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 is a part of a long and continuing story.
By Captain Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune
How much difference does a year, or so, make? Quite a lot, especially during a historic global pandemic while I’ve been hunkered down waiting for my corner of the world to get back to “normal.” I’m retired and have been for some time, so I’m no longer required to put myself in harm’s way in close association with potential virus carriers. I’m a riverman. Consequently, isolation from the world, in general, is routine. Others I know from fluvial environs must still keep their shoulder bones pressed hard against the proverbial grist stone.
A year ago this past week, the CLYDE, my former paddlewheeler, arrived safely at her new home on a tributary of the Upper Tennessee River within an easy distance of Knoxville. Since then, the replica “rafter” has undergone an extensive makeover, including a name change, and is rumored to become an “Air B&B.” I’ve yet to understand the difference between an “air” bed and breakfast and one that’s not. So, naturally, I assumed a “Water B&B” would have been more appropriate in this instance.
Who remembers Terri Christie, now Terri Henley-Christie, cooking on a certain towboat and featured in my column right after Thanksgiving, 2019? Soon after the column appeared on the first day of December, Terri found herself in “hot water,” though not in the galley. The company accused her of “giving away company secrets” and were fixing to “railroad” her off the towboat, but Ms.Christie was too clever for their nonsense and stood tall in the presence of her accusers. The “secrets” Terri allegedly disclosed were those, as I read from her social media post and added to my story: “… presented the crew with a feast of roast turkey and all the trimmings.” THIS WAS THANKSGIVING, DAMMIT!
Since then, Terri has left for another towing company where she’s “cooking up a storm,” seems delighted, and…drum roll, please, Terri studied for, tested, and passed several stringent US Coast Guard exams and now has her Master’s License for 100 ton Master and Apprentice Mate/Steersman of Towing Vessels including the Great Lakes, a territory I never acquired. On her days off from the towboat, CAPTAIN Terri can be found in the wheelhouse of the Star Line Mackinac Island Ferry, running between the island and Mackinaw City, Michigan. Cap’n Terri has a book in the works, too, reflecting her adventures set in original prose and photos. “You go, girl….”
The biggest change concerning the “two-legged trade” on the river is the return of the day cruisers and overnight passenger boats. Practically all the boats are running again, although some may be operating at reduced capacities. Everyone seemed certain that with the vaccines for the COVID-19 virus, life would be getting closer to what it was before the pandemic swept the planet.
Unfortunately, at this writing, the Delta Variant threatens the progress everyone hoped we’d be seeing by now. The next several weeks may decide what measures companies and the state and federal governments may have to impose to stifle the spread of the disease. So far, no outbreaks of the virus have been reported on the river passenger vessels.
Young Captain Alex Schuchter, 21, was only 19 when I featured him in an August 25, 2019 column telling about his first command slot aboard a BB Riverboats vessel. Recently, Alex left BB for the American Queen Steamboat Company, where he signed on as a Night Watchman. Now, I understand, he is the “Day Watchman,” a position we never had on the old-time steamboats. Instead, those duties, as I recall them, were fulfilled by the Mates and the Captain. Times change – even on a 19th-Century-style riverboat.
Alex has the “right stuff” to borrow an astronaut term, and he should be in a position of trust and authority under his command before very long. It seems like “just yesterday” that I was young, excited, and just starting on the riverboats. My parting advice to this talented, young fellow: “Enjoy every minute, learn all you can, and keep a personal log — which you will appreciate in 50 short years from now.”
Lately, the Steamer AMERICAN QUEEN (AQ) has been under wraps until now, but sources along the batture say she will be in New Orleans today, Sunday, August the 8th, for the first time since the COVID epidemic laid her up. According to the spiel on the company website: “The largest steamboat ever built, the grand AMERICAN QUEEN is a gracious and elegant triumph of American ingenuity.” So it’s “grand” that she’s back. Here’s hoping that a further wave of the virus doesn’t cause problems aboard her or other riverboats that need to be cruising and not cinched tight to a boatyard timberhead.
A bitter incident concerning the fate of my first casino boat, the DIAMOND LADY (DL), came to light recently. The electronic equivalent to the traditional “sternline telegraph,” Facebook, showed a parcel of pictures featuring the DL sunk along the shore behind President’s Island on McKellar Lake in Memphis. Stepping aboard the DL for the first time at Bettendorf, Iowa, in the Spring of 1992, as recalled in my January 6, 2019 column, I experienced the same friendly feeling I felt whenever I walked over the stage and onto the deck of the Steamer DELTA QUEEN.
Though an uncommon riverboat, the DIAMOND LADY, sadly, never experienced the good fortune of her sister, the EMERALD LADY, that has, since the demise of her gambling boat days, remained the flagship of BB Riverboats as the BELLE OF CINCINNATI. If no one was anxious to restore the DL while afloat, her chances for a future like her sister’s are now next to none.
Late this coming September, it will be a year since the sternwheeler pleasure boat, the GAMBLER, rolled over and went to the bottom of the Ohio River above Owensboro, Kentucky. Luckily, Cappy Gary Lusso and his deckhand, Mark Heslep, survived some painful injuries. The GAMBLER has remained on the bottom since the sinking with the intent to raise it when river conditions were favorable. Undoubtedly, a vessel meant to float atop a body of water fares poorly beneath the surface where currents, sand, mud, and whatever else play havoc with its structural integrity. As no rumors have traveled my way across the Sternline Telegraph recently, I messaged the captain of the waterlogged paddlewheeler for an update and received in reply:
“It sucks. Pool is back down. I’m not optimistic.”
As of the 2nd week of August 2021, the score for sternwheelers resting on the bottom stands: Sunk 2. Raised 0.
Here’s hoping that those surviving the upcoming year will have more optimism about the future than what most see now. So get your COVID Vaccine and wear a mask – it ain’t over until it’s over for everyone.
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.
Thank you Capt Don for tying a long sad year together with all the river happenings or non happenings as so late for the boats to begin running. Thank you for the reminder that even vaccinated we should mask as this new variant seems to be quite a spreader.
How touching that unknowingly you paid tribute to our late young river friend, Madison Berry. His great pictures of the American Queen , etc are his legacy.
Not Exactly Captain Sunshine Today, except for the rise of Capt Alex. Glad some Boats are running; if Covid will stay away. River Legend and All Around Good Guy, Capt Doc Hawley turned 85 last week.
Unfortunately the bitter comes with the sweet, if only I win the lottery hopefully one of the tied up/ landlocked vessels could be saved.
Great to hear Alex is doing well.
Good luck to the cook turned Master.
Wow, another great read. I’m honored to have the friendship and support of Captain Don. With all the terrible things that happened at Ingram Barge I’d actually forgotten about when they accused me of that. They claimed it was because the article stated the vessel’s tonnage and horsepower. Oddly, until the article I didn’t even know the Horsepower and tonnage, though it’s available from numerous public sources. That was another example of the company’s retaliation after I’d reported harassment. Such happens to too many women. And too many women are silenced, retaliated against and lose their livelihood there when they fall victim to a company culture that punishes the victim of sexual harassment, assault, etc. I won’t be remembered as a woman who kept her mouth shut. And, I refuse to be a victim. I hope to be remembered as a thrived & fine wheelman like Captain Don.
I worked aboard the Diamond Lady when she arrived in Bettendorf IA in 1991. I was 21 and she was the most beautiful boat anyone here had seen. The Diamond Lady was the first riverboat to welcome back riverboat gambling and I was the first to sign up for classes at the College of Casino Knowledge where we learned all of the table games and how to repair slot machines. This Lady should not be sinking needlessly into the muddy waters she once sailed on she deserves more that this fate.
Question for Capts Don and Terri; Do Trips over the Route, even those spent Cooking, Count for Pilotage and License? Do they need Pilotage for Trips between Mackinaw City/Cheboygan and the Island? Arnold Line.