History
The hull, first two decks, and steam engines were ordered in 1924 from the William Denny & Brothers shipyard on the River Leven adjoining the River Clyde at Dumbarton, Scotland. Delta Queen and her sister, Delta King, were shipped in pieces to Stockton, California in 1926. There the California Transportation Company assembled the two vessels for their regular Sacramento River service between San Francisco and Sacramento, and excursions to Stockton, on the San Joaquin River. 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. During World War II, they were requisitioned by the United States Navy for duty in San Francisco Bay as USS Delta Queen (YHB-7/YFB-56).[6] 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.[7]
Three different United States Presidents have sailed on Delta Queen: Herbert Hoover, Harry Truman, and Jimmy Carter.
In 1946, Delta Queen was purchased by Greene Line of Cincinnati, Ohio and towed via the Panama Canal and the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers for refurbishment in Pittsburgh.[8] On that ocean trip she was piloted by Frederick Way, Jr. In 1948 she entered regular passenger service, plying the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Cumberland Rivers between Cincinnati, New Orleans, St. Paul, Chattanooga, Nashville, and ports in between. Ownership of the vessel has changed seven times over fifty years.[9] Richard Simonton 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.[10] Greene Line had to renegotiate the exemption every two to four years. The boat's Betty Blake 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.[11]
Thanks to the efforts of Betty Blake and Bill Muster, the Delta Queen was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and was subsequently declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.[1][12] 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, 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 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 in the early 1970s.[13][14]
21st century duty
Majestic America Line most recently operated the vessel.[15] 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, 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 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, Red, Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Black Warrior, Mobile, and more.[16]
Delta Queen recreated historic steamboat races each year during the Kentucky Derby Festival, when she raced with the Belle of Louisville on the Ohio at Louisville in the Great Steamboat Race. The winner of the annual race received a trophy of
