Great Republic (Packet, 1867-1876)

Date

• 1873

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sidewheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: Shousetown, Pennsylvania and completed at Pittsburgh in 1867
• BECAME: Grand Republic in 1876
• OWNERS: Captain William B. Donaldson (1/3), Joseph P. Haigh (1/3), Samuel Morrow (1/6), and Andrew Hartupee (1/6); Captain William H. Thorwegan and Thomas Morrison (1871); Captain William H. Thorwegan (1875, sole owner)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain William B. Donaldson (master, 1867); Sam Barr, Jr. (clerk, 1867); Charles A. Dravo (clerk, 1867); Alfred Davitt (clerk, 1867); G. Wash Floyd (clerk, 1867); Sam McBride (pilot, 1867); Sam Williamson (pilot, 1867); William Patterson (mate, 1867); John Hartupee (chief engineer, 1867); J.V. Starr (second engineer, 1867); Sam W. Morgan (steward, 1867); James Simmonds (bartender, 1867)
• RIVERS: Mississippi River; Ohio River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 2438; First home port was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her hull was built at the E. and N. Porter yard, now Glenwillard, Pennsylvania, on the Ohio River about 15 miles below Pittsburgh. When the boat was launched on November 3, 1866 the hull broke free and lodged on the opposite shore. A worker was killed as she went down the ways; this was considered a bad luck omen. This packet had a cabin containing 54 staterooms, there were 10 more in the texas for passengers. The Great Republic was elegant inside and ungainly outside. Ran the St. Louis-New Orleans trade. Bad management resulted most disastrously for her owners. In less than two years she had bankrupted her owners and builders. She went through a bankruptcy, was to be sold at a U.S. Marshal sale, but was not sold. Later in 1871 she was sold for $48,000
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: The Belle Lee (left), the Great Republic (right) and other unidentified boats at the landing in New Orleans at the foot of Canal Street. Horses and wagons, people, and cargo are on shore