Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008 - (Page 40)

the sturdiest of mariners. The sad case of the barge Lark, which left Cincinnati with a cargo of flour at the end of May in 1805 illustrates some of the hazards of bringing a commodity down the river in the springtime. With John Perry as master, the barge proceeded down the Ohio until it reached the Falls, where the water was unremittingly low. So the crew unloaded the cargo and carried it around the falls by land. During the transfer the barrels got wet and muddy, some of the heads popped out, and the hoops fell off. A few days later the Lark got underway again, but on the 13th of June, she went aground at Lady Wilhamous Rock and stayed stuck for over three hours. On the 17th the Lark went aground again at Diamond Island and had to unload on a very muddy landing. There was nothing else to do but transfer the barrels to a canoe, float them downstream to deeper water and reload. In the transfer the barrel heads popped again and the crew lost a precious day and a half. A week later the barge ran aground again on Tread Water Bar and the crew had to unload nearly 200 barrels. Needless to say it rained, the barrels got muddy and wet, the barrel heads popped ,and the flour and meal were further damaged. Three days later they grounded again at Round Top Island, where they were caught in rain and had to buy a boat to once again lighten the load. The crew transferred some 80 barrels into the smaller boat, but still ran aground at New Madrid “the water being so low [we] could not proceed on with the barge fully loaded, as even lightened she touched the bottom several times.” Meanwhile it rained every day for a week. With relief, on July 14 the Lark finally cleared the Ohio and floated out onto the broad Mississippi, only to ground at Black Island where they remained stuck for nearly 10 hours. Every place they unloaded, the roof of the barge got knocked asunder, and when it rained the barrel heads swelled and popped. Then when the sun came out and dried the barrels, the planks would split. The crew spread the sail out over the cargo, but four or five days above Natchez the telltale evidence of mildew began to appear as the barrels turned black. It was July 28 before the Lark made New Orleans and John Perry could get to notary Narcisse Broutin’s office. “Ever’ exertion was made by the crew to keep the cargo 40 LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES\Fall 2008 from getting damaged,” he pleaded. “But which they could not prevent from the great quantity of rain that fell during the whole voyage and the barrels exposed in the weather every time we went aground, which could not possibly be prevented, the River Ohio being so very low.” Still “no damage happened to any part of the cargo from leakage in the barge as she kept tight and strong during the whole passage,” and therefore “no fault should be imputed to us.” At the end of the story John Perry and his men made their X’s, whereupon the notary, at their request, did solemnly protest “as well against the lowness of the River and getting aground, damage done to the Flour & Meal by the unloading and bad weather, as against all other persons whom it shall doth or may concern for all losses costs charges damaged delays and injuries.” So did the intrepid mariners get paid for their harrowing journey? Did the flour so carefully grown, harvested, and packed in the fertile Ohio Valley and consigned to Mr. Watson in New Orleans end up moldy and ruined? Did the shipper take the losses? Well, according to another act, Watson examined the cargo and, no surprise, found it damaged. He called in his underwriters, who concurred with his judgment. They noted that the allowance was 50 percent on flour and 75 percent on meal. They recommended that the cargo be sold by public auction “for account of whom they may concern.” For all of its troubles, at least the Lark made it to New Orleans. That same summer in 1805, two flatboats, the Felix and the Pompey No. 4 were not so lucky. The Felix ran over a snag opposite French Island on the Ohio in the midst of fine calm weather and sank; and the Pompey sank after hitting a planter about 40 miles above the Arkansas. The Felix lost “24 hogsheads of first rate crop tobaccy and 57 barrels of corn meal, neverstanding ever’ exertion was made by her crew to save her.” The Pompey’s crew also tried to save their cargo of tobacco, but came to a bad finish in a bend “where the current was strong and a great many sawyers and planters were visible on the starboard shore.” The boat “struck on a planter and sprung a leak on the larboard bow” while the pilot remained below in a companion boat all day asleep and “it is believed, somewhat intoxicated.” OBSTACLES OF EVERY VARIETY THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION The flatboat’s successor was the keelboat, a roundhulled vessel built around a central large beam.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008 Contents Friends Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities New Orleans Immortelle The Historic New Orleans Collection Highland-Fairfield: The Historic Heart of Shreveport The Ogden Museum of Southern Art Perils of the Mississippi River Louisiana Foodways Harvest of Life King Oliver: The Forgotten King of Jazz Louisiana Architecture Jazz Notes Louisiana State Museum Eye of the Storm Louisiana Association of Museums Soul Resin Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2008

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