DELTA QUEEN or DELTA KING?

Monday, July 2. 2007

Here is an interesting question: Can you figure out which of the million-dollar-boats this is - the DELTA QUEEN or the DELTA KING?

Thanks for Keith Norrington for the picture!

Posted by Franz Neumeier in Picture of the Week at 03:53 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

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I am going to say Delta Queen.

I looked at some photos, and I noticed that on the port side near the bow, the Delta Queen had that open space right in front of where it says "THE RIVER LINES" In old pictures of the Delta King, it is not open, but it is on the starboard side.

Thats the only thing I have backing up my answer. I don't know if and when the boats were changed around, but I will say Delta Queen.

-Nick

#1 Nick Taylor on 2007-07-02 04:59 (Reply)

My vote is DELTA KING. The pilothouse nameboard looks suspiciously short for the DQ. As does the lettering of the vessel name on the port bow.

Either way, this is an odd picture of the boat moving about in the daylight, so I suspect she is wharf hopping in the San Francisco harbour. Most likely picking up cargo bound for Sacramento the next morning. According to the Garvey book (King and Queen of the River) this is what they did in the daytime when in San Francisco.

Nick, good observation on the doors on the port side of the Queen. Actually, both boats had them located in the same place. Strangely enough, those cargo doors are missing today on both boats. Funny how the two have stayed the same in so many ways over the years, despite totally different histories after they parted ways 60 years ago!

#2 Travis C. Vasconcelos on 2007-07-02 17:45 (Reply)

I think this boat is the delta king. The reason I think this is because the delta queen has a bigger pilot house and because its smoke stack is smaller. The bow also apears diffrent. As a hotel today in sacremento,the delta king still has that same bow. But one thing I noticed is that there are lifeboats on the bow and on the side and the delta queen as a car ferry in 1927 never and still has no lifeboats visable to the passengers.

#3 Liam D on 2007-07-05 11:23 (Reply)

My vote is the King as well, I have been on both several times. My reason's however are simple due to how short the name appears, the two looked near identical when they were painted with the lettering on sides. Just to refresh some history, the Delta Queen was never a car ferry, she did carry cars in her lower hold, the room that today serves as her main dining salon, but she was often loaded with other cargo as well. During the 1920's to 1940's, she and the King both had lifeboats with welin davits on both sides and the bow deck house, a total of 8 in all.

#4 Phillip Johnson on 2007-07-05 22:38 (Reply)

My Vote is for the Delta Queen, as I have a copy of a photo taken of the bow, on what appears to be the same day--same size crowd and water waves & sky.
Even during her early years on the Old Muddy, she had lifeboats on each side. They only left when the inflatables and slides were put on. The deckhouse on the Queen was removed in '48 when the decks were extended.
Liam, the smaller stack you see nowadays is a modern incarnation, The greens first gave the queen an elongated modern stack, and then there have been quiet a few exepriments with stack sizes and shapes.
Steamcerely,
David Dewey

#5 David Dewey on 2007-07-06 20:47 (Reply)

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