has been used for excursion cruises on Chautauqua Lake from June-November by U.S. Steam Lines, and is the newest steamboat in the country fitted with a newly-built engine. Despite the pandemic, U.S. Steam were able to run a season of cruises during 2020, and are currently booking for 2021.

AMERICAN QUEEN (1995) – engines from 1932
418 ft. long
3,707 gross tons
436 passengers

Billed as the largest riverboat ever built, American Queen features many of the same amenities found on bigger, ocean-going cruise ships - with a health spa, swimming pool, fitness center, a movie theater, and several bars, lounges, and restaurants, spread over 6 decks. She was built for the former Delta Queen Steamboat Company (then under the ownership of American Classic Voyages Co.) in 1995 by McDermott Shipyard in Morgan City, Louisiana for Mississippi River cruises out of New Orleans. Primary power comes from double reciprocating steam engines built in 1932 for the US Army Corps of Engineers dustbin dredge boat Kennedy, which drive the paddle wheel, while a pair of modern diesel-electric engines power Z-drives used for auxiliary propulsion and maneuvering. Kennedy had been decommissioned in 1979, rebuilt as an expo barge for the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans, laid up again at the end of the fair in November, 1984, and scrapped in 1992. Planning for American Queen was well under way at the time, and her engines were salvaged for reuse.

American Queen was laid up in October of 2001, due to the failure of American Classic Voyages, but returned to service in 2003, after Delta Queen Steamboat Company was purchased and restructured by Delaware North Companies. She merged into the Majestic America Line fleet under the ownership of Ambassadors International in 2006, but was laid up again in 2008 when Majestic America filed for bankruptcy. American Queen was seized by the US Maritime Administration, her mortgage holder, and laid up for a time in the Reserve Fleet, until sold to the new Great American Steamboat Company in 2011 (now known as American Queen Steamboat Company), and, following refurbishment, returned to service in 2012. American Queen is the only steamboat currently offering overnight passenger service in North America, though her former fleetmate, Delta Queen could theoretically rejoin her at some point, maybe. American Queen has been laid up since early 2020 due to COVID restrictions, but American Queen Steamboat has tentatively planned to resume service in May of 2021, and are currently taking bookings.

[gmporschenut also a fan of hondas]

in the 1800s weren't most of the steamboats expendable after a couple years.

[ranwhenparked]

@gmporschenut-also-a-fan-of-hondas Yeah, about 5 years - but that wasn't really an intentional design life, more a result of the ridiculously frequent accidents - groundings, collisions, fires, boiler explosions, etc.

They did often tend to be built quickly and cheaply, slapped together with flimsy materials, which didn't help. Its also always been a very common practice to salvage major components - engines, wheels, bridge equipment, etc, and reuse them on newer boats, one could be an amalgam of several older ones.

[gmporschenut also a fan of hondas]

The slapped together nature was what I was thinking. I went on acivil war kick and I think it was Sultana, on how they were treated like a rented mule, with the results being a diaster/loss a matter or when not so much if.

[ranwhenparked]

@gmporschenut-also-a-fan-of-hondas yeah, they could be thrown together in a field alongside the river by a bunch of carpenters with no prior shipbuilding experience. You always had the better ones built in real shipyards and designed by professional naval architects, but there were a lot of janky ones running around. And before pressure relief valves were introduced, well, its amazing more of them didn't blow up on their maiden voyages. Even after safety features like those started to come into use, they could often be bypassed to run higher pressure for more speed, and nobody really did anything about it.

[Shop-Teacher]

@ranwhenparked I love how almost all of the ones you've written about, have engines salvaged from older ships. No need for those to go to waste!

[ranwhenparked]

@shop-teacher Reusing old engines is a long tradition from the 19th century, but was also a practical necessity by the 1970s, since building new ones wasn't really possible anymore for larger boats doing longer distance runs. The smaller scale engines for the Disney boats and the ones in New York were still feasible to make at the time, but you'd probably run into trouble finding anyone to do it today.

[Shop-Teacher]

@ranwhenparked makes sense to me.

[Exage03040]

@shop-teacher said in Operational Steamboats - PT 2: And the Rest:

@ranwhenparked I love how almost all of the ones you've written about, have engines salvaged from older ships. No need for those to go to waste!

With emissions it's now going the other way. Old clunker ferries getting resto-modded.

[BicycleBuck]

I watched a documentary years ago in which they discussed the first steamboats out west. It's been a long time and I wasn't paying close attention, so I just have a vague notion of what they said. If I recall, the first steamboat out west was constructed there with locally sourced lumber and hardware (the engine and such) carried out west by wagon train. It was little more than a platform with an engine and paddle wheel, but it carried passengers and goods for quite some time before the first competitor was built.

[RacinBob]

@ranwhenparked said in Operational Steamboats - PT 2: And the Rest:

Julia Belle Swain

The Julia Belle Swain started a multi million dollar restoration back about 2018. My impression is that this was a first class restoration and that the people who were doing it had the funding and were aware of the total costs going in.

It's docked presently downstream of the Clinton Street bridge in La Crosse. Based on newspaper articles that I read, my estimation is that it was substantially complete by the end of summer 2019 and I assume Covid 19 prevented its re launch in 2020. Hopefully it will be sailing again this summer.

Speaking of Le Claire Iowa, anybody with an interest of steam boats should visit the Buffalo Bill/ Lone Stare museum on the waterfront in LeClaire Iowa. The boat is housed in a building and is open for on deck touring.

https://steamboats.com/museum/davet-photoslonestar.html

http://www.buffalobillmuseumleclaire.com/save/LoneStarSteamer_print.htm

[ranwhenparked]

@racinbob Well, that's fantastic news, I hadn't heard anything since the Julia Belle Swain Foundation took her over and seemed to run into issues a few years ago. I had heard that their delays were related to the very high quality of work being done. I tried to look for any more recent information, and didn't run into much, at least not much that wasn't paywalled

[RacinBob]

@ranwhenparked I think they did start with a more modest plan but decided to do it all first class. Well, I am not directly involved and only know what I read in the paper but the individuals involved I feel have the money to do it through in my opinion.

Here's where it is today. Ps. It ran when parked.....

[RacinBob]

@ranwhenparked I just finished reading a book on steam boats and I think the #1 cause of loss was hitting a tree trunk or root snag that was stuck to the bottom and when hit would punch a hole in the boat.

[ranwhenparked]

@racinbob the tree trunks were not a joke, along with floating logs. River was like a natural minefield

[RacinBob]

Especially when they had a 1 to 3 foot channel....

[BicycleBuck]

@ranwhenparked said in Operational Steamboats - PT 2: And the Rest:

@racinbob the tree trunks were not a joke, along with floating logs. River was like a natural minefield

That's what makes the Great Red River Raft such an interesting story. It was a natural log jam that extended for about 130 miles along the Red River, north of Natchitoches, Louisiana. It was cleared by the Army Corps of Engineers using a specially designed "snag boat" which could remove the logs. After the jam was cleared, the geography and hydrology of the region changed.