Blanche Douglass Leathers (1860 - January 26, 1940) was the first woman master and a steamboat captain on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her nicknames include "little captain," the "angel of the Mississippi" and the "lady skipper."

Biography

Leathers was born in

Tensas Parish, Louisiana Tensas Parish (french: Paroisse des Tensas) is a parish located in the northeastern section of the State of Louisiana; its eastern border is the Mississippi River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,252. It is the least populated paris ...

and her father was a cotton planter. She married Captain Bowling S. Leathers in 1880 and had her honeymoon on his boat. Her husband taught her how to pilot and navigate the river. Leathers earned her master's license in 1894. Then Leathers began her historic voyage as the first woman steamboat captain on the Mississippi. As the ''

Natchez Natchez may refer to: Places * Natchez, Alabama, United States * Natchez, Indiana, United States * Natchez, Louisiana, United States * Natchez, Mississippi, a city in southwestern Mississippi, United States * Grand Village of the Natchez, a site o ...

'' steamed away from New Orleans, tugs, ferries and freighters whistled in salute. Newspaper reporters interviewed her and she gave out autographs. She would make regular trips from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

to Vicksburg and was the only woman captain of a large Mississippi river packet. Leathers said that she often managed the employees, performed boat inspections and then took over as captain when her husband needed. In 1896, the ''Public Ledger'' wrote that Leathers had taken command of the ''Natchez''. She worked on the river for 18 years and then retired in New Orleans after the death of her husband. In 1929, she came out of retirement and started piloting a steamboat, the ''Tennessee Belle''. The last time she renewed her pilot's license was in 1935. Leathers died in New Orleans on January 26, 1940 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 79. A children's book, ''Steamboat! The Story of Captain Blanche Leathers'' was published in 1999 by Judith Heide Gilliland and illustrated by Holly Meade. In 2009, Leathers was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leathers, Blanche Douglass 1860 births 1940 deaths Steamship captains