steamboat

Merry Christmas! As previously presented in the Old Boat Column, one of the most famous excursion boat companies was Streckfus Steamers, widely known on the river system for its fleet… Read More

In 1883, for a contract price of $16,750, the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind., built the Benton McMillin, a modest packet boat named in honor of the Tennessee congressman, who… Read More

The cotton packet Wm. Garig was a petite, wooden-hulled sternwheeler launched at the Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, Ind., on Saturday, May 7, 1904, at 3:15 p.m., according to Day Book… Read More

For the first time in 61 years, the excursion steamboat Belle of Louisville traveled up the Ohio River as far as Gallipolis, Ohio, for its every-five-year Coast Guard inspection and… Read More

Built by Ward at Charleston, W.Va., in 1926, the towboat E.D. Kenna was constructed for the Ohio River Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, on a steel hull that was 144 feet… Read More

In 1894, as the Howard family prepared to occupy their newly completed 22-room riverside mansion at Jeffersonville, Ind., the shipyard built the towboat Fritz, named for Capt. Fritz Mentor. The… Read More

For 1864, the daybook records for the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind., list only contracts for the construction of a wharfboat for the Louisville & Cincinnati Mail Line and three… Read More

A recent acquisition to the writer’s collection is this week’s Old Boat Column image of the packet James Howard alongside a wharfboat at the St. Louis levee. In 1870, Capt. Read More

One of this writer’s favorite steamboats built by the Howard Shipyard at Jeffersonville, Ind., was the Sunshine. Launched on May 3, 1888, for a contract price of $21,750, the wood-hulled… Read More

In 1900, the Howard Shipyards built a beautiful and large sidewheeler named Indiana. Constructed on a wood hull measuring 285 feet in length by 45 feet in width, the boat… Read More