Monday, November 23, 2009

Favorite towboats, part 9: mv. Charleston



Somewhere in the earliest of my memories are images of boats such as this one traveling the Ohio River in the early 1960s. One in particular was white with a peach-colored pilothouse. Seriously. But I have no recollection of what its name was.

R & W Marine had a boat something like this in the 1980s. It was painted red and white, and the pilothouse looked like it had been raised.

As best as I remember, this boat, the Charleston, seen here earlier this year at the Gallipolis locks, is closest to those old boats that I saw on the river nearly 50 years ago. A former coworker says this is the prettiest working boat she has seen on the river, and I'll not argue with her for now.

I love those curved lines.


3 comments:

Granny Sue said...

Ah! someone else who loves these boats, and the river. I don't know them anythign like you do--I don't even know their names. But I LOVE to see them on the river. And I too love the river. It is beautiful. I have many photos of it--and several of tugs too.

Anonymous said...

Those boats were built by Hillman in the late '40's. One was SOLVAY, owned by Allied Chemical & towed coal from the Kanawha to South Point. The pilot house stack and main deck stern above the curved line were painted gold. It was a beautiful boat.

Most of the Dravo pre-Vikings were called "Steel" boats, as Ohio Barge Line had 10-11 of them, all named Steel Express, Courier, etc. The early ones are distinctive as the radar was on a hydraulic mast behind the pilot house so it could be lowered to clear the Smithfield Street bridge in Pittsburgh.

robert said...

here i an old 8 mm film of the onward at the hillman yard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qAxeNrbp5Q