DELTA QUEEN Underway!

Great news!

You can see on this webcam: http://www.nola.com/bridgecam/

Starting at 1:16 PM the Delta Queen backs away from the MQ, and heads up river.

And if you tune in at 2:36 PM you can see her come back down and ease into the wharf. Wonderful sight! What a thrill it would be to be there!

Nick, Jo Ann, and Shipyard,

Watch from 2:40p to 2:48p and see how the current of the Mississippi is sweeping her down as she turns. A little birdie on the Mississippi told me today that the Vicksburg waterways station is reporting the flow is currently 1.7 million cubic feet per second.....normal flow is 600,000 cfpm. That said, the river has trippled in size. You can really see the effect of this in the way the boat is turning in these pictures. Once you have loaded them all, use your browser back button on your internet explorer to 2:40p and then use the forward button and you have a better idea of the effect. It is pretty amazing! She starts the turn and almost falls a half mile before coming ahead.

Thanks for the heads up on these great pictures!

~Travis~

Yeah, I watched them, and clicked the back and forward button fast. Its more like an animation. So glad to see this boat running! What amazes me is the bridge. I knew they were high in NOLA, but not that high. Up here the DQ lowers the stack to clear the bridges. In NOLA it seems you would have to stack 3 DQs on top of each other before it would be close. Does anyone know what the vertical clearance is normally? I know the river is up right now, so its probably alot less than normal in those screens.

Nick, see Capt. Ted Davisson's post in "River Talk & Cruises" entitled another aspect of high river navigation

Rabbit Hash Lower River Report

The Rabbit Hash Shipyard Yard Supervisor, New Orleans Division, who's riding the QUEEN to make sure things are working right after a long winter lay-up, called and reported that they departed Baton Rouge "about two hours ago, and all's running clock-like." Supe also mentioned that an assist tug is wired alongside to help the QUEEN stem the swift current of the Mighty Miss.

Four PM, tomorrow afternoon, is the DQ's goal for arrival at Natchez with a noon departure, next day, or so says the word going 'round on deck.

(This has got to be a most exciting trip up a Mississippi River as few have seen in decades with the Great Steamboat Race in Louisville as the ultimate goal. God Speed, DELTA QUEEN.)

Enclosed are three pics:
1. USS KIDD At Low Water
2. USS KIDD Today
3. BATON ROGUE Name Board

Great news!

An assist tug? I am duly impressed, that Rock Island lady can predict it all! God's speed indeed. And I am very impressed that the company agreed to spring for the cost of the push. I didn't honestly believe that they would realize the need, I have been corrected. Somehow, I can imagine the cellphone calls, though...Did the assist tug start the voyage with the Legendary One above NOLA? Or did the tug team up along the way? I guess I'm asking the question, where is the point where the master says, the ol' girl needs a little help, a loving tiny nudge, a little kiss, so to speak? And I suspect the Supe has reported that the assist tug is good to go 'til Cairo?

I wonder how the full the boat is? I suspect its basically full of first timers, most of us repeaters can't afford 14 nights, who's idea was that? And I'll ask the snotty questions, does the company have fourteen different dinner menus, fourteen different night-time entertainment venues?

Thanks a lot, Sam, really...as they said in '69, you "got a bunch of guys turnin' blue, we're breathin' again"...Good news, great news, helps relieve the tension as there are a bunch of us, from the amount of e-mails flying about, biting our nails...

Thanks for the pics...I love the little work barge floating on the side of the Kidd...It was semi high and dry in March...The Kidd is definitely more regal looking floating than on those ugly keel blocks, amongst the weeds...

Obviously she made it up to Natchez see here

http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2008/apr/22/mississippi-river-reaches-its-crest/

You can see the assisstant tug next to the DQ. Nice aerial shot (although the DQ isn´t mentioned in this article at all).

Check the first video too.

Carmen

My sources tell me she is to leave Natchez today at 1:00 and not make any more stops until she gets to Memphis, where she is due arrive on Friday.

Low water

Thanks for the info Carmen. Here are a few shots from 02/04/03 that will give folks an idea how high the river is right now. Two of these photos were shot from the AQ and the shot of the "Pair of Queens" was taken from the Isle of Capri. In the first photo you can just see the Isle of Capri on the left with Silver St. passing left to right thru the middle of the photo. In the upper left is a bus which is parked almost in front of the Under The Hill Saloon. In the photo of the MQ, the Under The Hill Saloon is in the upper right hand corner, just out of view. From viewing the photo from the Natchez Democrat, I would say that the parking lot, just behind the MQ's upper deck, is under water right now.

Does anyhone know where the DQ is now? Just wondering how she and her tow boat are doing going up Ol' Man River.

Tomato

During my absence today, our traveling Yard Super called and left a message from the DQ that they were in Memphis, so I'm assuming they've departed and plowing a deep furrow in the Mississippi somewhere below Caruthersville, possibly just above Tomato.

But that's a guess. I call upon Cap'n Bob Reynolds for a better educated estimate of where the boat would be by now.

Sam, I know they left Memphis...there was a picture in yesterday's Commercial Appeal that showed the boat departing after dark, and a nice story about the defeated exemption. I looked on the 'net to see if they had made it to Lock #53 yet, but no. That's the best I can do as I am on the Arkansas River in a near flood.

I would say if they are at Tomato, that does not bode well for them making it to Lousyville....Tomato is only 70 miles above Memphis. I would guess more like Shields Bar, just below New Madrid. That's making 6 mph, which is an assumption, and we all know about assuming things.

Caruthersville

Our NOLA Super just left a message on Fannie's voicemail (just after 9am, Saturday, 26 April 2008) and said they were at Caruthersville, so the Tomato guesstimate couldn't have been too far off. Supe casually mentioned that he was having his morning coffee with Captain Doc Hawley who came aboard at Memphis. No mention of Looieville.

Estimate for entering the Ohio River is 2AM tomorrow, Sunday, morning. He believes the DELTA QUEEN will be arriving in Ragtown next Friday. I won't be greeting him, or Cap'n Doc, when the boat arrives as I will be at our Tennessee River yard at Decatur, Alabama.

Help! Where or what is Ragtown? I am still learning about the rivers.

Virginia, "Ragtown" is one of the nicknames of Cincinnati, OH.

The DQ is listed in pool 53 of the Ohio river at 2:50 am this morning.

So it seems she´s back on schedule. According to the original - non flood - schedule she should be in Paducah 8 am - 5 pm today. Check the webcam

http://www.wpsdtv.com/content/skytracker/default.aspx

Carmen

Thanks for the heads up, Carmen. She actually landed an hour early. My schedule says she's there until 1 PM today - Henderson tomorrow from noon til 5 PM - Tuesday is a steamboatin' day. All the river rats will be there to greet her on Wednesday!

Pat,

Mine is definitely saying 8 am - 5 pm :-). Henderson noon - 5 pm.

Carmen

Anyone know approx. when the DQ departs Louisville for Cincinnati today?

Steve,

We departed Madison, IN at 1:03pm today upbound and should see you about 2:15p-2:45p, I figure.

~Travis~

Thanks! I didn't know they had stopped again in Madison, as they did on Thursday. I'll be on the lookout.