Dubuque (Packet, 1896-1919)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: 1879 at Cincinnati, Ohio as the Pittsburgh
• FORMERLY: Pittsburgh
• BECAME: Capitol in 1919
• OWNERS: 1896: Diamond Jo Packet Line; 1911: Streckfus Steamers
• OFFICERS & CREW: 1896: William Burke (captain); 1901: M.J. Murphy (master), Levi Williams (pilot), Captain Tom Posey (pilot); 1913: Bill Simmons (captain), Charles Howard (mate); 1914: Captain Charles Martin (pilot), Jack Richtman (pilot), Billy Mills (pilot), John Streckfus (captain), Charles Bunn (engineer), Harry Lancaster (pilot); 1915: John Killeen (master), Selby Crader and Jack Richtman (pilots), George Arnold (engineer), Bass Black (engineer); 1916: Captain Connie McGhee (master), Arthur Williams and Frank Posey (pilots);
• RIVERS: Mississippi River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 1616; A tornado at St. Louis, May, 1896 destroyed the upper works of the Pittsburgh. She was taken to Dubuque, rebuilt and renamed the Dubuque. She ran in the Diamond Jo Line. In July 1901, she sank at Keithsburg, Illinois after ripping a 142 foot hole in her hull. Captain William Burke was her master for 27 years under both names. Under the ownership of Streckfus Steamers and chartered by the St. Louis and Tennessee River Packet Company, she made a trip to St. Louis, Shiloh Battlefield in April 1912. In November 1914 Captain Charles R. Martin, pilot, dropped dead at the wheel as she approached the Alton railroad bridge. The engineer on watch noticed the boat was veering, stopped and backed her. Jack Richtman, off-watch pilot, was quickly called. In the winter of 1919-1920 she was converted into an excursion boat at Keokuk, work finished at Davenport and she was renamed the Capitol