Historic Steamer Delta Queen For Sale

The Delta Queen Steamboat Company (DSCQ) is seeking new ownership for the historic steamboat Delta Queen. 

The company, which owns the 1926 packet/excursion boat, has attempted to secure funding for the Delta Queen’s full refurbishment for the last 10 years. A waiver allowing overnight passenger service on vessels with wooden construction, necessary for the Delta Queen’s revival because of its wooden superstructure, was signed into law in 2018; however, funding for the refurbishment was never sourced. After pulling through the COVID-19 pandemic and Hurricane Ida, a category 4 hurricane, in 2021, the current owners said in a Facebook post that their resources are exhausted, and they are no longer able to maintain the vessel. 

It is the DQSC’s wish that under new ownership the Delta Queen will be saved and open for public enjoyment. 

“It remains DQSC’s goal and mission to see the Delta Queen preserved, and the best solution is one that opens the vessel to the public to generate the revenues necessary to sustain its maintenance and long-term preservation,” the DQSC posted on the Steamboat Delta Queen Facebook page, which is managed by the ownership group. “Whether this means as a cruising vessel, or in the manner her identical twin the Delta King has enjoyed as a stationary attraction, the Delta Queen needs to be saved.”

Interested individuals are encouraged to email website@dqsteamboat.com with purchase offers and proposals and to include sources of funding. The owners said priority will be given to offers that do not result in dismantling.

Featured photo caption: The 1926 steamboat Delta Queen docked in Houma, La (Photo courtesy of Steamboat Delta Queen Facebook page)