To my recollection my father never piloted boats on the Inland Waterway. That was after his time.

When he was about 17 he got a job on a barge going from [the] Alligator River to Philadelphia for $12.00 a month. About two years later he got a job on a tugboat at $15.00 a month. Stayed there over three years. When he was 21 yrs old he applied for his first class pilots license. Passed the examination easily and got his first class pilots license for Chesapeake Bay and tributaries including Hampton Roads, Norfolk Harbor and James River. He worked on various boats for several months until [a] position for 1st class pilot was offered him. An incident Dad spoke of [was] this boat chartered by Prof. Langley who was working on the first airplane. He next took examination for his Masters license for inland waters of the U. S. except the Great Lakes and Gulf of Mexico and Pilots License for Chesapeake Bay etc. Then he went to work for the Standard Oil Co. Now he married and moved to Baltimore for a little over 4 years. Moms [Winnie's] health wasn't so good so they moved back to Elizabeth City, NC. Dad took a job on a Norfolk tugboat to learn N. C. waters and then took the examination for N. C. inland waters. He was able to take charge of a steam freight barge, carrying lumber from Roanoke River to Baltimore. Next he was offered the Capts. place on a freight and passenger steam boat "Alma". This boat went from E. City [Elizabeth City, NC] to Fairfield and since Fairfield was the homeport of the boat we moved there. I must have been about 5 years old. This is when I [begin having] memories of Dad and his boats. By the time I was six or seven, Dad would take me with him as a special treat because I loved the water too. This boat went out a private canal, [from Fairfield] to the Alligator River, across [the] Albemarle Sound to the Pasquotank River and thence to Elizabeth City. The Albemarle Sound is one of the roughest waters in a storm in the U. S. but I loved it and never remember getting seasick. I loved to wrap my legs around the railing in front of the pilothouse and ride the waves with the spray drenching me. If it got really bad Dad would lock me up in his stateroom 'til it was over. (He would have to take charge of the boat and didn't want to be worried about me.) I would just crawl up on the berth and go to sleep. These were happy years.

When I was in the seventh or eighth grade Dad came down with a terrible stomachache which turned out to be a ruptured, gangrenous appendix. He was not expected to live for weeks and weeks but did and spent the next several years in and out of hospitals. Tried to go back to work numerous times but was unable. He took what money he had left and invested in a country store. It went all right but Dad trusted everyone so no one paid him!

He then worked a few years on the small diesel engine boats but the good days were over--automobiles and trucks had taken over. I had left home and don't remember much about these years.

McGowan Family History