Mississippi Queen rememberances
Posted 06-09-2008 at 04:52 PM by Travis Vasconcelos
Updated 06-18-2008 at 05:28 PM by Travis Vasconcelos (Adding a file)
Updated 06-18-2008 at 05:28 PM by Travis Vasconcelos (Adding a file)
Hello all,
This time I am going to include a little known parody song from the Entertainment Staff (who will go un named) of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN back in late 1994. It is interesting to reflect on their thoughts here as the new AMERICAN QUEEN was with in 6 months of her first sailings and they were thinking about their futures.
Having been on the last passenger sailing of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on that experience.
To get started....
Be There When the Gang Starts Leaving
Sung to the Vic Tooker tune, “On The Mississippi Queen”
Be there when the gang starts leaving from the Mississippi Queen
Be there when the rats start jumping, desertion like you’ve never seen
To the AQ Keith, Doreen, Barney, Karen, and Lisa Magee
Lewis, Clara, Keeton, too, Steve, Jennifer and Me.
Tiffany Crawford went off to become Phillip Cocco’s wife
Allen and Robert went off to have themselves an on land life
Well Goodbye, Don’t you cry
See you at that Tall Stacks Fling
I know we made you cuss
But you’re gonna miss us
Goodbye Mississippi Queen
A parody by the Entertainment Staff of the Mississippi Queen
Fall of 1994
After the 2006 Tall Stacks event the crew of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN were being told of the great renovations planned over the winter. We were told of plans for the new Majestic America Line. We were told of new and greater things for all the boats come the spring of 2007.
As the final cruise of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN came down the mighty Mississippi River we could sence problems ahead for the boat. Many of the crew spoke of the great years aboard her, as if she may never sail again. It was a melancholy cruise for the crew...our triumphant return to New Orleans for the first time since hurricane Katrina was clouded with doubt over the future of the boat.
At Natchez, MS we started the de-Delta Queen Steamboat Company-ization process. This involved removing any and all paperwork, stationary, or publications aboard the vessel which had the name Delta Queen Steamboat Company on it. We were rafted with the DELTA QUEEN on this particular day and myself and Bill Wiemuth cleared out all the Riverlorian paperwork, Tributaries, and other brand engineered stuff off of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. We also assisted Mary Charlton, Riverlorian on the DELTA QUEEN in cleaning out the lockers on the true flagship. All in all that day we removed almost a half of a construction dumpster from each boat.
Many river fans were present on both boats for the much lauded return to New Orleans cruises for the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and DELTA QUEEN. So I won't name anyone...but I saw MANY dumpster divers that afternoon. I think many of us on this board have at least one box of printed material in their collections...I know I do!
The last 3 days of the cruise on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN were starting to affect the passengers. They felt the apprehension the crew felt about their boat and her future. One passenger (who reads this board) and I sat in the Chart Room on the last afternoon and discussed what may happen to alot of the historic parts of the boat. I assurred him they would be preserved in the renovations and she would come out of the shipyard as a elegant swan. We both looked at each other as if to doubt the words as they faded into the carpeting of the room.
At 3pm on the 27th of November 2006 the lines were let go and the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN departed Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, LA, headed home to New Orleans. I sat in the Chart Room with guests thinking silently to myself...I wonder what it will be like when we land here next spring?
Phil Westbrook played the calliope as we departed and for the last time the notes of the worlds largest steam calliope echoed off the levees of that beautiful landing on the lower Mississippi River.
At 5:25pm I was leaving the Chart Room, I had under my arm a stack of papers I would later copy and return before I left the boat. One of which turned out to be the song herein included (I didn't know I had it till later that evening). On the way to my stateroom (the Riverlorian, for those of you who don't know had stateroom 103 in the front hall of the Main deck stb'd side) I decided to make a detour and played the calliope for the last time as we passed the Bonne Carre spillway. I finished the mini concert with "I'll See you Somewhere in Dreamland Tonight". Once in awhile you just have to operate on impulse....and that time, I did!
As I started to pack for the return home, Bill Wiemuth and Laura Sable stopped by my room and we discussed the procedure for laying the boat up the next morning. Bill was to become the Enrichment Programs Director and my boss with in weeks of this last cruise. We wanted to box up and ship to Seattle, WA all the pertinant information to create new publications for our passengers on the new Majestic America Line. So we had to set out early to get just the right stuff.
As night fell I walked through the public rooms of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and thought to myself as I answered final questions of passengers..."is this the last time I am to walk these decks?" Many crew members at the Officers Mess table that night had intonated their thought this could be the end of the line for the river monarch. I chose not to believe it myself.
We arrived at New Orleans at precicely midnight. The DELTA QUEEN sat at the Robin Street Wharf preparing to leave for the shipyard at Mobile, AL the next morning at dawn. She had arrived and dropped off her last passengers 24 hours before us. It was a foggy landing as we landed above the DELTA QUEEN at the former River City Casino dock. The boat came to rest and all retired for there was a busy morning to come as we bid farewell to the last passengers ever to ride a boat of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company.
Morning came early, foggy, and hot! By 9am all passengers had left the boat and headed home. The crew started in ernest getting the boat ready for lay up and her cruise to Mobile, AL for her 5 year inspection.
Laying up a boat is a big task....for all the furniture must be stowed, all the accounts in the office closed, all the bedding, linens, liquor, and food stores must be inventoried and stored, the carpets must be covered in cardboard as well as the book shelves, pianos and other items which need protection from the elements. In this particular lay up many other things had to be done. The MISSISSIPPI QUEEN was to travel to Mobile for the first time. This meant a transit of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway and open seas for a 50 mile stretch in the Mississippi Sound. Extra caution was taken in the boxing up of all doorways and windows of the Main Deck.
As the work progressed, the crew worked hard in the warm fall air. Up on the Observation Deck in the Chart Room Bill Wiemuth and I boxed all the Riverlorian Guide Books for the trip out west. We went through all the Riverlorian files and took out all the historic information we found. Sadly the blueprints for her engines, the shipyard launching poster, and a book simply titled "The Queen" were left behind. They were some of the wonderful pieces of her history I relished in sharing with many passengers on her.
At 11am all crew were called to the Grand Saloon for the final "thank you" before being laid off. We were asked to handle one final task before we left...to form a chain gang of sorts and remove all the furniture from the Grand Saloon to a construction dumpster 2 decks below. I assisted getting chairs from the Grand Saloon to the outter deck where other crew members tossed them over into the dumpsters. It hit me at that moment this was truly the end of an era for not only the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, but for the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and our steamboatin' past. I also realized for the first time that some of my fellow crew members may be right and the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN may never sail again.
After all was completed we were given out sign out sheets, collected our personal luggage, and disembarked the vessel. I turned my keys into the Human Resources Coordinator, along with my contact information, and boarded a cab for the airport with Nate Shaffer, the Band Leader on the last cruise. We talked about what we thought the 2007 season had to offer and were plenty convinced we were in for a rare and great treat when the spring came and we returned to the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. Since I had spoken to Bill Wiemuth just hours before, and been assurred I would be the first Discovery guide to bring out the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, I told Nate I would see him "on the MQ in the spring".
As this is written the fate of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN is being discussed and finalized somewhere in a board room at a bank or same such location.
As we focus our attentions on the fate of the DELTA QUEEN and her fight in congress lets not forget the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and all the joy she brought to so many river fans over the years who for what ever reason found the DELTA QUEEN not available to them, or not accessable to them.
I am proud to say over the years it was my great privilage to work as Riverlorian on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. I would like to think I brought the river to life and the history of steamboats with in the grasp of some of the thousands of passengers who strode her decks.
Don't think the DELTA QUEEN is not in my heart...for she will always be there. My first overnight cruise on the river was aboard the DELTA QUEEN...you always love your first the most!
However, the experience I had aboard the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN paved the path for my many years aboard the DELTA QUEEN, and I will for ever be indebted to her for the role she played in the creation of a career I have come to love more than any I have followed in my life!
This time I am going to include a little known parody song from the Entertainment Staff (who will go un named) of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN back in late 1994. It is interesting to reflect on their thoughts here as the new AMERICAN QUEEN was with in 6 months of her first sailings and they were thinking about their futures.
Having been on the last passenger sailing of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on that experience.
To get started....
Be There When the Gang Starts Leaving
Sung to the Vic Tooker tune, “On The Mississippi Queen”
Be there when the gang starts leaving from the Mississippi Queen
Be there when the rats start jumping, desertion like you’ve never seen
To the AQ Keith, Doreen, Barney, Karen, and Lisa Magee
Lewis, Clara, Keeton, too, Steve, Jennifer and Me.
Tiffany Crawford went off to become Phillip Cocco’s wife
Allen and Robert went off to have themselves an on land life
Well Goodbye, Don’t you cry
See you at that Tall Stacks Fling
I know we made you cuss
But you’re gonna miss us
Goodbye Mississippi Queen
A parody by the Entertainment Staff of the Mississippi Queen
Fall of 1994
After the 2006 Tall Stacks event the crew of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN were being told of the great renovations planned over the winter. We were told of plans for the new Majestic America Line. We were told of new and greater things for all the boats come the spring of 2007.
As the final cruise of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN came down the mighty Mississippi River we could sence problems ahead for the boat. Many of the crew spoke of the great years aboard her, as if she may never sail again. It was a melancholy cruise for the crew...our triumphant return to New Orleans for the first time since hurricane Katrina was clouded with doubt over the future of the boat.
At Natchez, MS we started the de-Delta Queen Steamboat Company-ization process. This involved removing any and all paperwork, stationary, or publications aboard the vessel which had the name Delta Queen Steamboat Company on it. We were rafted with the DELTA QUEEN on this particular day and myself and Bill Wiemuth cleared out all the Riverlorian paperwork, Tributaries, and other brand engineered stuff off of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. We also assisted Mary Charlton, Riverlorian on the DELTA QUEEN in cleaning out the lockers on the true flagship. All in all that day we removed almost a half of a construction dumpster from each boat.
Many river fans were present on both boats for the much lauded return to New Orleans cruises for the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and DELTA QUEEN. So I won't name anyone...but I saw MANY dumpster divers that afternoon. I think many of us on this board have at least one box of printed material in their collections...I know I do!
The last 3 days of the cruise on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN were starting to affect the passengers. They felt the apprehension the crew felt about their boat and her future. One passenger (who reads this board) and I sat in the Chart Room on the last afternoon and discussed what may happen to alot of the historic parts of the boat. I assurred him they would be preserved in the renovations and she would come out of the shipyard as a elegant swan. We both looked at each other as if to doubt the words as they faded into the carpeting of the room.
At 3pm on the 27th of November 2006 the lines were let go and the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN departed Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie, LA, headed home to New Orleans. I sat in the Chart Room with guests thinking silently to myself...I wonder what it will be like when we land here next spring?
Phil Westbrook played the calliope as we departed and for the last time the notes of the worlds largest steam calliope echoed off the levees of that beautiful landing on the lower Mississippi River.
At 5:25pm I was leaving the Chart Room, I had under my arm a stack of papers I would later copy and return before I left the boat. One of which turned out to be the song herein included (I didn't know I had it till later that evening). On the way to my stateroom (the Riverlorian, for those of you who don't know had stateroom 103 in the front hall of the Main deck stb'd side) I decided to make a detour and played the calliope for the last time as we passed the Bonne Carre spillway. I finished the mini concert with "I'll See you Somewhere in Dreamland Tonight". Once in awhile you just have to operate on impulse....and that time, I did!
As I started to pack for the return home, Bill Wiemuth and Laura Sable stopped by my room and we discussed the procedure for laying the boat up the next morning. Bill was to become the Enrichment Programs Director and my boss with in weeks of this last cruise. We wanted to box up and ship to Seattle, WA all the pertinant information to create new publications for our passengers on the new Majestic America Line. So we had to set out early to get just the right stuff.
As night fell I walked through the public rooms of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and thought to myself as I answered final questions of passengers..."is this the last time I am to walk these decks?" Many crew members at the Officers Mess table that night had intonated their thought this could be the end of the line for the river monarch. I chose not to believe it myself.
We arrived at New Orleans at precicely midnight. The DELTA QUEEN sat at the Robin Street Wharf preparing to leave for the shipyard at Mobile, AL the next morning at dawn. She had arrived and dropped off her last passengers 24 hours before us. It was a foggy landing as we landed above the DELTA QUEEN at the former River City Casino dock. The boat came to rest and all retired for there was a busy morning to come as we bid farewell to the last passengers ever to ride a boat of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company.
Morning came early, foggy, and hot! By 9am all passengers had left the boat and headed home. The crew started in ernest getting the boat ready for lay up and her cruise to Mobile, AL for her 5 year inspection.
Laying up a boat is a big task....for all the furniture must be stowed, all the accounts in the office closed, all the bedding, linens, liquor, and food stores must be inventoried and stored, the carpets must be covered in cardboard as well as the book shelves, pianos and other items which need protection from the elements. In this particular lay up many other things had to be done. The MISSISSIPPI QUEEN was to travel to Mobile for the first time. This meant a transit of the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway and open seas for a 50 mile stretch in the Mississippi Sound. Extra caution was taken in the boxing up of all doorways and windows of the Main Deck.
As the work progressed, the crew worked hard in the warm fall air. Up on the Observation Deck in the Chart Room Bill Wiemuth and I boxed all the Riverlorian Guide Books for the trip out west. We went through all the Riverlorian files and took out all the historic information we found. Sadly the blueprints for her engines, the shipyard launching poster, and a book simply titled "The Queen" were left behind. They were some of the wonderful pieces of her history I relished in sharing with many passengers on her.
At 11am all crew were called to the Grand Saloon for the final "thank you" before being laid off. We were asked to handle one final task before we left...to form a chain gang of sorts and remove all the furniture from the Grand Saloon to a construction dumpster 2 decks below. I assisted getting chairs from the Grand Saloon to the outter deck where other crew members tossed them over into the dumpsters. It hit me at that moment this was truly the end of an era for not only the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, but for the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and our steamboatin' past. I also realized for the first time that some of my fellow crew members may be right and the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN may never sail again.
After all was completed we were given out sign out sheets, collected our personal luggage, and disembarked the vessel. I turned my keys into the Human Resources Coordinator, along with my contact information, and boarded a cab for the airport with Nate Shaffer, the Band Leader on the last cruise. We talked about what we thought the 2007 season had to offer and were plenty convinced we were in for a rare and great treat when the spring came and we returned to the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. Since I had spoken to Bill Wiemuth just hours before, and been assurred I would be the first Discovery guide to bring out the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN, I told Nate I would see him "on the MQ in the spring".
As this is written the fate of the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN is being discussed and finalized somewhere in a board room at a bank or same such location.
As we focus our attentions on the fate of the DELTA QUEEN and her fight in congress lets not forget the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN and all the joy she brought to so many river fans over the years who for what ever reason found the DELTA QUEEN not available to them, or not accessable to them.
I am proud to say over the years it was my great privilage to work as Riverlorian on the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN. I would like to think I brought the river to life and the history of steamboats with in the grasp of some of the thousands of passengers who strode her decks.
Don't think the DELTA QUEEN is not in my heart...for she will always be there. My first overnight cruise on the river was aboard the DELTA QUEEN...you always love your first the most!
However, the experience I had aboard the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN paved the path for my many years aboard the DELTA QUEEN, and I will for ever be indebted to her for the role she played in the creation of a career I have come to love more than any I have followed in my life!
Total Comments 3
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Travis, while I always considered the Mississippi Queen only as or second choice I just found out how much your story touched me, the longer I read it. We spent wonderful times on board the Mississippi Queen, Leonie literally grew up on this boat (okay, about one week per year ;-) and it really hurts, unexpectetly much, to realize she might never sail again.
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Travis, very nice my friend. I take exception to some of your terms, though. As you know we were on the Delta Queen that week in 2006 and rafted with you and the Mississippi Queen in a few ports...But "Dumpster Diving"? I'd like to prefer the term "creative recycling", and yes Deb and I too have a pile of DQSC stuff, thank god. That day in Vicksburg when you all treated us to a concert of the biggest calliope in the world was very special, I stood above the whistles trying my damnedest to blow out my hearing aid, it was glorious.
The MQ was Deb's and my first steamboat, and she holds a very special place in our hearts. We met Phil Westbrook and Mike Gentry on that first June 2000 cruise. Met Captain Buddy Muirhead and Barb Hameister, too. And the funny thing, I was convinced that "it" wasn't going to be for me, so we booked a room with a balcony, so we could hide. Fast forward to today, isn't that a scream? I too felt much sadness looking over to Julia Street all last year and this past March and seeing her so forlorn. But my fingers are crossed, I will be hopeful... |
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Bruno,
Some of my greatest river treasures were procured from "dumpster diving". A habit I developed back in the late 1970's. I even got some things from the DELTA QUEEN gift shop that were damaged. Anyone remember the year they had Waterford Crystal in the giftshop (1979 if memory is correct here)? I have one of the "DELTA QUEEN" glasses missing a handle that I got from a "Dumpster Dive". Many collectables came from that kind of activity. Non-edible, of course! ~Travis~ |
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Recent Blog Entries by Travis Vasconcelos
- Dubuque-Built Diesel Excursion boats (01-02-2011)
- Ever wonder what could have been? (06-26-2008)
- Mississippi River Flooding, memories and thoughts. (06-22-2008)
- How it all began....OR.....How I found my way to the river. (06-17-2008)
- Lifted information from the Steamboatin' Times (06-13-2008)
