Abstract DEFINING EASTERN NORTH
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Abstract DEFINING EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA UPRIVER STEAMBOATS THROUGH TAR RIVER ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY by ELIZABETH WYLLIE APRIL, 2012 Director: BRADLEY A. RODGERS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY This thesis will identify the salient features of North Carolina upriver steamboats and their relationships to steamboats from a variety of regions in the United States in an effort to understand the means by which people adapted and reinvented the steamboat for an array of different environments. Upriver steamboats on the Tar River in eastern North Carolina were an amalgamation of available inland marine technology designed, borrowed, and adapted to allow steamboat service despite navigational hazards and low water. The Tar River had a commercial history that paralleled other southeastern waterways, and, therefore, it is an appropriate case study of navigation on an upriver transport zone in the southeastern United States. DEFINING EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA UPRIVER STEAMBOATS THROUGH TAR RIVER ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY A Thesis Presented To The Faculty of the Department of History East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History by Elizabeth Wyllie April 2012 ©Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Wyllie DEFINING EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA UPRIVER STEAMBOATS THROUGH TAR RIVER ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY by Elizabeth Wyllie APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF THESIS: ________________________________________________________ Bradley Rodgers, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: _______________________________________________________ David Stewart, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: _______________________________________________________ Wade Dudley, PhD COMMITTEE MEMBER: _______________________________________________________ Annalies Corbin, PhD CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY ________________________________________________________ Gerald Prokopowicz, PhD DEAN OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL: ________________________________________________________ Paul J. Gemperline, PhD TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2: THEORY AND METHODOLOGY.................................................................. 8 Theoretical Framework........................................................................................... 8 Research Methodology........................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 3: STEAM POWER AND ITS APPLICATION TO INLAND NAVIGATION.. 24 Early Applications of Steam Power........................................................................ 25 Steam Navigation Pioneers..................................................................................... 32 The Development of Regional Steamboat Designs................................................ 44 CHAPTER 4: TAR RIVER HISTORY AND NAVIGATION................................................ 56 River Statistics and Early Settlements on the Tar River......................................... 57 Commercial Activity and the Tar River.................................................................. 65 Tar River Conditions and Internal Improvements................................................... 74 The Antebellum Tar River Steamboat Industry...................................................... 79 The Civil War and the Tar River............................................................................. 85 The Postbellum Tar River Steamboat Industry....................................................... 89 CHAPTER 5: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION...................................... 106 Archaeological Examples of Upriver Steamboats................................................... 107 Upriver Steamboat Analysis.................................................................................... 113 Comparative Analysis.............................................................................................. 122 Conclusion............................................................................................................... 131 Future Studies.......................................................................................................... 136 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 141 APPENDIX A: TAR RIVER STEAMBOAT SPECIFICS........................................................ 155 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: Antebellum Tar River Steamboat Measurements.................................................... 114 TABLE 2: Postbellum Tar River Steamboat Measurements..................................................... 115 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: Steam powered toy aeolipile................................................................................... 25 FIGURE 2: Worcester engine in the Wall of Raglan Castle...................................................... 27 FIGURE 3: Model of the first engine designed by Thomas Savery........................................... 28 FIGURE 4: Engine built by Dennys Papin................................................................................. 29 FIGURE 5: Atmospheric engine invented by Thomas Newcomen............................................ 29 FIGURE 6: James Watt’s 1774 engine....................................................................................... 31 FIGURE 7: Oruktor Amphibolis ................................................................................................ 36 FIGURE 8: North River Steamboat Claremont.......................................................................... 38 FIGURE 9: Map of the Great Lakes........................................................................................... 39 FIGURE 10: Map of the major river systems in the United States............................................ 41 FIGURE 11: Model of Buckeye State......................................................................................... 47 FIGURE 12: Bow and stern views of Indiana........................................................................... 48 FIGURE 13: Model of a double hogging truss........................................................................... 49 FIGURE 14: Model of J. M. White............................................................................................. 50 FIGURE 15: Mountain steamers Benton, Western, Far West, and Nellie Peck......................... 52 FIGURE 16: Map of the Tar-Pamlico River flood inundation area............................................ 57 FIGURE 17: Google Earth image of important Tar River communities and channels............... 58 FIGURE 18: Photograph of replica periaguer............................................................................. 68 FIGURE 19: Advertisement for Amidas..................................................................................... 83 FIGURE 20: Steamer Escort running the rebel batteries near Washington, North Carolina...... 88 FIGURE 21: Photograph of workers at the Old Dominion Steamship Company wharf.......... 90 FIGURE 22: Advertisement for North East.............................................................................. 92 FIGURE 23: Captain Alpheus W. Styron………………......................................................... 93 FIGURE 24: Photograph of upriver steamboat believed to be Greenville................................ 96 FIGURE 25: Photograph of passengers waiting to board upriver steamboat R. L. Myers (II). 99 FIGURE 26: Photograph of Shiloh Oil Mills of Tarboro Oil Company................................... 100 FIGURE 27: Photograph of upriver steamboat Shiloh on the Tar River................................... 101 FIGURE 28: Photograph of upriver steamboat Shiloh at Washington...................................... 102 FIGURE 29: Photograph of upriver steamboat Shiloh at Tarboro............................................. 102 FIGURE 30: Photograph of upriver steamboats Shiloh and Tarboro (II) at Tarboro................ 102 FIGURE 31: Photograph of Tarboro (II) under construction.................................................... 103 FIGURE 32: Photograph of Tarboro (II)................................................................................... 104 FIGURE 33: Master plan of the Castle Island Ships’ Graveyard.............................................. 108 FIGURE 34: Plan view site map of Castle Island Vessel 4....................................................... 110 FIGURE 35: Old Sparta Vessel wreck site superimposed on 1903 Edgecombe County map.. 111 FIGURE 36: Plan view site map of the Old Sparta Vessel....................................................... 111 FIGURE 37: Photograph of upriver steamboat R. L. Myers (II)............................................... 117 FIGURE 38: Upriver steamboat, believed to be Tarboro (II) under construction.................... 118 FIGURE 39: Photograph of R. L. Myers (II) at Tar River landing............................................ 120 FIGURE 40: Photograph of Tarboro (II)................................................................................... 121 FIGURE 41: Photograph of Black River upriver steamboat Thelma......................................... 125 FIGURE 42: Photographs of sound