The threat to the Delta Queen has probably never been greater than it is now. After years of intense and honorable fighting for the historic ship, the current owner is running out of steam.

The Delta Queen is up for sale, with a clear message: if no investor or buyer can be found to preserve the Delta Queen as a historic paddle steamer, whether as a hotel like her sister Delta King in Sacramento, as a museum, or even as a river cruise ship again, it faces scrapping.

This is what the owner of the Delta Queen just posted at Facebook:

The National Historic Landmark DELTA QUEEN steamboat is looking for a new owner and caretaker. After saving the legendary steamboat from the scrappers torch in 2015, the revived Delta Queen Steamboat Company (DQSC) has spent the last ten years trying to secure both the necessary federal legislation that allows the DELTA QUEEN to operate by lobbying the U.S. Congress as well as the funding for the full refurbishment needed to carry overnight passengers again. The future looked bright in December 2018 when said legislation was signed into law, however despite herculean efforts the funding for the project never materialized.

Having hung on to the dream through the COVID pandemic that crippled the cruise industry and a subsequent Category 4 hurricane that directly impacted the DELTA QUEEN, the current owners have exhausted every last resource at their disposal and are no longer able to provide the care needed to maintain the vessel.

It remains DQSC’s goal and mission to see the DELTA QUEEN preserved and the best solution is one that opens the vessel to the public to generate the revenues necessary to sustain its maintenance and long-term preservation. Whether this means as a cruising vessel, or in the manner her identical twin, the DELTA KING has enjoyed as a stationary attraction; the DELTA QUEEN needs to be saved. The current owners are seeking purchase proposals and offers for the vessel, with priority given to offers that do not result in dismantling.

Interested parties should contact website@dqsteamboat.com with details of a potential proposal including sources of funding.

Where are the “deep pockets”?

It would be a shame if a country that is so proud of its history and heritage and emphasizes patriotism more than ever were unable, or unwilling, to save one of its most iconic historical monuments.

It’s not as if there aren’t many self-proclaimed patriots with extremely deep pockets who could easily save the Delta Queen. Jeff Bezos, for example, reportedly just spent $30 million on his wedding in Venice, Italy. Thirty million would probably be more than enough to save the Delta Queen. Thirty million dollars would be just 0.014 percent of Bezos’ fortune.

Or 0.00041 percent of the US federal budget in 2025. Just to get an idea if this number: It’s equivalent to US$ 1.23 from a monthly income of US$ 3.000.