A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

The River: Growing nostalgic for the lost riverboats, saluting heroes — a long and two shorts on whistle


The riverboat captain is a storyteller, and Captain Don Sanders will be sharing the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.

By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune

I’ve seen better days on the river than now. Old Man River pays no mind to the COVID-19 pandemic and keeps on rolling to the Gulf of Mexico. I wish I had his frame of mind. There’s so much talk about reopening the economy and getting life back to what it was just a couple of months ago. But it’s not going to happen that easily. It may take years before the world, let alone our way of life, returns to normal. When it finally does, it won’t be the old familiar “normal,” but a “new normal” that folks will gradually accept as usual in its place.

Please consider, for example, all the laid-up passenger boats snubbed-off with only skeletal crews aboard to keep them off the riverbanks according to the whims of the rising and falling waters.

Please consider, for example, all the laid-up passenger boats snubbed-off with only skeletal crews aboard to keep them off the riverbanks according to the whims of the rising and falling waters. Are the boats being readied for the word to resume cruising? And when that word comes, will eager crowds be clamoring aboard? And if “social distancing” is a stipulation before the boats can turn the first screw or roll the first paddlewheel, will government regulations require the vessels to carry fewer paying passengers to maintain safer distancing between warm bodies?

Frankly, after all the bad press the ocean-going cruisers generated at the start of the pandemic and considering the generally older age of the cruising crowd, I would be surprised to see the boats leaving the dock with sufficient numbers even if there is no lessening of their passenger-carrying capabilities.

What about the boat businesses whose incomes ground to a halt with the shutdown? How many will be financially capable of returning their trained crews, outfitting their stores, bunkering their boats, and all the other tremendously expensive costs necessary to resurrect their trade? Will FOR SALE signs be tacked onto various vessels instead of notices announcing the reopening of the boats for cruises? There is always that murmur lingering in the background, saying, “So-and-so’s business won’t be returning after the pandemic subsides.”

Captain John Beatty’s flagship, the CLARE E. BEATTY, now lies a rusty wreck in front of Maysville, Kentucky. (Rob Stone Photo)

With exorbitant amounts of time spent pursuing the pages on social media, postings of distressed riverboats are a crowd-pleaser. Most of them, though, are beyond redemption. For example, Captain John Beatty’s flagship, the CLARE E. BEATTY, the former twin-screw, diesel towboat SEMET, initially built for the Semet-Solway Division of Allied Chemical Corporation by Dravo Shipyards, Pittsburgh, that now lies a rusty wreck in front of Maysville, Kentucky. After a towboat fan posted a photo of the CLARE in a nose-to-nose shoving contest at the Charleston, WV Sternwheel Regatta in the 1980s, a cry came forth. “I wish the old CLARE wasn’t so far gone. I would love to restore her.”  

Of course, the DELTA QUEEN is always on a river buff’s mind when it comes to choosing a boat to bring back into the fold. Over five years ago, the present owners of the QUEEN fought hard to get the vessel’s exemption from the SOLAS, the “Safety and Life at Sea Law,” which has been a requirement for the DELTA QUEEN to carry more than 50 overnight passengers since the late 1960s. After a monument 1970 effort to exempt the QUEEN, the venerable steamboat operated on five-year-spans of exemptions until a later owner allowed the exclusion to lapse.

Though the DELTA QUEEN has a reprieve, today’s keepers have yet to secure the needed financing to get the steamer up and running. In the words of a person of authority: “The project remains stalled due to funding concerns. This whole COVID-19 issue isn’t helping the cruise industry either.”

The DELTA QUEEN is always on a river buff’s mind when it comes to choosing a boat to bring back into the fold.

Another classic steamboat needing assistance is the JULIA BELLE SWAIN, built at the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works in 1971 by, and for, Captain Dennis Trone. The “Julie Belle” raced the DELTA QUEEN when I was the QUEEN’s First officer and Alternate Master with Captain Ernest E. Wagner, my captain, and mentor since I first began steamboating with him when I was just 17 aboard the Steamer AVALON. After mechanical problems onboard Captain Trone’s brand new vessel canceled the first race between the QUEEN and the JULIA BELLE, I took my friend John Hartford, the celebrated Bluegrass Musician and steamboat aficionado, over to the SWAIN and introduced him to Captain Trone. What followed that meeting changed modern steamboat history in many ways over the lifetimes of the two men.   
Regretable, after the passing of the two steamboat legends, the JULIA BELLE SWAIN fell on hard times. Today, she rests sadly bobbing on the water in a slough near LaCrosse, Wisconsin after a botched restoration project ran short of funds and failed. The lovely JULIE BELLE awaits a miracle for someone to step forward with whatever it will take to complete her resurrection. So far, that miraculous savior remains off-stage while time is ticking steadily into a future that may, very possibly, leave Captain Trone’s steamer behind.
   

Another classic steamboat needing assistance is the JULIA BELLE SWAIN, built at the Dubuque Boat & Boiler Works in 1971 by, and for, Captain Dennis Trone.

In my world, I have a lovely boat, the Rafter CLYDE, to consider. As I have reached the stage in my life where I can no longer devote my tag-end of time to the lovely stern paddlewheeler, the viral pandemic unexpectedly stalled the search for a new owner for the CLYDE.

My concerns, although they may not possess the depth the proprietors of the large commercial boats have, are proportional to my particular set of circumstances. I am as interested in preserving my vessel’s integrity and my financial health as much as any corporate board might. The COVID-19 episode has us all in a fit. Like the ‘big boys,” I must maintain my ground and wait until the world rights itself and then carry forward. 

“Here we are,” as the talking heads continually remind us, “all in this, together.” Until the situation changes for the better, we have no choice other than what we have to do to help lessen the impact of the Coronavirus on ourselves and the world around us.

Until the signal sounds that we no longer need to hunker down in place, all we can do is to continue what we’ve been doing. Let’s wash our hands for at least 20 seconds, maintain social distancing, wear a mask as needed, and do all else necessary to keep ourselves healthy and alive.  

A sincere, heartfelt greeting is for all those brave souls who risk their lives every day during this most terrible time. Those men and women have as much courage as any heroes who ever faced any seemingly-unsurmountable challenge in our nation’s history. Or, as we say on the river, “A long and two shorts on the steam whistle for them.”

Captain Don Sanders is a river man. He has been a riverboat captain with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and with Rising Star Casino. He learned to fly an airplane before he learned to drive a “machine” and became a captain in the USAF. He is an adventurer, a historian, and a storyteller. Now, he is a columnist for the NKyTribune and will share his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.

In my world, I have a lovely boat, the Rafter CLYDE, to consider.

A sincere, heartfelt greeting is for all those brave souls who risk their lives every day during this most terrible time. (Florida Natl. University Photo)


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8 Comments

  1. Queen Ann Baker says:

    Excellent article. I never get tired of reading his articles

  2. Jo Ann W Schoen says:

    Yes, it is spring and time to think about riding those overnight and day cruise riverboats. I’m sure looking forward to being able to do that again! Thanks for another great story.

  3. Angie says:

    Sadly, I don’t think Julia Belle or the Delta Queen are ever going to make it back on the rivers. But I share your sense of nostalgia.

    • Jeff Miller says:

      Get off on the right foot
      Thanks very much Capt Don. I enjoyed your article and look forward to many more!

  4. Jessica C Yusuf says:

    As always, an excellent and informative read. Thank you, once again, for the view from the pilot house.

  5. Ronald Sutton says:

    As usual a Good article by Capt Don about a subject which is, already has, going to Change Our Lives and possibly end them. We were tolerating Old Age, at least, now some supposedly learned people says we are at Risk. What is to happen to promising up and comers, Captains Grady, our B&B newcomer, Brainfade on the name. Those with wives and Kiddies to support. No or minimal crew changes. Tough enough a life as it was. In a Lifetime at sea, I’ve been Broke and I’ve been Well Off. Well Off is Better. Never Rich, in $money anyway.

  6. John says:

    Capt. Don is indeed a great storyteller! To find out he was a friend of the fantastic John Hartford just adds to Capt. Don’s reputation.

    Capt. Don mentions steamboat races, and I remember watching many a beautiful Derby week race between the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen. No matter which boat won, the loser leveled accusations of cheating — cutting corners is apparently a requirement in steamboat racing.

    Maybe Capt. Don knows of incidents of cheating in the history of racing that should be recalled. The Belle had considerably less power, so I always figured when the Belle won, something unusual was happening. Thanks again Capt. Don!

  7. Cornelia Reade-Hale says:

    Thanks again Capt Don for wisely highlighting past & present concerns on the river & cruise line world.. You’ve seen many things change to a “new normal”but kept your steam up. I pray you soon can find a new tender or tenders for the Clyde with the wisdom & resources to keep her as well as you have. Hopefully you’ll be abke to tell us all that ongoing tale.

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