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NavSource Online: Army Ship Photo Archive

USED Towboat Suter

Sternwheel Towboat:
  • Built in 1928 by the US Army Engineers, at Gasconade, MO.
  • Launched in 1928
  • Delivered to the US Army Engineers, 1n 1928
  • Christened and and put into service as USED Towboat Suter in 1928
  • Assigned to the US Army Engineers Kansas City District
  • Retired from Army service in 1952
  • Sold at Public Auction, 7 February 1952, to CAPT. I.W. Menke for $8,302.77.
  • Renamed Chaperon, moved to St. Louis to provide steam an electrical power for Menke's showboat Goldenrod from 1952 to 1954
  • In 1954 Chaperon was sold to Oil Transport Co., which took it to North Bend, OH., to serve as a steam plant for a dock there. The boat soon sank and was raised
  • Johnston Party Boats, Cincinnati, OH. purchased the hull after it was raised, and rebuilt it into an excursion barge that was appropriately named Chaperon
  • Pushed by the towboat F.H. Johnson the barge served for many years in the Cincinnati area
  • Sold, along with her towboat, in 1984 to BB Riverboats, Covington, Ky., renamed BB Funliner and the towboat Capt. Ben
  • BB Funliner received a new hull at Jeffboat, Jeffersonville IN in 1985-86.
  • In 2000, the pair were again sold and went to Memphis, with the barge being renamed City of Memphis and the towboat renamed Capt. J.T. Meanly.
  • In 2017 Meanly was known to be out of service, with no mention of the excursion barge.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 298 t.
    Length 159'
    Beam 30'
    Hull Depth 5'
    Draft unknown
    Speed unknown
    Crew unknown
    Fuel Oil Capacity unknown
    Potable Water unknown
    Propulsion
    one Shelton condensing engine 12’s,24’s-6 ft. stroke
    one oil fired water tube boiler
    sternwheel
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USED Towboat Suter
    Suter
    30303901    		 139k USED Towboat Suter moored, date and location unknown
    Dave Thomson Collection at Steamboats.com    		 John Spivey
    Suter
    30303902    		 59k USED Towboat Suter underway date and location unknown
    University of Wisconsin-Madison LaCrosse Steamboat Collection    		 John Spivey
    Merchant Service
    Suter
    30303903    		 714k Postcard photo of the excursion barge Chaperon (ex-USED Towboate Suter), being pushed by her tug F.H. Johnson on the Ohio River, circa 1954-1984.
    David Smith Collection, Waterways Jounal    		 John Spivey
    There is no history available for USED Towboat Suter at NavSource
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 19 May 2023