Captain Rhodes
Michael Cosgrove has been kind enough to share several interesting New Orleans photos with
us in the past and the pictures and info on this page are no exception.  Michael's g-grandfather,
Captain Sebastian S. Rhodes, was a ferry boat captain who died in 1893, while on duty piloting
the Canal Street Ferry.  Michael's grandmother was born two weeks after his death.
Those of you with ties to the city back to Capt. Rhodes' era will be especially interested in reading
the news articles linked at the bottom of the page, since they contain many names of New
Orleanians residing in the city at the time.  I'm grateful to Michael for sharing this with us.
(Speaking of long-ago ties, Michael and I don't go back as far as 1893, but we do go back as
far as our elementary school days at Henry Allen School on Loyola Avenue!)   Nancy
The ferry Thomas Pickles in New Orleans.
Michael's great-grandfather, Sebastian Smith Rhodes, was the pilot of the ferry Thomas Pickles,
built at Howard Shipyard in Jeffersonville, IN in 1893.  In October of that year, Captain Rhodes,
who had piloted the Canal Street Ferry for fourteen years, died at the wheel of the
Pickles.
The Pickles was in use well into the mid-1900's and sunk during Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
The wheel of the ferry used by Captain Rhodes was preserved in the Cabildo until the
1980's, when it was destroyed in the fire that occurred at that time.
Ferry Pickles sits in ice while under construction in Indiana.
Launch of the Pickles
The Pickles on her trials, prior to delivery to New Orleans.
The link to this page is http://old-new-orleans.com/NO_Rhodes.html

Another page you might enjoy:
Crossing the River on the Ferry


Back to   Old New Orleans

Whispers - Home
I went searching in "The Story of Algiers," published in 1896, to see if I
could find any further info on Capt. Rhodes or the
Pickles and found the
photo above of Thomas Pickles, for whom the ferry boat was named.
Captain Pickles owned the Algiers Ferry Line and was the person who
hired Captain Rhodes.  The picture is dated 1896.  -- Nancy