(Captain) Henry Miller SHREVE #18591
21 OCT 1785 - 6 MAR 1851
TITLE Captain-
BIRTH 21 OCT 1785, Burlington, New Jersey, USA
DEATH 6 MAR 1851, St Louis, Missouri, USA
Historical Notes
American inventor and steamboat captain who opened the Mississippi, Ohio and Red rivers to steamboat navigation. Shreveport, Louisiana is named in his honor.
Shreve was also instrumental in breaking the Fulton-Livingston monopoly on steamboat traffic on the lower Mississippi. He was the first riverboat captain to travel the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans and back, as well as the first to bring a keel boat from the Ohio River up the Mississippi to the Fever River in Illinois Shreve also made significant improvements to the steamboat and the steam engine such as separate boilers to power side paddle wheels independently, horizontal cylinders and multiple decks to allow for passengers and entertainment.
Shreve was also instrumental in breaking the Fulton-Livingston monopoly on steamboat traffic on the lower Mississippi. He was the first riverboat captain to travel the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans and back, as well as the first to bring a keel boat from the Ohio River up the Mississippi to the Fever River in Illinois Shreve also made significant improvements to the steamboat and the steam engine such as separate boilers to power side paddle wheels independently, horizontal cylinders and multiple decks to allow for passengers and entertainment.