Ancient Vessels
Tall Ships
Pirate Ships
Sailboats
Riverboats
Classic Boats
Classic Yachts
Modern Yachts
Ocean Liners   
Cruise Ships   
Merchantmen
Exploration
Tugboats
Civil War
Spanish War
Warships
Aircraft Carriers
Coast Guard
Metal Models
Submarines
Other Types
Large Models
Small  Models
Unique Gifts
Display cases
Repair Service
Special Models
Remote Control
COMMISSIONING

   website security

View Cart
About Us
Why Us
Contact Us
Work Opportunity
Shipping
Guarantee

Feedback

News


   256-bit encryption
 $500,000 protection

    
 

 


NATCHEZ
steamboat model

The Natchez was built in 1869 in Cincinnati. She was 301 feet long, had eight boilers and a capacity of 5,500 cotton bales. In her ​9 1⁄2-year service, she made 401 trips without a single deadly accident. Natchez became famous as the participant against another Mississippi paddle steamer, the Robert E. Lee, in a race from New Orleans to St. Louis in June 1870, immortalized in a lithograph by Currier and Ives. The Natchez had beaten the previous speed record, that of the J. M. White in 1844. Stripped down, carrying no cargo, steaming on through fog and making only one stop, the Robert E. Lee won the race in 3 days, 18 hours and 14 minutes. By contrast, the Natchez carried her normal load and stopped as normal, tying up overnight when fog was encountered. Despite this she berthed only six hours later. One way Leathers tried to speed up his boat was giving all of his workers whiskey. When Leathers finally dismantled the boat in Cincinnati in 1879.

 

New Orleans, Louisiana, July 1, 1870: Both steamboats—the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez—promote themselves as “the fastest steamboat on America’s rivers.” Even though neither boat has ever lost a race, one of them is wrong. And, the day of reckoning has arrived.

At 5:00, yesterday afternoon, just off the New Orleans docks, a brief silence of anticipation filled the air. Each proud steamboat idled side by side, poised and ready. The starting pistol shot rang out. Silence vanished. Boat whistles blew. The paddle wheels churned. Passengers on both boats cheered and clapped. Thousands of spectators lining the banks of the Mississippi began whooping, shouting, dancing, and jumping. The noise of excitement crushed normal conversation, as the race of the century was on. The din dimmed only as the boats disappeared around the first bend.

 

Over the next few days, thousands of more spectators will be in every river port and thousands more on levees between those ports, both night and day, as the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee speed their way along the 1200 miles of the twisting, treacherous Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis.

Newspapers across the United States and all across Europe have been promoting this race for at least six months, now. It is the most anticipated race in history. Citizens on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are placing bets on the race at unprecedented levels. Some are speculating that $2 to $3 million dollars will be bet on this race (using relative share of Gross Domestic Product that is $3.7 billion today).

Part of this gambling frenzy, no doubt, has to do with the well known rivalry and intense personal animosity between each of the boat’s captains—John W. Cannon of the Lee and Thomas P. Leathers of the Natchez. They have cursed each other and made fun of one another in public and private for years. Everyone on the river knows, these two captains hate each other.

But, this race is not merely about sport, gambling, and “getting even”. It’s also about testing and improving boats. The speed of a steamboat is an important asset in making money. Customers who ship their goods to market want a fast boat. Passengers want to arrive at their destinations quicker. Therefore, all boat owners are doing everything in their power to improve the speed and safety of steamboats.

So, even though this race is exceptional, steamboat races are frequent occurrences on the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Ohio Rivers. All too often, though, they end in disaster because boat boilers are pushed to the point of exploding. The Forest Rose blew up when it was racing the York Town back in 1857 on the Ohio. Two killed and dozens injured. Earlier that same year, the Ben Sherrod steamboat was racing the Prairie on the Mississippi, just below Natchez. A boiler blew on the Sherrod and the resulting fire killed 150 people. There have been many more such disasters on our rivers over the past 60 years of steamboat travel.

Hopefully, this current historic steamboat race– begun right here Friday afternoon– will end with no such disasters, as the boilers on both the Lee and the Natchez are stoked to the limit in the quest for knowledge, speed, money, and victory.

The Great Mississippi Steamboat Race

There were a few close calls in the steamboat “Race of the Century” but no disasters. Both boats finished the race intact.
At about 10:00AM on July 4, 1870, thousands of spectators stood by in St. Louis, gazing down river, waiting for the winner. Three days and 18 hours into the race, church bells rang, cannons roared, train whistles blew, and the waiting crowd in St. Louis cheered and yelled, “It’s the Robert E. Lee!”

Captain Cannon and the Lee were the clear winners. Then, six hours and 36 minutes later, Captain Leathers and the Natchez moved across the finish line to an equally rousing reception. Both the winner and the loser and all of St. Louis partied all day and well into the night on that unusually raucous Fourth of July in the summer of 1870.

Written by Judd Hambrick, published on Southern Memories on August 11, 2011.
 

This primarily wood Natchez riverboat model features:

- Superior hollow hull, hollow hull construction

- Hollow superstructure is comprised of many individual thin pieces of wood glued together, not several solid pieces of wood stacking on top one another

- Windows are cutouts (not black decals nor painted indentation.) They are clean, uniform, and aligned.

 38"L x 11"W x 17" T
  $3,475 Shipping and insurance in the contiguous USA included. Other places: $300 flat rate.

Lighting feature is included. A boat without beautiful lighting is not a riverboat. LED light powered by standard 9v battery for your convenience. Our model has realistic and beautiful lighting. Cheap model makers can never keep up our with genuine artistic design and engineering ability.

Model is built per commission only. We require only a small deposit (not full amount, not even half) to start the process $500  The remaining balance won't be due until the boat is completed, in several months.

For other sizes, please send us an email for a quote.