Natchez (boat)

Natchez has been the name of several steamboats, and four naval vessels, each named after the city of Natchez, Mississippi or the Natchez people. The current one has been in operation since 1975. The previous Natchez were all operated in the nineteenth century, most by Captain Thomas P. Leathers. Each of the steamboats since Leathers' first had as its ensign a cotton bale between its stacks.

The ninth Natchez, the SS. Natchez, is a sternwheel steamboat based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Built in 1975, she is sometimes referred to as the Natchez IX. She is operated by the New Orleans Steamboat Company and docks at the Toulouse Street Wharf. Day trips include harbor and dinner cruises along the Mississippi River.

The Natchez IX is modeled not after the original Natchez, but rather the steamboats Hudson and Virginia. Her steam engines were originally built in 1925 for the steamboat Clairton, from which the steering system also came. From the S.S. J.D. Ayres were taken the copper bell, made of 250 melted silver dollars. The bell has on top a copper acorn that was once on the Avalon (now known as the Belle of Louisville), and on the Delta Queen. The Natchez IX also features a steam calliope that can play 32 notes. The wheel is made of white oak and steel, is 25 feet (7.6 m) by 25 feet (7.6 m), and weighs over 26 tons. The whistle came from a ship that sank in 1908 on the Monongahela River. The Natchez IX was launched in Braithwaite, Louisiana. She is 265 feet (81 m) long and 46 feet (14 m) wide, has a draft of six feet and weighs 1384 tons. Natchez IX is mostly made of steel, to comply with United States Coast Guard rules.

On September 25, 1976, the SS Natchez was used by U.S. President Gerald Ford as part of his Natchez political campaign trip to the Southern United States. While on the campaign trip, which was about a month after Ford was nominated for re-election as President of the United States, Ford campaigned from the SS Natchez during the 6-hour Saturday cruise from Lutcher, Louisiana to Jackson Square, New Orleans, a historic park in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. From there, Ford planned to spend three days in the south appealing to Southern conservatism by depicting his opponent, Jimmy Carter, as a free-spending liberal. To commemorate the event, Doc Hawley, captain of the SS Natchez, gave Ford a black hat with chinstrap and gold thread embroidering the word Natchez.

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