Blanche Douglass Leathers (1860 - January 26, 1940) was the first woman master and a steamboat captain on the Mississippi River in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her nicknames include "little captain,"^[1] the "angel of the Mississippi" and the "lady skipper."^[2]

Leathers was born in Tensas Parish, Louisiana and her father was a cotton planter.^[3][4] She married Captain Bowling S. Leathers in 1880 and had her honeymoon on his boat.^[5] Her husband taught her how to pilot and navigate the river.^[6][7]

Leathers earned her master's license in 1894.^[8] Then Leathers began her historic voyage as the first woman steamboat captain on the Mississippi.^[1] As the Natchez steamed away from New Orleans, tugs, ferries and freighters whistled in salute. Newspaper reporters interviewed her and she gave out autographs.^[1] She would make regular trips from New Orleans to Vicksburg and was the only woman captain of a large Mississippi river packet.^[2][9] Leathers said that she often managed the employees, performed boat inspections and then took over as captain when her husband needed.^[6] In 1896, the Public Ledger wrote that Leathers had taken command of the Natchez.^[10] She worked on the river for 18 years and then retired in New Orleans after the death of her husband.^[5][11] In 1929, she came out of retirement and started piloting a steamboat, the Tennessee Belle.^[5] The last time she renewed her pilot's license was in 1935.^[12]

Leathers died in New Orleans on January 26, 1940^[13] of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 79. A children's book, Steamboat! The Story of Captain Blanche Leathers was published in 1999 by Judith Heide Gilliland and illustrated by Holly Meade.^[14] In 2009, Leathers was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame.^[12]