[ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]

Packet Boat 'Potosi' 1912

POTOSI, KIMBALL REVENNA

Posted By: cheryl Locher moonen (email)
Date: 9/3/2019 at 12:15:24

The packet boat Potosi, constructed in 1893 in Dubuque and rebuilt in 1905, had a most unusual voyage in 1912. While ferrying about 100 passengers north from Dubuque’s Eagle Point in afternoon, the boat was caught in a violent but brief storm. After the weather cleared, it ventured further, to the Maquoketa Chute, where the Maquoketa River feeds into the Mississippi River. There, crew and passengers alike were startled to see 17 men “standing” in the middle of the channel. They were not ghosts but survivors of the Revenna, which had just been picked up by a tornado and dropped – smokestacks down - into the water. The men were standing on the ship’s hull. After taking aboard the survivors - three perished aboard the Revenna – and clearing the wreck, the Potosi continued. Soon after, Capt. George Kimball discovered his fireman in the engine room, dead of an apparent heartache. That development caused a passenger to go into panic that unnerved the already unsettled passengers. Calm was restored and there were no more incidents. The Potosi was sold to the city of St. Charles, Mo, and then to the Louisiana Lumber Firm. The vehicle sunk in 1917.

Dubuque-Birthplace of Iowa Vol 111


 

Dubuque Biographies maintained by Brenda White.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen

[ Return to Index ] [ Read Prev Msg ] [ Read Next Msg ]