Blanche Douglass Leathers (1860 - January 26, 1940) was the first woman master and a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her nicknames include "little captain,"[1] the "angel of the Mississippi" and the "lady skipper."[2]
Leathers was born in Tensas Parish, Louisiana and her father was a cotton planter.[3][4] She married Captain Bowling S. Leathers in 1880 and had her honeymoon on his boat.[5] Her husband taught her how to pilot and navigate the river.[6][7]
Leathers earned her master's license in 1894.[8] Then Leathers began her historic voyage as the first woman steamboat captain on the Mississippi.[1] As the Natchez steamed away from New Orleans, tugs, ferries and freighters whistled in salute. Newspaper reporters interviewed her and she gave out autographs.[1] She would make regular trips from New Orleans to Vicksburg and was the only woman captain of a large Mississippi river packet.[2][9] Leathers said that she often managed the employees, performed boat inspections and then took over as captain when her husband needed.[6] In 1896, the Public Ledger wrote that Leathers had taken command of the Natchez.[10] She worked on the river for 18 years and then retired in New Orleans after the death of her husband.[5][11] In 1929, she came out of retirement and started piloting a steamboat, the Tennessee Belle.[5] The last time she renewed her pilot's license was in 1935.[12]
Leathers died in New Orleans on January 26, 1940[13] 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.[14] In 2009, Leathers was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame.[12]