Hannibal, from a tugboat captain’s vantage point

Anchored barges catch the rays from the setting sun on June 25, 2025. Photo taken from aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat at Hannibal, Mo. Mary Lou Montgomery

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

The low moan of engines propelling tonnage through the swift waters of the Mississippi - the undisputed greatest of all North American rivers - is a familiar sound along the natural passageway linking the Port of Minneapolis to the Gulf of Mexico.

And in the middle of the continent lies the river frontage best known globally to literature lovers: the western shoreline claimed by Hannibal, Missouri, and its environs, the locale where a young Sam Clemens first met adventure.

Clemens, as a boy, witnessed steamboats plying these waters, but could have hardly imagined the diesel-propelled tugs and gigantic barges that would later become a major means of transport for grain and coal, petroleum products, cement and fertilizer.

Capt. Dennis Drury, 69, who steered barges along the channels of the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio rivers during his 49-year career, retired to his rural home at Greencastle, west of Kirksville, Mo., in August 2023.

“I’ve got several calls from people wanting me to make a trip, but I haven’t,” he said. 

His wife retired on July 1, this year, he said, and they are enjoying their time at home.

But his memories linger.

River heritage

Drury grew up in Powhatan, Ark., a small burb located in Lawrence County, along the Black River.

“My father, Leroy Drury, was a captain on the river; he started sometime around 1954 and retired in 1998, I believe.” The elder Mr. Drury died in 2000.

Following the lead of his father and cousins who also worked on the river, he set forth to earn his credentials to become first a pilot, then a captain. He started his career on June 18, 1974, (the season after the then-historic 1973 Mississippi River flood.) 

Training for a towboat pilot begins with the study of the  “book of rules,” and learning how to apply them, Drury said.

Trainees must pass a Coast Guard exam. Once that is accomplished, they enter into a steering program with a barge company.

“You steer under a seasoned captain,” Drury said. That captain “watches over you as you progress. Everyone progresses at their own rate.

“I trained a few young pilots,” Drury said, “I’d say seven or eight, that I had steer for me who are pilots or captains now.”

View of Hannibal

Dennis Drury’s 49-year career took him past Hannibal an uncountable number of times. These river journeys offered him a vantage point unlike any other could experience.

He speaks of the span replacement of the Hannibal railroad bridge circa 1991. A swing span was replaced by a lift span. Pier two, which previously held the swing span, was removed. (Information from ‘Hannibal Bridges the Mississippi’, by J. Hurley and Roberta Hagood, and Mary Lou Montgomery.)

“Now they have twice as much room to get through, instead of 128 feet, they now have 300 to 400 feet across there. 

“It made a difference. Now you can get right next to the shore. Where the water was hitting the piers, there was more flow. Before, you were choking it down to a narrow spot, and the water will be swifter than in a wide spot.”

Barge lines

During his career, he worked for three different barge lines:

Huffman Towing Company;

Agritrans. “I worked for them until Arco bought them out, and it became American River Transportation Company.

“I left them and went to work for Marquette for 25 years.”

Unusual load

Capt. Drury remembers one load in particular which presented unusual challenges: Wind turbines.

“They stacked them up higher on the boat, we were unable to have vision in front of us. There was a camera mounted on the head of the tug to navigate, and we used GPS.

“They were stacked 53 feet high, our eye level was 42 feet; you could’t see over it, you was in the black.”

The crew

The secret to a successful boat crew is camaraderie,” Drury said.

“You have to depend upon each other. Everybody has to know where they stand. Company policies are adhered to, safety rules; once you get everyone on the page, everything will run better, smoother, safer. It always has been and always will be.

“If everybody is going in different directions, you’re apt to fail.”

Memorable moment

“One night (in August 1979) we were waiting our turn at Lock 26, southbound,” at Alton, Ill. "There might have been 50 waiting southbound and northbound at (Lock) 26. The Delta Queen came down river and stopped.  (President) Jimmy Carter was aboard. He made a speech over the radio, addressing the waterways and the new (1,200 foot) lock coming at Alton. Funding had been approved.

“That’s where the 1,200-foot Melvin Price lock (and dam) is now,” he said.

Booming industry

The barge industry boomed in the 1970s, Capt. Drury said, “and then it fell off.’

“In the 70s, we had a great big number of pilots hired, as they were building boats rapidly.

“All those pilots hired in the 1970s and early 1980s are retiring now, making room for more pilots. 

River crews typically work 30 days on, and 15 to 30 days off, six months out of the year.

Once on duty, they work six-hour shifts, six-on and six-off.

“You have to adapt to six-on and six-off. Your sleep is broke up,” he said.

Whose in charge?

The captain is in charge of the boat. When the captain is not driving, the pilot serves as relief. 

“The captain takes care of managing the crew and makes all the decisions. The pilot doesn’t make decisions about the crew; the pilot drives the boat 12 hours a day. The responsibility for everything that happens is on the captain.”

Pushing cement

Capt. Drury’s first assignment when he started on the river was pushing cement barges, from Hannibal and through the canals into South Chicago. 

“I also remember handling the cement barges; we used to run from Kansas City to Omaha,” on the Missouri River, “haul cement, empty them and come back and do that all summer long.”

Family pride

“I have a grandson on the river; he’s in a steersman program learning to be a pilot. He’s 23. He’s learning exactly how hard it is to be a pilot. It always looks easy when you’re doing something else. When you’re doing the job, it gets more intense. He’s doing good so far,” Capt. Drury said.

“I’m just a little proud.”

Capt. Dennis Drury

Contributed photo