Terminology

From Fresh Water; Stan Rogers

I started work on the Delta Queen in January of 1997. Quarters were a little cramped compared to my cruise ship lodgings. But I had my own room with a bed, a shelf and a sink. I lived, literally, thirty seconds away from my post at the piano; out the door, up the stairs, through the pantry, into the dining room and onto the piano bench.

During my precious time off, you could usually find me in one of three places: my room with my ghetto blaster, CD’s and a book, on the bow, or pointy end, of the boat with my discman, CD’s and a book, or at the stern, or blunt end, of the boat with my discman, CD’s and a book. While hanging out where the deck crew, first mate and second mate congregate, I got to know some of the procedures and terminology used over the course of everyday paddleboat navigation.

Sometimes the captain didn’t want the boat to come into town until a specific time. If he projected an ETA that was too early, he would pull over to the side of the river, the shore, as it were, and tie up to a tree for a few hours. They call that maneuver “chokin’ a stump”.

In the spring, when the river is typically swollen, it may surprise you to know that the river flows faster in the middle than it does near the shore. A river vessel going upstream can make better time navigating the shallower waters. The shores of the southern portions of the Mississippi River are cloaked with willow trees, who like to measure the depths of the water highway with their stringy limbs. Subsequently, when the boats hug the shore closer than usual, they call that maneuver “running the willies”.

On his CD “From Fresh Water”, Stan Rogers sings a tune that references a phenomenon called a “white squall”, a sudden and violent windstorm event that has received the blame for numerous deaths and capsizings in the history of seamanship. They are rare at sea, but common on the Great Lakes. In Rogers’ song of the same name, the ship loses a young member of the crew to a white squall. During the chorus, the narrator sings:

But I told that kid a hundred times, “Don’t take the Lakes for granted.

They go from calm to a hundred knots so fast they seem enchanted.”

But tonight some red-eyed Wharton girl lies staring at the wall,

And her lover’s gone into a white squall.

Folk song singer Stan Rogers had intentions to record one album with songs about the Atlantic Ocean, one album with songs about fresh water lakes and one album with songs about the Pacific Ocean. Of course, this is the second album. Certain aspects of the production of this album date it. There are times when the music played on this album personifies the production values of the early 1980’s. But I enjoy this CD for the craftsmanship of the music, words and sentiments.

Today, I drove over the Illinois River south of Peoria, Illinois, and over the Mississippi River straddling the Quad Cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Yesterday I crossed the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. I played the calliope on the Delta Queen in all of these places. Those were great days.

Credits: To the deck crew of the Delta Queen, who kept me in the know of how to handle a paddlewheeler. Thanks for the lessons.