USS Peosta

[JPK Huson 1863]

With apologies, tmh, I couldn't get the links on your April converted steamship 'tinclad' post to open, either, and found a photo of the Peosta while poking around. I swiped the description, hope it's ok. The converted steamers just look amazing to me- as the description says 'less glamorous'. I'd love to know how a ship accidently becomes burned at her dock, however!


USS Peosta: Tinclad Gunboat #36

This 233-ton steamer, her lower deck armored with ½" iron plate and bristling with cannon, was one of the less glamorous warriors of the Civil War backwaters. Built in 1857 as a merchant vessel, she was acquired by Adm. Porter in 1861 for patrol duty on the Tennessee River, based out of Paducah, Kentucky, where she spent the entire war. Commissioned in late 1863 after a lengthy conversion, she was 151'2" long with a 34'3' beam and drew 6' when deeply laden. Her armament included (3) 30-pdr Parrot rifles, (2) 32-pounder SB, (6) 24-pounder howitzers, and (2) 12-pounder SB. Her moment of truth came on March 25, 1864 when her guns spoke to help stop a Confederate advance on Paducah. In this operation, Fortune smiled upon the North. Decommissioned in Aug. 1865, Peosta returned to civilian duty until she was accidentally burned at her Memphis dock on Christmas Day, 1870.​

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[reading48]

Looks big and bulky, and probably hard to navagate

 

[AndyHall]

Way's Packet Directory has her being dismantled after her return to civilian life and used as a wharf boat (i.e, a floating warehouse) at Memphis. This likely happened around 1868, when she drops off the registry. Makes sense, as she would have been a decade old then, quite long in the tooth for a river steamer and probably just about worn out. Being turned into a wharf boat or barge was a common fate of old river steamers.

 

[BillO]

Looks big and bulky, and probably hard to navigate

IMO she is a lovely and well found mature lady. A relative shallow draft for her length and sidewheels would make her pretty maneuverable although her length might be an issue.

 

[FourLeafClover]

. I'd love to know how a ship accidently becomes burned at her dock, however!

Could depend on what is in the hold. Some goods can be extremely flammable.
Mary Celeste left US shores carrying 1700 barrels of American alcohol. Some say smoke from the hold may have panicked the crew into abandoning ship in a hurry. Others say the cargo, being unloaded by salvage crew at Gibraltar. Found to have nine empty barrels of liquor, might be another explanation!!!

 

[AndyHall]

Wharf boat at Cairo, Illinois in 1864, via LoC:

The wharf boat built over Peosta's hull would probably have been smaller, but similar. No longer a ship except in the sense that it's floating.

For rivet-counters only, note the hogging chain running over the braces and over the roof ridge of the center section of the structure.

 

[AndyHall]

Peosta seems to have been running a regular service of four round trips daily between Memphis and Mound City, Arkansas, by which she was advertised as a "ferry packet." From the Memphis Daily Appeal, August 13, 1867:

Expired Image Removed

In July 1868 she was sold at a receiver's sale. From the Memphis Daily Appeal, July 9, 1868:

Expired Image Removed

She continued running between Memphis and Mound City at least into November 1868, still under Captain Mark R. Cheek.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Ah ha! I'd come across that photo of a 'wharfboat' previously- was unsurprisingly clueless as to what it meant. Like what they turn modern 'houseboats' into- not intended to move. ( Someone with entirely too much money on their hands installed an actual basement. A real one. Dug down through the harbour via installation of some highly engineered tube- gave himself a houseboat-basement. ) Just ran into an article on a retired ferry someone is living in, in NY harbour they've renovated just enough to live in, say the main problem is water.... . Seems like a charming idea until one considers that eventually a Hurricane Sandy IS going to arrive. I take it the main idea of a wharfboat would have been I suppose storage- warehousing, or offices, or even dormitories for workers?

Still. I think I'd have a shot at living in her given the chance. Amazing to see the transformation on these ships. The only thing which would have looked familiar to someone who knows very little about ships is the smokestacks there- you have to imagine where everything was around them.

Loving the empty alcohol kegs on Mary Celeste. They COULD have evaporated en-route, alcohol having the chemical properties it does.

Thanks for all this information- nice to fill in the blanks on Peosta.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

That photo of the Peosta is sometimes mis-identified as the Cricket; an odd mistake, as the Cricket was a sternwheeler and this is quite obviously a sidewheeler.

This is one of my favorite "tinclad" photos, and is a good one to point out some of the alterations that were made to turn a packet into a tinclad: the "texas" and (usually somewhat ornate) civilian pilothouse were removed, and a plain (but better-protected) 'military' pilothouse installed in their place; and, quite obviously, the open main cargo deck was enclosed in a wooden casemate faced with thin iron plates and pierced with gun-ports (and in some cases, rifle loopholes). Armament carried was usually field-artillery class, 12 and 24 pounder howitzers, though most boats also had a heavier piece or two (usually 32-pounders).

 

[AndyHall]

Ah ha! I'd come across that photo of a 'wharfboat' previously- was unsurprisingly clueless as to what it meant. Like what they turn modern 'houseboats' into- not intended to move. . . .

Amazing to see the transformation on these ships. The only thing which would have looked familiar to someone who knows very little about ships is the smokestacks there- you have to imagine where everything was around them.

Although the chimneys (smokestacks) in that photo belong to regular steamboats on the other side of the wharf boat.

The wharf boat was simply a floating warehouse, the idea being to have an artificial wharf where boats could land and transfer cargo and passengers quickly, without having to muck around with narrow landing stages, muddy riverbanks, etc.

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

Oh noooo, that's hysterical! So much for looking at these things well!! TOO funny. But thank you- honestly just looked like they'd renovated the darn thing and left those, or wishfull thinking, since it would have looked more ship-like.

Rats.