Sallie Marmet (Towboat, 1911-1936)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: 1911 at Marietta, Ohio by the Hammitt yard
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Dismantled, 1936
• OWNERS: 1911: Otto Marmet Coal & Mining Company; 1935: Charles Zubik
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain John F. Rust and Captain Will Curry; 1925: Captain Homer E. Varian and Captain Charles Morris (pilots), Ray Gill (chief engineer); 1928: Michael Lyons (engineer); 1931: Captain Homer E. Varian (master)
• RIVERS: Kanawha River; Ohio River; Kentucky River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T2233; The Sallie Marmet was one of the last boats built at the Hammitt yard. She towed coal from the Kanawha River to Cincinnati. The Marmet boats were noted for using quantities of yellow paint: stern bulkhead, door shutters, etc. Captain Rust and Captain Curry were on the Sallie Marmet at Cincinnati moored with a loaded tow near the Cincinnati Water Works during the "big freeze" winter of 1917-18. They came through without harm although many of the other boats were lost. She was the first boat through Lock 35 at New Richmond, Ohio when it was opened in September 1919. August, 1925, she sank above Lock 36, Ohio River. Divers found her punctured with a huge old-time anchor which was thought to have been lost from one of the ocean-going brigs built in the Marietta area prior to 1850. In November, 1928 engineer Michael Lyons died at the throttle of the Sallie Marmet. He was 65 years old. She towed coal south from Moundsville, West Virginia by April, 1931. She was sold in October 1935, taken to Pittsburgh and dismantled