May

Six Steamboats Burn in the Night: May 1869 - Cincinnati

On May 17, 1869, six steamboats were destroyed before the largest crowd of people to ever witness a fire in the city after midnight. The steamboats ablaze upon the water were witnessed by thousands of men, women and children, who gathered at the local levee to watch the spectacle against the dark night sky. Lost in the fire were steamboats Cheyenne, Clifton, Darling, May Irwin, Melnetto and Westmoreland.
It was reported that "the steamboats were shrouded in sheets of flame and clouds of smoke. Soon thereafter, their decks quivered and parted and their tall chimneys toppled over and fell like forest trees, some upon the wharf, others into the water."

First Island Queen Launched: May 1896 - Cincinnati

The first Island Queen was built by "Commodore" Lee H. Brooks at the Cincinnati Marine Railway Company, and was launched in May of 1896. Her hull, which was made of wood, measured 281.4 feet in length. While her width was recorded at 42.6 feet, the boat was in fact much wider because of her protruding sidewheels. The Island Queen was built to accommodate a capacity of 3,000 people, and had a hardwood dance floor which was reported to be the largest between New York and Chicago.
Piloted by Captains Jim Dupuy and Ben Pattison, and mastered by Captain Sterling McIntyre, the Island Queen served Coney Island from 1906 to1917 alongside her teammate, the Princess.

First and Only Paddlewheel to Steamboat Panama Canal: May 1947

Upon completing an ocean voyage on May 19, 1947, the Delta Queen tied up in New Orleans. During her trip to the Mississippi, the Queen made history as the first and only paddlewheel steamboat to transit the Panama Canal.