Can the big wheels keep on turning? A well-known fleet of paddle-wheelers that evoke the Proud Marys and Showboats that plied the rivers of early America face being cut up for scrap after a bankruptcy sale that has the cruise industry abuzz.
American Queen, the largest paddlewheel steamboat ever built, is among four river cruise ships of the former American Queen Voyages that were bought by rival American Cruise Lines in an auction. Two of the ships are already officially headed to the wreckers, while American Queen and a sister paddle-wheeler also appear doomed in what one cruise historian is calling “a game of catch and kill, Mississippi style.”
ACL was the only active bidder for the ships at the bankruptcy auction . It paid $2.15-million for the 436-passenger American Queen, that cost $65-million to build in 1995. AQL also snagged American Countess, for $1.6-mllion, American Duchess for just $200,000 and American Empress, for $1.6-million. (At the same auction, John Waggoner, the former head of AQV bought two Great Lakes cruise ships that he plans to return to service in 2025 as Victory I and Victory II ).
With the ink on the deal barely dried, ACL announced that American Countess and Duchess will be scrapped. The reason given was that they were not profitable to sail. The seven-year-old American Duchess was originally built as a floating casino in Washington State. It could accommodate no more than 166 guests, but running it required a crew of 90. American Countess is slightly larger but it too had also been converted from a floating casino,
ACL says the 29-year old American Queen still has a crew on board in New Orleans, but the ship apparently requires an overhaul that makes it too costly to return it to cruising. While there may be groups interested in using it for a floating conference center, museum or restaurant, no one’s raised a hand yet. The 21-year old American Empress that did cruises on the Columbia River before it was laid up won’t be returnig to service either.
“I don’t understand why they would bid on these ships to only retire or dispose of them”’ said Peter Knego, a cruise historian and curator of cruise artifacts whose YouTube channel is MidShipCinema. The interior of American Queen features custom commissioned artworks recalling the history of river steamboats, which should be salvaged, he says. And dismantling the ships would just create a lot of toxic waste that will end up in landfills, he warned in an e-mail sent to Seatrade Cruise News.
But industry observers have commented that ACL’s purchase was designed to ward off competition.
American Cruise Lines has its own fleet of four paddle-wheelers—three of which are only about 10 years old. Two are sailing the Mississippi, while the American West and American Pride— formerly the Queen of the Mississippi,–sail on the Columbia River.
As for who might be able to rescue the classic American Queen, its history may make it attractive for preservation by some civic or private group. In an interview with Seatrade, The Steamship Historical Society of America nots that several classic river ships are preserved around the United States. But it’s always a difficult effort that generally requires government assistance.
“It’s never easy to accomplish any preservation, restoration or adaptive use project. And it’s always very expensive,” SHSA Executive Director Matthew Schulte said.
“Even those vessels receiving the highest distinction as National Historic Landmarks do not have ongoing funding from the government for their care,” Schulte notes. The Delta Queen, built in 1926 and listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1989, has been docked unused in Houma, Louisiana, since 2018, while groups have tried to raise the millions of dollars needed for repairs and upgrading.
Meanwhile, as one source told Seatrade, it’s questionable whether the more modern American Queen qualifies as historic. And, sadly, “’at some point, every ship has its day.”
Story by Wallace Immen, The Cruisington Times
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