The James River Bateau was a shallow draft river craft used during the period from 1775 to 1840 to transport tobacco and other cargo on the James river and its tributaries in the state of Virginia. It was flat bottomed and pointed at both ends. The length of the bateau varied greatly, 58 feet being a common length. The bateau was propelled by bateaumen pushing with long sturdy poles. Alternate spellings of bateau include batteau, batoe and the plurals bateaux, batoes, and batteaux. Bateau is the French word for boat. In the colonial days, bateaus were used extensively in rivers throughout the eastern part of the United States, but the coverage of this article is confined to those that plied the James River in the state of Virginia.

Origin of James River bateau
Anthony Rucker. the Elder, was the original inventor and constructor of the James River Bateau in the year, 1775. It was a boat essentially different from any before that time used on the rivers of Virginia. Rucker’s design was successfully patented [1] many years after its development. The earliest known reference to the bateau comes from Thomas Jefferson’s account book, dated April 19, 1775. [2] Jefferson had been at the first launching and forty-six years later was to witness the successful patenting of the Bateau by heirs of the Rucker's.” Unfortunately, none of the original bateaus exist. Some remains were uncovered by construction workers at the site of the James River and Kanawha Canal Basin.

Tobacco and bateaus
The five Rucker brothers were among the tobacco planters in Amherst County, Va. In fact, Anthony Rucker was Tobacco Inspector for Amherst County, Virginia. [2] The need to transport large Hogshead of tobacco to the port at Richmond, Va. no doubt motivated the Rucker brothers to develop the bateau. It was just wide enough to accommodate standard hogsheads (barrels) across the floor. The tobacco hogshead became standardized by the 1760’s and measured 48 inches long and 30 inches in diameter at the head. They held about 1000 pounds of tightly packed tobacco. Larger bateaus could transport 10 or more hogsheads, depending on river conditions. Tobacco was a very profitable crop and because of cheap slave labor vast amounts of it were produced by planters along the James River basin.