Pilothouse of the Great Republic

Bell pulls, speaking tubes, and the giant wheel for steering were critical for navigation and communication inside a pilothouse.

From Scribner’s Monthly, October 1874

Pilot Wheel from the Ferryboat Kiwanis, 1923

This wheel is from the Kiwanis, which operated as a ferry across the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. Standing high above the vessel’s deck, the river pilot steered by standing to one side of the wheel or the other.

Gift of Frederick C. Danforth in memory of John Stuart Hacker through the National Museum of Transport

Steam Whistle, 1895

River pilots signaled their actions to others boats and the shore with loud steam whistles. “I grew up partially deaf from being right under the whistle all summer for many years,” wrote Dorothy Heckmann, daughter, granddaughter, and niece of steamboat captains. This whistle served the steamboat John Heckmann in the early 1900s.

Gift of Dorothy Heckmann Shrader

Torch Basket

Steamboats working at night suspended iron baskets filled with oil-soaked scraps over their sides to illuminate the shore. Torch baskets helped pilots navigate, but they also posed a risk of fire if sparks landed on flammable cargo.

Steering with Sticks, 2008

Modern towboats are steered with “joy-sticks,” not a wheel. The backing rudders are controlled by the upper set of sticks, the steering by the lower set.

Pilot Jack Libbey in the pilothouse of the Mississippi River towboat James Faris, in Dubuque, Iowa.

Courtesy of Jack Libbey

A Stranded Steamboat

In March 1910, the Virginia sailed over a flooded cornfield in Willow Grove, West Virginia, and got stuck. When the Ohio River receded a week later, the boat was trapped a half mile from shore. Hauled back to the river and refloated, it served for another 18 years.

Abraham Lincoln’s Patent Model [replica]

Shallow water was a chronic problem on western rivers. Lawyer Abraham Lincoln of Springfield, Illinois, thought inflatable rubber-cloth chambers could help boats float over shallow spots. He patented his idea in 1849, submitting a model along with his application. His “adjustable buoyant chambers” proved impractical, but Lincoln became the only president to hold a U.S. patent.

Mississippi River Towboat Jack D. Wofford

River towboats are small but powerful vessels used to push barges up and down inland waterways. Most towboats push 15 barges at a time, lashed together three wide and five long. Fifteen barges carry as much freight as a three-mile long freight train or a string of tractor-trailers stretching 35 miles.

The Jack D. Wofford was built in 1966 and was still transporting cargo between St. Louis and Minneapolis in 2007. At the boat’s bow are two large steel “knees” that push against and brace the barges. To avoid the Mississippi’s many sandbars, the Wofford has a very shallow hull, rarely reaching depths of more than 9 feet.

One Pilot’s Story

River pilots are as important as ever. Most of the nation’s bulk cargoes, including grain and coal, travel up and down rivers. Modern towboat pilots are trained, tested, and licensed, but experience on the river is still the best teacher.

In the 1970s, Capt. Jack Libbey used this book of navigation charts of the upper Mississippi River. Virtually every page has Libbey’s markings and notations. He meticulously printed the names of major navigation aids on both sides of the river, as well as reminders of how to steer through tricky situations.