Dick Fulton (Towboat, 1878-1901)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Towboat
• BUILT: Brownsville, Pennsylvania 1878
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Laid up in 1901, and dismantled in 1903
• OWNERS: Gray's Iron Line; W. W. and J. N. O'Neil; Combine (Monongahela River Consolidated Coal and Coke Company)
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain J. Sharp Packer (master); Captain Frederick G. Dippold (master); Bentley Clark (pilot); Thomas A. Duffy (engineer); Bud Mullen (pilot, 1893); Edward J. Hauser (pilot, 1903)
• RIVERS: Ohio River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - T0605; Owned by O'Neil & Company, Pittsburgh coal operators. Captain J. Sharp Packer was master in her early years, and then Captain Frederick G. Dippold, who remained on her until she was laid up in 1901; he had as pilot Bentley Clark of Freedom, Pennsylvania; Thomas A. Duffy was engineer. While the O'Neils owned her, the Dick Fulton made frequent trips through to New Orleans with coal, but in her Combine days after 1900 she usually terminated at Louisville. She was laid up in 1901; the hull and cabin was used as a storeboat by the Combine for several years after her dismantling in 1903; in 1907 they were sold to some promoters of a floating skating rink, but nothing came of the venture
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; in background, right to left: sternwheel towboats Dick Fulton, Twilight, Mariner; coal barges in foreground