The ''Delta Queen'' is an American sternwheel

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the ship prefix, prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S ...

. She is known for cruising the major rivers that constitute the tributaries of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

, particularly in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, although she began service in California on the American River delta for which she gets her name. She was docked in

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

and served as a floating hotel until purchased by the newly formed Delta Queen Steamboat Company. She was towed to

Houma, Louisiana Houma ( ) is the largest city in, and the parish seat of, Terrebonne Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is also the largest principal city of the Houma– Bayou Cane–Thibodaux metropolitan statistical area. The city's government ...

, in March 2015 for refurbishing to her original condition. The ''Delta Queen'' is long, wide, and draws . She weighs 1,650

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s (1,676

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States ...

s), with a capacity of 176 passengers. Her cross-compound steam engines generate , powering a

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Or ...

-mounted paddlewheel. Built in 1927, she is the last surviving steam-powered overnight passenger boat plying the watershed of the Mississippi. In 1989, she was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

. Originally, she was built as an equal to her sister ship, the Delta King, which is currently moored in Sacramento.

History

The hull, first two decks, and steam engines were ordered in 1924 from the

William Denny & Brothers William Denny and Brothers Limited, often referred to simply as Denny, was a Scottish shipbuilding company. History The shipbuilding interests of the Denny family date back to William Denny (born 1779), for whom ships are recorded being built ...

shipyard on the River Leven adjoining the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. ''Delta Queen'' and her sister, '' Delta King'', were shipped in pieces to

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses. The city is named after R ...

in 1926. There the California Transportation Company assembled the two vessels for their regular

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento� ...

service between

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, and excursions to Stockton, on the

San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suis ...

. At the time, they were the most lavishly appointed and expensive sternwheel passenger boats ever commissioned. Driven out of service by a new highway linking Sacramento with San Francisco in 1940, the two vessels were laid up and then purchased by Isbrandtsen Steamship Lines for service out of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, they were requisitioned by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

for duty in

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

as USS ''Delta Queen'' (YHB-7/YFB-56). During the war, the vessels were painted battleship gray and used in transporting wounded from ocean-going ships in San Francisco Bay to area hospitals. Three different United States Presidents have sailed on ''Delta Queen'':

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gre ...

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, and

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

. In 1946, ''Delta Queen'' was purchased by Greene Line of

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

and towed via the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

and the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

s for refurbishment in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. On that ocean trip she was piloted by

Frederick Way, Jr. Fredrick Way Jr. (February 17, 1901 – October 3, 1992) was the youngest steamboat captain on the Ohio River and Mississippi River. He was the author of books on the boats that ply the inland waterways. He supervised the flat-bottom, stern ...

In 1948 she entered regular passenger service, plying the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi,

, and

Cumberland River The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 8, 2011 river drains almost of southern Kentucky and ...

s between Cincinnati, New Orleans,

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

, and ports in between. Ownership of the vessel has changed seven times over fifty years.

Richard Simonton Richard Simonton (1915–1979), also known under the pseudonym Doug Malloy, was a Hollywood businessman and entrepreneur, known for his involvement in the Hollywood community, his rescue of the steamboat '' Delta Queen'', his work in preserving th ...

bought a controlling interest in the Greene Line in 1958 when it was in financial difficulty. In 1966, Congress passed the first Safety at Sea Law that would put the ''Delta Queen'' out of business. After consulting with attorney William Kohler, Richard Simonton, Bill Muster, and Edwin "Jay" Quinby traveled to Washington, DC, to save their boat. As chairman of the board of Greene Line Steamers, Jay Quinby testified before the Senate to ask for an exemption to the law. Greene Line had to renegotiate the exemption every two to four years. The boat's

Betty Blake Betty Blake (September 20, 1931 – April 13, 1982) was an American historic preservationist and promoter. She was best known for preserving historic riverboats in Cincinnati. Her biggest preservation project was helping to save the '' Delta Quee ...

Lounge is named in honor of the woman who rose from public relations officer to savior of the boat when Congressman Edward A. Garmatz, a Democrat who represented Baltimore and was Chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, tried to block the 1970 exemption. Thanks to the efforts of Betty Blake and Bill Muster, the ''Delta Queen'' was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1970 and was subsequently declared a

in 1989. and The business continued with its name changing in 1973 to The Delta Queen Steamboat Company. One unusual feature of ''Delta Queen'' is her

steam calliope A calliope (see below for pronunciation) is an American and Canadian musical instrument that produces sound by sending a gas, originally steam or, more recently, compressed air, through large whistles—originally locomotive whistles. A callio ...

, mounted on the Texas deck aft of the pilothouse. It covers approximately three octaves, and was used to play the ship in and out of her berth while she was docking and undocking. The Master of the ''Delta Queen'' sometimes extended this courtesy to other vessels as well. In 1974, Charlie Waller &

The Country Gentlemen The Country Gentlemen was a progressive bluegrass band that originated during the 1950s in the area of Washington, D.C., United States, and recorded and toured with various members until the death in 2004 of Charlie Waller, one of the group's ...

recorded a song on their Remembrances & Forecasts album written by Leroy Drumm and Pete Goble titled Delta Queen, to which Leroy was inspired to write after having seen her running down the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other name ...

in the early 1970s.

Current duty

Majestic America Line most recently operated the vessel. The vessels were purchased from the Delaware North Companies in April 2006. Besides ''Delta Queen'', the company also owned the '' American Queen'' and ''

Mississippi Queen "Mississippi Queen" is a song by the American rock band Mountain. Considered a rock classic, it was their most successful single, reaching number 21 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1970. The song is included on the group's debut album and se ...

'', modern steamboats designed along ''Delta Queen''s lines but carrying around 400 passengers. The company also owned riverboats that have seen service on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in Oregon and Washington, and the Alaska Inside Passage. ''Delta Queen'' cruised the Mississippi River and its

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drain ...

on a regular schedule, with cruises ranging from New Orleans to Memphis to St. Louis to St. Paul to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, and many more. On some cruises, the vessel probed rivers such as the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, Red, Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Black Warrior, Mobile, and more. Delta Queen Paducah

''Delta Queen'' recreated historic steamboat races each year during the Kentucky Derby Festival, when she raced with the ''

Belle of Louisville ''Belle of Louisville'' is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period. The steamboat claims itself the "most wi ...

'' on the Ohio at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in the Great Steamboat Race. The winner of the annual race received a trophy of

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

en antlers, which was mounted on the pilothouse until the next race. They also raced during the

Tall Stacks Tall Stacks, formally known as the Tall Stacks Music, Arts, and Heritage Festival, was a festival held every three or four years in the Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, area, which celebrated the city's heritage of the riverboat. The sixth (and, to date, ...

festivals celebrating steamboats, held every three or four years in Cincinnati (''Delta Queen''s former home port). On August 1, 2007, Majestic America Line announced that ''Delta Queen'' would cease operations permanently at the end of the 2008 season. The temporary exemption from SOLAS needed to keep ''Delta Queen'' running was being ended by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. In response to this announcement, in September 2007, the

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The add ...

for

, Jackie Baillie, backed by 15 other Members, submitted a motion to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...

calling for the preservation of the ship. In the United States, devotees of the boat created a renewed "Save the Delta Queen" campaign similar to the one undertaken in the 1970s. However, at the end of the 2008 season, ''Delta Queen'' ceased all service. On her official website, the Majestic America Line announced it is ending all operations, would not operate in 2009, and that its assets, including all its riverboats, were for sale. On February 11, 2009, ''Delta Queen'' arrived in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

, to become a floating boutique hotel, as it was feared the vessel could be vandalized if she remained in New Orleans. Under lease to Chattanooga businessman Harry Phillips, she was docked at

Coolidge Park Coolidge Park is a park located on the North Shore of Chattanooga, Tennessee along the Tennessee River. It has an interactive water fountain, rock climbing, a pavilion, picnic amenities, a military memorial, and a 100-year old restored antiqu ...

Landing on Chattanooga's North Shore. The Delta Queen Hotel officially opened for overnight guests on June 5, 2009, offering dining, a lounge, live period music, and theatrical performances, closing to the public in December 2014. From 2006 to 2008

Ambassadors International Ambassadors Group, Inc. is a defunct publicly traded educational travel company based in Spokane, Washington. It was originally an operating division of Ambassadors International, Inc., but was divested into a separate corporation in 2002 to for ...

, owned the boat and leased it to a company called All Aboard Travel, operating as Delta Queen LLC, which began leasing the vessel in August 2010. Ambassadors International listed the ship for sale beginning in late 2008 at a price of $4.75 million, and in November 2010 it was announced that a group called Save the Delta Queen 2010 was planning to place a bid to purchase the ship. If it succeeded, the group would place the ship into operation, carrying only 49 people in order to be exempt from federal

fire safety Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the development and eff ...

regulations, which apply to ships carrying upwards of 50 people. For a time, with the steamer '' American Queen'' turned over to

MARAD Marad (Sumerian: Marda, modern Tell Wannat es-Sadum or Tell as-Sadoum, Iraq) was an ancient Near Eastern city. Marad was situated on the west bank of the then western branch of the Upper Euphrates River west of Nippur in modern-day Iraq and ro ...

and ''Mississippi Queen'' sold for scrap below New Orleans, ''Delta Queen'' was the only steamboat to have been owned by the

Delta Queen Steamboat Company The Greene Line was a line of river steamships along the Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvan ...

(formerly Greene Line Steamers) to remain in service, albeit without running trips. However, as of November 2011, the Great American Steamboat Company of Memphis, Tennessee was booking cruises on '' American Queen'' along the Upper and Lower Mississippi River. On May 14, 2013, the bill To amend title 46, United States Code, to extend the exemption from the fire-retardant materials construction requirement for vessels operating within the Boundary Line (H.R. 1961; 113th Congress) was introduced into the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

by Rep. Steve Chabot (R, OH-1). Delta Queen docked in Chattanooga TN

The mayor of Chattanooga, Andy Berke, put into motion a plan to have the ''Delta Queen'' removed from its mooring in Chattanooga, as he considered it an "obstruction". A deadline of September 30, 2013 was given. This dispute seemed to rest on the ''Delta Queen'' having not paid its rent, which the owners of the ''Delta Queen'' had disputed on their Facebook page. This news was in light of the ''Delta Queen'' being honored as a "National Treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation on September 21, 2013. Congress gave a vote on giving the ''Delta Queen'' an exemption to allow it to travel the rivers again in 2013, but the exemption bill failed to pass. The ''Delta Queen'' was then bought by the newly formed Delta Queen Steamboat Co. in early 2015. It departed Chattanooga for restoration in New Orleans on March 22, 2015. for repairs and upgrades in

. She safely arrived on April 7, 2015, in her temporary slip for restoration. In 2008, the Delta Queen was forced to retire from service when her Congressional Exemption from the 1966 Safety at Sea act expired. The law intended to prohibit ocean-bound vessels from carrying overnight passengers unless completely made of non-combustible materials included the Delta Queen, even though she was never more than several hundred yards (metres) from shore. Congress approved nine exemptions over four decades to allow the Delta Queen to continue operations until 2008. On November 27, 2018, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to reinstate an exemption to allow the Delta Queen Steamboat to return to service after a decade-long retirement.

Hauntings

Mary Becker Greene Captain Mary Becker Greene (1867 - April 22, 1949), was steamboat captain of the Greene Line of river steamboats. She was the only female steamboat captain in Ohio. Biography She was born in 1867. She married Gordon Christopher Greene in 1890 ...

, wife of Greene Line founder Gordon C. Greene and a riverboat Captain in her own right, died aboard the boat on April 22, 1949. Guests and employees have reported sounds and activity on board which they attribute to her spirit, particularly around her former quarters.''Haunted History'', TV Series, Episode: "New Orleans". Airdate: February 2, 2001

References

External links

''Delta Queen'' official web siteVideo Clips of ''Delta Queen''2007 Save the ''Delta Queen'' Campaign2014 ''Delta Queen''s history and photos2015 Help Save the Legendary Steamboat ''Delta Queen''
{{California Steamboats 1926 ships 1926 in Scotland Ships built on the River Clyde Steamboats of the Mississippi River Paddle steamers of the United States National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee Passenger ships of the United States Steamboats of California Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee Delta Queen Steamboat Company Ships of American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines National Register of Historic Places in Chattanooga, Tennessee

History

Current duty

Hauntings

See also

References

External links