Topic starter
23/03/2011 2:59 pm
I'm on deck at the steamboat museum today, but Judy Patsch, in New Orleans, just phoned a "Live from the Levee" report and it's a sad one. Tugs are standing by this morning and preparations are being made to tow the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN to Morgan City, LA, where she will be scrapped.
Judy, who has spoken with the owner of the MQ, asked me to convey that she will post photos and further information later. Stay tuned as this dreadful drama unfolds.
"Curator Keith"
23/03/2011 4:08 pm
Sad news indeed! I remember when the MQ made her debut in Cincinnati as the largest paddlewheeler ever built and sporting the world's largest calliope. Those were the days! I have a picture of her hanging on our wall at home.
23/03/2011 5:08 pm
*RE: MQ towing/Scrapping*
Hi, Keith:
Thanks to you and Judy way down in the Crescent City for the timely update on the MQ. Sad...very sad. With all the criticisms following the MQ's building in the early days she was, to me, a dream come true. Posters on .org who worked aboard her/tripped on her also must have felt the same with memories and anecdotes. Guess saying "thanks" for bad news not right. We all DO appreciate your dual notices. I so well recall being on the MQ for her first shake-down cruise back in the broiling summer, 1976; then for later 'trips' in tandem with 'Tall Stacks' here. I look at the framed invitation with red wax seal hanging over my desk here and ask myself, "Did it all really happen?" My 'dusty boxes' here crammed with the MQ plans, business letters, sales/promotion concepts, supplier data, photos need a good examination soon. As you often say Keith, "Tomorrow is another day."
R. Dale Flick
Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.
23/03/2011 7:55 pm
Keith, Dale and Richard,
Let's just hope that maybe, just maybe the people doing the scrap work will have the insight to offer up some select pieces of her for the Howard Museum to display. It would be especially nice to have one or both of those engines for display. While not technically antique it's unlikely that any like them will ever be replicated again.
While I am sad to hear this news it's better then waiting and wondering. Hope we don't hear similar news about the JBS soon.
Aaron
23/03/2011 8:23 pm
Long and Two Shorts!
The summer of 1976 and the Steamer Mississippi Queen was a life changing event for me. I was very proud to have been one of the original crew members selected to work on the first steamboat to be built in 50 year and up to that time “the largest steamboat ever afloat.” I had no idea what I had gotten myself in for starting on day 1 when we reported to Jeffboat. I expected to walk on board a brand spanking new steamboat ready to shove off! It became the hardest job that I ever did but to this day I do not regret one moment for making that decision. I never dreamed that it would end this way.
A heartfelt Long and two Shorts to the Grand Mississippi Queen!
23/03/2011 9:11 pm
Why scrap what anyone of us would take and take care of?
23/03/2011 9:30 pm
In a word, money. Scrap steel is high now. So is copper. If anyone wants to preserve parts of the MQ, the best way is to contact the scrapper and see if they will sell the things you want. Some items such as wood, plastic, or non-valuable materials may be worthless to the scrapper. Maybe they will give you a day or two to remove some. It's worth asking.
23/03/2011 9:39 pm
When I last saw her in December, I made a kind of peace with her.
Many hopes were broadcast on these boards for a future for her. As Walt Whitman once wrote, "the false promise of a new dawn leads to a most bloody sunset".
As I left the boat at the River City Casino Dock in November of 2006, a dark heavy feeling came over me. I didn't understand it then.
When I last left her on Peters Road in December 2010, I knew hope was almost lost. Many dreams were hatched around that boat. She paved the way for many of the current generation of steamboaters. Say what you will about her, she was different...but, beautiful in her own right. She did a lot to preserve the legacy of her ilk. I am proud to have been a crew member on her and equally proud to have been the last to play her calliope.
Godspeed, MISSISSIPPI QUEEN...you will live on in the dreams of many!
Topic starter
23/03/2011 9:51 pm
Thank you, Travis and all, for your eloquent tributes. Indeed, the MQ wasn't a beautiful gingerbread trimmed steamboat of yore, but she ushered in a new era of overnight steamboating on the rivers and performed her role with dignity and grace. For many of us, it's almost unbelievable to think that we first saw her as large sheets of steel lying in the Jeffboat yard, observed her construction as it progressed deck by deck, attended her launching, gala christening ceremony and even rode on a shakedown cruise with Capt. Ernie Wagner in the Louisville harbor in early 1976. And now she's headed for oblivion in a scrap yard after such a short life of 35 years! UNreal!
To all who proudly trod her decks as officers, crew members and passengers, the news today is melancholy to be sure and her untimely demise will be mourned by multitudes. But, we all have our memories, memorabilia and friendships to treasure -- and NOBODY can scrap those!
A long and loud farewell whistle salute to the Str. MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, a true lady of the river!
23/03/2011 10:05 pm
Sic transit gloria mundi.
Farewell, Old Girl, I am so glad to have known you.
23/03/2011 10:20 pm
Amen, and amen. Goodbye, Old Girl.
23/03/2011 10:43 pm
MQ update at 5PM 3/23/11
Finally got online! As of now, the MQ is still at her Harvey Canal dock. When I arrived there at 9 this morning, workmen were aboard and one tugboat arrived and disappeared out of sight. The owner and his family were there, as was his interpreter. The word was she was leaving today for Morgan City to be scrapped, if not there, nearby. As often happens with the MQ, things haven't gone as scheduled. The workmen were attempting to remove the monkey rudders, with no noticeable progress in two hours, and another came and reported something aggravating about the hydralic steering, presumably referring to the main rudders too... I left and rode the NATCHEZ both trips, and when Capt. Don checked the vessel locations, the tugboats were still there. Doc and I are heading over to Ruby Red's tonight so we'll make a pass by 3800 Peters Road, but I expect to see the MQ still in place. I suspect making her towing-ready might take a while, something apparently the owner hadn't forseen. I will go over in the morning again to check it out. Here are some pictures from today. Sorry but the pix won't upload, I'll try after Doc and I have dinner. One thing I forgot to mention: I was shocked yesterday when I approached the MQ and saw that all her navigation lights and searchlights are still in place! Hard to believe those haven't been 'liberated' by now. The owner did come out and talk to me this morning, asking me what I wanted. I told him I just wanted to take pix of her leaving. Then he wanted to know how I knew she was leaving.....what is the Asian equivalent of 'sternline telegraph'?
24/03/2011 12:24 am
Farewell Mississippi Queen, Thanks for the wonderful memories, as she leaves on her final journey, we are reminded that our wonderful friend and fellow steamboater Captain "Buford" Wilkinson passed away a year ago tomorrow...
24/03/2011 12:32 am
Farewell MQ
I never rode MQ or saw the boat in person. But I have the memory of Marcy's "Claire de lune" story, oft repeated here by me on .org, and that is how I'll remember MQ. I send my sympathy to the rest of you have have much closer ties to the boat.
Best,
Wesley
24/03/2011 1:30 am
8PM MQ update
Since Keith posted the thread, I can't change the title, but 'towed' she wasn't today. When Doc and I rode over there tonight, she sat silent, no activity. We didn't go up close, so I don't know if the rudder work was done or not. I'll drive over tomorrow morning to check again. I can't believe this, I have so many pictures to share, but they won't upload. Franz, I'm getting a FEHLER 500 notice. Help!
24/03/2011 1:38 am
MQ
All though I have spent many hours on the MQ.. Never a one was spent underway.. :/
But my most fond memory was the day we change out the Davis CaLLiope Whistles with 32 Morecraft Whistles for a test back in 1995 .. LOL
Seems strange, I rode the AMERICAN QUEEN from Morgan City to the Robin St Wharf when she was new, and the MQ will take almost same route, ONLY under much different circumstances.. 🙁
She Will be Missed..
24/03/2011 3:27 am
A fond kiss
A fond kiss, and then we sever;
A farewell, and then forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerfu' twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.
I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy,
Nothing could resist my Nancy;
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love forever.
Had we never lov'd say kindly,
Had we never lov'd say blindly,
Never met--or never parted--
We had ne'er been broken-hearted.
Fare thee well, thou first and fairest!
Fare thee well, thou best and dearest!
Thine be like a joy and treasure,
Peace. enjoyment, love, and pleasure!
A fond kiss, and then we sever;
A farewell, alas, forever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!
Robert Burns said it best....
24/03/2011 6:24 am
Judy, please try to scale down the size of the pictures on your local computer before uploading them. The server can't handle big file size. Otherwise, jsut send them to me by e-mail and I'll post them.
Thanks for the live reports, even though the news reported is very sad ...
24/03/2011 7:23 am
In memory of wonderful times on board the Mississippi Queen, I've uploaded a video to Youtube I made about the MQ a while ago. And very honestly, I couldn't stand watching it without collecting some tears in my eyes ... So long, Mississippi Queen.
YouTube - mississippi queen portrait
And yes, the little girl you can see when the calliope is playing, that's Leonie 🙂
Franz
24/03/2011 12:57 pm
Franz - very nicely done.
Wesley
24/03/2011 4:06 pm
The Fighting Temeraire
As you all waxed eloquent and poetic, this image came to mind. I don't know why it is a favorite painting of mine, as it is sad, but Turner made a fantastically great work of art with the subject and it says a lot. Any Turners down there in Louisiana with a camera?