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RULE # ONE .... "Don't try to ever compare a Towboat - With A TUG!" "Its an Insult to Both!! ..... Since Tugs are a totally different type of WORKBOAT and can't do this work on Inland Rivers! ... A tug can only do some things on a river, where its depths are deep enough to allow it to Operate. But further upstream = Its the Domain of TOWBOATS!
So, Just What The Heck - Is A Towboat Anyway?
.... But this says nothing about "Extremes in Weather", like Hurricanes & Tornadoes or Hail Storms with Hail bigger than Softballs. Yes, a Towboat is truly born to a life of "Difficulty", raised in a realm where no boat should ever be forced to Run. But to these boats, its just routine on any river, when your born from their legacy of steamboats. Designed to endure - Hell Itself! ..... Pushing massive amounts of tonnage = Where No Other Vessel can roam. All this and much more, created these river workboats, whom are capable of Churning - Mud, Chewing Stumps & Surviving such encounters on a daily basis, 365 days a year, whenever cargo has to = Move! ___________________________________________________________________
Towboats were Born From Steamboats So Who Built The 1st - Steamboat?
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Henry Shreve - PERFECTED What Robert Fulton = CREATED! Fulton's - trip to New Orleans, was closely watched by many, but none more closely than by Henry Shreve. Because he had prior "Keel & Flat-Boat", experience, and realized there were flaws in Fulton's - steamboat design. And this was proven as he watched Fulton encounter problems, common to all vessels that run rivers. Simply put, Fulton's steamboat was simply 'To Deep" in draft for operating on rivers. Because when the boat encountered a sandbar, its round hull would often roll over on its side and take on water. Several times, the vessel nearly sank during the trip south. Which gave Shreve ideas on how to improve things. Returning to his home, he began to develop his own steamboat designs, which used concepts from his flatboat experience and created a whole new vessle.... The STERN WHEELER!
Typical Mid-1800's Stern Wheel - Steamboat ___________________________________________________________________
Where Did The Term = Towboat .... COME FROM?
Late 1800's "Converted" Packet Boat, used to Push - Barges! The term - TOW or Towboat, originates most likely from the first use of Barges on our inland rivers. The barge ( Or a Number Of Them! ), when "Lashed Together", were called a = TOW. So its not difficult to figure out how this quickly formed the phrase - Tow Boat, as a shortened version that combined steamboat & barges - Together. But this very same term is also found in steamboats used to assist huge "Log Rafts", to get downstream to saw mills too. So its exact origins and whom exactly started its use = as a river term or phrase, just isn't clear. However, by around 1820 ( We Believe ), pushing barges had a good start on our inland rivers and since smaller steamboats were built to run smaller rivers. They were used to handle an occasional barge, to get extra cargo to its destination. The 1st barge, probably made from an old Flatboat or keel boat, or maybe what was left of an older gutted - steamboat hull, became the Barge. Nothing fancy - that's for sure, so the early towboat was unlike its graceful counterpart, the packet boat , because it need no fancy looks. It only needed space for required supplies, firewood - for fuel, and the barest basic's of sleeping quarters for its crew, some didn't even have stateroom and you slept - On Deck. Simple - but also very unique, the early towboat required only two things in its early beginnings, "More Powerful Engines & Enhanced Steering, in order to handle more barges & cargo. And that is exactly how these boats were improved as time went by, making them more effective and better equipped to handle what seemed impossible. Think Not? .... well how many boats can you name, which are designed to withstand the rigors of Churning Mud & Chewing Stumps, or Rocks and able to Survive a Grounding with little or no damage? "To me - at least. these boats are nothing short of = Remarkable! ___________________________________________________________________
The Sprague Lovingly Called "Big Momma", the Largest Steam Powered - Towboat .... EVER BUILT! Tap Photos to Enlarge The "SPRAGUE", was the Largest and most powerful - steam towboat, that was ever built. And she still holds towing records that continue to stand - today, and may well never be broken. Built at Dubuque Iowa, by "Iowa Iron Works" in 1901, she had a total of 2,079 Horsepower with a steel hull that measured 276' x 61' x 7.4' overall = length, width & draft. Carrying Six "Hopkins Boilers" that powered her "Forty Foot" diameter stern wheel, the sternwheel was later shortened to a 38 foot diameter to give her more speed and power. This is also about the point, when she acquired the nickname "Big Momma". Mainly due to the massive tows and cargo she could handle, that were often so-massive in size, they caused the Mississippi to actually run backwards after she passed going upriver. Some accounts claim her "Wheel Wash" would often splash the banks - for hours after she had passed. And having six - boilers to fuel, she easily consumed coal in "Tons - Per Hour" rates, or by the truckload by today's standards. All of which had to be hand fed to her boilers, by a large number of crewmen with shovels and wheel barrows to haul the coal from her Fuel Flats. Note the coal barges in the "Above - Left Photo", their obviously just a small part of her fuel supply and during a trip she'd have to carry a large number of those coal flats to keep her steam - Up! De-commissioned at Memphis Tenn. on March 5 of 1948, she was then laid-up at Vicksburg Mississippi and later converted to a floating museum / tourist attraction. But the boat burned in 1974 under mysterious conditions, which the cause of the fire was never determined? Her remains now lay along the lower - Yazoo River in one of its slack water creeks, a sad reminder of the KING - OF PUSH and all that's left is these photos and her Legacy. NOTE = the above - Left Photo, came from a postcard sent to me, by Mr. Jack Custer, editor of the "Egregious Steamboat Journal" at Louisville Ky. The photo on the Right - was found in my research in a museum photo collection at the St. Louis - Mercantile Library. And the rest are from various river museum collections. Just exactly "Where Or When" these photos were taken ..."Or By - Whom?".... Was Never Determined! _______________________________________________________________________
Steamboats = The 1st to use "Duel Steering!" Late 1800's Stern Wheelers with usual = Flanking Rudders Later Same Vessel, converted to "DUEL - Steering Systems" Going Up-River - Was Easy .... "Going Downstream with the Current" - Was The Hard Part! By the Late 1800's .... Shipbuilders & Owners ( even today ), were always trying to improve profits and give their boats - greater speed & abilities. Duel Steering - was just one these unique ideas, so successful it became a standard on all modern river towboats. Yet nobody knows exactly whom - first developed the idea?.....Or which vessel, was the first to use it?? But a lot of old - River Rats ( At First ), thought the idea - CRAZY. Which is probably where the term - Monkey Rudders, may well have come from as they called them. Being a term which refers to the "Stern Rudders" on towboats, which steamboats originally - didn't have. Later these twin steering systems were called simply - Flanking & Stern - Rudders, which in steamboats, at first = were all coupled together - as one single system. This allowed a pilot to steer = in either direction, using the engine = "Forward or Reverse", no matter whether the vessel was going = Upstream Or Down. This way, pilots had control, regardless of cross winds and currents, which made things - Far More Safe, not to mention Easier to Handle! ___________________________________________________________________
Other Unique - Riverboat Facts
Tap Photo to Enlarge
Tap Photo to Enlarge
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Last Updated On 01/28/10
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Picture a workboat that's been built to
withstand the worst possible conditions imaginable for
any vessel to endure. Especially when running in a "Shallow
Ditch", filled the following ingredients = # One - You Have Damned
Little Water ..... # Two = Very Narrow Twisting Channels laid out by what must of been
a Drunk'n
= SNAKE. # Three = Rivers are filled with Sandbars .... Rocks .... Stumps
& Mud as well as "Swift Currents" that can attain 15+ Mph. OR
MORE. Then Mix well with Crosswinds, Narrowly Spaced - Bridge Piers ...
Low Bridges you
can't get under and other navigation difficulties & Obstructions. Then pour everything into
one bowl and garnish with plenty of - River Traffic.
And you begin to get some idea of what a river truly is.
"And you also begin to see what these boats must do, which is nothing short of
= IMPOSSIBLE!" 
Robert Fulton designed and built the very first
American Steamboat, in 1807. It was called the Clermont
and steamed it down the Hudson river from New Albany to New
York. But his - 2nd boat, built in 1811 along the upper Ohio in
Pennsylvania, called - "New Orleans" is much more important
here. Because that vessels launching is considered the
beginnings of what opened our nations western territory to more
settlements. Because it was the first steamboat to ply the Ohio,
Mississippi river system. And it opened our nation to much faster travel
time. All thanks to Fulton's invention as he steamed
it down And
back in those days, if you had to travel someplace, you either used a Keelboat or
Flatboat, Walked or Rode a Horse. And there were only meager
game trails to follow between towns & settlements. And
Indians were always a worry, along with Pirates and thief's - just to mention a
few common problems everyone shared in those days - when
traveling. So life was very dangerous, but also rather
interesting too. Case in point, take what the Indians -
thought of steamboats, for example. Many thought they were a - Bad Omen and
they called steamboats ... "The White Man's - "Fire
Canoe!" FACT!
..... By
1836, over "Six Hundred" steamboats where traveling our inland rivers.
And virtually no river or large stream within our nations boundaries, at some point - in time,
hasn't been navigated by a steamboat. And news of
"Custer's Last Stand" at little Bighorn, was brought down the Missouri
river with survivors of the battle, aboard the steamboat - Far
West. And back in those days, steamboats could travel in as
little as 18" of water. No wonder - Mark Twain once said
- The Steamboat is a Remarkable Thing, "Capable of Moving on as little
water - as a heavy Dew!
Worlds First - Steam Powered Warships, Were
American River - Gun Boats!
Packets or Steamboats used on river trade routes, were converted or rebuilt
for War - by both sides in the Civil
War. This founded the history of what became our "Modern Naval Warships"
and the World Followed our Path.
The Monitor and others - like
her, using innovations that began back then. Proved other concepts
and ideas that also inspired today's modern shipbuilding, not only in War, but in
Trade and Cargo - Transportation. Take the change from Paddlewheels, to
the new idea of Propeller Drives & Other early Inventions in Steamboats .....
Today's modern vessels are full of Historically recorded fittings and New Fangled
Ideas that became standards today ..... See More Below!
