In 1916 Howards built a self propelled barge called the INCO and it was equipped with radio. Capt. G.W.McBride told me about the radio operators they had on low river towboats during WWll. He said that after sitting so much in the pilothouse they got to know the river like the back of their hands. After the war many of them sat for pilots license and were given one. They knew the river but couldn't handle a tow. George said one of his first jobs after the war was on the lower Miss. He didn't have a license there but he could steer a big tow down the river, so he would do the handling while the newly licensed, ex-radio operator, would sit and watch.
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