The Loss of a Queen

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It is always sad to see bits of our past disappearing and it is equally sad to see bits of other countries past disappearing as well.

I was reading an article on the 'Sternwheelers of the Mississippi', and I was saddened to read how many of these magnificent boats are operating under the shadow of a death sentence.

It would appear that the US Safety-at-Sea laws are being applied strictly to the letter of the law and not 'the spirit'. They are applying laws that were really meant for large ocean going liners to these fine old wooden rivercraft. The expense of bringing these up to the new standard is colossal and many are being abandoned.

One such vessel is the Mississippi Queen, a sister ship to the Delta Queen shown above.

There can be few more pitiful scenes along the Mississippi than that of the once magnificent Mississippi Queen steamboat tied up at the Perry Street Wharf in New Orleans, where it is disintegrating and falling prey to looters.

Clyde Ory, a 65-year-old New Orleans native who has spent his life working on Mississippi boats and first serviced the engines and pumps of the Mississippi Queen recalled….

“Now that’s gone. All the shipping’s gone. We ain’t got no more work. It’s all gone. You see how dead it is? I remember one time you got ships lining up along this river right behind each other and over there they would be anchored, waiting to come in.”

He pointed to where a large window, now boarded up, on the vessel had been smashed by a port worker so that he could use a crane to steal a grand piano.

You may not think there is a link to music, but there is.

Just listen to this Calliope Music played by Rosalinda DeLeon at the start of the June 2006 Great Steam boat race from Baton Rouge LA to St. Louis MO.

Stirring stuff.

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We can't afford to lose this sort of thing, can we?

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