Old Boat Column: Some of the First Retractable Boats

In a recent conversation, the question was raised of what was the first towboat with a retractable pilothouse. The Bull Calf was mentioned, but it came out in 1939 with a conventional pilothouse, low but not retractable. It was converted into a retractable later. Research has not proven for sure which was the first, but this column will look at some of the early possibilities for this special Wheelhouse Issue of The Waterways Journal.

In his autobiography, One Man and the Mighty Mississippi, Capt. Norman Hillman mentions almost in passing a small boat that he worked for a few days in February 1939. The boat was the twin-screw, 240 hp. Edw. W. Billhorn, built by St. Louis Ship in 1935. It had a steel hull measuring 60 feet by 13 feet, and Hillman notes that it had “an up-and-down pilothouse of sorts” and that it was “cranked up and down by a deckhand using hand winches.”

In April 1939, Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wis., launched a 100-foot by 25-foot twin-screw boat for the Marine Transit Company of Chicago. It was powered by two Kahlenberg direct reversing engines of 300 hp. each at 300 rpm. The propellers were 64 inches in diameter and 40 inches pitch. It had two Caterpillar auxiliary engines driving 20 kw. DC generators, and the cabins featured quarters for an 11-person crew plus a guest.

The boat was named Edw. W. Renwick and was featured in the August 26, 1939, issue of the WJ with the headline: The Edw. W. Renwick: A Model Towboat. This piece said that the “most unusual job” that the generators had to do was “to power the hydraulic controls for adjusting the height of the pilot house.” With the structure down and the “stacks unmounted,” the Renwick had a height of 13 feet, 7 inches.

The crew of the Renwick, which entered service in May 1939, was listed as Capt. Edward J. Farley, master; Capt. C.B. Low, pilot; William E. Herbst and Edward F. Boyack, engineers; Delbert Jones, mate; and Stanley Reading, chef. Capt. Thomas P. Craig, a well-known Missouri River pilot formerly with the Federal Barge Line, made the first trips on the Renwick but “since has gone back to the Str. Altair.” The Altair was owned by the John I. Hay Company, Chicago.

Not long after the Renwick entered service, Calumet Shipyard and Dry Dock Company of Chicago launched two identical new boats for A.L. Mechling Barge Line, Joliet, Ill. The first, which entered service at the end of May 1939, was the Betty M, named after the wife of A.L. Mechling. The second left Calumet on June 8 of that year and was named Patsy H after a niece of Mechling. Both boats were 81 feet, 10 inches long by 20 feet wide. The two were single-screw craft, each fitted with a Superior diesel engine providing 465 hp. at 400 rpm.

An article about the two boats that appeared in the June 17, 1939, issue of the WJ said that on both vessels “the pilot house is of the telescoping type using an 8-foot hoist, the hoist being furnished by the Curtis Manufacturing Company. All controls for raising and lowering the pilot house are operated by the pilot.” The cabins were set up to accommodate a nine-person crew and featured “a spare lounge room for the convenience of the men when they are off watch.”

Each of these towboats went on to lead fairly long lives. The Edw. W. Renwick spent many years on the Illinois Waterway using the retractable pilothouse in the area it was designed for. In April 1957, it was sold to A.L. Mechling Barge Line, owner of the other two boats featured here. In July 1959, it was sold to Midwest Marine, Chicago, renamed Tammy Grant and repowered with a pair of Superior engines totaling 1,000 hp. In 1961, it was sold to Grant Towing Company, Roxana, Ill., and in 1977, it was transferred to Grant Towing Company, Vicksburg, Miss. In 1981, it was sold to A&D Towing Inc., Vicksburg. It last appeared in the 1985 edition of the Inland River Record (IRR), listed in the In Limbo section with the notation that the company was “out of business.”

The Betty M was operated by A.L. Mechling until 1948, when it was sold to The Ohio River Company, Cincinnati, which continued using it on the Illinois River. In August 1959, it was sold to Material Service Corporation, Lockport, Ill., and continued in use on the Illinois. In November 1966, the boat was sold to Universal Marine Inc. of New Orleans. In 1967, it was renamed Michelle C and repowered with a 900 hp. GM 12-567 engine. In 1968, it was renamed Universal Southern.

Several owners followed, and in 1971 it was sold to Barges Ltd., St. Louis. In 1973, it went to Paducah Towing Company, Paducah, Ky. Then, in 1978, it was sold to Calvert Towing Company, Benton, Ky. Two years later, it was sold to Richard’s Boat Service, Baton Rouge, La., and renamed Miss Pam. It was operated by W/W Fleeting Service, Baton Rouge. It was last listed in the Off The Record section of the 1987 IRR as having been seen sitting out on the bank.

The Patsy H. was owned by Mechling for 20 years. In 1948, it was repowered with an 800 hp. GM diesel engine. In June 1959, it was sold to Bell Barge Line Inc., La Porte, Texas. It disappeared from the IRR after the 1969 edition.

Featured image caption: The new Betty M as pictured in the June 17, 1929, issue of The Waterways Journal. (From the author’s collection)