H.T. POTT

Herman T. Pott was a shipbuilding pioneer on the inland waterways. In 1933 he purchased the Philip A. Rohan Boat and Tank Co. in St. Louis which had been making boats since the Civil War. He renamed it St. Louis Shipbuilding and Steel Company. He advocated the switch to diesel in the shipping industry, and was the leader in diesel propulsion technology. The H.T. POTT was the first steel vessel to utilize welded seams instead of rivets in hull construction.
During W.W. II St. Louis Shipbuilding and Steel Co. built ships for the United States and Russia and became the worlds largest builder of inland river tow boats in the 1950s. In 1953 Mr. Pott bought the Federal Barge Lines from the government. He then built two of the largest most powerful towboats on the inland rivers, The M.V. AMERICA and the M.V.UNITED STATES. In 1967 he changed the names of his companies to Pott Industries. Mr.Pott is also credited with the development of the Kort Nozzle, a stucture that surrounds the propeller that increases the efficency by 30%.
Mr. Pott died in 1982. The Pott Foundation honors the values of Herman and Phenie Pott and contributes over 1 million dollars annually to over 100 charities. The Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library is a special library in the St. Louis Merchantile Library at the University of Missouri at St. Louis. It has one of the best collections on the subjects of inland waterways and westward expansion.

H.T. POTT was built in 1933 at St. Louis and was the first all welded hull tow boat. She spent most of her time working around Kansas City, Missouri.
The H.T. POTT can be seen at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri.

LOA 58'

Beam 15'

Draft 6'

Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterway Library http://www.umsl.edu/pott/

National Museum of Transportation http://transportmuseumassociation.org/