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The Peripatetic Whistle
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Back in the days when steamboating was the principal form of commerce in the middle of the US and thus on the Mississippi River the bells and whistles on the big river steamboats were an important attribute of the boat. They varied in tone, pitch and volume from boat to boat and the other steamboats and people who lived along the river were soon able to distinguish which boat was "just around the bend" by the sound of its bell or whistle. As a matter of fact, a Kentucky farmer near Scuffletown named Barnett claimed that his mule would stop in its tracks in the furrow and refuse to move further until fed when the Two States boat sounded for the landing at Scuffletown but was not so compelled when other boats whistled for a landing. The whistle of The Natchez was said to sound like a bumblebee. Many claimed that the crew of The Revenue had stolen its whistle from the top of the smokestack of a factory in Pittsburgh after a round of drinking at Pittsburgh bars and did not dare whistle for a landing in the vicinity of that factory. The deep-throated whistle of The Kate Adams steamboat was said to be heard for thirty miles on the river on a still cold night.
One of the most famous whistles of that era involved the side wheeler Eugene. The Eugene had no whistle and her crew was sad about that and sought surcease from their misery in the bars of New Orleans famous French Quarter. While drinking there they heard a magnificent whistle and instantly knew that they had to have it for the Eugene. So they had a few more drinks and went down to the waterfront and found that this lovely whistle was on an Italian freighter. All of the hands of the Eugene agreed that this whistle deserved a better home and they waited until the wee hours of the morning and climbed up the stack of the Italian ship and stole the whistle and carried it home to the Eugene where they installed it. Early the next morning the Eugene made a silent departure from New Orleans. This was in the 1840s and the Eugene became famous for its full-throated, melodious whistle. But alas the Eugene was not destined to enjoy this whistle for long. In 1850 it made a trip up river and stumbled over the wreck of the Eliza boat and was sunk. The whistle however was salvaged and installed on The Hattie Gilmore and was there for many years until 1863 it was transferred to the Tarascon which had New Orleans as its home port. It was during the Civil War and the blockade of the Mississippi River was lifted and in celebration of this the Tarascon plied up and down New Orleans Port sounding her new whistle.
Yup! You guessed it! The Italian Captain of the freighter was in port and instantly recognized the sound of his purloined whistle and complained thereof to the Port Authority asking their aid in getting the whistle from the Tarascon.. A sort of unofficial Admiralty Court was convened by the Port Authority with a French captain as Chairman of the court. After hearing testimony and deliberating the court ruled that the whistle was lawfully salvaged from a sunken vessel and that the Italian Captain was just out of luck and that Tarascon could keep it. The Captain of the Tarascon was Louisiana French I understand and this decision was necessary to prevent bloodshed.
As the years went by the famous Tarascon whistle was transferred to other boats. It was on The James Guthrie for some years and then on Tell City and finally put on the Nashville which was renamed the Southland in 1922. In 1932 on a December day the Southland was wrecked on a Kentucky shore and burned and the peripatetic whistle was lost forever.
I think that you can tell from the above that I am into another book. YUP! It is "Voices On The River" by Walter Havighurst and I am really enjoying it. It has all sorts of Mississippi River folklore in it including most of what I wrote above. It is a good read if you dig that sort of stuff.
I have always longed to go to New Orleans and take a steamboat ride to Pittsburg. They still have big side wheelers that make that round trip in about a week. I may do that some day when I retire.
love
dad, granpa et al
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