I often heard it’s large 10” Lunkenheimer, whistle, which was made in Cincinnati. I also enjoyed hearing its steam calliope. Although we nearly lost the Delta Queen in 1970 due to a misinterpretation of the Safety at Sea Law, a campaign to Save the Queen prevailed and the Delta Queen was granted an exemption. Cincinnati continued as the home port of the Delta Queen through the 1970s and into the 1980s. Even when the home port was moved, the exemptions have always been granted until this year. I hope that President Elect Barack Obama can reverse Representative Oberstar’s decision.Just as a short notice about a discussion that is going on right now about a permit to "permanentely" moor the Delta Queen at Chattanooga; We’d like to avoid confusion and therefore clarify: The group who was sending out that "Save the Delta Queen Release" is not speaking on behalf of the Save-the-delta-queen.org website. (You can find the text of that release on Nori Muster’s website www.steamboats.com).
But while steamboat people may differ on how to proceed, Save-the-delta-queen.org strongly agrees that we all want to see the Delta Queen kept in working order so that she might go back to the cruise business if the legal conditions improve.
Save-the-delta-queen.org’s position on this is as follows. We would like to see the "permanent" mooring permit issued with additional restraints to make sure there will not be any structural changes to the Delta Queen (especially in case Ambassadors International sells the boat) so she can in fact be easily re-activated as an overnight passenger vessel once she receives a new exemption from Congress. The leasing contract between Ambassadors International and the operators of the Delta Queen Hotel at Chattanooga contains an agreement that "the Delta Queen will still be maintained in operating condition and able to return to cruising service at any time" (citing Sydney Slome, operator of the Delta Queen Hotel). But additional restraints on the mooring permit will also be applicable for the case that the Delta Queen is being sold and therefore the agreement from the leasing contract is no longer valid. Our concerns in this respect are not based on distrust towards Capt. Harry Phillips and Sydney Slome at Chattanooga but due to the obscure behavious of Ambassadors International (AMIE) in the past and the obviously very difficult financial situation of AMIE.
You can follow the discussion about this topic at the steamboats.org message board in the "A Response from Delta Queen Hotel" thread. For details of the public note about this permit for permanentely mooring the Delta Queen at Chattanooga, see the PDF file here.
February 7th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Hello; I am a French screenwriter and film producer, I am aghast to discover that the Dela Queen is threatened. May be could we extend the subscription to France, after all, the river boat story in the US is closely linked to Louisiane. I f I were to stage a production on the boat, this could be a way to raise finance. I have an interesting screenplay for a film that needs to be staged on a Missisipi boat around the years 1900…But what is the present condition of the boat right now, where is it ? To whom should I speak ? Anyhow you have my full support to what you are doing to build up awareness around the value of the Delta Queen as a 'historical monument'. We have this notion in the French law which forbids to destroy a historiacl monument (there is already at least one ship that has been classified as historical monument, called the 'Le Bellem'). Have you tried this recourse ? If such a law does not exist int eh US maybe this could be a good cause to defent by some senator in search of press releases !!
Best regards; Jerome C