Steamship <I>John Heckmann</I>’s Steam Whistle
date: label: date made
content: 1895
name: label: purchased whistle
content: Heckmann, Edward
notes: label: Description
content: Ships’ steam whistles were powered by steam lines from the boilers. They were used to signal other ships or the shore, to announce a vessel’s presence or its intentions. Whistles were especially useful when approaching or leaving a port or landing, or in foggy or dark waters.
label: Description
content: This whistle originally belonged to the 1895 Army Corps of Engineers towboat <I>Gen. H. L. Abbot</I>, built at Jeffersonville, Ind. and named after a famous general in the U. S. Army Corps. In 1906 it was renamed <I>Gen. J. H. Simpson</I>, after another Army Corps staff. The vessel was dismantled in 1919.
label: Description
content: The cabin fittings, the ship’s wheel, and the whistle were purchased by Edward Heckmann for his new Missouri River packet boat, the <I>John Heckmann</I>. The <I>Heckmann</I> was 165’ long and 30’-6” in beam but only drew 4’-6” of water. Uniquely, the <I>Heckmann</I> had two independently operated or “split” sternwheels, which provided much greater maneuverability than a single, wide sternwheel could offer. Its boilers came from the hulk of the steamer <I>Majestic</I>, which had wrecked in 1914 at Chain of Rocks, St. Louis. The <I>Heckmann’s</I> engines were acquired from the obsolete Army Corps sternwheel towboats <I>Aux Vasse</I> and <I>Isle de Bois</I>. Employed in the packet trade between St Louis and Jefferson City, the <I>Heckmann</I> lost money because of competition from the railroads.
label: Description
content: The <I>John Heckmann</I> was later converted to a Missouri River 1,200-passenger excursion boat by the Heckmann family. Operating on the Missouri as far north as Sioux City, Iowa, its normal summer route was between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska. In winter, it resumed packet service on the Cumberland, Tennessee, Illinois, and Ohio Rivers. Wrecked in an ice breakup at its homeport of Hermann, Mo. in 1928, it was dismantled.
topic: label: related event
content: The Development of the Industrial United States
label: related event
content: The Emergence of Modern America
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
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content: Work
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content: Energy & Power
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Transportation
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content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Dorothy Heckman Shrader
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.0542.01
label: accession number
content: 1979.0542
label: catalog number
content: 1979.0542.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: whistle, steam
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cast iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 46 in x 33 in x 5 in; 116.84 cm x 83.82 cm x 12.7 cm