Captain of the American Queen watches MV Mississippi IV

Thanks, Bruce, for the heads up on this article. It's good to know that the MISSISSIPPI #4 is finally going to become a museum, after years of languishing and deteriorating on the Yazoo in a fleet. With the BECKY THATCHER (MISSISSIPPI #3) looking for a new home, it would be terrific if she could also be part of the new museum complex and they could show the transition from steam to diesel. Just a thought!

I could be mistaken here, but I believe Capt John Earl Dugger was the first captain of that vessel.

Paul

According to the Army Corp of Engineers, he was the last captain of the Mississippi IV and the first captain of the Mississippi V

Capt. David M. Cook was master of the Str. MISSISSIPPI III from 1946 until her decommissioning at Memphis on April 19, 1961. He then was master of the M/V MISSISSIPPI IV until his untimely death a few years later. The late Capt. Jack Russell was master of the boat for a number of years afterward. The roof bell from all three steamers MISSISSIPPI and the M/V MISSISSIPPI IV currently is in use on the MISSISSIPPI V, a HUGE, state-of-the-art vessel!

Speaking of the Str. MISSISSIPPI III -- now the BECKY THATCHER at Marietta, Ohio -- a story in today's issue of The Marietta Times relates that any potential sale of the old sternwheeler is being held up by an ongoing court battle over ownership of the boat.