The Original Kay D Changed Little Over The Years

A question posed to me on a social media post recently has prompted this column. Multiple boats with the same name can cause confusion, particularly when the boats in question are all owned or operated by one company over a period of 63 years. The boat discussed this week was once featured in the Old Boat Column of the December 23, 1972, issue of The Waterways Journal, though it was but 32 years old at the time.

St. Louis Shipbuilding & Steel Company, formed in 1933 by Herman T. Pott and partners, made great strides in both the number and size of the vessels constructed there. Beginning with very small towboats and work boats, the company built its first significant boat in 1936, the 300 hp. Senator Combs (WJ October 10, 2022) for the Ashland Oil & Refining Company of Ashland, Ky. St. Louis turned out another notable vessel in the form of the J.H. Duffy in 1938 (WJ August 7, 2023). This boat was prominently featured in ads and stories of the day, being described as “streamlined and air-conditioned.” In 1940, the company turned out three boats for the Lake Tankers Corporation: the 1,200 hp. Twin Cities, 1,000 hp. Tri-Cities and 400 hp. Midwest Cities (WJ December 9 and 16, 2024).

Built at the St. Louis yard while the Lake Tankers boats were under construction was another vessel that did not receive a lot of fanfare. It was single screw, and the cabin superstructure was somewhat pool style with a full main cabin and a smaller upper cabin with an elevated pilothouse placed forward of it. The single smokestack was just behind the upper cabin and rose to the height of the pilothouse roof. A raised skylight ran nearly the length of the exposed second deck.

This new vessel was named Kay D and was of all-steel construction with a hull that was 106 feet by 24 feet. Power was provided by a seven-cylinder Fairbanks-Morse model 37E14 direct reversible diesel engine of 800 hp. From the first edition of the Inland River Record in 1945, the owner was listed as Marine Transportation Company, Dyersburg, Tenn., but the List of Merchant vessels would show the owner as a C.E. Davis, Memphis, Tenn., through 1949, and Marine Transportation thereafter.

The Kay D towed a small tank barge unit tow to various locations for the next 32 years with only slight cosmetic changes to the appearance, such as the addition of a radar scanner and radio antennas. The boat had been assigned a radio call sign WGLT when new, and by 1950 the call sign was the one it would carry for many years, WA 6768. March 12, 1970, was proclaimed “KAY D DAY” in Memphis, Tenn., due in part to the fact that the boat was operating virtually unchanged since 1940. In November 1971, Marine Transportation announced that it was planning to retire the Kay D, which was still operating with her original machinery, as soon as purchase of a replacement was complete. The new boat would then carry the same name.

The December 23, 1972, issue of The Waterways Journal carried two items concerning the boat. The first was about it having been acquired and repowered by Missouri Barge Line, a subsidiary of Missouri Drydock & Repair of Cape Girardeau, Mo. The Inland River Record would show the owner as Cape Towing Corporation of Cape Girardeau. The Old Boat Column featuring the boat in the same issue was headlined “When Does a River Vessel Become An ‘Old Boat,’” and it noted that Capt. C. Sewell Smith had once been one of the masters.

The new owners renamed the boat Mister R., and it was also repowered at this time with a GM 16-567C engine and a Falk 3.05:1 reduction gear. Future editions of the IRR would show the engine as a 12-567C. The horsepower rating was then 1,200. During the ownership by Cape Towing/Missouri Barge Line, the Mister R was shown as leased to other companies at times. In the late 1970s, this author first met Capt. Edward C. “Red” Mays while he was operating it under Mays Towing Company.

In 1993, the Mister R was sold to CJB Company, Perryville, Mo. It was again sold in 1997 to Martin Marietta Aggregates, St. Rose, La., and in 1998 it was sold to Savannah Barge Line, Savannah, Tenn., and renamed Mary B. Young. In October 2006, it was sold for a final time to Triple K Transportation LLC, Paducah, Ky.

Triple K renamed the boat Brenda Rose, and it was seen all over the Inland River System on various towing assignments. It was last listed in the 2010 edition of the Inland River Record and was shown in the Off The Record section of the 2011 edition as having been reported “burned.” By this time the only appreciable change to the outward appearance of the vessel in the 70 years since 1940 was installation of new front and forward side windows to the pilothouse.

Thanks to Capt. Jeff Yates, Capt. Mike Herschler and Tom Waller for their assistance in putting this together with photos, news stories and personal memories.

Featured image caption: The Kay D in service for the Marine Transportation Company. (From the Jeff Yates collection)