January 17, 2021 By
In 1878, the Howard Shipyard of Jeffersonville, Ind., completed work on its magnum opus, the J.M. White.
Owned by the Greenville & New Orleans Packet Company, the big sidewheeler’s wooden hull measured overall 321 feet in length by 91 feet in width, including the cotton guards. Ten boilers supplied steam to engines having 43-inch cylinders with an 11-foot stroke. The paddlewheels were 44 feet in diameter.
Named for Capt. J.M. White (1823–1880) of Cloverport, Ky., the packet was the 276th steamboat built by the Howards. The contract was signed June 12, 1877; it was the fourth riverboat to be built for revered Southern steamboatman Capt. John W. Tobin.