Widow walks refers to the new pastime Bill Butler had undertaken, post-captaining his beloved and lost Bonita, i.e. searching for boats that became accident victims- from the Widow Walks atop tall buildings, 60 feet above the ground; which, because of the inherent danger of falling to his death, required him to give up drinking. A Sweeney was the Steam Engine, that was attached (wed) to the wooden Keel of the Packet Boat, at the ways (assembly point), on the Ohio River bank at Wheeling, WV. Bosen (sp.) is short for Boatswain, a nautical term meaning a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew. Eight bells is a death tribute on a ship's bell for a lost sailor, in this case, a lost boat. Billet was the cost, paid not in cash, but trade goods, to buy passage on the ship. Bawds were houses of ill repute. The Great Raft refers to the incredible log jam on the Red River that was blasted away by Henry Miller Shreve. When it was blown up, the dammed up water rushed away, leaving the water level too loww to support river traffic on the Red, causing the demise of poor Bonita.