Katie Lyons (Towboat, 1937-1942)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: 1913 at Levanna, Ohio
• FORMERLY: Mamie Barrett; Duquesne (1918); Donald Birmingham (late 1920s)
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Her barges struck the right pier of the B and O bridge at Bellaire, Ohio and she sank on March 16, 1942
• OWNERS: Captain A.C. Lyons (1937)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain Gilbert Larkin (master, 1938); Dan Dippel (pilot, 1938); Thomas Latham (engineer, 1938); John Blaine (engineer, 1938); Monroe Cross (pilot)
• RIVERS: Ohio River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T1500; She had been on the marine ways at Madison, Indiana for about 2 years when purchased by Captain Lyons. He completed the repairs, renamed her, and then used her for contract towing. Her home port was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1938 she was chartered to George N. Childs to move coal from East St. Louis to the Dewey Portland Cement Company plant in Linwood, Iowa. The American Barge Line Company frequently had her under contract after that. Among the people drowned when the Katie Lyons sank, were Captain A.C. Lyons and Captain Harry McGuire
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Raising the wreck of the Katie Lyons