The Olive was a river steamboat for the Albemarle Steam Navigation Company. The boat was a 987 ton, 120 foot long steamer built in Philadelphia in 1869. It ran a regular route between Franklin, Virginia, and Edenton, North Carolina, by way of the Blackwater and Chowan rivers serving multiple towns along the way transporting passengers and cargo. On 16 February 1903, the steamboat left Franklin on its regular route to Edenton. That evening, a strong wind forced the boat to turn around near Holly's Wharf and make for shelter. Before they reached safety, however, a storm (often credited as a cyclone or tornado) overtook the boat and water rushed in. Several crew members and passengers were able to board the one remaining lifeboat, while Captain George H. Withy remained aboard the Olive with the stewardess and four passengers. The people who remained on the Olive were rescued the following morning by the Norfolk and Southern steamer Marie Roberts, and the survivors on the lifeboat were saved by the tug Gazette of the Roper Lumber Company. Seventeen lives were lost in the wreck.
A few days later, the Olive was raised and tugged to Franklin Wharf (now known as Barrett's Landing). The boat was rebuilt from the waterline up and returned to service under a new name, the Hertford. The newly rebuilt boat continued in service for the Albemarle Steam Navigation Company until 1914 when it was replaced by a newer vessel. Hertford was sent to Newport News for scrapping.
The collection is comprised of three photographs and two newspaper articles related to the wreck of the steamboat Olive during a storm on 16 February 1903. The first photograph shows the crew of the steamer Hertford, which was previously known as the Olive, aboard the boat. The second photograph shows an unknown wrecked steamer, which may be the Olive. The third photograph shows the Olive after its sinking while still in the Chowan River with only the uppermost section of the vessel above the water. The two newspaper articles are retrospectives written in 1952 recalling the sinking of the Olive.
Gift of Clara Murphy Bond Bell
Processed by Allison N. Miller, 7 April 2016
Encoded by Lindsay Flood, April 1, 2008
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