Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city located along the Mississippi River in southwestern Shelby County, United States. The 2017 city population was 652,236, making Memphis the largest city on the Mississippi River, second-largest city in Tennessee, as well as the 25th largest city in the United States. Greater Memphis is the 42nd largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 1,348,260 in 2017; the city is the anchor of West Tennessee and the greater Mid-South region, which includes portions of neighboring Arkansas and Mississippi. Memphis is the seat of the most populous county in Tennessee; as one of the most historic and cultural cities of the southern United States, the city features a wide variety of landscapes and distinct neighborhoods. The first European explorer to visit the area of present-day Memphis was Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto in 1541 with his expedition into the New World; the high bluffs protecting the location from the waters of the Mississippi would be contested between the Spanish and the English as Memphis took shape.
Modern Memphis was founded in 1819 by three prominent Americans: John Overton, James Winchester, future president Andrew Jackson. Memphis grew into one of the largest cities of the Antebellum South as a market for agricultural goods, natural resources like lumber, the American slave trade. After the American Civil War and the end of slavery, the city experienced faster growth into the 20th century as it became among the largest world markets for cotton and lumber. Home to Tennessee's largest African-American population, Memphis played a prominent role in the American civil rights movement and was the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 assassination. The city now hosts the National Civil Rights Museum—a Smithsonian affiliate institution. Since the civil rights era, Memphis has grown to become one of the nation's leading commercial centers in transportation and logistics; the city's largest employer is the multinational courier corporation FedEx, which maintains its global air hub at Memphis International Airport, making it the second-busiest cargo airport in the world.
Today, Memphis is a regional center for commerce, media and entertainment. The city has long had a prominent music scene, with historic blues clubs on Beale Street originating the unique Memphis blues sound during early 20th century; the city's music has continued to be shaped by a multi-cultural mix of influences across the blues, rock n' roll and hip-hop genres. Memphis barbecue has achieved international prominence, the city hosts the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, which attracts over 100,000 visitors to the city annually. Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying cultures over thousands of years; the area was known to be settled in the first millennium A. D. by people of the Mississippian Culture, who had a network of communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. They built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture.
The historic Chickasaw Indian tribe, believed to be their descendants occupied the site. French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto encountered the Chickasaw tribe in that area in the 16th century. J. D. L. Holmes, writing in Hudson's Four Centuries of Southern Indians, notes that this site was a third strategic point in the late 18th century through which European powers could control United States encroachment and their interference with Indian matters—after Fort Nogales and Fort Confederación: "... Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis. Spain and the United States vied for control of this site, a favorite of the Chickasaws."In 1795 the Spanish Governor-General of Louisiana, Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet sent his Lieutenant Governor, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, to negotiate and secure consent from the local Chickasaw so that a Spanish fort could be erected on the bluff. Holmes notes that consent was reached despite opposition from "disappointed Americans and a pro-American faction of the Chickasaws", when the "pro-Spanish faction signed the Chickasaw Bluffs Cession and Spain provided the Chickasaws with a trading post…".
Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas remained a focal point of Spanish activity until, as Holmes summarizes: he Treaty of San Lorenzo or Pinckney's Treaty of 1795, all of the careful, diplomatic work by Spanish officials in Louisiana and West Florida, which has succeeded for a decade in controlling the Indians, was undone. The United States gained the right to navigate the Mississippi River and won control over the Yazoo Strip north of the thirty-first parallel; the Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its iron to their locations in Arkansas. In 1796, the site became the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee, located in what was called the Southwest United States; the area was still occupied and controlled by the Chickasaw nation. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down the Ohio River to claim the land, arriving on July 20, 1797. By this time, the Spanish had departed; the fort's ruins went unnoticed twenty years when Memphis was laid out as a city, after the United States government paid the Chickasaw for land.
The city of Memphis was founded on May 22, 1819 by John Overton, James Winchester and Andrew Jackson. They named it after the ancient capita
Delta Queen
The Delta Queen is an American sternwheel steamboat. She has been used for cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the Mississippi River in the American South, she was docked in Chattanooga and served as a floating hotel until she was bought by the newly formed Delta Queen Steamboat Company. She was towed to Louisiana, in March 2015 to be refurbished to her original condition; the Delta Queen is 285 feet long, 58 feet wide, draws 11.5 feet. She weighs 1,650 tons, with a capacity of 176 passengers, her cross-compound steam engines generate 2,000 indicated horsepower, powering a stern-mounted paddlewheel. Built in 1927, she is the last surviving steam-powered overnight passenger boat plying the watershed of the Mississippi, she was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. The hull, first two decks, steam engines were ordered in 1924 from the William Denny & Brothers shipyard on the River Leven adjoining the River Clyde at Dumbarton, Scotland. Delta Queen and her sister, Delta King, were shipped in pieces to Stockton, California in 1926.
There the California Transportation Company assembled the two vessels for their regular Sacramento River service between San Francisco and Sacramento, excursions to Stockton, on the San Joaquin River. At the time, they were the most lavishly appointed and expensive sternwheel passenger boats commissioned. Driven out of service by a new highway linking Sacramento with San Francisco in 1940, the two vessels were laid up and purchased by Isbrandtsen Steamship Lines for service out of New Orleans. During World War II, they were requisitioned by the United States Navy for duty in San Francisco Bay as USS Delta Queen. During the war the vessels were painted battleship gray and used in transporting wounded from ocean-going ships in San Francisco Bay to area hospitals. Three different United States Presidents have sailed on Delta Queen: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter. In 1946, Delta Queen was purchased by Greene Line of Cincinnati and towed via the Panama Canal and the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to be refurbished in Pittsburgh.
On that ocean trip she was piloted by Jr.. In 1948 she entered regular passenger service, plying the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi and Cumberland Rivers between Cincinnati, New Orleans, St. Paul, Chattanooga and ports in between. Ownership of the vessel has changed seven times over the last fifty years. In 1966, Congress passed the first Safety at Sea Law. After consulting with attorney William Kohler, Richard Simonton, Bill Muster, Edwin "Jay" Quinby traveled to Washington, DC, to save their boat; as chairman of the board of Greene Line Steamers, Jay Quinby testified before the Senate to ask for an exemption to the law. Greene Line had to renegotiate the exemption every two to four years; the boat's Betty Blake Lounge is named in honor of the woman who rose from public relations officer to savior of the boat when Congressman Edward A. Garmatz, a Democrat who represented Baltimore and was Chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, tried to block the 1970 exemption. Thanks to the efforts of Betty Blake and Bill Muster, the Delta Queen was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and was subsequently declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
One unusual feature of Delta Queen is her steam calliope, mounted on the Texas deck aft of the pilot house. It covers three octaves, was used to play the ship in and out of her berth while she was docking and undocking; the Master of the Delta Queen sometimes extended this courtesy to other vessels as well. In 1974, Charlie Waller & The Country Gentlemen recorded a song on their Remembrances & Forecasts album written by Leroy Drumm and Pete Goble titled Delta Queen, to which Leroy was inspired to write after having seen her running down the Tennessee River in the early 1970s; the vessel was most operated by Majestic America Line. The vessels were purchased from the Delaware North Companies in April 2006. Besides Delta Queen, the company owned the American Queen and Mississippi Queen, modern steamboats designed along Delta Queen's lines but carrying around 400 passengers; the company owned riverboats that have seen service on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Oregon and Washington, the Alaska Inside Passage.
Delta Queen cruised the Mississippi River and its tributaries on a regular schedule, with cruises ranging from New Orleans to Memphis to St. Louis to St. Paul to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, many more. In some cruises, the vessel probed rivers such as the Arkansas, Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Black Warrior and more. Delta Queen recreated historic steamboat races each year during the Kentucky Derby Festival, when she raced with the Belle of Louisville on the Ohio at Louisville in the Great Steamboat Race; the winner of the annual race received a trophy of golden antlers, mounted on the pilot house until the next race. They raced during the Tall Stacks festivals celebrating steamboats, held every three or four years in Cincinnati. On August 1, 2007, Majestic America Line announced that Delta Queen would cease operations permanently at the end of the 2008 season; the temporary exemption from SOLAS needed to keep Delta Queen running was being ended by Congress. In response to this announcement, in September 2007 the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Dumbarton, Jackie Baillie, backed by 15 other Members, submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament calling for the preservation of the ship.
In the United States, devotees of the boat created a renewed "Save the Delta Queen" campaign simi
Violet, Louisiana
Violet is a census-designated place in St. Bernard Parish, United States; the population was 8,555 at the 2000 census. Violet is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River 7.5 miles southeast of New Orleans and is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area. The area now known as Violet was part of the Livaudais Plantation. Violet sprang up after the development of the Violet Canal, it was named by canal booster Albert Covington Janin, after his wife Violet Blair Janin, a Washington, D. C. socialite and part of the influential Blair family for whom the Blair House across from the White House in Washington D. C. is named. Albert Janin spent his youth in St. Bernard Parish in the large Janin family home, his father, Louis Janin, Sr. a prominent lawyer who had immigrated from France to New Orleans in 1828, sent his sons to Europe for their education, including Albert. Albert was a partner with his father's law firm, including the office in Washington, D. C. where he remained after marrying into the Blair family.
His and Violet's life together is told in Virginia Jean Laas's book and Power in the Nineteenth Century, the Marriage of Violet Blair. On August 29, 2005, the community was devastated by storm surge and wind associated with Hurricane Katrina which topped the Hurricane Protection Levee and destroyed the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal levee. Camp Hope housed volunteers assisting residents of St. Bernard Parish in their recovery from Hurricane Katrina, it was located at 6701 E. St. Bernard Highway. Violet is located at 29°54′4″N 89°53′49″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.5 square miles, of which 4.1 square miles is land and 0.5 square mile is water. As of the census of 2000, there were 8,555 people, 2,744 households, 2,266 families residing in the CDP; the population density was 2,108.4 people per square mile. There were 2,918 housing units at an average density of 719.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 58.29% White, 38.77% African American, 0.48% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.37% from other races, 1.48% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.29% of the population. There were 2,744 households out of which 45.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were married couples living together, 21.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 17.4% were non-families. 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.10 and the average family size was 3.41. In the CDP, the population was spread out with 32.4% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, 6.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.2 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $32,993, the median income for a family was $36,616. Males had a median income of $32,012 versus $24,799 for females; the per capita income for the CDP was $13,894. About 18.5% of families and 21.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.7% of those under age 18 and 26.6% of those age 65 or over.
Elmer R. Tapper, former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives Violet, Louisiana detailed profile
Diesel–electric transmission
A diesel–electric transmission, or diesel–electric powertrain, is used by a number of vehicle and ship types for providing locomotion. A diesel–electric transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors. No clutch is required. Before diesel engines came into widespread use, a similar system, using a petrol engine and called petrol–electric or gas–electric, was sometimes used. Diesel–electric transmission is used on railways by diesel electric locomotives and diesel electric multiple units, as electric motors are able to supply full torque at 0 RPM. Diesel–electric systems are used in submarines and surface ships and some land vehicles. In some high-efficiency applications, electrical energy may be stored in rechargeable batteries, in which case these vehicles can be considered as a class of hybrid electric vehicle; the first diesel motorship was the first diesel–electric ship, the Russian tanker Vandal from Branobel, launched in 1903.
Steam turbine–electric propulsion has been in use since the 1920s, using diesel–electric powerplants in surface ships has increased lately. The Finnish coastal defence ships Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen laid down in 1928–1929, were among the first surface ships to use diesel–electric transmission; the technology was used in diesel powered icebreakers. In World War II the United States built diesel–electric surface warships. Due to machinery shortages destroyer escorts of the Evarts and Cannon classes were diesel–electric, with half their designed horsepower; the Wind-class icebreakers, on the other hand, were designed for diesel–electric propulsion because of its flexibility and resistance to damage. Some modern diesel–electric ships, including cruise ships and icebreakers, use electric motors in pods called azimuth thrusters underneath to allow for 360° rotation, making the ships far more maneuverable. An example of this is Symphony of the Seas, the largest passenger ship as of 2019. Gas turbines are used for electrical power generation and some ships use a combination: Queen Mary 2 has a set of diesel engines in the bottom of the ship plus two gas turbines mounted near the main funnel.
This provides a simple way to use the high-speed, low-torque output of a turbine to drive a low-speed propeller, without the need for excessive reduction gearing. Early submarines used a direct mechanical connection between the engine and propeller, switching between diesel engines for surface running and electric motors for submerged propulsion; this was a "parallel" type of hybrid, since the motor and engine were coupled to the same shaft. On the surface, the motor was used as a generator to recharge the batteries and supply other electric loads; the engine would be disconnected for submerged operation, with batteries powering the electric motor and supplying all other power as well. True diesel–electric transmissions for submarines were first proposed by the United States Navy's Bureau of Engineering in 1928—instead of driving the propeller directly while running on the surface, the submarine's diesel would instead drive a generator that could either charge the submarine's batteries or drive the electric motor.
This meant that motor speed was independent of the diesel engine's speed, the diesel could run at an optimum and non-critical speed, while one or more of the diesel engines could be shut down for maintenance while the submarine continued to run using battery power. The concept was pioneered in 1929 in the S-class submarines S-3, S-6, S-7 to test the concept; the first production submarines with this system were the Porpoise-class, it was used on most subsequent US diesel submarines through the 1960s. The only other navy to adopt the system before 1945 was the British Royal Navy in the U-class submarines, although some submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy used separate diesel generators for low-speed running. In a diesel–electric transmission arrangement, as used on 1930s and US Navy, German and other nations' diesel submarines, the propellers are driven directly or through reduction gears by an electric motor, while two or more diesel generators provide electric energy for charging the batteries and driving the electric motors.
This mechanically isolates the noisy engine compartment from the outer pressure hull and reduces the acoustic signature of the submarine when surfaced. Some nuclear submarines use a similar turbo-electric propulsion system, with propulsion turbo generators driven by reactor plant steam. During World War I, there was a strategic need for rail engines without plumes of smoke above them. Diesel technology was not yet sufficiently developed but a few precursor attempts were made for petrol–electric transmissions by the French and British. About 300 of these locomotives, only 96 being standard gauge, were in use at various points in the conflict. Before the war, the GE 57-ton gas-electric boxcab had been produced in the USA. In the 1920s, diesel–electric technology first saw limited use in switchers, locomotives used for moving trains around in railroad yards and assembling and disassembling them. An early company offering "Oil-Electric" locomotives was the American Locomotive Company; the ALCO HH series of diesel–electric switcher entered series production in 1931.
In the 1930s, the system was adapted for the fastest trains of their day. Diesel–electric powerplants became popular
Great Steamboat Race
The Great Steamboat Race is an annual steamboat race, taking place the Wednesday before the first Saturday of May, three days before the Kentucky Derby, as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. The race was first run in 1963 and it takes place on the Ohio River in the span that runs between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Indiana; until 2009, the race was traditionally between the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen, although other steamboats have participated. Since 2009, the Delta Queen has been retired and the Belle of Cincinnati has taken its place in the competition. In 2012, the Belle of Louisville and Belle of Cincinnati were joined in the race by the American Queen; the race is scheduled annually as part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. The event pits at least two riverboats against each other in the span of the Ohio River that runs between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Indiana. Spectators can watch the event aboard a competing vessel; the race began underneath the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge, which served as the start/finish line.
Both steamboats raced to Six Mile Island. The distance is 14 miles, with boats averaging a speed of 7 miles per hour; the competitors were traditionally the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen, although other additional or substitutionary vessels competed. The annual winner received the Golden Antlers, which would remain with the winner until the next race. 2008 was the last year to feature the Delta Queen as a competitor prior to it being renovated into a dry-dock hotel. In 2009, the event organizers changed the format prompting the Belle of Cincinnati's Capt. Kerry Snowden to note that "here are no rules in riverboat racing, so whatever goes, goes"; the new format features a series of tasks that the crews must perform for points prior to the race. Because the Cincinnati is a diesel ship with more power, it is required to travel further to Harrods Creek; the boat with the most points after the race is determined to be the winner and is presented with the Silver Antlers, which take the place of the Golden Antlers that were retired when the Queen stopped competing.
The 2012 race featured, for the first time since 2008, once again two steam-powered boats as competitors, as well as the diesel-powered Belle of Cincinnati. The American Queen, returned to overnight steamboat service in April 2012, competed in the three-way race on May 2, 2012 and finished as second; the first Great Steamboat Race was held in 1963 between the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen, establishing the traditional rivalry until 2008 when the Queen was retired. The Queen won the first race; as of the Delta Queen's last race in 2008, the Louisville won 22 races compared to the Queen's 20 wins. The Louisville's winning record compared to the Queen's larger size and more powerful engines has helped fuel the unproven speculation that the race is predetermined. Several other riverboats have participated in the race: Julia Belle Swain competed in 1975 and 1976, the latter of which it won. Natchez IX of the New Orleans Steamboat Company in 1982, which it won. Spirit of Jefferson raced in 1999 in the Louisville's stead while the Louisville was recovering from sabotage.
It has been used as an observation boat for the race. Belle of Cincinnati was a contestant in 2002, followed as an observation boat in latter years. Since 2009, it has replaced the Delta Queen as the annual competitor, it is diesel-powered and has been used as an observation boat for the race. American Queen competed for the first time in 2012, in a 3-way race with the Louisville and Cincinnati, finishing 2nd. American Duchess competed for the first time in 2018, in a 3-way race with the Cincinnati and Louisville, finishing 1st. Popular viewing areas for the race are the old Water Tower in Louisville, along Utica Pike in Jeffersonville near Duffy's Landing. List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area Thunder Over Louisville May 2 WHAS11 article 2007 results as well as details of judges decision Official Site There is an additional Official History page Brightcove review of the race Done by Curious Travelers May 1, 2007 Courier-Journal article Features a map of the race.
Directory of steamboats/riverboats in the U. S. and Europe American Queen Web site Belle of Louisville Web site Belle of Cincinnati Web site Delta Queen Web site
Maritime call sign
Maritime call signs are call signs assigned as unique identifiers to ships and boats. One of the earliest applications of radiotelegraph operation, long predating broadcast radio, were marine radio stations installed aboard ships at sea. In the absence of international standards, early transmitters constructed after Guglielmo Marconi's first trans-Atlantic message in 1901 were issued arbitrary two-letter calls by radio companies, alone or preceded by a one-letter company identifier; these mimicked an earlier railroad telegraph convention where short, two-letter identifiers served as Morse code abbreviations to denote the various individual stations on the line.'N' and two letters would identify US Navy. On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic station MGY, busily delivering telegram traffic from ship's passengers to the coastal station at Cape Race, would receive warnings of ice fields from Marconi stations aboard the M. V. Mesaba and the SS Californian, its distress call CQD CQD CQD CQD CQD CQD DE MGY MGY MGY MGY MGY MGY position 41.44N 50.24W would be answered by a station aboard the RMS Carpathia.
That same year, an international conference standardised radio call signs so that the first two letters would uniquely identify a transmitter's country of origin. Merchant and naval vessels are assigned call signs by their national licensing authorities. In the case of states such as Liberia or Panama, which are flags of convenience for ship registration, call signs for larger vessels consist of the national prefix plus three letters. United States merchant vessels are given call signs beginning with the letters "W" or "K" while US naval ships are assigned callsigns beginning with "N". Both ships and broadcast stations were given call signs in this series consisting of three or four letters, but as demand for both marine radio and broadcast call signs grew American-flagged vessels were given longer call signs with mixed letters and numbers; as broadcast stations became commonplace in the 1920s, some original three and four-letter call signs were reassigned as the corresponding ships were removed from U.
S. registry. The WSB call sign had been held by two ships before being assigned to the Atlanta Journal for use by its unsinkable Atlanta, Georgia broadcast radio station in 1922. WEZU, the international radio call sign of the ship SS Lash Atlantico, was assigned in 1997 to a broadcast station. Additional call signs would be reassigned to coastal stations or moved from marine radio to terrestrial broadcast radio when ships were sold for registration to foreign nations, as the new owners would obtain new, local call signs for any existing shipboard radio stations. Leisure craft with VHF radios may not be assigned call signs, in which case the name of the vessel is used instead. Ships in the US wishing to have a radio licence anyway are under F. C. C. Class SA: "Ship recreational or voluntarily equipped." Those calls follow the land mobile format of the initial letter K or W followed by 1 or 2 letters followed by 3 or 4 numbers. U. S. Coast Guard small boats have a number, shown on both bows in which the first two digits indicate the nominal length of the boat in feet.
For example, Coast Guard 47021 refers to the 21st in the series of 47 foot motor lifeboats. The call sign might be abbreviated to the final two or three numbers during operations, for example: Coast Guard zero two one. Maritime Mobile Service Identity Pan-pan
Mississippi Queen (steamboat)
The Mississippi Queen was the second-largest paddle wheel driven river steamboat built, second only to the larger American Queen. The ship was the largest such steamboat when she was built in 1976 by the Delta Queen Steamboat Company at Jeffboat in Indiana and was a seven-deck recreation of a classic Mississippi riverboat, she was owned by the Majestic America Line. The Mississippi Queen had 206 state rooms for a capacity of 412 guests and a crew of 157, it was 116 meters long, 21 meters wide, displaces 3,709 metric tonnes. When in service, the Mississippi Queen was a genuine stern paddlewheeler with a wheel that measured 6.7 meters in diameter by 11 meters wide and weighed 77 metric tonnes. The steamboat featured a 44 whistle steam calliope, the largest on the Mississippi River system; the Mississippi Queen was laid up in New Orleans at Perry Street Wharf after being gutted for renovation. Instead, the steamboat was sold for scrap in May 2009, she was towed for the last time to Louisiana on March 24, 2011 to be cut down.
Dismantling had begun by April 7. During the newscast on MSNBC of the protests in Germany of the G20 in 2017, a video shows a ferry named Mississippi Queen docked in Hamburg Germany; the ferry is much smaller than, not, the original Mississippi Queen. A steamboat called the Mississippi Queen was used in the 1982 episode "Cap'n Spanky's Showboat" in the animated television series The Little Rascals. Mississippi Queen Tribute Site Delta Queen American Queen
United States
Memphis, United States