The Marietta Register ( The Marietta Register Online - Web Extra: Becky Thatcher Sinks ) reports that the historic, 83 year old paddlewheel showboat Becky Thatcher sank on Sunday near Neville Island. Not much more information is available at this time except that a heavy snow load may have caused the disaster.
According to the newspaper eyewitnesses say they find it unlikely that she may be saved. The online article at the Marietta Register also has some - very sad - pictures from the Becky...

Franz Neumeier

Delta Queen Hotel has announced the Delta Queen Crew Club, a program that recognizes the beloved boat’s most loyal fans by offering an opportunity to commemorate their trips and service with the purchase of a brass-plated nameplate.

Former passenger plaques will be engraved with the name of the passenger, their home port, the year of their first cruise, and the number of cruises they have taken on the Delta Queen. For those that served on the Delta Queen, plaques will be engraved...

Franz Neumeier

The steamboat Belle of Louisville has been pushed into a drydock by strong winds on early Saturday afternoon. On board were about 300 passengers, several of them suffering minor injuries. The Belle of Louisville's paddlewheel crashed into a drydock of the McBride fleet near Harrods Creek breaking a few bucket boards as well as suffering damage on the jockey bar (which is the beam behind the paddlewheel that is attached to the ends of the cylinder timbers, holding the cylinder timbers in alignment....

Franz Neumeier

The showboat BECKY THATCHER has left her long-time mooring place on the Muskingum River at Maritetta, Ohio, for Pittsburgh on October 14, 2009, and will rest there temporarily, according to her owner, Jeffrey Levin of Nashville, TN.
The Becky Thatcher, originally built in 1926 as MISSISSIPPI (III) as an inspection boat for the Army Corps of Engineers in 1926 and a National Historic Landmark since 1983 has served as a showboat and restaurant at Marietta since 1977, but closed down a few years...

Franz Neumeier

Discovery Channel's Ghost Lab is investigating on the Delta Queen at Chattanooga, trying to find scientific evidence for the existence of Delta Queen Capt. Mary Greene's ghost.

In an interview, long-time Delta Queen Master Capt. Mike Williams told his experiences, especially from 1984 where he says the spirit of Capt. Greene has saved the boat when she alerted him that the Delta Queen's hull had a hole and was going to sink eventually if he hadn't found it in time, with the help of...

Franz Neumeier