Clive Cussler; Craig Dirgo by The Sea Hunters II Page B
Authors: The Sea Hunters II
Tags: General, Social Science, History, Military, Archaeology, Transportation, Naval, Ships & Shipbuilding, shipwrecks, Underwater Archaeology
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been mildly disturbing to all aboard.
Then, a few days later, the crew witnessed another bizarre incident.
While everyone on New Orleans was asleep, the leading edge of a flock of passenger pigeons crossed over the river. The flock flew from north to south, a mass of birds stretching some 250 miles from Lake Erie into Virginia. The next morning when the crew woke, the decks of the New Orleans were spotted with droppings, and the sky overhead was still dark.
“What do you make of it?” Roosevelt asked Andrew Jack, the pilot.
“Sometimes these migrations can take days to pass,” Jack said.
Lydia waddled down the walkway and now stood outside the door as well.
“I don’t like that sound,” she said. “Like the beating of tiny drums.”
“A few more minutes and we’ll be under way,” said Jack. “Once we’re a few miles downstream, we should be out of the migration path.”
That night, after they tied up alongshore, Roosevelt supervised the deckhands as they washed New Orleans from stem to stern. Tomorrow they would stop for a few days in Henderson, Kentucky, to visit friends. Roosevelt wanted New Orleans to look her best. Even with all the strange events, his enthusiasm was undiminished.
Nicholas Roosevelt was a constant source of optimism.
New Orleans’s itinerary was Pittsburgh to New Orleans—a trip never before attempted by a steamship. The trip was part of a well-funded and well-planned play for Roosevelt and his partners. Their goal was to secure a patent on western steamboat traffic. At the time of the voyage, laws pertaining to steamships were still in their infancy. In New York State, Robert Fulton’s company had managed to patent steamboat travel on the Hudson River, creating, at least for a time, an extremely lucrative monopoly. Now Fulton, along with partners Robert Livingston and Nicholas Roosevelt, wanted to do the same on the Mississippi River. The planning for his trip had been meticulous and detailed. First, the trip needed to be successfully completed. If the boat sank, no investor would want to ante up. Second, the trip needed to be completed quickly, to prove to investors the economic benefit of steam over paddle.
Robert Fulton, the inventor of the world’s first functional steamboat, had designed New Orleans, while Robert Livingston, a wealthy New York businessman who was a confidant of Thomas Jefferson, had provided the funding. Roosevelt, himself no slouch when it came to powerful contacts, was a descendant of the Dutch settler who had purchased Manhattan Island from the natives, as well as a close friend of John Adams. The previous year, Nicholas and Lydia had made a test journey down the river on a flatboat, stopping to visit influential people along the way.
Nothing was left to chance, but there are some things that cannot be predicted.
NEW ORLEANS WAS 116 feet in length with a 20-foot beam. Constructed of yellow pine—not Roosevelt’s first choice, but the only wood available within their rushed timetable—the vessel featured a rounded belly like that of a trout.
The middle section of New Orleans’s deck was open, housing the 160-horsepower steam engine, copper boilers, and walking beam that transferred power to the pair of side-wheel paddles. Having the machinery in the open gave the ship an unfinished appearance. Two masts with wrapped sails were stationed to each side of the open engine pit. From the stem mast flew the flag of the United States, a red, white, and blue cloth featuring seventeen stars and seventeen stripes. A pair of rectangular cabins, men’s forward and women’s aft, sat on the deck to each side of the engine pit. In the forward cabin was an iron cooking stove, and atop the ladies’ cabin were a table and chairs covered by an awning. In the stem, constantly diminishing piles of firewood gave the boat a rough edge. All in all, New Orleans was a crude but functional- looking affair.
The morning after the comet passed, New Orleans contin ued
Then, a few days later, the crew witnessed another bizarre incident.
While everyone on New Orleans was asleep, the leading edge of a flock of passenger pigeons crossed over the river. The flock flew from north to south, a mass of birds stretching some 250 miles from Lake Erie into Virginia. The next morning when the crew woke, the decks of the New Orleans were spotted with droppings, and the sky overhead was still dark.
“What do you make of it?” Roosevelt asked Andrew Jack, the pilot.
“Sometimes these migrations can take days to pass,” Jack said.
Lydia waddled down the walkway and now stood outside the door as well.
“I don’t like that sound,” she said. “Like the beating of tiny drums.”
“A few more minutes and we’ll be under way,” said Jack. “Once we’re a few miles downstream, we should be out of the migration path.”
That night, after they tied up alongshore, Roosevelt supervised the deckhands as they washed New Orleans from stem to stern. Tomorrow they would stop for a few days in Henderson, Kentucky, to visit friends. Roosevelt wanted New Orleans to look her best. Even with all the strange events, his enthusiasm was undiminished.
Nicholas Roosevelt was a constant source of optimism.
New Orleans’s itinerary was Pittsburgh to New Orleans—a trip never before attempted by a steamship. The trip was part of a well-funded and well-planned play for Roosevelt and his partners. Their goal was to secure a patent on western steamboat traffic. At the time of the voyage, laws pertaining to steamships were still in their infancy. In New York State, Robert Fulton’s company had managed to patent steamboat travel on the Hudson River, creating, at least for a time, an extremely lucrative monopoly. Now Fulton, along with partners Robert Livingston and Nicholas Roosevelt, wanted to do the same on the Mississippi River. The planning for his trip had been meticulous and detailed. First, the trip needed to be successfully completed. If the boat sank, no investor would want to ante up. Second, the trip needed to be completed quickly, to prove to investors the economic benefit of steam over paddle.
Robert Fulton, the inventor of the world’s first functional steamboat, had designed New Orleans, while Robert Livingston, a wealthy New York businessman who was a confidant of Thomas Jefferson, had provided the funding. Roosevelt, himself no slouch when it came to powerful contacts, was a descendant of the Dutch settler who had purchased Manhattan Island from the natives, as well as a close friend of John Adams. The previous year, Nicholas and Lydia had made a test journey down the river on a flatboat, stopping to visit influential people along the way.
Nothing was left to chance, but there are some things that cannot be predicted.
NEW ORLEANS WAS 116 feet in length with a 20-foot beam. Constructed of yellow pine—not Roosevelt’s first choice, but the only wood available within their rushed timetable—the vessel featured a rounded belly like that of a trout.
The middle section of New Orleans’s deck was open, housing the 160-horsepower steam engine, copper boilers, and walking beam that transferred power to the pair of side-wheel paddles. Having the machinery in the open gave the ship an unfinished appearance. Two masts with wrapped sails were stationed to each side of the open engine pit. From the stem mast flew the flag of the United States, a red, white, and blue cloth featuring seventeen stars and seventeen stripes. A pair of rectangular cabins, men’s forward and women’s aft, sat on the deck to each side of the engine pit. In the forward cabin was an iron cooking stove, and atop the ladies’ cabin were a table and chairs covered by an awning. In the stem, constantly diminishing piles of firewood gave the boat a rough edge. All in all, New Orleans was a crude but functional- looking affair.
The morning after the comet passed, New Orleans contin ued
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