The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1885-10-26
STEERING STEAMBOATS,.
:, Veterans Experience in the Pilot
House.--licminSce Of life on
the Old Mississippi.

Half Il dozen river men sat around the
fire in the Diamond 10 warehouse one
evening last week. the weather worn
countenanCe of one in particular as the
glow from the fire reflected upon it, be
tokened life spent on the Great Father
of Waters" The subject of CONVERSE
ton was the sinking of the grain barge
on the upper rapids the other day, and Of
course each river rat" had some personal
experience to relate. The one, however,
alluded to above, seemed to have spent
more years 10 the pilot house than any of
the others. He, in fact, had been schooled
on the Mississippi, and he had studied
the crooks and turns, the sand bars, and
land marks of the great river, with as
much diligence as school boy does his
lessons when he doesn't want to make
them up after o'clock In
the afternoon. His had been a
life of steamboat navigation, and he knew
how to tell what he had seen, and the ex~
perience he had at the wheel in way
that was interesting indeed
"Well," said he. there was never a
pilot that lived but what met W it'll an ac>
cdent some time in his life. Now the
man that was at the wheel when that
barge went down the other day, is just as
good man rs ever touched II wheel in
the Mssissippi,o or any other river for that
matter, and it was no fault of his that
the accident occurred. A steamboat is "A
mighty queer institution to handle,
for in order to manage one
II pilot must study the actions of his boat
and what she is likely to do under certain
circumstances just AS jockey does his
trotting steed. One little jump at a
critical moment might send the boat to
the ID. And know of no place on the
river where rs much caution and care
must be used as on the upper rapids be-
tween Rock Island and LeClairc. Every
steamboat has its tricks-tricks that are
peculiar with itself. So with the Sidney
just as she got at that critical point on
the rapids the other day she made sud
den turn, and all that the pilot could do,
could not have prevented her from hav-
ing her own way. The consequence was
the barge struck rock and down she
went The pilot knew just where he was
and the condition of the river channel,
but he didn't know what the boat was
going to do, and so he got left. He had
not been on her enough to study her
tricks; that was what was the matter"
But this reminds me of a little exper-
fence | once had. 1t was II great many
years ago, and / was captain and first
pilot ON the steamer Dubuque. We were
coming down the river with two barses
IN tow, just as the Sidney was, and were
at Clinton. My partner was on watch,
but as we were soon to go through a bridge
there, which is by the way one of the
most difficult to pass on the river, | was
called up. Well | backed her out and
got into the middle of the river, SO thai
thought we could drop down through
the draw as slick as "A whistle. We
started ahead, and just as We got down
close 10 the bridge, TOO close to stop hel
and back up, she gave IL sudden turn and
away went one of tie barges against tho
a IA, lf,t, = al,
an instant ! tell you gentle
men | was SO mad at that boa,
l could have logged her. But you
see that one coincidence is a forcible il
ustratiou of what am telling you. Boats
are just like animals exactly. and unless
Il man is UP to their tricks they will get
away with him every time and generally
just at the wrong time. A man who fol-
lows the river for number of years will
become thoroughly acquainted with the
channel but he must become acqu United
with the craft he is to handle before he is
safe"
at takes grit to he a pilot. the best
pilot in the Aorld Is continually liable Ia
an accident, Think Of the responsibility
that rests upon the shoulders OF passen
ger packet pilot. One wrong move might
land hundreds of souls in II watery sep
ulchrc. He must keep his senses about
him. He must be ever mindful of his
duty and then the darned boat is liable tn
act the fool, aud he will be blamed for
it,"