Fortune
Eads made his initial fortune in salvage, by creating a diving bell for retrieving goods from the bottom of rivers that were sunk there by riverboat disasters, especially along the busy Mississippi River. He also devised special boats for raising the remains of sunken ships from the river bed. Because of his detailed knowledge of the Mississippi (the equal of any professional river pilot), his exceptional ability at navigating the most treacherous parts of the river system, and his personal fleet of snag-boats and salvage craft, he was afforded the much prized courtesy title of "Captain" by the rivermen of the Mississippi and was addressed as Captain Eads throughout his life.
Read more about this topic: James Buchanan Eads
Famous quotes containing the word fortune:
“Good fortune then!
To make me blest or cursed’st among men.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Building up a family’s fortune is like moving earth with a needle, but losing a family’s fortune can be as swift as a boat rushing downstream with the current.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Allow me, whom Fortune always desires to bury, lay down my life in these final trivialities. Many have freely died in longlasting loves, among whose number may the earth cover me as well.”
—Propertius Sextus (c. 50–16 B.C.)