Blanche Douglass Leathers
Blanche Douglass Leathers (1860 - January 26, 1940) was the first woman master and a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her nicknames include "little captain,"Template:Sfn the "angel of the Mississippi" and the "lady skipper."[1]
Biography
Leathers was born in Tensas Parish, Louisiana and her father was a cotton planter.[2]Template:Sfn She married Captain Bowling S. Leathers in 1880 and had her honeymoon on his boat.[3] Her husband taught her how to pilot and navigate the river.[4][5]
Leathers earned her master's license in 1894.[6] Then Leathers began her historic voyage as the first woman steamboat captain on the Mississippi.Template:Sfn As the Natchez steamed away from New Orleans, tugs, ferries and freighters whistled in salute. Newspaper reporters interviewed her and she gave out autographs.Template:Sfn She would make regular trips from New Orleans to Vicksburg and was the only woman captain of a large Mississippi river packet.[1][7] Leathers said that she often managed the employees, performed boat inspections and then took over as captain when her husband needed.[4] In 1896, the Public Ledger wrote that Leathers had taken command of the Natchez.[8] She worked on the river for 18 years and then retired in New Orleans after the death of her husband.[3][9] In 1929, she came out of retirement and started piloting a steamboat, the Tennessee Belle.[3] The last time she renewed her pilot's license was in 1935.[10]
Leathers died in New Orleans on January 26, 1940[11] of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 79. A children's book, Steamboat! The Story of Captain Blanche Leathers was published in 1999 by Judith Heide Gilliland and illustrated by Holly Meade.[12] In 2009, Leathers was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame.[10]
References
Citations
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Sources
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