The Enduring Mv. Frances Anne
This column is about a towboat that has long been a personal favorite of mine. It was not the largest, and it certainly was not the most attractive or innovative towboat that I ever encountered. The kindness of a captain aboard it, though, fostered and encouraged my enthusiasm for a career on the river.
This column detailed the history of Upper Mississippi Towing Corporation (UMTC), which ultimately became Riverway, when it featured the 700 hp. Husky (see the September 4, 2023, issue of The Waterways Journal). UMTC began business in 1937 with the Husky, which was built that year at Paducah, Ky., by F.W. Olcott. UMTC continued to grow, soon adding the 500 hp. Husky II and the 600 hp. Husky III. In 1941, a unique vessel in the form of the tanker-towboat Minneapolis Husky (See WJ, June 2, 2025) was built. This was followed in 1944 by the single-screw, 1,400 hp. towboat Minnesota Husky, built by Peterson & Haecker at Blair, Neb. In 1947, UMTC acquired the steam towboat Gona and placed it in the service of subsidiary Hennepin Towing Company.
The tanker-towboat Minneapolis Husky was sold in 1944, and the Husky was sold in May 1948, followed by the sale of the Minnesota Husky in July 1948. Toward the end of 1948, a brand-new diesel towboat was placed in service. This boat was the Alexander, built and owned by Alexander Shipyards, New Orleans, and bareboat chartered to UMTC. Alexander Shipyards was originally Lester F. Alexander & Company, founded shortly before the start of World War II. The shipyard had built various vessels for the war effort, and in 1948, it was renamed Alexander Shipyards Inc.
The Alexander may have been built especially for UMTC, since at 116.5 by 40 feet, its hull was somewhat short for its width. This short length was to better enable it to transit the locks of the Upper Mississippi River with tows of tank barges. The boat had 3,200 hp. from a pair of Fairbanks-Morse direct reversing opposed-piston engines coupled to Universal reduction gears. The lower deck included a full cabin with a high stern. The second deck had a cabin about half the length of the one on the main deck, and immediately behind that were two large smokestacks. At the end of this deck there was a tall mast with a large boom for handling the vessel’s large metal inboard motorboat. A smaller cabin for the captain and pilot was above this, with a raised pilothouse ahead of it, situated pool-style.
While records indicate a build date of 1948 for the Alexander, the April 2, 1949, issue of The Waterways Journal carried a small story in the New Orleans news column that stated, “At the Alexander Shipyard, the towboat Alexander, operated under lease to the Upper Mississippi Towing Corporation, Minneapolis, is receiving final adjustments after the first three months of operation. Capt. Paul T. Rose, St. Louis, master, and Capt. Carl D. Warren, Cape Girardeau, Mo., relief master, will arrive in New Orleans later this week to bring out the boat.” The vessel evidently entered service early in 1949. The radio call sign assigned to it was WB 8315.
The Alexander was mentioned often in the Upper Mississippi news columns of the WJ in 1949 as it moved petroleum products from Wood River, Ill., to the Minneapolis area. It must have performed to the company’s satisfaction, because UMTC purchased it in 1950 and renamed it Frances Anne, the name it carried for the rest of its days. At the same time, UMTC took delivery of a nearly identical boat from Alexander Shipyards named Harriet Ann. The Harriet Ann had only one stack and a pilothouse mounted on top of the third deck. The str. Gona was sold in 1953. UMTC ads in the WJ for years to come would depict the Frances Anne, Harriet Ann and later the Laura Lee, at St. Louis Ship built for UMTC in 1957, with the text saying that the company had many barges and towboats to serve, “Including Our Three Working Girls.”
UMTC sold the newer Harriet Ann in 1964 but kept the Frances Anne in service. Photos capture the 3,200 hp. boat with large tows and a big wheel wash during this time frame. In 1970, after 20 years in service for UMTC, the Frances Anne was sold to G&C Towing Inc., Point Pleasant, W.Va. Under this ownership, it was in the Ashland Oil trade for some time under Capt. M.G. “Tommy” Herdman.
As a teenager, I became acquainted with Capt. Herdman when the boat would stop in at the landing of Merdie Boggs & Sons at Catlettsburg, Ky. Through Herdman’s kindness, I was able to make several trips aboard the boat as a guest, and it was quite likely the first line haul towboat that I steered.
The interior spaces of the boat were paneled in wood with a high-gloss finish. Its visible copper air lines were always polished, as was the brass in the pilothouse, including a large engineroom telegraph that stood to the side of the main console. There had been two separate dining rooms for officers and crew, but Capt. Herdman utilized the officers’ dining area for storage, with the whole crew eating in the larger crew dining room. The exterior appearance of the boat never changed except for the removal of the UMTC logo from the stacks.
In April 1979, the boat was sold to Martrans Services Inc., Dyersburg, Tenn., and in February 1980, it was sold to Arrow Transportation Company, Sheffield, Ala. The rumor was that Arrow intended to rebuild the boat, but the 1982 issue of the Inland River Record listed it in the Off The Record section, noting that it had been “sold to Robert Myer, St. Louis, [and] currently has [its] engines removed.”
While transiting through the Wood River, Ill., area in 1985, I saw the boat apparently sunk and laying behind a fleet on the Illinois shore. I assumed later that it had been scrapped after seeing no further evidence of it. A few years ago, while at the Mike’s Inc. shipyard at Wood River, I saw a work flat with a familiar shape. Upon closer examination, across the stern could be seen welded letters proclaiming “FRANCES ANNE” and under that “MINNEAPOLIS, MN.”
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Feature photo caption: An undated photo of the mv. Frances Anne in New Orleans. (From the Dan Owen Boat Photo Museum collection)
