Sailor (Towboat, 1900-1923)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: 1900 at Parkersburg, West Virginia
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Burned sometime after June 1923
• OWNERS: 1900: MCC; 1900: Jones & Laughlin Steel Company
• OFFICERS & CREW: 1900: Captain Billy England (master), Morgan Henderson (mate); 1920: Captain Harry McGuire
• RIVERS: Monongahela River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T2225; Originally built for the Combine she was soon sold to Jones & Laughlin Steel Company. On June 2, 1910 while ascending the Monongahela River with an empty tow, she collided with Little Fred which was descending with a full tow of coal. This occurred at 12:05 am at Duquesne, Pennsylvania. The Sailor sank a coal barge being towed by Little Fred, estimated loss $2,500. For no apparent cause, she sank in the lock chamber of Lock 3, Monongahela River on January 14, 1920. A cofferdam was built to get her raised, but it collapsed on January 22, drowning Robert G. Elsey and two others. In early 1923 she was retired and dismantled at Floreffe, Pennsylvania. That June, she was removed to Aliquippa, Pennsylvania where a smallpox epidemic had broken out and she was used as a floating hospital for the victims. She later burned
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Sailor in ice