When Lydia and Nicholas Roosevelt's barge reached Natchez the crew was ready to go ashore and do some celebrating. Nicholas was still ill from the fever that had struck them and their crew so Lydia, now seven-months-pregnant, stayed aboard to nurse him. But soon after the crew left them a serious and dangerous situation arose.
Bailing Out of a Bad Situation
With out warning, the level of the Mississippi River. suddenly dropped. With the decrease in water level the bottom of the flatboat hit the mast of a sunken vessel. The impact was such that the flatboat sprang a leak. The flatboat would have gone to the bottom had it not been for Lydia bailing water constantly for the next four hours until the crew returned.
An Alligator Comes to Call, Again and Again
Fortunately, they were only a week away from reaching New Orleans because the remainder of the trip had to be made downriver in a large rowboat. They hoped they would be able to find lodging each night along the river but this was not to be. Their days, and now their nights, were spent aboard the rowboat. But, at least, their boredom was nightly broken by a visitor.
On the first night Lydia's husband was waken by a large alligator that was attempting to climb into the rowboat with them. Roosevelt greeted their visitor with a good whack on the side of the boat with the pilot's cane. The gater left but each of the four following nights the visitation was reenacted. The fifth night they found lodging but their slumber was also disturbed by a far different source.
Religious Practice Robs Sleep
It was an elderly French couple that took them in on the fifth night, allowing the travelers to bunk down on the floor in front of the fireplace. Though they were now safe from intruding gaters, on several occasions throughout the night the elderly couple, being devout Catholics, crept into the outer room to kneel and pray before a crucifix.
Moving on down the river the following day, night brought with it a pouring rain. The crew rowed hard until they reached Baton Rouge, docking at the miserable little Louisiana town at nine o'clock. They found shelter in the only public house the town possessed.
Alligators and Catholics: A Bad Time on the River, continues with The Roosevelts Reach New Orleans: A Night in a Baton Rouge Barroom
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