[Judy Patsch]

This was an unusual visit to NOLA, with the historic MQ situation taking up much of my time. In fact between driving over to her dock 4 times, to Ruby Reds, and to Bayou Barriere Golf Course, I spent more time on the Westbank than in the city, I think. The NATCHEZ looks great, as always. Her newly reworked starboard machinery is functioning efficiently, and best of all, her decks have been full of passengers. This is of course spring break time, but that hasn't necessarily translated into big crowds the last couple of years, but it has this year. She is running all 3 trips 7 days a week, like the old days. The river is high, 12.6 when I left, and we haven't contributed all our snow melt yet. They were anticipating it cresting at about 14 feet this time, with 17 being the 'flood' level. Doc once said that the boils and eddys were the worst at about 13 feet, and the muddy Miss was certainly churning this week. Add 20+mph breezes and the living wasn't always easy in the pilothouse. The usual suspects were on duty: Capt. Steve Nicoulin, Master; Capt. Don Houghton, alternate master/pilot/golf partner; Capt. Troy C. Delaney, pilot/golf partner. Bobby Heyn and young Steven Nicoulin were Mates, while Scotty Vieages Sr. was Chief Engineer. Many people probably don't realize that Scotty was one of the Bergeron Shipyard workers who built the boat, so there isn't a soul who knows her better. Scotty was instrumental in convincing the CG to allow us to remove the bulkhead in the dining room in the late 1980s. Capts. Robbie Mitchell and Steve Villier, formerly of the BJL/JJA, hold forth as Watchmen/Narrators. The Dukes of Dixieland play the dinner cruise and Duke Heitger plays piano on the daytime trips. The number of deckhands decreases while the entourage in food and beverage increases. Its hard to believe that in my dining room days we managed with 4 servers and a runner on day trips, and perhaps 6 and 1 for dinner trips! Of course we didn't have the elegant china settings - but we did serve good old Southern food, not macaroni and cheese and baked beans, aka red beans without rice. And it doesn't seem the same without Edna, Iola, and Geneva, but time marches on... The gift shop has gotten more NATCHEZ-specific items, and at excursion passenger prices (we've still got a couple of hatpins left over from Tall Stacks). The roof is still a wonderful place to sit, relax, watch the river activity, and get a painful sunburn. In short, this was another great visit with the NATCHEZ and her crew. I only hope that someday you .orgers who haven't had the privilege of riding this beautiful steamboat and meeting her crew will get that chance. So, until my next southern sojourn in a few months, here are some NATCHEZ pix:
1) speaking of piston rings, my 2 new legally acquired artifacts, thanks to Chief Scotty: the larger is the low pressure valve piston ring, the smaller in two pieces the high pressure valve piston ring.
2) The NATCHEZ at Toulouse St., river stage 12.5 feet
3) the view from my rooftop seat as the city skyline fades in the distance. The floodlight illuminates the pilothouse at the dock. The life rafts used to be on the Main Deck, accessible to passengers, but they've been on the roof for many years now because the CG feared they might float away on the lower deck. This way they won't escape until the whole boat is under... The flags from left to right: old French, city of N.O., US stern, Louisiana state, old Spanish Castille y Leon. There are 2 US flags out of the picture. The steam line goes back to the calliope, which is visible in the distance.