S.S. ADMIRAL

" The largest and finest inland passenger steamer ever built in America"

Anyone who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri after 1940 knows the S.S. Admiral. Many of us remember hot summer days on the top deck looking at the St. Louis skyline drifting by, listening to the steam calliope reverberating off the downtown buildings, or dancing our Saturday night away to Bob Kuban's Brass band. For many years the Admiral was as much a part of St. Louis as the Gateway Arch or the Cardinals. Now a casino, her beautiful art deco lines are being hidden by a large gaudy flashing facade and stripped of her engines, she has become a floating barge. However, I have many great memories of walking along the cobblestone levee and looking up at her stainless steel topsides gleaming in the sun. Even a half brain-dead teenager such as myself was awed by the large art deco ballroom.

The S.S. ADMIRAL began life as the S.S. ALBATROSS a railroad car ferry in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Built in 1907, she was 308 ft. long and 58 ft. wide, and carried 16 railroad cars. In 1920-21 she was lengthened to 365 ft. making her an "engineering marvel of her time."

 

When Captain Joe Streckfuss decided to build a new flagship to replace the palatial J.S. DELUXE he hired Mazie Krebs to design the ADMIRAL. Ms. Krebs previously designed the PRESIDENT. Captain Joe said to spare no expense. The ALBATROSS was brought to St. Louis and stripped down to the hull and engines. Construction took five years and cost more than $1,000,000. Mirrors and crystal were imported from Europe. The walls were tufted leather filled with steel wool for fire proofing. Artists were brought in to paint the constellations on the ballroom ceiling and musical notes in the women's lounge. The Sonja Henie womens lounge had white snow flakes painted on the dark blue leatherette walls and the floor was a white glazed tile to simulate ice. And they installed something no other riverboat had, air conditioning.
The original steam engines nicknamed Popeye and Wimpy were replaced in 1974 with three diesel engines, one in each paddle box and a one in the stern generating 2700 H.P. The ADMIRAL cruised from 1940 until the late 70's when it was decertified for passenger cruising. It was moored in New Orleans awaiting an uncertain future when it was vandalized. She was brought back to St. Louis and turned into a floating entertainment center. When gambling was legalized it became a casino. Her future is uncertain, her owners would like a new boat and replacing her 100 year old hull is economically unfeasible.


To me, she will always be the grandest lady on the river.


L.O.A. 365


Passenger capacity 4400

Taraibune; The Tub Boats of Sado Island, Japan

Being a fan of traditional wooden boats, I was excited when I read that Douglas Brooks was going to be at the Woodenboat show in Mystic, Connecticut. When I met him he was standing at the end of a dock at the Mystic Seaport museum. One of his tub boats was sitting in the water. I told him in anticipation of coming to the Woodenboat show I re-read the article he had written in Woodenboat magazine and I found the boats to be fascinating. He laughed and told me I needed to update my reading list since the article was written ten years ago.

Mr Brooks apprenticed under Koichi Fugi, the last remaining tub boat building master on the Japanese island of Sado. His article and subsequent book on his studies have made him the foremost leader on the construction and use of this unique craft. One of his goals is to teach the boat building techniques to young Japanese students so they can use and enjoy the tub boats for generations to come.

Taraibune

Sado Island lies off the western coast of Japan in the Sea of Japan. The tub boats are used by local fisherman to harvest wakame, a seaweed, and sasae, an expensive shellfish. It's shallow draft is perfect for spearfishing for sasae along the rocky shallows in protected waters along the coast. The cedar (sugi) is from trees that grow on the island and the bamboo for the braided hoops is also harvested locally. Mr. Fuji would write a blessing on a plank edge such as " Good Fishing" or "Safety at sea" before fitting it on the boat to be hidden forever. Douglas Brooks' book on the tub boats of Sado Island and other beautifully built Japanese boats can be found at his website: http://www.douglasbrooksboatbuilding.com/.

LOA approx. 5.5 ft.
Beam approx. 4 ft.

CHIEF WAWATAM

My Grandfather took several photos of ships around the Straits, here is another I have identified.

Named for the Ojibwa Chief Wawatam who saved the life of English fur trader Alexander Henry after the Massacre at Fort Michilimackinac. The CHIEF WAWATAM operated as a railroad, passenger, and car ferry between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, Michigan. It began operation in 1911 for the Mackinac Transportation Company to haul rail road cars across the Straits of Mackinac. She was coal fired and had three triple expansion engines, two in the stern and one in the bow to power a propeller for ice breaking. Aside from carrying rail cars, CHIEF WAWATAM was used as an ice breaker during the winter months until 1943 when the Coast Guard cutter MACKINAW was put into service. The rail business declined by half in the fifties but the Chief kept on working. During the 60's the Mackinac Transportation Company petitioned the ICC to abandon the service, but was refused. The state of Michigan began to subsidize the Chief in 1976. In 1984 the dock at St. Ignace collapsed and spelled the end of ferry service across the Straits.

Photo by Duane Bastian

Although efforts were made to preserve her, the Chief was sold to Purvis Marine in 1988 to use as a barge. She was stripped down. Some fittings were given to local museums. One of the engines was restored and is in a museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Purvis Marine recently donated another engine to CHIEF WAWATAMs home port of St. Ignace. If you are taking a Soo Lock Boat tour, when you get up to the Algoma Steel Mill, keep your eyes open for a nearly 100 year old flat decked barge with the name CHIEF WAWATAM.

LOA 338'

Beam 62'

The Andree Family Canoe

It was fresh out of the mold when we picked it up from a shop in south St. Louis in 1964. It had no gunwales, thwarts or even seats. It was 17 feet of a bare canoe shell. Dad fashioned the seats from plywood cradled on aluminum tubing with 3 inch styrofoam bolted to the bottom. The thwarts were the same aluminum tubing that held the seats. The gunwales were wood tucked up under a fiberglass lip along the shear and screwed into place. It was our family yacht.

Abandoning ship at an Indian Guide campout at Lake Pomme de Terre

My love affair with boats and the water began when we took it out on its maiden voyage. My parents launched the canoe in the Big River in Cedar Hill, Missouri, about twenty miles from our house. I wore a Mae West life jacket that nearly swallowed up my six year old head. I stared in wonder at the minnows in the stream, the grasses growing up through the water, and the water rippling over the rocks.
The first time I was allowed to take the canoe out without an adult was with my friend Dave. We were at Lake Pomme de Terre on an Indian Guide campout. I sat in the back and Dave sat up front. We thought we had it all figured out. We pushed out into the water and proceeded to paddle in circles. We couldn't get it to go straight at all. All of my watery adventures began in that canoe.

Getting ready to leave Grandma and Grandpa Andree's house at " Dead End"

It was finally stolen from the banks of the Huron River in Ypsilanti, Michigan in the early 80's. From trips on the Big River to Sturgeon Bay, the Meramec River to Kentucky Lake it was a workhorse that took us safely on our adventures.

2008 Top O' Michigan Marathon Boat Race

The Top O' Michigan Marathon Boat Race is truly unique. Its course runs across the top of the lower peninsula on the Inland Waterway. It covers three lakes and three rivers and lasts two days.

The first day is 47 miles. The race starts at the public beach in Indian River. The racers head out into Burt Lake, after rounding a buoy they go down Indian River, across Mullet Lake, up Cheboygan River then they return the same route.

The second day the racers go up Burt Lake to Crooked River, around Crooked Lake, back to Burt Lake, Indian River, Mullet Lake and back.

The drivers like the race because its more than going around in circles. Its all out, flat wide open outboard racing at its best.

No, That's not Tony Stewart. Its Shane Venier and Tina Honeysette

Eric Meyers and Kevin Smelter

This year we watched the race from my sister Jeanne and her husband Steve's safety patrol boat on Indian River. We got a close up view of the action. Our duty was to assist any boat that needed help, to check off the boats as they came down the river and check them again on their return. Fifteen boats failed to make it back due to breakdowns. A good place to see the race is along Indian River. Hang around afterwards to watch the spectator boats parade up and down the river. If you like to boat watch, this is the place.