The man in charge of the Belle, and semi-celebrity come Derby Week, Kevin Mullen, is equally at home with the grueling work of shipyard inspections and repairs as he is steering his beloved steamboat. He looks a bit like Mark Twain, with similar snowy hair (albeit more tamed) and matching mustache, plus ocean-blue eyes that suggest a natural affinity for all things aquatic.
While Mullen, 52, has no steamboat family history (in fact, he jokes that his parents probably would have been happier if he’d joined the circus), he has been around the Belle for the better part of his life.
In high school he took $2 Tuesday-night rides looking to meet girls, but instead developed an interest in the boat and began asking lots of questions — questions the crew readily answered. He worked on the sternwheeler as a deckhand in college, then lived in Berea briefly and returned to the Belle in 1981 as a mate (March 1 marked 25 years for him on the boat).
He’s worked in every position, eventually becoming master (an office above captain) in 2001. The learning process, for him, was an “Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker thing” — young ones move up through the ranks with the guidance of older masters. “They’d take you under their wing and teach you how to pilot. There was no human-resources fuzzy-wuzzy stuff. I remember getting cussed and thrown out of the pilot house,” he says, laughing. “They were great teachers.” Mullen shares a similar relationship with his current crew, and is training one woman to become Belle captain, the first female in that position.
Other boats have given him temporary work, but he always returns to his “mistress” for her great crew, her significant history, spirit and iconic status for Louisvillians — but most of all for the break the Belle offers from the chaos of modern life. “This is a hustle-and-bustle society and we’re an anachronism to that. I mean, really fast on this boat is eight miles per hour. We’re going back to another time here,” he says, then adds, “of course with the modern conveniences of flush toilets and full-service bars.” He truly loves the riverboat life and has a sarcastic wit. Mark Twain would be proud.
