Click image to see full-size version.
"The Washington: Built at Murraysville, WV, and completed at Wheeling, WV in 1880 as the SIDNEY. Sold to Diamond Jo Line in 1882 and ran St. Louis - St. Paul until bought by Streckfus to replace the original JS (1901) and converted into an excursion boat. Rebuilt in 1921 at Mound City, IL and renamed WASHINGTON. Operated until 1937. Dismantled in 1938."
I have found a lot of images of steamboats named "Washington", but I think the above info is correct for the image of the ship that I have. Please let me know if I am mistaken - bob@backintime.photos/
Here is what I can see in my photo:
Starting on the left of the image, and the bow...
The gangplank is hanging out beyond the bow of the ship. It might be getting ready to rest on the shore, but the front is out of sight.
There are some crewmen standing at the bow, and it looks like the foremost man (in what looks like an officer's coat and hat) is holding some sort of large torch or flare device. Here is a blowup of that area:
He might simply be holding on to a line with his right hand and guiding the back end of the gangplank with his left hand.
The man beside him looks to be helping him, and the man to the right is doing something else while facing aft.
There are several people just aft of the bow, too much in shadow to see what they are doing.
- I'm going to make a comment here about those long boards that are attached to the 2nd deck and resting on the main deck at the gunwale, that I see on most of the paddlewheelers I have been describing:
Upon looking at them on the "Washington", I can see that the lower portion of these beams all look to be pretty dirty. I'm guessing now, that they are utilized when the ship is docked, or has maybe run aground, and starts to roll to the side, that they are swung outboard to help prevent the ship from rolling over when the water level drops?
I'd appreciate info about this, as I can't find anything - bob@backintime.photos
On the far shore, there is that large sign that reads, "WHEELING..." and what might be "BE..." below that. I haven't found anything about that sign while Googling, sorry.
On the 2nd deck, just where the double-davits stand, there is a man standing at the rail.
Up in the pilot house, I see possibly 3 men standing there. That is probably the Captain standing just above the "H" on the ship's sign, and he seems to be steering the ship. The other 2 shadows are in the rearmost window (or is a square opening also called a "port"?)
Here are some good pix I found online:
Here are some images of a calliope being played on the ship. It looks like there are 2 people standing at the keyboard:
