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
The celebrated bluegrass musician and U. S. Coast Guard-licensed riverboat captain and pilot John Hartford had a line in one of his tunes about “A great big collection of steamboat stuff.” It seems that all steamboat folks have staches of varying proportions, including me.
When I say “varying proportions,” there’s quite a contrast with different collections, from modest to extravagant — depending, usually, on one’s means to gather the relics of the “Great Age of Steamboats” of the Mississippi River system of waterways. Perhaps, one of the greatest collectors of steamboat-related plunder was the late Mr. Bert Fenn, former owner of the Tell City (IN) Furniture Company, and a great fan of steam-powered riverboats.
Author and marine architect, Captain Alan Bates, designer of the latest Steamer NATCHEZ, had this to say about Mr. Fenn:
“Everybody who did not meet Bert Fenn is culturally deprived. Bert was a steamboat historian without a peer. He not only collected steamboat books but also read and practically memorized them. He also collected artifacts, including the forward model of an unidentified hull. He suspected it was from the MECHANIC, the boat that LaFayette rode on the Ohio. That notion proved wrong when someone found a log from the boat. It sank at Flint Island, all right, but it was raised and repaired at New Albany. The mystery bow lay in an alley between two Tell City Chair Company buildings for years. He tried to donate it to several museums, but without success. Finally, workers tore the bow apart and removed it. But that was not the remarkable relic. Everyone who entered his office was obliged to step over a stage boom lying in the hall.”
During his lifetime, Mr. Fenn, known for his ebullient generosity, gave costly Tell City furniture as tips aboard the DELTA QUEEN. Writing as “Shipyard Sam” on social media, I told of his unusual method of complimenting good service onboard the QUEEN:
“When Bert Fenn rode the DELTA QUEEN, he tipped in Tell City Furniture. Captain Wagner, Henry Mitchell, Ida Mae Ferrell, Mamie, the Davis family, and other Fenn favorites were sure to receive their share of truckloads of TC woodenwares. The furniture, taken aboard at the Cannelton, Indiana, landing and loaded in the deckroom of the ‘firebox’ and transported to Cincinnati, where most of the recipients resided, gave the DELTA QUEEN the appearance of a packetboat loaded down with the valuable cargo.”
After Fenn died in August 1993, his extensive collection of steamboat stuff, catalogued for auction, included rare, practically priceless, original furnishings from some of the greatest Mississippi River steamboats in history — including chairs, tables, and whatnots from the steamers J. M. WHITE and the ROBT. E. LEE.
Another collector of steamboat memorabilia Benton Roblee Duhme, of St. Louis, the scion of a St. Louis family that owned a major shoe-manufacturing company (Buster Brown and Roblee Shoes), was also the premier steamboat buff on the river. However, he suffered from a fatal disease that would soon claim his short life. With his doctor’s permission, Benton finished the final segment of the 1970 “Last Trip” of the DELTA QUEEN, when the SOLAS, or “Safety at Sea Law,” threatened to permanently remove the QUEEN from carrying more than 50 overnight passengers. Benton’s experiences as a crewman on the DELTA QUEEN’s eventful and historical journey from St. Louis to New Orleans became fodder for an earlier TRIBUNE article:
“Benton also collected all sorts of souvenirs from the DELTA QUEEN. But when he wanted a fire ax, the Captain told him the boat would need it later after getting her exemption, so Benton bought a Coast Guard-approved duplicate from a ship’s chandler on Canal Street. Carefully, the steamboat aficionado re-lettered the handle with the boat’s name and swapped the two with Captain Wagner’s approval. Young Duhme wore the funniest-looking officer’s boat cap he found in the trash that puffed up and made him resemble the Pillsbury Doughboy. Especially odd was the fact that Benton always dressed immaculately in a tweed jacket and bow tie– even when he was scrubbing pots and pans in the dish room with a yellow, rubber apron thrown over his expensive clothing.”
After Benton Roblee Duhme’s all-too-early death at age 23, on May 23, 1971, 55 years ago, this year, his extensive collection of steamboat photographs, documents, and other “stuff” went to museums and various collectors, including John Hartford, who acquired many of Benton’s most prized steamboat photos.
Another noted collector of “steamboat stuff” includes the late Keith Norrington, formerly the Custodian of the Howard Steamboat Museum in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on the grounds of the renowned Howard Shipyard, builder of many, if not most, of the most famous steamboats in history.
Keith maintained a lifelong friendship with Miss Ruth Ferris, John Hartford’s former school teacher, and the curator of her privately-owned museum of steamboat stuff aboard the BECKY THATCHER, formerly the US Army Corps of Engineers’ steamboat, the US MISSISSIPPI. Since their departures, their collections scattered into the hands of others.
Miss Judy Patsch, a retired Rock Island, Illinois, school teacher and veteran steamboat crew member, is also known for her steamboat stuff, according to the river’s “sternline telegraph.” Although I haven’t seen her fluvial plunder, word has it that her “stuff” ranks high among collections outside museums.
Which brings me to what provided the impetus for this week’s column— and that’s my modest “Collection of Steamboat Stuff,” or some things a certain wag might even term as “clutter.” A few items, however, do merit note. My steamboat models by Covington (KY) model-builder, Carl Mulligan, now on loan to the museum in Rising Sun, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Rabbit Hash, are irreplaceable.
The recently-acquired 1971 oil painting of the JULIA BELLE SWAIN (JBS) is a treasure that I never tire of admiring hanging above my computer station. Once the personal property of Mrs. Judy Shelton, the namesake of two steamboats named JBS, the painting came my way via her grandson, who found my name in my TRIBUNE writings and asked if I could find a caretaker who would appreciate his beloved grandmother’s treasure. It didn’t take long to find someone. ME!
Most of my acquisitions these days are limited to small, relatively inexpensive river-related stuff. I’ve become an easy mark for steamboat-themed coffee mugs, pencil sketches by Upper Mississippi River artist Matthew Cooper, or an interesting geehaw, such as a small wooden DELTA QUEEN Christmas tree ornament I recently found on eBay.
After posting a photo of an AMERICAN QUEEN coffee cup, steamboat buff Christopher L. Purdom of Rising Sun made a proposal I couldn’t refuse. He offered matching DELTA QUEEN and MISSISSIPPI QUEEN mugs for the taking. Much to my surprise, Chris included a framed print of the stack insignia identifier published by the WaterWays Journal.
Then there’s the lovely framed artwork by Jackie Smith, which she so generously added to my collection. My cup runneth over — literally.
Obviously, my tiny room definitely needs more wall space, so I’m trying to decide whether to start screwing pictures to the ceiling, move my bed and chest of drawers into the hall, or look for another house with a larger space for my ever-expanding collection of steamboat stuff.
What should I do?
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.