Roger McCoy
THE ENGINE ROOM The nineteenth-century riverboats were works of art as well as being the workhorse of the Mississippi River system. We’ve seen many pictures of riverboats without having much detailed knowledge about them. It would be appropriate at this time to see how the boats were constructed and operated. These boats were made primarily of wood with some iron reinforcements in the hulls of the larger boats. The length varied greatly from as short as forty feet to some monsters nearly 300 feet long. Their width ranged from ten feet to as much as eighty feet. Even such a large boat had a very shallow draft allowing them to travel in very shallow water of one to five feet deep even when loaded. This meant that even the larger boats could still dock with the bow pointing into the river bank if necessary and lower a gangplank to shore for loading people and cargo. It was commonly said that they could "navigate on a heavy dew." The overall design of the bigger boats included an internal structure of iron trusses below the main deck to prevent the long hulls from sagging. Above this structure additional decks provided cabins and passenger areas. Everything except the iron trusses was constructed from wood…stairs, galleys, and parlors. Many riverboats carried cargo with only limited room for passengers, but others focussed on passengers and became quite ornate with expensive wood trim, velvet, plush chairs, gilt edging, and other trimmings, depending on the owner's taste and budget. The construction of the engine room usually placed wood-burning boilers midship to distribute weight more evenly. To the rear of the boiler was the piston engine, also called a reciprocating engine. The piston engine had a cylinder with one steam jet pushing the piston down and another steam jet pushing the cylinder back up again with a flywheel to help maintain a smooth motion. Where does steam get its energy to push pistons up and down? Would heated air also do the job? The short answer is that any gas expands when heated, but water vapor at a boiling temperature (steam) expands six times as much as air heated to the same temperature. When the steam is in a confined spaced and not allowed to expand then the pressure is increased, and the pressure of the confined steam is six times greater than air in the same conditions. Thus when steam is confined in the boiler then injected into the cylinder the high pressure steam will push the piston. When the piston moves the volume is increased and the steam’s energy is spent and released into the atmosphere through a vent. An Englishman named Robert Boyle worked out the relationship of temperature and volume of gasses in the in the seventeenth century. Thomas Savery is credited with inventing the first practical steam engine In 1698. Miners used his engine to drive pumps to remove ground water that seeped into mines. The steamboat engines could be either at midship (for side-wheelers) or at the stern (stern-wheelers). Two rudders were added to steer the ship. These boats had surprisingly short periods of operation due to hazards such as hull damage by snags and hidden sand bars, poor maintenance, fires, general wear and tear, or the explosion of a boiler. It is estimated that an average time of operation was only five years. In the early days of riverboats, trips up the Mississippi River from New Orleans took three weeks to St Louis. Later, with better pilots, more powerful engines and boilers, and experienced boatmen who knew the location of sandbars, that figure was greatly reduced. Collisions, snags, and explosions, however, remained constant dangers. A few men who worked the steamboats took the time to write about their experience, which has provided great insight for us today. Most people know of Mark Twain and his experience as a riverboat pilot. Another man, George Merrick, also wrote about his life on a riverboat in every capacity from the hard labor in the engine room to eventually becoming a riverboat pilot himself. Although not so eloquent and entertaining as Twain, Merrick actually gives more detail about the interior operations and the functions of each crew member on the boat. He writes that the vital core of the riverboat was the engine room and the engineer responsible for its operation. Like many career boatmen Merrick started as a “cub” (trainee) in the engine room. Work in the engine-room had the worst working conditions on the boat with heat and steam from the boiler filling the room. Merrick writes that: A drawback in the life of a cub engineer was the fact that when in port there was no let-up of work. In fact the worst part came then. In port the pilots were at liberty until the hour of sailing; not so with the engineers. As soon as the fires were drawn, the water let out of the boilers, the process of cleaning began. Being a slim lad one of my duties is to creep into the boilers through the manhole. With a hammer and a sharp-linked chain I must “scale” the boilers by pounding on the two large flues with the hammer, and dragging the saw-chain around until all the accumulated mud and sediment is loosened. [ NOTE: The sediment accumulated from silt in the river water that was drawn to fill the boilers.] Merrick describes in great detail the work of the various crewmen working in the engine room. He explained that the boats had two engineers. The first engineer had many years of experience and was responsible for the proper maintenance and operation of the machinery. The second engineer did much of the work maintaining the engines, and keeping the boilers supplied with enough water to prevent overheating and possible explosions. Several assistants or trainees might also work in the engine room. After a stint in this difficult and dirty job Merrick asked about a different job away from the engine room. Apparently he had done a suitable job in the engine room as his request was granted and he replaced the second office clerk who recently had a disabling injury. Everything changed for the better when Merrick became second clerk, called the “mud clerk.” “As second clerk all these conditions were changed. In the absence of the chief clerk, his assistant took charge of the office, answered all questions of passengers, issued tickets for passage and staterooms, showed people about the boat, and in a hundred ways made himself agreeable, and so far as possible ministered to their comfort and happiness while on board. The reputation of a passenger boat depended greatly upon the esteem in which the captain, clerks, and pilots were held by the traveling public. The fame of such a crew was passed along from one tourist to another, until the gentle accomplishments of a boat's personnel were as well known as their official qualifications.” Merrick eventually worked up through the ranks to the much coveted job of pilot. In the process of following his career we learn much about the operation of the iconic riverboats of the Mississippi River. Sources: Merrick, George. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: The Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863. Cleveland, Ohio: Arthur Clark, Company. 1909. Old Times on the Upper Mississippi: The Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863. Retrieved from: gutenberg.org/cache/epub/47262/pg47262-images. Retrieved from: wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboats of the Mississippi: Construction of the vessels.
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