Roger M McCoy
Even in the best conditions riverboats of the nineteenth century faced the hazards of snags, groundings and explosions. As if these hazards were not enough, steamboats soon competed in high risk racing. Racing these boats became popular along with horse racing and dog racing. The public became avid about boat racing, and the crews took great pride in helping their boat win a highly publicized race. In many cases, the races were planned in advance, with spectators lining the riverbanks to enjoy the excitement of the race. Others were impromptu events urged on by passengers looking for a little excitement. Steamboat captains competed as a matter of pride and ego and boat owners believed that a record of wins would draw more passengers. Betting on races was widespread with one highly publicized race drawing more the $1,000,000 in wagers (approximately $30,000,000 today). Mark Twain commented on the excitement of steamboat racing in his usual vivid style: “Two red-hot steamboats raging along, neck-and-neck, straining every nerve—that is to say, every rivet in the boilers—quaking and shaking and groaning from stem to stern, spouting white steam from the pipes, pouring black smoke from the chimneys, raining down sparks, parting the river into long breaks of hissing foam—this is sport that makes a body’s very liver curl with enjoyment.” The phrase “straining…every rivet in the boilers…” should be enough to convince anyone that steamboat racing was risky. One steamboat race became a major event with thousands of spectators. It was a race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez steaming from New Orleans to St. Louis. The history of the Natchez steamboat shows nine riverboats by that name, the first built in 1823. Fire destroyed the sixth Natchez in 1863. The ninth Natchez, built in 1957, still operates as a tourist attraction in New Orleans. The seventh Natchez famous for racing the Robert E. Lee was built in 1869 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was 301 feet long, had eight boilers and a capacity of 5,500 cotton bales. In her nearly ten years of service, she made 401 trips with no serious accidents. This Natchez had beaten the previous steamboat speed record in 1844 and was a good match for the famous race. The Robert E. Lee was built in the Ohio River town of New Albany, Indiana, in 1866. As it happens there had been two previous steamboats named Robert E. Lee. This stately boat was nicknamed the “Monarch of the Mississippi.” So how did this much-publicized race proceed? It began in New Orleans on June 30th, 1870, with the Robert E. Lee pulling ahead from the beginning and gaining a lead of several hours in the first day. Then both boats began to experience equipment problems. The Robert E. Lee burst a steam pipe the first night allowing the Natchez to come within three minutes of her, the closest margin of the race. Later the Natchez lost a water pump that cost it thirty minutes. Then it had to stop because of fog for five hours. In the end the Robert E. Lee arrived in St. Louis on July 4, 1870 around 11:30 am in the morning; the Natchez followed, arriving at 6:00 pm. Crowds of people in East St. Louis and St. Louis came to the river banks to watch the arrivals. This famous race had several elements that made it a competition between two boats traveling under very different conditions. Although both boats were comparable in size and power, their captains had different approaches to the race. On board the Robert E. Lee were only seventy-five specially invited guests and no cargo. Captain John W. Cannon outfitted the Lee to race. The Natchez under the command of Captain Thomas Paul Leathers, prepared for a regular trip, taking on board a full complement of passengers and cargo. The Natchez made regular stops for fuel and to unload cargo. Captain Cannon, on the other hand, made arrangements to refuel the Robert E. Lee while underway. Thus the Robert E. Lee proceeded while carrying no cargo, steaming ahead through fog and made only one stop, and won the race in 3 days, 18 hours and 14 minutes. By contrast, the Natchez carried her normal load and stopped as normal, tying up overnight when fog was encountered. Despite this she finished the race only six hours later than the Robert E. Lee. The race of the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez from New Orleans to St. Louis became immortalized by the prominent lithographers, Currier and Ives, and their well-known print forms the masthead for this series of blogs on nineteenth-century riverboats. Several other paintings of the great race have been made but the Currier and Ives picture is the best known. Such racing involved major risks. Steamboat racing became highly popular and sometimes deadly. In some cases the races were planned and advertised in advance, with spectators lining the riverbanks beforehand to enjoy the spectacle. Others were impromptu affairs, sometimes urged on by the passengers and steamboat captains. Useful as steamboats were, they came with one big problem: they were inherently dangerous. The steam boilers were prone to exploding and igniting fires. The boats were wooden and much of their cargo was highly flammable cotton bales, along with barrels of turpentine and gunpowder. These hazards came in addition to the snags and submerged bars that could rip a hull open. Between 1816 and 1848, boiler explosions alone killed more than 1,800 passengers and crew and injured another 1,000, and racing added significantly to the chance for an explosion. In 1965 noted historian and prolific writer Daniel Boorstin commented, “A voyage on the Mississippi was far more dangerous than a passage across the ocean.” A nineteenth-century humorist, Charles Godfrey Leland, said much the same about steamboat racing. “From the days of the Romans and Norsemen down to the present time, there was never any form of amusement discovered so daring, so dangerous, and so exciting as a steamboat race,” Such racing is, of course, inevitable given the human inclination to compete, to demonstrate their skill, and show the superiority of their boat. Sources: Discover Indiana. https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/146 Springfield Museum. Springfield, Massachusetts The Great Mississippi Steamboat Race From New Orleans to St. Louis, July 1870, Currier & Ives. https://springfieldmuseums.org/collections/item/the-great-mississippi-steamboat-race-from-new-orleans-to-st-louis-july-1870-currier-ives/ Thomas, Christian. For Profit and Glory: Steamboat racing on the inland rivers. https://www.howardsteamboatmuseum.org/river-history/for-profit-glory-steamboat-racing-inland-rivers/ Twain, Mark. 1885. Life on the Mississippi. retrieved from: Gutenberg Books, https://www.museum.state.il.us /RiverWeb/landings/Ambot/SOCIETY/SOC8.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee_(steamboat) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_(boat) https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-deadly-steamboat-races-enthralled-america-180982038/
1 Comment
Michael Yeager
5/13/2023 10:14:04 pm
Interesting article. I had no idea they were drag racing in fully loaded steam ships.
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