U.S.S. Inaugural

[The Count]

Lets start putting it back together

[ropingk]

better yet lits go to the moth balled fleet and pick a new ship to sit in St Louis

[jjjjjjjijjjjjjj]

better yet lits go to the moth balled fleet and pick a new ship to sit in St Louis

I doubt the USN would let us have another; we have a pretty bad track record with taking care of ships that we get.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned in this thread, but there was also a Mayor Cervantes-era debacle where STL (purchased? commissioned the construction of?) a wooden full-sized replica of one of Columbus' ships (Santa Maria, I think). That was docked in front of the arch (or possibly in front of the JNEM grounds, pre-arch... I'm not remembering).

I've seen the pictures of the salvage job, somewhere, but only kind of remember the story. I think it broke free from its moorings in, like, the first month we had it, and became lodged on the Illinois side for a few months. We went and got it, brought it back, and it broke free again a few months later; this time being declared "too fucked up to move" (apologies for the technical jargon), and scrapped on-site.

I'm probably off on the particulars -- I briefly looked for references but couldn't find any -- but the story arc is about right. I'll search through the archives and see if I can find pics.

[Mandi Milenko]

Actually I have noticed them tearing up a couple of barges sitting on various parts of the Mississippi. A friend of mine went hunting on Dresser Island a few months ago, and told me they were tearing up the one out there (I've been inside that one), and they are digging out another one in Brussels. I guess because of the low river levels?

[jjjjjjjijjjjjjj]

Found something (re: Santa Maria Replica).

Here's a Post-Dispatch article, and here are the pictures that ran with it.

A look back • Santa Maria had a brief stay on St. Louis riverfront
March 28, 2010 12:00 am • BY TIM O'NEIL

ST. LOUIS • It was an odd scene at an old steamboat landing — a harbor tug pushing a replica of Christopher Columbus' sailing ship Santa Maria alongside the S.S. Admiral. A small crowd braved windy 30-degree weather to mark its arrival downtown on March 29, 1969.

Mayor Alfonso J. Cervantes, proud of his Spanish heritage, had snapped up the Santa Maria in a bidding war with one of the Rockefellers. Three years before, he had led the effort to bring the Spanish Pavilion here from the 1964 New York World's Fair. The Santa Maria was to be another nod to St. Louis' brief history as a Spanish colony two centuries ago.

Even by the loose standards of tourist boats on the levee, a 15th-century Spanish cargo ship didn't fit. The Santa Maria became the butt of local jokes.

Perhaps mercifully, its presence was brief.

The 80-foot replica was built in Barcelona, Spain, and hauled across the Atlantic Ocean by freighter for the New York fair. After it flopped as a tourist attraction in Washington, Cervantes twisted the arms of some of his supporters to raise $375,000 and buy it.

The Santa Maria opened on the levee on April 25, 1969, drawing a modest average of 450 visitors each day.

On the evening of June 28, a wild thunderstorm roared through St. Louis with tornadoes, 70 mph wind and two inches of rain. The storm broke the moorings of the old Becky Thatcher restaurant boat, with 100 people on board, and carried the Santa Maria along with it two miles downstream. The vessels struck a dock on the Illinois bank, and the Santa Maria sank like a tub. The Becky Thatcher and everyone aboard were saved.

As a Coast Guard launch brought Cervantes and reporters alongside the wreck, the mayor said, "We could not have prevented this from happening."

Workers raised it, exposing a wide gash in its starboard side. Sold for $1, it was repaired and returned to the levee the next summer. But in March 1973, a Florida promoter had it shipped to Titusville, near Cape Canaveral, for yet another try as a tourist draw.

On June 27, 1974, it was gutted by fire. Cervantes, out of office a year, said, "Nothing would surprise me about the Santa Maria. That is just an ill-fated ship."

The Becky Thatcher left the riverfront in 1975, serving as a dinner theater in Marietta, Ohio. It was moved to Pittsburgh in October, and last month sank in the Ohio River after a massive snowstorm.

The Spanish Pavilion had a better fate. It became part of a hotel, now called the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark.

[ropingk]

you know i remember that ship odd how some things work and some dont isnt it??

But still a nice big destropyer or maybe aescort ship would still draw people if it was done right in Ohio they have a old tanker that has been cut up and is a museum its pretty cool to get to walk through all the compartements

[Nicotti]

The river is up 3.5 feet since yesterday before the front went through.

[Nicotti]

Make that 7 ft.

It was at -3.75 now it's at +3.5

[Mandi Milenko]

I saw two wood dressers with drawers half opened partially buried in mud.

I forgot all about the pic I took of one of the dressers!

[archinstl]

The latest, from the always interesting St. Louis Patina blog:
http://stlouispatina.com/the-inaugural-gets-a-reprieve/

[Mandi Milenko]

Man I knew that was going to happen. They should have just left it alone

[SubLunar]

Yep, now it'll sit like that for another 10 years til the water gets low enough. If only the rain had come sooner...

[PANIC! on the Titanic]

Yep, now it'll sit like that for another 10 years til the water gets low enough. If only the rain had come sooner...

At least by then maybe the graffiti will have weathered away.

Also in that link Archinstl posted, people need to not be such slobs and dump their shit anywhere they please. The gravel mill that's there is gracious enough to let people freely wander through their property to get to the Inaugural, and now people are trashing their property. Fuckin assholes. That's how to quickly ruin a good thing for everyone

[SubLunar]

now people are trashing their property. Fuckin assholes. That's how to quickly ruin a good thing for everyone

So few people give a shit about anything. They don't care if they fuck it up for everyone else. As long as they were there and they let everyone know they were there.

Fuck people.

[Nicotti]

Yep, now it'll sit like that for another 10 years til the water gets low enough. If only the rain had come sooner...

I feel this way 50%

But the other 50% hopes the river will wash the mud out of it and make more of the innards explorable now.

My question is: did they pull the bridge pieces they removed out of the channel before the water came up?