The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares 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
Here I go again, talking about Thursday, May 19, 1955, Camp Day, when my brothers Dick, Bob, and I made our first incursion onto the sacred shores of the ancient Licking River in our hometown, Covington, Kentucky, and claimed a stretch of the river and shoreline as our own. The simple declaration officially inscribed on a flat, plate-like hunk of gray shale read:
“Claimed by Don Sanders – May 19, 1955.”
Thus, a family holiday was set into motion, which we three brothers have celebrated for the past seventy years.
With brother Dick living far from home and Bob and I separated two states apart, special salutations for the seventh decade of greeting another glorious summer season are yet undecided. Time also has a way of curtailing youthful excitement and jubilation.
How we decide to honor those halcyon summers of yore will certainly forsake the inclusion of a skinny dip into the chilly, spring-fed waters of the Licking. Honestly, I’m surprised my favorite Informative television program, CBS’s Sunday Morning, hasn’t picked up the story.
Elsewhere on the river, with the absence of the overnight steamboats, particularly the DELTA QUEEN and the AMERICAN QUEEN, all seems oddly quiet and still without their festive jubilance stirring the watery pathways along America’s inland shores. However, in Louisville and New Orleans, the majestic tones of steam-blown whistles of the steamboats BELLE OF LOUISVILLE and the NATCHEZ add thrilling 19th-century-style excitement during daylight and moonlit cruises.
In practically every rivertown along the Mississippi River System, toots from the air-horns of faux steamers are reminders of what once was. But without steam-breathing overnighters, a void exists that only they can honestly fill.
Sadly, it’s too late for the AMERICAN QUEEN, assassinated long before her time. The DELTA QUEEN remains in declining exile, awaiting a patron saint with the swag necessary for her resurrection and reinstatement to overnight steamboating upon the “King of Waters,” the Mighty Mississippi.
“It’s only a matter of money,” as one wag mentioned… “just a matter of money.”
Captain Jacob “Jake” Orcutt recently sent a message from the CLYDE, as he paddled up the Ohio River above Aurora Bend. Together, he, his wife, and their children made their way toward a popular floating restaurant off the city’s shoreline.
Once my paddlewheeler, the Wisconsin-built boat, still looked rough after Jake rescued it from where I’d sold it “down south” some five years before, where it picked up a different moniker. The most recent owner renamed the tiny sternwheeler back to its original historical name. Next, Jake intends to rebuild the paddlewheel back to wood and get the CLYDE looking “just like it was when you (meaning me) had it,” he promised.
The remaining question is what type of wood to use on the shoving end. Traditionally, White Oak is the choice for wooden wheels. After I owned the CLYDE for several years, starting in my seventh decade, crafting the art of wooden paddlewheel construction and maintenance, I began looking for a more durable stock than White Oak to resist constant submergence in water. Although I considered pressure-treated lumber, I sold the boat before replacing the timbers with a more resistant material than green oak. I also discussed lightening the one-ton “brushpile” by reducing the 16 sets of “buckets,” not paddles, to twelve.
After four years of exposure to the Southern elements with only random care, the museum-quality paddlewheel decayed. A peculiar-looking but serviceable substitute made with 16 sets of metal arms but only eight buckets causes knowledgeable heads to shake when seen for the first time. Hopefully, the newest captain will remedy the situation when he decides what material to use in the reconstruction.
Captain Ron Abdon’s homemade sidewheeler looks nearly complete in the heart of Aurora Bend. He reported adding a bucket to 18 arms on each wheel. Cap’n Ron, a shantyboatman of note in the Ohio River’s near-exact center, is a retired aircraft mechanic from the nearby Cincinnati International Airport (CVG).
For years, Ron’s been the “go-to” guy whenever a problem arises in that central realm of waterway. Asked if he intends to convert old catamaran hulls into sidewheelers for sale as a business, Cap’n Ron figures he’s more ready to sit back and enjoy the comforts of retirement aboard his home afloat and his nearly completed sidewheel “shantyboat.”
Later this week, on May 22, National Maritime Day recognizes the maritime trade’s contributions and sacrifices in the United States. The holiday, officially declared by Congress in 1933, also commemorates the American steamship SAVANNAH’s voyage from the U. S. to England, crossing the Atlantic Ocean with steam equipment in place, but transiting mainly under sail power.
The holiday is of more importance to deep-sea sailors than it is on the inland waterways. Still, it is a day set aside for the marine industry and is a time to reflect on all the benefits of a strong maritime sector.
A final holiday in May influencing the inland commercial and pleasure boating communities is the Memorial Day weekend, a much-celebrated national holiday beginning on Friday, May 23. Pleasure boating season on the Ohio River unofficially begins on Memorial Day and extends through the Labor Day weekend in September.
Most non-commercial boaters and passengers of paid excursions start and end their nautical adventures on these holidays. After Labor Day, giving a free ride away on a public cruise is nearly impossible. That’s when fall foliage, company charters, and other specialty excursions become a means of selling passage aboard the riverboats.
“Boating Season” is when the waterways are often overcrowded with amateur operators, frequently the bane of professional towboat crews shoving enormous tows of barges weighing unbelievable tonnages. The cruising climate is also a time for both experienced and lay boaters to be alert for one another. Or in the words of Cap’n JoJo, “Be careful out there — it’s a big river.”
May has been one of my favorite months since I was a boy. It marks the beginning of summer as I’ve envisioned it for at least seven decades. Each day is precious, no matter our age. Learn to use each one wisely, and remember Cap’n JoJo’s words of wisdom.
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, sharing his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.
Purchase Captain Don Sanders’ The River book
Capt. Don Sanders The River: River Rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure is now available for $29.95 plus handling and applicable taxes. This beautiful, hardback, published by the Northern Kentucky Tribune, is 264-pages of riveting storytelling, replete with hundreds of pictures from Capt. Don’s collection — and reflects his meticulous journaling, unmatched storytelling, and his appreciation for detail. This historically significant book is perfect for the collections of every devotee of the river.
You may purchase your book by mail from the Northern Kentucky Tribune — or you may find the book for sale at all Roebling Books locations and at the Behringer Crawford Museum and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare gift shops.
Click here to order your Captain Don Sanders’ ‘The River’ now.