H. K. Bedford (Packet, 1885-1912)

Date

• February 28, 1912

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: 1885 at Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard Ship Yards
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Cut down by ice at Bean's Landing, Ohio at Carpenter Bar not far above Marietta, on February 27, 1912
• OWNERS: Captain Gordon C. Greene (1890); Captain Henry R. Kraft, Charles and C. Augustus Frantz (1898)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain A.T. Armstrong (master, 1886); W.W. Parminter (clerk); Captain Gordon C. Greene (master, 1897); Captain Henry R. Kraft (master, 1912); Captain Mary B. Greene (master, 1897); Monroe Greenwood (clerk, 1897); Robert M. McCall (clerk, 1897); J.A. Voegtly (clerk, 1892); Tim Penwell (clerk, 1890); A.J. Slayen (clerk, 1886)
• RIVERS: Cumberland River; Ohio River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 2491; Home port or owner's residence circa 1885, Wheeling, West Virginia. Original price, $5,600. Built for the upper Cumberland River. In the fall of 1886, she ran low water trades out of Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1890, after purchase by Captain Greene, she entered the Pittsburgh-Wheeling trade, the beginning of Greene Line Steamers, Incorporated. She later ran Pittsburgh-Charleston. A texas was built on her in 1897 but was removed in 1898. In 1897 she was under charter to the Louisville and Cincinnati Packet Company with Captain Mary B. Greene as master--the first time a woman had been in charge of an L and C packet. After being sold in 1898, she ran Pittsburgh-Parkersburg. On February 3, 1910 she collided with the towboat Little Fred at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania while backing out of the Monongahela River. Damage to her was $150. On June 12, 1910 she collided with the Sunshine while both were ascending the Ohio River above Freedom, Pennsylvania at the foot of Wallary Bar. The only damage was a portion of the H.K. Bedford's guard torn off, value $60. In early 1912, she was laid up by ice at Marietta; on February 27 she started for Pittsburgh when she was cut down by ice. The wreck was removed during low water in 1914
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: The wreck of the H.K. Bedford near Marietta