Enterprise (1814)
Enterprise on her fast trip to Louisville, 1815
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Enterprise, or Enterprize |
| Owner: | Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Co., Brownsville, Pennsylvania |
| Builder: | Daniel French designed and built the engine and powertrain. |
| Laid down: | Fall, 1813 |
| Launched: | May, 1814 |
| In service: | June 7, 1814 |
| Out of service: | After August 5, 1816 |
| Fate: | Sank at Rock Harbor, Rock Island, Ohio River next to Shippingport, Kentucky. |
| Notes: | The steamboat Enterprise demonstrated for the first time by her epic 2,200-mile voyage from New Orleans to Brownsville, Pennsylvania that steamboat commerce was practical on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 60–70 ft (18.3–21.3 m) |
| Beam: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Draft: | 2.5 ft (0.8 m), light ship |
| Propulsion: |
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| Armament: | Gun located on the bow for saluting |
The steamboat Enterprise demonstrated for the first time by her epic 2,200-mile (3,500 km) voyage from New Orleans to Brownsville, Pennsylvania that steamboat commerce was practical on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
The Enterprise, or Enterprize, with an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French, was launched before June 1814 at Brownsville for her owners: the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company. The Enterprise, under the command of Israel Gregg, was first used to transport passengers and cargo to ports between Brownsville and Louisville, Kentucky. From June to December she completed two 600-mile (970 km) voyages from Louisville to Pittsburgh that were performed against strong river currents. With these voyages the Enterprise demonstrated for the first time that steamboat commerce was practical on the Ohio River.
On December 2, General Andrew Jackson had marched from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans with orders to oppose an imminent military invasion by an overwhelming British force. Jackson had been making frequent requests for military supplies, especially small firearms and ammunition, which were in short supply. To this end, the shareholders made the decision to send the Enterprise. Command was transferred to Henry Miller Shreve, a Brownsville resident and experienced keelboat captain, who had firsthand knowledge of the hazards to navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. On December 21, 1814, the Enterprise departed Pittsburgh bound for New Orleans with a cargo of "Cannon-balls, Gun-Carriages, Smith's Tools, Boxes of Harness, &c". On December 28, the Enterprise passed the Falls of Ohio at Louisville, delivering the cargo of military supplies at the port of New Orleans on January 9, 1815.
Under normal circumstances, the voyage by the Enterprise into Louisiana's waters would have been a violation of the territorial steamboat monopoly granted to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton. However, the Enterprise was protected from the monopolists and free to navigate the state's waters by the martial law imposed by General Andrew Jackson on December 16.
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Wikipedia