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The Carrie B. Schwing Riverboat
Photograph courtesy of
Iberville Parish Library
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I'm Father Eugene Engels, since 1991, the Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in
Plaquemine. Although I was raised in Baton Rouge my roots are very strong here in Plaquemine.
It was my grandfather who brought the very first boat through the
Plaquemine Locks on April 9,
1909. That boat was the Carrie B. Schwing. In 1913 that boat burned to the water line on Lake
Natchez behind White Castle. But the mechanical parts of the boat were salvaged and they were
put into a new boat known as the 2nd Carrie B. Schwing. That boat sank at the Exxon docks in
Baton Rouge in 1946. My grandfather was a captain of the Carrie B. Schwing for the entire
duration of its life, the first one, and then became captain of the 2nd Carrie B. Schwing until his
death.
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Plaquemine Lock,
with the old
St. John the Evangelist Church behind
Photograph courtesy of
Iberville Parish Library
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My Uncle Filo Marionneaux became the 2nd captain of the Carrie B. Schwing. When the
first Carrie B. Schwing came through the Locks on April 9, 1909 my mother was a little girl
aboard. I have a postcard showing a picture of the boat coming through the Locks. Most of my
family has been in the boating business, so whenever we would hear a whistle we would run to the
bayou bank to see who was on the boat. We would see the boats towing cypress logs. At that
time there was still cypress trees in the swamps. Starting in 1900, the swamp was very well cut.
These logs were tied together like barges and towed up the bayou to Wilbert's mill here in
Plaquemine. As kids loved signaling to the captain to blow his whistle like kids do today do to
eighteen wheelers. It was always a thrill for an uncle to be on the boat and yell out our names.
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