Mississippi Queen memories

Gift shop was on the Port Side just aft of the Center bar and before the dining room as I recall.

The leather sofas in the Grand Saloon were outrageously expensive as was the word at the time.

The ONA (Overseas National Airlines) logo shows in Tim's pictures as pretty much of a blue dot behind the potted palm. In one of Tim's pictures of a show window outside the gift shop, left side is one of the original Service Plates. Somewhat of a Salmon Color with gold trim. I suspect they didn't last too long as I recall at some point the company changed to a while plate with blue or purple trim around the perimeter.

The bell came from a Monastery/Church in Mt. Adams in Cincinnati--name escapes me at the moment. Buildings still exist, but no longer as a Monastery/Church. Building looked over the Mt. Adams Incline and Rookwood Pottery. I should know who and where it was cast, but I don't.

Sometime in the first couple years the MQ was put on drydock and the spreader bar behind the wheel was cut off and moved back ? inches or feet. I'm reasonably sure Dennis Shenk was on board then, hopefully he could fill in accurate details of that
operation.

One early morning, around 0600 the Starboard stack mechanism failed and it came crashing straight down into its housing! Quite a surprise for the folks in the Deluxe rooms on the Starboard side, as the stacks came right up in a corner of the room.

The outboard forward window in the upper paddlewheel lounge was a good place to sit at night and look forward as sitting in the "V" shaped window gave a good view down the length of the boat.

Ted Guillaum;14471 wrote: Pete, don't feel bad about being lost on the MQ. I can still remember the first week before we left Jeffboat and how I was lost most of the time trying to get from one ond to the other. Passengers on the MQ had the same problem. I never got to cruise on the American Queen but I assume that it probably takes passengers a couple of days, given her size before they can find their way around deck as well.

Ted, I recall that event occurred at Natchez when both boats were tied up...we were on the DQ, and our family friend Dan Forman was on the MQ. I went over to the MQ to see if Dan was over there, only to keep ending up in the dining room!!! I went back the the DQ only to find Dan with my parents!!!

On another note, which this brings to mind....My mother can attest to this, so forgive my stating so....that same trip ended the same time the MQ trip did @ Robin Street Wharf...we were waiting to take a shuttle bus to the airport, crammed into the waiting area...and while waiting, a group of MQ passengers were sitting near my Mom & me, stating what a dumpy & puny little boat the Delta Queen was compared tot he MQ...My mom & I stated that we disagreed...she compared the MQ to "Las Vegas", meaning lots of show but no substance, whereas the DQ was like going to a fine vacation home, like in Cape Cod or Door County.

Jim.....I still have 6 service plates of each design in my possession. The first plate really was more beautiful with the pink and burgandy border on the white plate. The MQ emblem was at the top. The second edition was very basic with a drawing of the MQ and DQ in the middle.....all in lavender color.

Tim, Incredible pictures, thanks a lot.

Deb and I were only on the MQ for a very short time, 2000, only one cruise and that for only a way too short 4 nights. We loved the boat, adored the boat and having talked to a true repeater while on board that suggested the "you ought to try the Delta Queen if you like this 'style' of relaxing" we unfortunately never went back to the Miss Q. However our hearts have always been with her, she started it you know, if it hadn't been for her, who knows?

Your pictures look very cool/harsh to me...and yes I know there was a huge makeover toward the 'traditional", I'm thinking thank Gawd for small favors that we never able to see the earlier 'modern' Mississippi Queen...We always felt that her 'decorations' were perfect, we loved both of our staterooms, the very temporary one and the one that was just so friggin' incrdible, see earlier posts on this... adored the Calliope Bar, great hotdogs, and felt very at home at the Golden Antler's Bar, the inbetween bar you describe, very nice martinis by the way! Introduced to our first Riverlorean (where is Daniel?), introduced to true banjo and loved it (thanks Mike!), introduced to our first stereotypical southern gentleman (thanks Capt. Buddy!), introduced to chokin' a stump, oh my Gawd how Americana can you get?, introduced to the calliope (and yes he's a master, thanks Phil!)...and we booked another Steamboatin' cruise, I'm thinking less than 2.3 days after we got home from being on the MQ...

Our only complaint about the boat was we were ALWAYS lost! Took forever to find the way to our room! May have been the Zinfadel though...

Got more pictures? Please, please, please...Love this stuff...

DQ/MQ

I love that comparison of the boats that your mother made, Pete. As we remember, in the early days the 'sister boats' had a less than loving relationship with each other. Not only did you have passenger viewpoints like you stated, but the profits the good old DQ made were sunk into keeping the MQ running. As Jim could attest, getting supplies and repairs for the DQ was next to impossible. I remember he tried in vain to get the stuff to clean up the DQ's paddlewheel, but once the Carter trip was announced the DQ got spruced up pronto. I commented to Pres. Robert Mosier about all the work the week before the presidential trip and his response was: "We're just doing a year's worth of maintenance in a week..." And of course each boat's crew had particular pride in their own vessel. When the MQ was downbound and the DQ upbound in Clinton, Iowa in June of 1979( a week after the MQ tore down the high wires at Albany and injured spectators on shore), the DQ's calliopist, who shall remain nameless, played Who's Sorry Now? The MQ replied with The Old Gray Mare. It was funny, but also heartfelt on both parts. Once the MQ got squared away on her mechanical problems and didn't drain the DQ's resources, the family got friendlier. Of course, many crew members worked on both boats. Ted came over to the DQ as Purser, Capt. Jim went from the DQ to the MQ and back to the DQ, Mel went from one to the other. The comment I heard most when crew were asked to compare the boats was: The living conditions on the MQ were better, but the working conditions on the DQ were better. Anyone care to verify or refute that? ( I worked on the MQ 2 weeks in 1983 as Jr. Activities Director, and when I asked another crew member if we could drink the water from the sink faucet, I got the strangest look. Obviously she had never been on the DQ!)

Judy, I concur with everything that you have said. The living conditions were far and away better on the MQ than on the DQ. I worked as a dishwasher on the DQ a few weeks in 1974 before the MQ days and shared a room in the hold like everyone else. So I knew what it was like to live and work on the DQ. After the first two seasons on the MQ I could not take the working conditions any longer in the Purser's Office (far too many passenger complaints about mechanical problems) and asked to go to the DQ or go crazy. When I got to the DQ I was lucky enough to have the room on the Sun Deck that should have been the Chief Purser's room. It was the equivalent room to the First Mate's. The Chief, Henry Mitchell, wanted a larger room down in the hold with the other officers. The room was exactly twice as big as the bunk and had a sink and a window AC unit. It was perfect. I may not have lasted as long as I did if it had not been for that room. The room on the original plans said that it had been the barber's room. All those officer's rooms are now remodeled into passengers rooms today. It was located by the smoke stack and was the first room on the Port side when you entered the hall. That door to the hall is not even there any more.

Hey Ted wasnt that the Sun Deck? I lived in that same room a few times and then the one around the corner that used to be Dave Rainbolts old room. Those were the first and second Mates rooms there by the stack. On the MQ I lived in 103 main deck officers quarters for a while which I loved but then got moved up to the officers quarters to the room across from the Captains quarters which was also a nice room and 3 times the size of the DQs mates rooms. But the boats were like nite and day, each had its good and bad points. I have a special place in my heart for the MQ cause she was my first boat and where I decked which were the best times of my life. But the DQ had personality and was more like "home" and the crew was much closer nit. I remember one halloween we met the MQ on that dark nite and the capt. on the DQ had the carpenter cut a big witch on a broom out of plywood and hang it on the roof with lights behind it and when the boats met he turned off all the lites except the ones for the witch. well there were also about a dozen people on the Texas Deck mooning the MQ when she put her spotlight on us. There were a few random mooning incidents in my day.

Hey Capt. Blum do you ever remember a log going through the Paddlewheel bar windows? I cant rememeber if I was Mate or Watchman but I do remember an occurence of a log going thtrough those windows once. the log was actually stuck in the windows I believe.

Right you are Mel. I miss-spoke. It was the Sun Deck.

....just as a humorous sideline..... The entrance and exit doors to the kitchen use to have a large button near the floor that we would kick to swing open the doors to enter or exit with our trays of food or dirty dishes. I remember one season, someone came up with the brainy idea to install REVOLVING DOORS. They were barely big enough to hold a waiter and his tray and you had to time it right to get in and out. Trays were dropping all of the time with food and dishes being pushed round and round.....lol. Needless to say, we had our kick button back the next season.

I think that this thread is a good example of what makes for a good steamboat experience. When the MISS Q came out Fred Way panned it. To me it was a shoe-box with an egg beater strapped on back. It did not take long with Fred riding aboard and they had Fred eating out of their hand! I, too had a nice experience riding her and you only have to review this thread to see that it was a talented, determined crew that made the river experience happen. She may not be a J. M. WHITE but she holds an affectionate place in a lot of hearts. Cap'n Walnut

Steamboatin' The Next Generation

I joined the MQ in late 1988, spent about 10 years on her. Here are pictures of three of "your generation". taken probably around 1993: Tom Murphy, Dennis Shenk ( C/E by then) and P. T. ( First Mate). Sort of a "The Next Generation" thing, applied to steamboats instead of star ships. Many thanks to all of you plank holders, you fought the good fight and brought a great vessel to life.

Yes she does Cap'n walnut. The MQ was my first boat. I quit a job at Cafe Du Monde in NOLA and caught a bus to Natchez and got on her there in early 77. Best time of my life was on that boat makin 80 bucks a week as a deckhand. I'd work 2 or 3 months and take a week off and couldnt wait to get back on.

Cap'n Walnut,

I couldn't have said it better! Say what you will about the ol' MISS-Q...she was a charmer once you came aboard!

~Travis~

Moon River

When I returned to the DQ, in '78, there was a big problem with little crawly critters that were into everything. There was even a report they ate the glue in the binding of a regular passenger's book, and her paperback fell apart as she picked it up from the nightstand next to her bunk. Later, I found, the DQ was often called the Roach Coach by the crew over on her sister boat; so a reassignment to the MQ was welcomed under those conditions.

Some wags called the MQ, The Big Ugly, but she made up for her ungainliness with her creature comforts and a laid-back crew who knew how to have a fun time while getting the work done. Of course, the Fish changed my allegiance as to which steamboat was my favorite.

Captain Dave Rainbolt was on the Miiss-Q, too, and a great guy to work with. Does anyone know his whereabouts?

There was the time, late one dark evening, when the DELTA QUEEN was entering a lock somewhere near a college town on the Upper River and the railings on the Queen were tightly crowded with passengers, mostly of the senior set, eager to watch as the steamboat locked through. The pilot had set the search light on the wall, turned aft of the wheelhouse, so that the great ball of white light trailed behind and followed the boat into the chamber.

Then from atop the lock wall, a chorus of young voices called from the shadows just before the arc light found them:

"Ahoy there, DELTA QUEEN!!!!"

And as the pilot was busy watching the forward progress of the Queen's approach, he failed to notice his light had revealed the first of a string of bare bottoms lined up along the steel railing atop the wall aimed at the folks on the decks of the DELTA QUEEN.

The hot white light played across each shining bum as muffled gasps and an occasional "Why I never...." arose from the more genteel multitude crowding the railings below the pilothouse.

My MQ memories

Heres some stuff I've dug up. I'm sorry to say that I never really took any interior shots of the MQ. Guess I thought I had all the time in the world.

More MQ photos

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More MQ photos

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Wow! The solarium. When I was working on the MQ that was where I photographed the Captain meeting the passengers during the Champagne Reception. Look at that tile floor! And is that the infamous CIA insignia at the top of the window?

Here's another pic I found of the Solarium (a.k.a. the Gazebo) from inside and looking out. Notice the small A/C vent in the top right corner. With all of the glass and sun reflections, it never kept that small space cool.......

More photos found! July 27, 1976. Mississippi Queen Inauguration in Cincinnati, Ohio

Original Housekeeping staff on the bow of the boat as we entered Cincinnati on that day. Executive Chef Reed Grobin is in the last pic.

I believe that these photos were taken the first time that the MQ met up with the DQ, with celebrations. The ever present Vic and Ma Tooker.

Our olympic size pool (about the size of a hot tub), on the Sun deck.
Tugboat Kate Tully, that was forever by our side during so many breakdowns.
A view within the pilothouse.

Ah, the good old days. When Steamboats were run by steamboaters, the company made money and you had a pretty good idea of whether or not you had a job. Must have been nice.