Chattanooga Pulse

Visitors to Coolidge Park alongside the Tennessee River over the past several months have been admiring the stately lines of the famed Delta Queen riverboat, docked in front of the popular park.  Many have taken the opportunity to tour the ship in anticipation of its hoped for rebirth as a floating hotel under the management of Capt. Harry Phillips and Sydney Slome.

One of the few remaining hurdles left before they open the doors on what could be the city’s most unique boutique hotel is final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and TVA.

But there are at least two rather vocal groups out there who are not completely pleased with the planned use for the historic river vessel.  One group has been circulating a petition among various web sites and e-mail lists asking for a special exemption to the 1966 Safety of Life at Sea Law (Public Law 89-777) that forbids any vessel, foreign or domestic, constructed primarily of wood, from operating from a United States port carrying more than 50 overnight passengers.

Past owners of the Delta Queen, which is constructed primarily of oak, mahogany, cedar, teak and Siamese ironbark, made many modifications to the boat to try and bring it in compliance with the various maritime safety laws.  She has two complete steel hulls, fire-retardant coatings on the decks, an advanced sprinkler system and a sophisticated electronic monitoring system.   Yet, even so, it will take a special exemption to allow the Queen back into regular river service, should the current (or future) owners ever decide to do so.

Another group, which has its own web site at save-the-delta-queen.org, isn’t calling for a direct return of the boat to river service, but wants to make sure she doesn’t become permanently moored in front of Coolidge Park, losing her navigable independence.  They want to see the “permanent” mooring permit issued with additional restraints to make sure there will not be any structural changes to the ship, so she can be easily re-activated as an overnight passenger vessel if she receives a new exemption from Congress.

The leasing contract between Ambassadors International, owners of the vessel, and the operators of the Delta Queen Hotel at Chattanooga contains an agreement that “the Delta Queen will still be maintained in operating condition and able to return to cruising service at any time”. The web site group wants the additional restraints on the mooring permit in the case the Queen is sold and the agreement from the leasing contract is no longer valid.  The group makes it very clear it has no problem with either Phillips or Slome, but is worried about the financial health of Ambassadors International and want to ensure the Delta Queen doesn’t suffer the same fate as the Queen Mary, which became permanently moored in Long Beach, Calif. 30 years ago, never to sail again.

As for final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Corps foresees no problems, stating in a recent public notice that, “other than floating docks that would be positioned adjacent to the ship, no other modification would occur to the shoreline or adjacent uplands.”