One afternoon
we took a paddlewheel steamship cruise on the
Mississippi River near New Orleans.
New
Orleans Waterfront near the French Quarter
The steamship
Natchez departs from a pier at Woldenberg Riverfront Park near the
French Quarter. The
tour cruises down the Mississippi (downstream toward the gulf) for
about an hour, then turns around and returns upriver. Click
any picture for a larger image.
This
is the "Crescent City Connection" (CCC), formerly the Greater New
Orleans Bridge, a pair of twin cantilever bridges spanning the
Mississippi River at New Orleans. When the first bridge was
opened in 1958, it was the longest cantilever bridge in the world (it
is now the fifth longest). The second bridge was completed in
1988. The bridges were not damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but
after the storm the Gretna city police setup a roadblock on the bridge,
refusing passage to evacuees trying to leave New Orleans.
Brett
and Diane in front of the Old Man River statue on the waterfront.
Despite being badly hungover, a group of tourists from
Houston offered to take our picture. Yes, people from Texas
really are this nice.
Leftover
sandbags on the Mississippi River bank near the French Quarter.
Standing
on the waterfront near New Orleans, the first thing you notice is that
there is a lot
of shipping traffic on the Mississippi River. The nation's
major export is grain, and its major import is oil, and a lot of it
comes through here. Cargo ships and oil tankers come through
the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi to New Orleans.
Large ships cannot go upstream past New Orleans, so
they unload here, or transfer their cargo to barges for further travel
up the Mississippi.
This
is a view of the New Orleans business district on the left, and the
French Quarter on the right.
On
the left is the former Jackson Brewery. In the middle is the
St. Louis Cathedral behind Jackson Square, on the right is one of the
two historic red-brick Pontalba buildings.
The
Mississippi River near New Orleans
Cargo is unloaded at these
two wharves, processed, and then transferred to truck or train for
delivery. The green wharf is primarily a coffee wharf.
Before Katrina, more than half of the nation's
coffee was imported through the New Orleans coffee wharves.
The little white building is a Mississippi River Control
Point. There is a tight bend in the Mississippi River here,
the currents are treacherous, and the weather can be foul (note the
radar mast). The Control Point regulates ship traffic through
the bend to prevent collisions. It is manned 24x7 and all
ships (including our paddlewheel steamship) must get radio permission
from the Control Point before entering the bend. There is a
$100,000 fine if you forget.
This
waterfront warehouse bears the scars of multiple hurricanes.
The roof was damaged by a recent hurricane (Gustav?).
The wall was badly damaged by an earlier
hurricane years ago,
and subsequently repaired with red bricks. If a building and
its contents aren't particularly valuable, "build cheap and
repair afterward" is an acceptable strategy for dealing with hurricanes.
This
ship carries refrigerated cargo, such as frozen food.
Painting the ship all white reduces the amount of
refrigeration required and saves money.
This
is the Cape Kennedy, a "RO-RO" (Roll On, Roll Off) ship used by the
military. The large ramp in back allows trucks, tanks and
other vehicles to drive directly onto the ship. The ramp is
wide enough to accommodate two semi-trailer trucks side-by-side, and
the ship can carry 1550 standard containers or vehicles. The
Cape Kennedy was built in Japan in 1979, and purchased for the Ready
Reserve Force (sealift) in 1996. Ships in the RRF are
scattered around the country, and maintained in a readiness status such
that they can be activated for service within days after the DOD
requests them.
This
is the southern entrance from the Mississippi River into the Industrial
Canal (aka the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel). The
Industrial Canal runs south-north across New Orleans and
connects the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartain.
The waters of the river are about 10 feet higher than the
waters of the lake, so a lock (just inside this entrance of the canal)
is used to lower ships from river level to lake level (and visa versa).
The Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans is to the left of the
canal; the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood is to the right.
During Hurricane Katrina, the Mississippi River levees held,
and so did the short portion of the Industrial Canal seen here
(e.g. the portion of the canal south of the lock). But the
levees of the Industrial Canal north of the lock were breached in
multiple locations, allowing the waters of Lake Pontchartain to flood
south into the city.
This
is a view of the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood of New Orleans.
You are looking over the levee, down into the
neighborhood. The red brick building marked Holy Cross is a
former boys high school. It is a five story
building; only the top three stories are visible. It is
unsettling to stand in one of these neighborhoods, and watch ships go
by on the Mississippi, above your head. Hurricane Katrina
flooded most of the houses of the Lower 9th Ward to their rooflines.
It was here that people sat on their rooftops, waiting for
help that wasn't coming.
The
green house in the center of this picture is a historic plantation
house. Years ago, when local officials added
a property tax based on the number of (interior) staircases,
the owner renovated the house and moved all of the staircases
(except one) to the outside of the building, thus evading the new tax.
A pushboat
pushes a chemical barge. Note the boat's front is flat and
has two "pushing knees". This is a pushboat, specifically
designed for pushing barges, rather than a tugboat, which has a rounded
front. A pushboat is also called a towboat, but the term
pushboat is
more accurate. Most of the boats operating upstream on the
Mississippi are pushboats.
This
is the site of the Battle of New Orleans on January 8 1815, the last
major battle of the War of 1812. The British Army intended to
capture New Orleans, and thereby control the Mississippi River and one
third of the continent's interior. General Andrew Jackson
commanded the American forces. Jackson won the
20-minute battle decisively, with 300 American casualties
(dead, wounded, captured, or missing) compared to 2300 British
casualties. The tragedy of the Battle of New Orleans was that
it was unnecessary. The War of 1812 was already over.
The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24 1814, but news
of the peace did not reach New Orleans until February 1815.
This
is a view over a levee into a neighbood in St. Bernard Parish (i.e.
county). This picture was taken in November 2008.
Three years after Hurricane Katrina, many of the houses are
still boarded up and unoccupied.
This
is the Domino Sugar Refinery. The owner's original plantation
house is visible (behind the palm trees).
This
Domino Sugar Refinery is the second largest sugar refinery in the
world. The largest is in Brazil.
Ore
is unloaded from a cargo ship onto barges, for further transport up the
Mississippi River.
This
is a dock for unloading crude oil from oil tankers. Despite
all of the commercial activity, the Mississippi River appeared to be
quite clean. The river was muddy, but we didn't see any trash
or oil slicks in the water.
These
tugboats are earning $300 per hour, helping the oil tanker toward the
dock.
This
is an Exxon oil refinery along the Mississippi River.
This
is how the Mississippi River looks for the rest of its 100-mile journey
to the Gulf of Mexico. From here there are no more
bridges; ferries are the only way to cross the river.
Our
paddlewheel steamship makes a wide turn and returns upriver toward New
Orleans.
This
is the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans (across the Mississippi to
the south).
Note
the interesting lifeboat system on this ship. In the event of
an emergency, the small crew of this ship scrambles into the
downward-pointing lifeboat, releases it, and the (sealed) lifeboat
plunges off the ship down into the water. A similar lifeboat
system is used to escape tall oil rigs.
On
its upper mast, this ship is flying a US flag (a courtesy to the host
country), and a yellow Quarantine flag. This doesn't mean
that the crew is sick; it means that the crew cannot leave the ship
until the ship is cleared by Customs/Health inspectors.
On the small stern mast, this ship flies the green Indian
flag (not visible in this picture) of its home port country.
Steamboat
Natchez
We went on an afternoon "Harbor Day Cruise" on the
Steamboat Natchez. There was a bar onboard, roving waitress
service, and live narration of the sights along the Mississippi River
near New Orleans. We didn't opt for the traditional creole
buffer lunch, but the food looked good.
The
Natchez tied up to the pier on the Mississippi River near New Orleans
French Quarter. The green and white coffee wharves are
visible in the distance.
The
twin smokestacks are real, not merely decorative. They are
authentic, but the fuel is not. Old paddlewheel boats burned
wood or coal; the Natchez burns diesel oil. As a result, you
won't see much smoke, and no burning cinders or ash, coming from these
smokestacks. Note the old fashioned steam whistle and modern
navigation gear sharing space on top of the pilot house. In
the paddlewheel era, ships announced their arrival and departure with
their whistle; each ship used a different pattern of toots and the
residents of New Orleans could tell which ships were coming and going
just by listening to their whistles.
A
staff member plays the steam calliope roof deck of the Natchez.
The calliope has a set of 32 steam whistles; each
producing a different note. Pressurized steam from the ship's
boiler is sent to the calliope; the keyboard controls which whistles
receive steam and therefore which notes are played. A pipe
organ has multiple sets (ranks) of pipes, and can imitate multiple
instruments like a flute or an oboe. This calliope has only
one rank and therefore has one "voice" which sounds like, well, a
calliope. There is nothing subtle about this instrument -- it
is loud
(note how the keyboard is placed away from the whistles).
The electronic "calliope" of an amusement park merry-go-round
is a pale imitation of an authentic steam calliope. They play
the Natchez's calliope a few minutes before crusing time, when,
coincidentally,
there is still plenty of time to buy cruise tickets. The next
afternoon, we could hear the Natchez's calliope playing, from over
almost a mile away in the French Quarter.
Here
is a 17-second (silent) video clip of the calliope in action. ________________________________________
________________________________________ Or
if you would prefer to download a video file, right-click
this .wmv
file (5 MB) or this .mov
file
(5 MB) and select "Save Target As".
This
is a 50-second audio clip (1 of 2) of the Natchez's steam
calliope.
It was recorded using a cellphone, so the sound
quality is only fair. ________________________
________________________
If you would prefer to download an audio file, right-click
this .wav file
(1 MB) and select "Save Target As".
This
is a 62-second audio clip (2 of 2) of the Natchez's steam
calliope.
It was recorded using a cellphone, so the sound
quality is only fair. ________________________
________________________
If you would prefer to download an audio file, right-click
this .wav file
(1 MB) and select "Save Target As".
This
is a diagram of the paddlewheel steamboat Natchez. The
propulsion is authentic; the paddlewheel provides all forward/reverse
propulsion; there is no screw hidden below the waterline. The
Natchez does, however, have a modern bowthruster, which is used to move
the ship laterally during docking. Like Buddy (II) the
beer-chugging pig on the Caribbean island of St. Croix, and
Doug Heffernan's eternal family dog Rocky (III) on the TV show
King of Queens, this is the 9th ship called Natchez. The
Natchez IX was built in 1975. Its two steam engines were
originally built in 1925 for the steamboat Clairton. The
Natchez is mostly made of steel (due to US Coast Guard rules), but
the paddlewheel is made from 25 tons of white oak.
The rudder is also from the Clairton, where it was steam
driven (on the Natchez it was converted to be hydraulic driven).
The
engine room of the steamboat Natchez.
The
Chief Engineer in the engine room of the Natchez. The large
round dial is the "telegraph" which is used to communicate
engine signals (and acknowledgements) between the Pilot House and the
Engine Room.
This
is a diagram of the steam engine(s). The Natchez has
two steam boilers, and two steam engines, one on each side of
the engine room.
One
of the Natchez's steam engines. This is a tandem compound
condensing reciprocating steam engine. It is of piston valve
type with a 15-inch bore on the high pressure cylinder and a 30-inch
bore on the low pressure cylinder. This engine has a 7 foot
stroke, and the two engines combined produce 1600 horsepower (400
horsepower per cylinder).
This
large pitman arm connects the steam engine to the paddlewheel at the
stern of the ship.
Here
is a 14-second video clip of the steam engine in operation. ________________________________________
________________________________________ Or
if you would prefer to download a video file, right-click
this .wmv
file (4 MB) or this .mov
file
(4 MB) and select "Save Target As".
This
picture shows how the pitman arm from the steam engine connects to the
paddlewheel. It is here that the reciprocating motion of the
steam engine is converted into the rotary motion of the paddlewheel.
Here
is a 25-second video clip of the paddlewheel in action. ________________________________________
________________________________________ Or
if you would prefer to download a video file, right-click
this .wmv
file (7 MB) or this .mov
file
(7 MB) and select "Save Target As".
