Augusta Riverwalk (No. 2)
The Kathryn S. was one of the Savannah River’s last paddleboats — and a part of Roy Simkins’ childhood.
“I spent a lot of nights on that boat,” said Simkins, 78, whose father owned and operated river vessels from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Built in Charleston and brought to Augusta to pull timber barges from remote landings, it was powered by a diesel engine with a distinct, soothing sound.
“It would go, ‘chung-a-lung, chung-a-lung’ all night long,” he said. “She was about 60 feet long with a stern wheel and three cabins.”
Today, river commerce on the Savannah is long gone, but the scattered remnants of a once-proud fleet can still be found.
The Kathryn S., wrecked in the early 1960s, is little more than an overgrown mass of timbers and sits on private property. Its paddlewheel, with trees growing through it, is still visible, but vandals have long since looted everything else.
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