Capt. Harold DeMarrero talks about the DQ/MQ on You Tube

Ah, yes!
Captain Harold DeMarrero was the man who proved, once and for all, the legitimacy of the "Great Steamboat Race". The first few years, seven or so, it was a real race. Then the Derby Festival Committee started chartering the BoL for the race. They could not bear a legitimate race, so the winner was decided at a meeting, usually on the morning before the race. One year Captain DeMarrero balked. Nothing was said, but the Committee had decided it was the Belle's turn to win.
The cannon was fired and the boats started. The Belle cheated, of course by making a running start. It didn't take long for the Delta Queen to catch up and pass the Belle. Suddenly, the Queen was running on a slow bell and the Belle got ahead. After dropping back about a half mile the DQ came racing up behind the BoL and again practically stopped. This slow gavotte was repeated several times and the Belle gallantly forged ahead while the Delta Queen's wheel was practically dead in the water just above the Clark Bridge. As planned, the Belle of Louisville won.
There will be denials, all around by all parties, that the race was fixed. I will not be convinced.
It is interesting that the Susan C. McBride, which I was on, paced the race on a slow bell the entire distance to keep from running over both boats.
No honest master likes to see his boat lose, especially by agreement. I regard Captain DeMarrero as an honest man forced into an embarrassing situation.

There were other instances, as I was there. Don't remember the year, but a company executive could get no where with the pilot house crew, pilots and captain, so he had to go to the engine room to get the boat slowed down. Needless-to-say, it was obvious what was going on, and the crew, and probably some of the passengers, were supremely ticked off. I think Ted Davisson was captain on that non-race. I was the race pilot and the other pilot was probably Harry Louden. None of us would touch the indicator to slow the boat down. Noop. No way.

I only saw what I saw, Lexie, and I regarded it as earned contempt for the Derby Festival Committee. I have maintained for years that that event should not be advertised as a race. The public must agree - they stay away by the thousands. Great Steamboat Race - patooo! I am sorry I put the cause on DeMarrero. He seems to be a decent man.

Jim, you say "what great stories". Please keep that in mind - stories, not factual account. For the sake of some of our valued board members, I'd like to ask that any further references to the character of the Commodore be done by email. He is part of a sad DQ era that hurt several of our people, and the less said on here about him, the better. Thank you.

Character? Commodore? Please! From what I've gathered these words are a misnomer, at best, in this forum context...I agree with Judy, talking about this guy is a waste of bandwidth...His "volumes" are entertaining and I will admit that I enjoyed them. Please, all 13 of the Captain's 'volumes' are entertaining, worth the time. But Volume 7 is to be taken with a huge grain of salt, what's said isn't what really happened. And that starts the question of what else isn't quite kosher. Please, if you listen to all his videos, keep this in mind....

With that, I suggest we just stop this thread...now....

Hmmmm. Well, he did give my YT videos high ratings and, like many of you, some nice comments so naturally I was interested in his clips. Frankly, after watching the first one, I just had to see what he said in the next one and so I watched them all and I did find them both entertaining and interesting. Of course, his time on the DQ/MQ was long before my first trip. As others have said, the rivers have had lots of interesting characters over the decades and no doubt, always will.
-JH