Kanawha (Packet, 1896-1916)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: 1896 at Ironton, Ohio by the Bay Line
• FINAL DISPOSITION: On January 5, 1916 she hit a steel pier on the outer lockwall of Dam 19 at Little Hocking, Ohio, overturned and eventually sank
• OWNERS: Captain William E. Roe (1899-1912, 1914); John W. Hubbard (1912-1914)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain Ira B. Huntington (master, 1896); Henry Ollom (pilot, 1896); Henry Brookhart (pilot, 1896); Catpain T.T. Johnston (master, 1899); Fred Hoyt (second clerk, 1916); Captain Brady Berry (1916)
• RIVERS: Ohio River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 3203; Built for the Pittsburgh-Charleston trade. In the summer of 1911, the Rivers and Harbors Committee from Washington, D.C. rode the Kanawha from Pittsburgh to Cairo during dry weather when the river was so low that all regular packets were laid up. The Kanawha hit bottom every day except one. From Tell City to Owensboro, a pilot in a rowboat sounded ahead to find the deepest water. Ten lives were lost when she sank in 1916