Some DQ pics from 1975

Those were in 1976. That was the year the flag was painted on the bow for the Bicentennial. Did everyone see the orange Bug in her pix? Those were the days. I didn't take my first upper Ohio trip until '77, so I know I wasn't in any of those shots... That was Gabe's first year as Captain. Great shots, thanks for sharing. By the way, did getting on board back then help you decide to take this trip????

Gawd, how could I miss the V-Dub... and I just noticed that the forward facing DQ sign on the roof was also white background then.

Got a question, what is the pennant on the jackstaff, it looks yellow and orange, and doesn't look like a flag? It isn't ONA, is it?

DQ.

Think there were one or two Color Combinations of the DQ. Guess the powers that be at the time took a page from the late Greene era early Simonton era of a G pennant--like the G on either side of the Stack.

Yes, we definitely fell in love with the DQ when we got to go on board. I we did it at least twice when we lived there. I don't remember seeing the engine room, but they let everyone run around pretty freely. I remember once it was raining lightly and and the crowd was much smaller. We sat in the Texas lounge and out on the front porch and just watched the rain. Even as a teenager I thought it was great and wanted to take a cruise.

We left Marietta in 1979 and always had reasons that we just "couldn't go" -- mostly the $$. But we're finally going to make it. Hopefully the exemption will go through and we'll get to go again. I know we're going to love it.

My mom is actually going to be a repeater of sorts........she rode the DQ with her parents when she was a toddler when it ran between Sacramento and SF. My grandma says they had a picture of my mom on the DQ from that trip, but it disappeared over the years. 🙁

Thanks, Judy - I thought that was the infamous orange VW - just sitting there waiting to be driven aboard - neat picture!
You all have so many wonderful stories to tell, and we who missed all that, love to listen to them. No matter what happens to our steamboats, we have to find a way to have river gatherings, where those stories can be told, retold, and hopefully passed on.
Thankfully, we have Franz's wonderful site here, which is at least one means to do that.

DQ pennant

As Jim said, it was a pennant with a DQ on it. Somewhere in my 9.876,543 pix of the DQ, I have one of it, but not at the moment. So pardon my crude artwork, Lexie I ain't, to illustrate it. In 1973 they were still flying the white pennant with the green G on it. I believe the red and gold one came on in '74. Whether intentional or not, it matched the color scheme of the porters' tshirts: yellow with the red boat logo, and also the little Delta Queen pennants they sold in the gift shop. That red and gold lasted for several years and then it was replaced by the green and gold. These both flew during my heyday, 1973-83. I can't remember when they started putting up the state flags on the jackstaff. Here's the matchbook too Bob.

Gold Pennant

Was the gold used for the 50th anniversary of the boat?

Wesley

No, it was just a color scheme someone came up with. For a year or two the matchbooks were the same color and logo.....remember when places would have free matches with their logos on 'em?

State Flags

The state flags were flow as early as 1970, maybe earlier, but I raised a different one everytime we crossed a border. My favorite jackstaff flag has always been, and remains, the Union Jack.

That is of course what the NATCHEZ flies, after a pennant or two her first couple of years. All the Streckfus boats flew the Union Jack too, as does the US Navy of course. My first souvenir from the NATCHEZ was a section of a tattered jackflag, gained quite legally by the way, from Doc.

My first year on the DQ I had a sewing machine on board and the Big E found out about it, so I got the job of flag repair. If a flag was beyond repair, it was "retired" and I was able to keep one of those flags, an American stern flag. I must have fixed a pennant, but it was not bad enough to retire, so I never got one of those. And of course yours truly painted that flag on the bow of the DQ in honor of the Bicentennial in 1976. Said bow was damaged in a collision with a ship and was repaired during the subsequent layup. I found a piece of the damaged steel with a part of the flag still painted on it and rescued it from the shipyard dumpster. I cannot find that little 40 lb. souvenir and am quite upset about it. It was part of the original hull.

Doc used to take the tattered NATCHEZ flags to Dirtie Dottie on N. Rampart, and then later Lee, Norma's sister, repaired them. I have at least one of every flag the N. flies, save the stern flag. But thanks to Capt. Blum, I have one of those off the DQ. Currently my flag collection hangs in my walk-through attic, attempting to cover the mess behind them. This anyone coming for the open house on Feb. 22 will readily observe!