The Steamer Admiral and Streckfus Steamers: A Personal View

by Annie Amantea Blum

A new memoir and authoritative history of the great river icon and excursion vessel 144 Pages, with 62 Photographs from the Captain William F. and Betty Streckfus Carroll Collection at the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library $20.00 + $3.00 Shipping per copy ordered at the Mercantile Library gift shop.

The Mississippi River has historically helped form the United States as a nation.  In addition, it has been a fascination of many people, especially for those living on its banks.  The best place to experience the Mississippi is from a river boat.

The author begins her story with a memoir of her years working on the steamer Admiral, an excursion boat based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Admiral was a huge, beautiful, all-metal boat; not the usual kind, but one of Art Deco design with live bands providing fun and memories for over 35 years. The Admiral was also the flagship vessel of the historic family company, Streckfus Steamers, which ran boats on two major rivers beginning in the 1800s. 

Using memories and historical data, the author tells the story of the Streckfus family and how the Admiral became the excursion boat she was.

In Blum's words, "Something on the Admiral seemed pleasing to every sense: the sights of moving river scenes, of other people, of the dancing lights in the city at night plus the sounds of good live music and of the machinery of a living, almost breathing steamboat..."