[Ted Davisson]

Greetings From New Orleans !
I have often wondered if the early steamers that roamed the Western Rivers were ever equiped with a compass ? I recently pruchased an antique Binacle that I believe came off an ancient sloop or sailing vessel and it started me thinking if the steamboats of old were equiped with a compass ?
I know for certain that the Str. Delta Queen had one and I believe it now resides in the museum in Marietta but I was told that it was a gift to Earnie Lee , Capt. Wagner's son and it really did not serve a purpose other than to entertain the passengers during the Pilot House tours .
Now you may think like many have before you why would a river steamer have a compass especially if she operated on a river or for that matter any other cofined body of water and the vessel's heading was not really an important issue with its overall navigation . This is true but one other important feature that a compass would provide , especially in the day before any type of electronic navigation gear , would be to indicate to the Pilot if his vessel ewas turning to either port or starb'd during times of limited visibility .
It has also recently come to my attention that years ago there were passenger steamers that crossed Lake Poncehtrain on daily excursions from New Orleans to Mandeville , La. on the north shore of the lake and in all likelyhood they were equiped with compasses due to the fact that the lake is twenty four miles across and with no prominent land masses to steer by .
So just possibly the areas that the early steamers navigated on also had some thing to do with wheather or not they were equiped with a compass or not ?
Food for thought ??
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson