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Peter Knego Blogs from DELTA QUEEN: Page One
The lovely DELTA QUEEN at Paducah, Kentucky. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
SB DELTA QUEEN
Train Holidays/Uncommon Journeys
Hull built in 1925 by William Denny and Brothers, Limited, Dumbarton, Scotland, and disassembled Shipped to California Navigation and Improvement Company Shipyard, Stockton, California where steel hull was reassembled and four decks of wooden superstructure were added
Completed in 1927 for California Transportation Company
285 by 60 feet (9 foot draft)
3,360 gt
174 passengers (double occupancy)
Two 1919 Foster watertube boilers supplying steam to a cross compound condensing steam engine
19 by 28 foot stern wheel
2000 shp
7 miles per hour (12 maximum)
Maiden voyage Sacramento to San Francisco: 22 May 1927
October 1940 used by US Navy as troop accommodation in San Francisco Bay
1941 sold to Isbrandsten SS Co, N.Y. (sale later rescinded)
1941 commissioned by U.S. Navy as YARD FERRY BOAT 56 (troop capacity of 3,200) transporting troops in San Francisco Bay region until 1946
1946 laid up at Suisuin Bay
1946 sold to Greene Line
1947 crated over at Fulton Shipyard, Stockton, CA for voyage to New Orleans, LA
April 19, 1947 departed under tow for New Orleans
May 19, 1947 arrived New Orleans, uncrated
1947/8 converted for luxury river cruising at Dravo Shipyard, Pittsburgh, PA
1970 congressional bill signed to keep DELTA QUEEN exempt from 1966 SOLAS regulations (latest expires 2008)
1989 deemed National Historic Landmark
1990 hull enlarged to increase buoyancy and fuel capacity
note: sister vessel, DELTA KING, restored and serving as a floating hotel in Sacramento, CAREPORT ONE: Tuesday, 5 July, 2006 (Hail, DELTA QUEEN!)
Facing forward in DELTA QUEEN's Betty Blake Lounge. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
My presence in the Betty Blake Lounge of the SB DELTA QUEEN is somewhat of an anomaly. Here I sit with luminescent laptop in this wonderful gallery like setting, lit by crystal incandescent chandeliers and furnished with overstuffed American colonial style furnishings and an assortment of "home town" knick knacks. There is a churning rumble of the paddlewheel, the sloshing of the Mississippi underneath our flat-bottomed hull, and the sound of footsteps on the metal decks outside. IÕve only been aboard for six hours, but am already falling in love with this grand old lady and her casual, familial atmosphere.
This latest journey began in St. Louis two nights ago in sweltering 93 degree heat and swamp-like humidity. I reached the Embassy Suites Hotel anticipating the arrival of DELTA QUEEN and MISSISSIPPI QUEEN yesterday morning. The two vessels were concluding an eleven night "steamboat race" from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Their descent upon St. Louis was scheduled in the late morning, hence my arrival from California the night prior.
The ADMIRAL's Art Deco stylings are best seen from an excursion boat. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
I requested a view of the Mississippi and was happy to discover President Casino's 374 by 92 foot ADMIRAL beneath my window, a wonderful Deco former ferryboat with a strong resemblance to Seattle's famous KALAKALA. She was built in 1907 as the ALBATROS (a railroad transfer vessel) and rebuilt between 1939 and 1940 into a streamlined 4,400 passenger excursion boat. In 1973, she was converted to diesel power and given screws in lieu of her paddlewheel, continuing in service until 1979 (many thanks to www.steamboats.org for the information). Somewhere in my collection at home, I had a vintage postcard view or two of her and imagine she must have been quite a spectacle in her heyday.
Saarinen's magnificent arch, facing upward. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
Not knowing where to be or when to catch the arrival of the two steamboats, I got up much earlier than I would have liked and walked down to the waterfront below Saarinen's spectacular Gateway Arch. As it was the 4th of July, the neighboring park was being heavily monitored by security and everyone entering was searched and scanned. A temporary stage was erected at the foot of the archway's steps as roadies set up equipment and lights for a Hootie and the Blowfish concert. It was sticky and uncomfortably hot at 9:00 AM, making the darkening gray skies beyond the river an almost welcome sight. I asked every security person and even a park ranger where the two boats would berth but no one seemed to know. So, up and down the waterfront, I continued, managing to sit out some very potent cloudbursts under tents that would soon accommodate makeshift junk food vendors.
At noon, I boarded the excursion boat TOM SAWYER for a cruise up the Mississippi. We passed the ADMIRAL at close range and continued past the power plant built for the St. Louis World's Fair. Another rainy deluge cleared the upper decks, forcing me into the crowded sheltered promenade for obstructed attempts at photography. St. Louis has some fascinating bridges, including the stone and steel arch Eads Bridge, which is now only used for the Metro Link and pedestrian traffic. On the East St. Louis, Ilinois, side of the river, there is a "faux" paddlewheel hotel/casino complex called the CASINO QUEEN, its purpose evident by the flashing neon sign on the adjacent embankment. I disembarked the hour long cruise just in time to flee to another waterfront tent as the day's most severe drenching began. After another hour and a half of watching the southern extremes of the river, I finally gave up and headed back to the hotel.
The DELTA QUEEN (left) and the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN together at St. Louis on 4 July 2006. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
And, of course, after eating and freshing up, I returned to the waterfront to discover both vessels tied up side to side at the foot of the Eads Bridge, with the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN on the western embankment. It was a nice contrast: the 1927-built DELTA QUEEN's cambered, sheered silhouette next to the squared off, larger 1976-built MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. From the vantage of the bridge, with the clearing afternoon sky and the famous arch as a backdrop, they made an impressive pair.
That evening I joined my friend Christopher Kyte, CEO of Train Holidays/Uncommon Journeys (www.trainholidays.com) who had arrived with his ninety person charter group. Their "American Legends" journey had begun two days prior at the opulent 1920's built Drake Hotel in Chicago. Today, they boarded the 1948 built streamliner train, INDEPENDENCE DAY SPECIAL, for its five hour journey to St. Louis. After dinner in the hotel, we walked to the Eads Bridge to view the fireworks over the Mississippi. The DELTA QUEEN had since left her fleetmate and moved down river, just below the riverboat excursion dock.
The following morning (today) involved packing and boarding one of the Uncommon Journeys/Train Holiday's coaches for an architectural tour of St. Louis. We were delivered to the DELTA QUEEN at the end of the afternoon extravaganza. The DQ looked eager to depart, her red stern wheel slowly pivoting against her mooring lines and a faint plume of black smoke seething from her crowned stovepipe of a funnel. She was soaking up the afternoon sunlight and looking most regal from the concrete and stone landing.
Top, once opened, the front doors lead to, bottom, the first of DELTA QUEEN's three brass lined stairtowers. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
It has been ten years since my last visit to the DELTA QUEEN. One boards via the bow ramp on Main Deck. The ramp, itself, is a classic riverboat feature, and swings to either side via a pivoting boom that pulls it up while the boat is underway, holding it suspended over the ship's prow like a long butterfly's proboscis. A short walk across the mooring deck leads to a pair of swinging oak doors that have the letters "D" and "Q" embedded in their stained glass window panes. Once inside, and up a gleaming brass stairtower, one steps into the oak paneled Forward Cabin Lounge on Cabin Deck.
The Forward Cabin Lounge facing aft from port (top) and facing forward from starboard (bottom). Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
The port side offers a coffee, tea, and lemonade station that looks out onto a sheltered forward terrace while the starboard side has more seating and a small desk for shore excursions and port information pamphlets. The aft port portion of the room houses the purser's office and the starboard side features a nice gift shop with all sorts of DELTA QUEEN paraphernalia.
Top to bottom: The stairs leading from the Forward Cabin Lounge up to the Texas Bar; facing forward from starboard in the Texas Bar; facing aft from port in the Texas Bar; a detail of one of the original stained glass windows in the Texas Bar. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
An even grander brass staircase leads up to the Texas Bar, another oak-paneled salon fronted by bowed glass windows. Like the Forward Cabin Lounge, it also sports Tiffany-styled stained glass windows along its upper perimeter. It is served by a bar in its center and seems to be the most frequently populated space on board. Aft of the Forward Cabin Lounge, the Betty Blake Lounge is an inner gallery adjoining rows of staterooms on either side. The forward portion of the lounge once housed the vessel's dining room, which in her Sacramento Delta days had a towering skylight.
The Orleans Room, facing aft/port. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
Aside from the Orleans Dining Room on Main Deck (which was converted from cargo space in 1948), the rest of the DELTA QUEEN is devoted to staterooms.
The DELTA QUEEN's outer decks, top to bottom: forward Texas Deck as seen from Sun Deck; port Sun Deck facing aft; starboard Texas Deck facing aft; starboard Cabin Deck facing forward. Photos and copyright Peter Knego.
Cambered and slightly sheered promenades fully encircle Sun, Texas, and Cabin Decks, whose accommodation (except for that on Cabin Deck) is accessed, unlike most ships, from the outside.
Top, cabin 225. Bottom, cabin 121. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
Our first assigned cabin, 225, was a compact upper/lower that would likely have provided both of our post six foot frames with some logistical challenges. Thankfully, one of Christopher's clients did not like the location of their larger cabin, 121, on aft Cabin Deck, so we gladly made the switch. With a nice long entryway and two lower beds, this cabin was much better suited to accommodating my excess luggage and insomnia.
At night, the calliope is floodlight with colored lights. Photo and copyright Peter Knego 2006.
During our second seating dinner, I kept leaving our table between courses to go up on deck to catch the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN's scheduled upriver departure. I would soon learn that both vessels were waiting for a group of passengers that had been delayed by a late flight. Following dinner, DQ finally lifted her gangway, unhitched her lines, and head slowly up the river. Her wonderful steam whistle hissed and sputtered before holding a nice sharp hoot as a plume of black smoke belched from her stovepipe funnel extension upward into the night sky. The steam calliope at the aft end of Sun Deck chimed with some familiar Americana tunes as we passed the moonlit arch and approached the still tethered and brightly lit MQ. Once alongside her fleetmate, the DQ turned starboard in a horseshoe maneuver and caught the current as she head back downstream. Within twenty minutes, the bright skyline of St. Louis was finally behind us and the banks of the Mississippi (Illinois on our port side and Missouri to starboard) began to shed their urban trappings. The warm night air and gentle breeze were filled with all sorts of insects, so a consistent brushing was in order to avoid tracking them back into our quarters. The DQ's large Xenon search lights shone along either side and forward, seeking river markers and any possible obstacles. Powerful tugs pushed barges laden with oil, ore, grain, and machinery upriver, and, as we neared a cantilever bridge, a passenger train overtook us on the starboard side, saluting the DQ with a three whistle blast that was politely answered before the train left us behind.
Back inside, I was keen to experience the first night's entertainment offerings. On such small vessels, it is always a plus to get away from big production numbers and the predictable mega cruise ship overdoses of Vegas, Broadway, and Andrew Lloyd Weber. On the DELTA QUEEN, the Orleans dining room doubles as the showroom. A small stage aft presides over its wonderfully cambered Ironwood decking. The Steamboat Stompers, the DQ's "house band", includes a bassist, violinist, clarinet, and cello player. Dallas-based "Professor" Rosalinda de Leon is the keyboardist on this journey and the first night's offerings of Dixieland-inspired music was really wonderful in the casual, intimate setting.
End of Part One
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