The historic riverboat, Becky Thatcher, a 220-foot, 74-year-old stern-wheeler sank in the Ohio River off Neville Island near Pittburgh, apparently due to the weight of a record snowfall which also collapsed the top two decks.

Historic riverboat sinks in Ohio River

The Becky Thatcher had a long and lustrous history. Built in 1926 in Jefferson, Ind., as The Mississippi (III) by the Army Corps of Engineers, the stern-wheeler originally was used for inspecting and surveying rivers. Despite being a workboat, it was outfitted with comfortable accommodations for 65 passengers.

The boat was retired in 1961 and in 1963 was sold to Mark Twain Enterprises, which set it up as a restaurant and museum in Hannibal, Mo. In the late 1960s, it was towed to St. Louis, where it was renamed the Becky Thatcher and extensively restored.

In the years that followed, the boat was used as a floating dinner theater and a bar and restaurant. In 1975, it was purchased by a group of citizens in Marietta as part of that town’s bicentennial celebration. Moored along Front Street on the Muskingum River, the first production performed aboard it by the Mid-Ohio Valley Players in 1976 was “Showboat.”

The National Park Service entered the boat into the National Register of Historic Places in October 1983.