''Gordon C. Greene'' was a

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

, launched in 1923, that operated under several names before sinking in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

in 1967.

Ship history

The ship was built by the Howard Ship Yards & Dock Company (now

Jeffboat Jeffboat was a shipyard in Jeffersonville, Indiana founded by James Howard in 1834, a builder of steamboats. The company was owned by the Howard family until it was sold leading up to World War II. Following the war, it became known as the Jef ...

) at

Jeffersonville, Indiana Jeffersonville is a city and the county seat of Clark County, Indiana, Clark County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It lies directly across the Ohio Riv ...

, for the Eagle Packet Company as the ''Cape Girardeau''. She was engaged in the

packet trade Generally, packet trade is any regularly scheduled cargo, passenger and mail trade conducted by boat or ship. The boats or ships are called " packet boats or packet ships" as their original function was to carry mail. A "packet ship" was originall ...

, initially carrying passengers and freight between

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, with annual trips to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

for

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

. In 1935 she was sold to

Greene Line The Greene Line was a line of river steamships along the Ohio River. The name was changed in 1973 to Delta Queen Steamboat Company. History The company was started in 1890 by Gordon C. Greene with Henry K. Bedford. When Gordon died in 1927 his s ...

for $50,000, and renamed ''Gordon C. Greene'', after the founder of the company, to operate as a tourist boat on the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

between

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and Cincinnati, while still often making her annual trips to New Orleans. In 1936 her Captain, Thomas Rea Greene, Thomas R. Greene added an extra "sun deck", increasing the number of passenger cabins, and she was later converted from coal to oil fuel. However, as time went on the boat suffered a series of mechanical breakdowns and was eventually withdrawn from service in 1951. In 1952 she was sold, and then passed through a series of owners, none of whom seemed able to make her a profitable concern. First, under the name ''Sara Lee'', she was converted to a floating hotel at Portsmouth, Ohio. Soon afterwards she was renamed ''River Queen'' to serve as a floating restaurant at Owensboro, Kentucky, and was later fitted out as a tourist attraction at Bradenton, Florida. In 1954 her boilers were removed and were fitted into the steamboat ''Avalon'' (now the ''Belle of Louisville''). In 1960 she was towed to

to be converted to a night club, but was soon at Hannibal, Missouri, serving as a restaurant. In 1964 she was sold for the last time, and was based at

as a bar and restaurant. There, on the morning of 3 December 1967, the ''River Queen'' sank at her moorings.

Filmography

The ship appeared in several films. * ''Steamboat Round the Bend'' (1935) * ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939) * ''The Kentuckian (1955 film), The Kentuckian'' (1955)

References

External links

* * * * {{cite web , url=http://www.remarkableohio.org/HistoricalMarker.aspx?historicalMarkerId=629 , title=Marker #10-84 Captain Gordon C. Greene / Captain Mary Becker Greene , work=Remarkable Ohio , year=2013 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719040351/http://www.remarkableohio.org/HistoricalMarker.aspx?historicalMarkerId=629 , archivedate=2011-07-19 1923 ships Ships built in Jeffersonville, Indiana Paddle steamers of the United States Delta Queen Steamboat Company