Joe Fowler (Packet, 1888-1919)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: 1888 at Jeffersonville, Indiana by Howard Ship Yard
• BECAME: Crescent (1919)
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Converted into an excursion boat and renamed in 1919
• OWNERS: Fowler family; U.S. mail boat; Captain Ben S. Pope (1912); Captain John L. Lowry (circa 1917); Captain Jeff H. Williams
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain James Damron (master, 1888); Captain Martin F. Noll (purser, 1913); Captain Elmer E. Pope (manager, 1914); Captain A.C. Dunbargar (master, 1914); Clyde Packard (purser, 1914); Clarence L. Cunningham (chief engineer, 1914); Bill Sampson (steward, 1914-15); Earl Cooper (electrician, 1914); Dayton Randolph (pilot, 1914-15); Walter S. Conner (pilot, 1914); Stuart Conner (pilot, 1914); Captain Walter Blair; Donald T. Wright (clerk); Captain William C. Lepper (1914); Captain Ben S. Pope (master, 1915); Walter English (pilot, 1915); Jack Speers (clerk, 1915); Earl Cooper (clerk, 1915); William English (mate, 1915); Gus Fissmer (calliope player, 1915)
• RIVERS: Ohio River; Mississippi River; Cumberland River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 3031; Built for the Evansville-Paducah trade where she teamed up with the John S. Hopkins. The original price was $20,800; home port or owner's residence in 1888 was Paducah, Kentucky. In May 1895, she had completed seven years with a total of 327,000 miles as a U.S. mail steamer. She had carried about 152,400 passengers without any loss of life. She continued in this trade until she wore out and was condemned. She was sold in early spring of 1912 and completely rebuilt at Parkersburg, West Virginia. In April 1913 she made her first trip, Parkersburg-Pittsburgh. In summer 1913 she ran excursions in the Wheeling-Bellaire area. She ran a Mardi Gras cruise from Parkersburg to New Orleans and returned to Pittsburgh in early 1914. She ran a special cruise, Pittsburgh-St. Paul, Minnesota and returned to Louisville in June 1914. In the summer of 1914, she ran excursions at Louisville. In 1915 she ran Pittsburgh-Louisville, the round trip being completed in one week. She carried a calliope which was played by Gus Fissmer of Louisville. The average cost per round trip was $1,100 and she burned 3,000 bushels of coal a week. In 1916 she ran excursions in the Parkersburg-Pittsburgh area. In January 1917, she came to Ambridge, Pennsylvania to get new barges for delivery south. After she was converted into the excursion boat Crescent, her original whistle was transferred to the Ruth
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: On the left is the Joe Fowler; the rest of the boats are unknown