" MISSISSIPPI TOW BOATS " 1960s FEDERAL BARGE LINE CO. & ST. LOUIS SHIPBUILDING PROMO FILM XD73294
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @periscopefilm
Want to learn more about Periscope Film and get access to exclusive swag? Join us on Patreon. Visit / periscopefilm
Visit our website www.PeriscopeFilm.com
“Mississippi Tow Boats” is a color promotional film from the 1960s made by filmmaker Dean Moore Sr.'s Condor Film Co. for the Federal Barge Lines Company. (Based in St. Louis, Moore was a fascinating character and a former OSS operative who flew as a Pan Am steward on the B314 clippers.) This film underscores the ways in which the inland waterways coupled with the power and prowess of barges and towboats serve the industries of the Central United States and the world as a means of low cost, reliable shipping. This film contains significant archival material regarding the history of the company as well as primary and secondary materials related to the operation of towboats and barges, shipbuilding, and company employees. Federal Barge Lines was originally set up and run by the government during WWI but was eventually sold to Saint Louis Shipbuilding, owned by businessman Herman T. Pott.
Barges (0:18). Aerial view tow boat guiding barges along Mississippi River (0:36). Frisco Line F3 Locomotive (1:17). View down hilly highway, telephone poles, trees line road (1:22). Coal pours onto barge (1:32). Towboat passes under Memphis-Arkansas Memorial Bridge (1:36). Older woman dressed in skirt suit, white gloves, turns lights on in her home (1:40). Factory processed wheat funnels from pipe onto barge (1:45). Barge and towboat along Mississippi River, green tree-lined coast (1:50). Red train locomotive loaded with goods (1:55). Two freshly baked loaves of bread placed on crochet doilies (1:57). Caribbean sugarcane stalks blow in wind (1:59). Steam billows from factories, cargo ships at port of New Orleans (2:03). Burlap sacks taken off cargo ship with crane (2:07). Man reads newspaper at breakfast (2:12). Smokestacks, telephone wires, train tracks in industrial area (2:18). Oil storage tanks along Mississippi (2:26). Industrial factories on river banks (2:30). Businessman smokes pipe, looks through invoices - montage various modes of shipping (2:42). Federal Barge Lines United States 1958 by St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Co. (3:34). Aerial view Federal Barge Lines towboat pushing few acres of barges (4:12). People power: scenes of engineers, technicians, captains working through difficult conditions, various examples of manual labor - man adjusts barge winch (4:36). Federal barge Lines HQ St. Louis (5:50). Dispatch office: office men assess boards with tags representing where every barge and towboat is - clacking of teletype machines (5:56). Captain of United States answers radio (7:10). Barge passes through icy water, white patches of broken up ice sheets (8:16). Deck hands hard at work, moving and adjusting equipment (8:51). Laborers sit down to family-style meal of steak, fries, coleslaw, chocolate cake (9:17). More scenes of hard labor done by crew on towboat, structural repairs by men wearing life vests and grease-stained pants (9:52). Off-duty crew play cards (10:32). Worker shaves in vessel bathroom (10:41). Two colleagues read and write letters in their bunk (10:47). Modern devices used: searchlight, radar spins on top of boat, depth indicator meter panel, swing indicator, engaging autopilot, finger-tip controls for six diesel locomotives (11:02). United States continues course, store boat/ fuel barge attaches pipeline to tow and moves with it (12:23). Deckhands tighten lines connecting barges (13:39). Port Captain works with wood blocks at HQ office to see how to make up tow (15:57). Barge exterior while docked, storage areas empty (16:22). Seven freight trains lined up at rail yard - visual comparison for amount of cargo a tow can handle (16:38). St. Louis Shipbuilding products - barge released into waterway (16:44). Dredge (17:00). Bridge caissons (17:03). Foundation of dry dock (17:06). Pile driver on floating barge (17:09). Special purpose barge (17:13). Blueprint modern towboat (17:20). St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Company Shipyard (17:25). 3-D illustration towboat design (17:56). Towboat propeller (18:34). Inside engine room: four diesel engines (18:37). Mrs. Louis S. Rothschild in mink coat inaugurates the super United States Towboat (19:03). Herman T. Pott, chairman of St. Louis Shipbuilding, speaks to camera from office; model of U.S. boat in background (19:22). Paddle steamer on river / Delta Queen Steamboat Company (19:45). Montage barges, towboats (19:55). Industrial factories along riverbanks (21:06).
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFi...
I didn't work on the river, I grew up on the river, my dad was assistant lock master at lock and dam #6 at Trempealeau, WI. And lock#8.at Genoa before that, I watched every boat I could, I learned alot and saw alot, saw them hit the walls so hard that they moved em 6" back in the 50s saw many 3" barge ropes blown apart when barges broke loose, most all were making tons of black smoke, loved when the EMD boats came out, dad finally retired in 63!
Barges are insane. I often kayak way out in the middle of Watts Bar on the TN River. Even staying back from them a few hundred yards or so they still look like a city floating on by. I never tire of seeing them.
I love American heavy duty engineering. I dont care for the compensator pickup truck era that we live in, but when it comes to massive towboats, steam locomotives, earthmovers and giant machinery, here in America we have done amazing things. I just wish that alot of these mechanically minded men who are in love with pickups would focus and use their God given mechanical passion for something like high speed rail and engineering cities, and also updating and upgrading the inland waterways. I mean monster jam is entertaining but I dont want to be part of it when driving my Volkswagen or riding my bicycle. I tell these guys who try to intimidate people with their pickup that a freight train or towboat or these giant cargo ships would make their lifted truck look like a gnat.
@@torquetrain8963 lol. I feel you on the pickup truck compensators. It's a funny stereotype, but oh so true.
I was in the tooling and machining field for a couple decades. Giant machinery of any kind is indeed awesome. Large presses always got my attention. It's mind boggling what kind of considerations have to be thought of with the big stuff. Massive gun turrets on a battleship and how they're articulated and such.
I live in Idaho and have been out of the Pittsburgh PA/WV/Ohio tri state area for half my life now, but I grew up in a small river town hearing both towboats and locomotives often at the same time. Especially at night it was an amazing sound to hear. It forever resonates in my mind. Especially the Fairbanks morse opposed piston engines. I worked as a deckhand for a few years, but before I did that I delivered groceries to barge lines at the local grocery store. Great memories!!!!
@@joshuagibson2520I hope and pray that youth would stop the social media crap and get involved in engineering.
@@torquetrain8963 yes. I'm mid 40s and the generations(s) coming behind me are doomed. No one has any hands on skills anymore. Work ethic seems lacking too from what I've seen. I'm worried for our future. Our govt is off the rails as well. Something's got to give at some point. Hopefully.
I lived around Dayton Ohio for the better part of my life. We had the Great Miami River, which carries on to the Ohio. We didn't have any boat traffic though. In 1913 the Miami Valley area right there flooded severely. That installed several low head dams and it crippled the river. Most places it was deep enough to navigate but it didn't matter I guess because of all the dams and no locks.
I bet being a deckhand was a cool experience. I also bet it was hard work and you were tired at the end of the day!
Thank you for sharing
🏆🤗🇺🇲🤗
A streamtime live regular.
0:10 13:57 , very nice to hear those low rev engines. They are directly coupled to the propellers, and reversed by stopping the engine, changing the posistion of the camshaft, and then restarting it by injecting pressurised air. Here in europe there are very few left in our self propelled barges unfortunately, although recent emmision measurements of these sometimes over 60 years old engines revealed that some Deutz and MAK engines have even cleaner emmisions that modern high rev engines with reduction gears. In Eastern Europe and Russia there are still operating 50 year old towboats with these low rev engines, very durable stuff. I always love to encounter these ships, unfortunately i havent been a pilot on one of them myselfes yet.
Yes, she had low rev engines, but the United States and the America were the biggest air polluters on the Mississippi River. I know from experience. Do you remember seeing that little grocery delivery boat? I operated that boat for about 1.5 years back in 1969 when I was at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was named "The Capitol" back then and belonged to Capitol Marine Supply and Boat Store, a division of Chotin Transportation. I delivered groceries to the United States and the America many times. She had 8 cylinder Cooper-Bessemer opposed piston engines that were started on diesel and run on diesel until they warmed up and then switched over to bunker-c fuel oil. The engine room was always covered with a layer of soot and oil vapor unlike the modern engine rooms of today with oil tight EMDs and operating room sterile cleanliness. But she was the largest monster on the river at the time and she was much admired by all who saw her. For a bit of history, the Pat Chotin was built in 1965 to have more horsepower than the United States, and was originally supposed to have three 16V645 for a little over 8,500hp to kind of one-up the United States, but at the last minute Captain Chotin decided to go with fuel savers and put in three 12V645 for 6600 hp. She has recently been re-powered with 16V645 and she is knocking on 8,500hp now and renamed David G Sehrt at Ingram Barge Lines.
see: www.towboatgallery.com/The_Towboat_Gallery.php?mnu=
@@lewismohr1 no, i dont rember, I wasn't born back then, and I live in Europe. But i can imagine it being so polluting when using heavy fuel, that's never good for the air quality, which is also why it is forbidden here, long ago. But I know from German made well maintained low revs, the emissions when using diesel aren't worse when compared to modern emission standards of high rev engines in some cases.
@@lewismohr1 but nice to hear your story though, always love to hear from the past. I heard there is a book about the mv America (read it somewhere in the waterways journal) called "Man and His River" by Capt. Jesse Marks, but can't find it nowhere unfortunately
@@jfz4759 thanks for the reply. yes, extremely high compression, long stroke, direct injecting engines do pollute the least.
@@lewismohr1interesting. Some of the books said the United States and the America ran Superior Diesels. Cooper Bessemer I know was what the general electric 7fdl prime mover was based on.
Awesome video thank you for posting. Hard-working people
Our pleasure! This film is one that came to us via the son of filmmaker Dean Moore, Sr. We are grateful to him for allowing us to scan and post it.
I was a welder @ St. Louis Shipyards. I then went to Chrysler Fenton,Mo. "Retired"
What years were you there? My grandfather Robert (Bob) Niemann worked there from 1940 to 1976.
Classic...Thank you.. !
Thanks for posting this!! I'm watching this from an 8k horsepower towboat on the river. Not much has changed in 60-plus years.
Twin or triple screw?
@@torquetrain8963 Twin. She's got a pair of 16-710 EMD'S swinging 113"x113" wheels.
I used to work for Inland Marine Sevice back in the early 2000s we ran two vessels with two engines each turbo 16-645 E3A and then a few with normally aspirated roots blown 16-645E . All were twin screws. Non turbo was about 3600 hp(1800 hp each) and 5600 for the turbos(2800 hp each). I would have loved to have seen the towboats on some other lines that ran the alco 251 4 cycle prime movers.
I like the smoke belching that alcos do because of the turbo lag timing. It's pretty awesome, not to mention the chugging sounds.
Those old quadruple screws, the United States, the America, the lachlan mcleay, and the missouri, were fascinating boats..
I believe some quad screw towboats are being used on the Orinoco river in South America in the greater Amazon River system today.
@torquetrain8963 just the old Dan c. Burnett, the missouri burned up, the America and the United States, are in the United States, out of service for years
@@challenger70fanI know that the United States became a Wharf boat at the end of her life. Which is a floating office boat. That had her name changed to the Al Paneer and was docked at Cairo IL back in 1990. As of right now that is no longer due to it age.
I remember the paneer. Worked for cgb as lead man when I was not on my regular boat for artco
I really enjoyed this short film! Thanks so much for sharing
Name dropping the Queen Elizabeth. Nice.
I dedicate this film to my Uncle Ernest. He worked the River his entire life. R.I.P.
Very interesting video. Thank you for uploading and sharing!! 😊
Love the tows and barges!
This is deja vu for me because when i was stationed in South Korea,01/1969 - 02/1970, in the u.s. army, i was part of a terminal service transportation battalion consisting of 2 permanently docked barges in the Pusan harbor, one of which i lived on for 13 months, which beat living in the Quonset huts, My first week or so living on the barge, i thought my equilibrium was messed up until realizing it was the tide slowing moving in and out.😂
6 on and 6 off sounds much more appealing than working 12 hour shifts. I see why they did it. I'm sure people were much more productive working the 6's.
I’ve worked both and much prefer 12 on 12 off to 6 hour watches. By the time you eat take a shower do your laundry ect. Your lucky to get 3 hours of sleep. You can forget about watching a move or any other recreation working 6 hour watches. 12 hour watches are so much better especially if your onboard for 30 or more days. For some reason most people like the 6 hour watches these days.
@@Trump985 good points there.
I worked 6/6 and 12 straight. 12 was better
Pretty sure some of those old boats are still going with modern upgrades
I big board w tags on it. A system that took years to perfect.
Any old timers out there know of any towboats that ran the Baldwin 608SC engines? Thanks.
I wonder where all the tow boats are now.
On or under the river. Have u seen condition of lots of these barges? Surprised tows don't get pulled under more often.
I think you’d be surprised how much material still moves down river via tow boat. However rusty they may be
Are you referring to the motor vessels America and United States specifically, or just towboats in general?
Bill Curtis
The united states come out in 1958, the America come out in 1960, this looks like early 60s footage!!
Just wondering if United States and America had superchargers or turbos pretty sure they didn't have turbos at that time and I might be wrong
Big low rev engines. I've heard they were either Cooper Bessemer or Superior . Not sure if they were turbocharged.
The Alco 251 engine was approved for manufacture in Feb. 1951. It was a turbo-charged and after cooled engine. I know many boats built in the 60’s through early 80’s had those engines.
The video I watched before this one, I've just come from, it was one of those audit the police/police transparency type jobs.
And I'm halfway expecting someone to tell these barges they have the right to film them, and ask for their barge number, before saying they're violating our constitutional rights somehow!!
Seen the old dan c. Burnett, it was the lachlan mccleay in federal yellow colors..