End of an Era

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Monty

Group Buy Coordinator
Joined
Mar 4, 2005
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8,457
Location
Pearland, Texas, USA.
Just heard on Good Morning America that The Delta Queen riverboat will no longer be sailing up and down the rivers in the US. Seems a 1966 (?) law forbids overnight travel on boat that has a wooden superstructure and carries more than 50 passangers. For the first time since the passage of that law, Congress has not granted an exception to it for the DQ. According to GMA the DQ gets NO funding from the government. Seems a shame to lose such a grand tradition as the Delta Queen to such petty things from out "estemed" leaders in Congrass .
 
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That's a real loss of our heritage. I remember celebrating my 20th anniversary on the Delta Queen gently rolling on the river back in 1992.
 
Yeah, SOLAR I think is the acronym. Mainly for oceangoing vessels, but ANYTHING that is a commercial vessel is caught up in it. The oldest vessel still sailing (oceanliner) is Regal Empress. Sailed on her twice in the '90s to Bahamas until she went bankrupt due to engine repair. Was auctioned off in about 2001 for 1.1 Million. Has been sailing one day cruises for last couple of years and is now in Galveston leased to Gov for hurricane survivor housing. Will be unable to sail in 2010 due to this law. Beautiful wood, but cramped quarters for sure. Just hate to see thing like that scrapped.
 
This is a shame. We live near a town where the DQ stops each time it passes through. During its most recent visit, we heard that it would be the last trip for the DQ. Now we know the rest of the story.

Its passengers always supported the towns where it stopped. This will certainly impact several local businesses.
 
The Delta Queen has one of it's Tennessee River stops just 2 blocks from our other house in Decatur. I'm gonna miss seeing it. I've taken some great pictures in the past. I actually had someone contact me that worked on the Queen about getting some wood from her. Hopefully we can work something out.
 
Maybe we can get it back on the Sacramento River here in California where it was originally. We have the Delta King tied up in old Sacramento but it is a hotel and resturant and does not operate. My dad told me about going between San Francisco and Sacramento during the 20's and 30's. At least the Queen was used and maintained as intended, while the King also sank twice and was in bad shape when it was bought and fixed up for its current use.
 
I've owned a wooden sailboat, and can tell you from experience the owners of this ship would have eventually gone broke operating it. It gets to the point where you've rebuilt so much, you may as well have started over with steel or glass or cement. There's also no question they become firetraps, and once they start, fire extinguishers won't cut it. I've not seen this ship, and it's sad to see these things pass into history, but there are reasons they don't fly Constellations anymore, and speed's not the only reason.

On another note, 20 years ago my brother took a cruise on the old SS France. Can't remember what it's new name was, but he told me to hurry up and take a cruise on it, and I didn't and regret it. He did say, however, that every bathroom on that ship stunk to high heaven, toilets clogged with every flush, the rooms were like closets and the AC never worked right. But it sure was pretty. Now, I think it's parts of Peugeots or something.

I'm not for over-regulation, but I'm darn sure glad I wasn't on that Greek cruise ship that not long ago sank like a stone with people still on it or that Latvian or Finnish (can't recall now) overnight Ferry that flipped over in the middle of the night with few survivors, hundreds lost. I have to state my bias here, I'm a survivor of a plane crash into a freezing Lake Erie in late November, and was rescued by the US Coast Guard. I guarantee you Congress was acting on information predominantly provided by the Coast Guard, and what they say is good enough for me. But that's just me...
 
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