What Is Big And Red And Weighs 79,000 Pounds?

| October 20, 2011 | Shipping News | 3 Comments
AMERICAN QUEEN getting her paddle hoisted. Courtesy Great American Steamboat Company.

Work on restoring AMERICAN QUEEN is well underway in Louisiana. The boat’s massive paddlewheel was removed for a thorough cleaning in anticipation of once again propelling the grandest steamboat ever built.

AMERICAN QUEEN unbolting her paddle. Courtesy Great American Steamboat Company.
AMERICAN QUEEN craned paddle. Courtesy Great American Steamboat Company.
AMERICAN QUEEN paddle closeup. Courtesy Great American Steamboat Company.

Special thanks: Peter Knego, Christopher Kyte, Tim Rubacky

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About The Author

mcox

MARTIN COX - Founder and publisher of MaritimeMatters, inspired by maritime culture and technology growing up in the port of Southampton. He works as a photographer in Los Angeles, and his works has been exhibited in LA, San Francisco, New York, London and Iceland. Martin is the co-writer of the book “Hollywood to Honolulu; the story of the Los Angeles Steamship Company” published by the Steam Ship Historical Society of America. The Los Angeles Maritime Museum has commissioned artworks and collected his photographs.

3 Comments
  1. Kenneth Eden

    Martin, I love it!

    No place but here on this blog could I get such a rise out of seeing that beautiful big red paddle!

    Thanks,

    Ken

  2. David

    Too bad the Mississippi Queen could not have been saved

  3. Kenneth Eden

    There are several sights available for photos of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN abandoned and rotting in the bayou, however, due to compromises with viral posibilities, one can fend for themselves, merely Google where is the Mississippi Queen and available sites will be revealed. The photos are not pretty.

    It should be noted that the MQ was scrapped, and dismantled and taken to China for scrap – maybe parts of her will end up in dog treats or dry wall.

    One, and the only one highlight, the 700lb bell, once heard for miles along the rivers, is housed in the Howard Staemboat Museaum in Jeffersonville, Indiana (USA), where the MQ was built in 1973-1975.

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