This waymark has two parts.
The first part being that the family of Captain Richard Lynn has donated a ship’s bell to the community of LaBelle to be on display in its veterans park. The bell is 36 inches in diameter and 30 inches tall, and weighs 250 pounds.
A photo from the Caloosa Belle newspaper dated November 15, 2018, on page 2 and submitted by Nikki Yeager, shows the Lynn family posing with the bell. The caption reads: “Wolfgang, KC, Charlie and Katherine with picture of Captain Richard Lynn. The family has donated the 1934 Bell to the LaBelle Veterans Park in honor of their dad and husband for his dedication by serving as Captain in WW II with the Army Air Corps and in the Air Force during the Korean War. He salvaged the bell from the William S. Mitchell after its demise during the great flood of 1993. It is all recorded on the You Tube site “Mitchell Massacre: William S. Mitchell Crash” showing its demise on the Missouri River.”
An engraved plaque has been attached to the bell’s supports. Plaque inscription:
The Bell, from atop the William S. Mitchell,
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers Dredge that shaped
and opened the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers
of the United States for commercial shipping has
been dontated to
LaBelle Veterans Park 11/11/2018
in honor of and deep appreciation to
Captain Richard Jones Lynn
12/25/1925 - 10/1/2014.
Patriot
U.S. Army Air Corp - WW II
U.S. Airforce - Korean War
In recognition of his
Duty, Honor and Bravery to Country
Exceptional Service and Generosity to Community
Devotion and Love of Family
Godspeed Captain Lynn
The second part, is the interesting story behind the bell and the William S. Mitchell.
“The William S. Mitchell was built in 1934 by the Marietta Manufacturing Company of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. It was a 34 inch, suction head-type dredge that operated on the Missouri River between Kansas City, Missouri and Sioux City, Iowa and St. Louis until its retirement in 1979. Named in honor of William S. Mitchell, Chief Engineer for the Kansas City District of the Army Corp of Engineers (1905), the dredge Mitchell worked on the Missouri to maintain the navigation channel, removing sandbars, excavating pilot channels and boat harbors.” (from the NRHP application, section 7, approved October 9, 1985)
The ship was 277.5 feet long and 84 feet wide, consisting of two decks with a pilot house above the second deck at the rear of the vessel. The ship had two paddle wheels on each side and two 60 foot stacks rising from the two 600 hp steam boilers on the first deck. It was owned and operated by the US Army Corp of Engineers for 45 years.
After the ship was retired it was docked at the foot of Grand Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. The vessel laid in waiting until the early 1980’s when the US Army Corp of Engineers ownership was transferred to the Market Area Development Corporation to be used as a river history museum. On June 4, 1985 a National Register of Historic Places application was submitted to make the vessel an historic object. This would enable investors to be secured for the extensive renovations that would be needed as well as the upkeep expenses.
In 1993 the William S. Mitchell broke away from its mooring lines during the great flood on the Missouri River. Captain Richard Lynn tried to save the vessel as it was being swept away in the floodwaters. A You Tube video titled ‘Mitchell Massacre: William S. Mitchell Crash’ shows clips from a television news report of the Mitchell being swept downriver and crashing into numerous bridges. Captain Lynn is shown in the first smaller tugboat, The Prince, attempting to unsuccessfully save the vessel. Later a larger tugboat was able to push the Mitchell to shore and secure it. However the extensive damage was done and the vessel was for the most part destroyed. A short time later Captain Lynn removed the bell from the William S. Mitchell. Captain Lynn kept the bell at the family home in LaBelle and his wife and children had the LaBelle Parks and Recreation Department move the bell to a restoration site and then to the LaBelle Veterans Memorial Park for its dedication on November 11, 2018.
But wait, there is more.
Despite the fact that the William S. Mitchell was for the most part destroyed in the 1993 Missouri River flood, the ship still lives on. Today the William S. Mitchell is now known as the USS Nightmare - Death Dredge. It has become a floating haunted house. The USS Nightmare is conveniently located on the south bank of the Ohio River on Riverboat Row, adjacent to Newport on the Levee at 101 Riverboat Row, Newport, KY. The new owners have turned it into a two story haunted ship with a below decks massacre storyline.
PLEASE NOTE: The story of the mad captain, the massacre and any other morbid events are fictitious and part of the marketing for the haunted ship.
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