The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.
By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune
Sadly, this past week, I watched a video of the S.S. UNITED STATES leaving Philadelphia under tow, bound for Mobile, Alabama, in preparation for sinking as an artificial reef off the coast of the Florida panhandle.
Observing the storied ocean liner, once our nation’s pride of the sea, now fading and rusting, setting off on her final voyage overcame me with sad pangs of emotion. How, I wondered, could the loss of such a gallant ship, formerly the symbol of America’s commitment to maritime superiority, be allowed to happen?
But then, I recalled that the last of our grandest inland riverboats had recently taken similar voyages.
Exactly one year ago today, as I write on 20 February 2025, American Queen Voyages (AQV), owners of the AMERICAN QUEEN, the last overnight steamboat on the Mississippi River system, announced suspending operations and canceling all future cruises. Four other overnight riverboats, the AMERICAN COUNTESS, DUTCHESS, and EMPRESS, belonging to AQV, also found themselves tied up and out of business.
Quicker than you could say “farewell to overnight steamboating,” according to an unnamed riverboat fan, all four boats were on the auction block and quickly gobbled up by the American Cruise Line, a rival company offering overnight trips on the Western Rivers.
My unnamed source also disclosed that the total price paid for the four luxurious overnight river cruisers was a “mere 4.5 million dollars,” a king’s ransom these days to most folks struggling to wrangle a carton of hen’s eggs but merely a trifle for four riverboat royalties. The buyer, my source continued, only operated boats of the 100-ton variety. The source’s reply made me wonder why an experienced cruise line concern would bid on and purchase four vessels of a much larger class it had no notion of operating.
Before I could comprehend the enormity of the demise of over two centuries of overnight steamboat service on the Western Rivers, the AMERICAN QUEEN, DUTCHESS, and COUNTESS were bound for the boneyard. Say what? Since then, photos of the destruction of the AMERICAN QUEEN have surfaced on social media, revealing the dismantlement of the once palatial floating palace.
While I was never an AMERICAN QUEEN crew member, a former Captain invited me to serve aboard after I’d escrowed away my U.S. Coast Guard license in Continuity. The quietus of overnight steamboating with the loss of the AQ affected me nearly as severely as today’s uncertain plight of the DELTA QUEEN, a steamer I co-commanded when I was just 30 years old. As a senior member of the extended family of steamboaters on the Mighty Mississippi and tributaries, I yearn to fully comprehend why the company folded and how quickly their vessels ended up at the wrecking yard.
As with all stories, there are at least two editions. In some widely distributed press coverage, the AQV outfit’s failure to “fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic” was touted as the reason for the company’s inability to succeed financially. At the same time, others close to the fluvial failure cited “mismanagement” by both AQV and its parent company, Hornblower Corp.
“Management all walked away with golden parachutes,” someone remarked while failing to answer what became of the 800 riverboat employees notified on the same day the operation folded.
Whether management profited from the debacle has yet to be determined. However, there is enough speculation that foul play helped cause the downfall of a great American institution like overnight steamboating. Therefore, more questions need asking, with better answers coming forth. What do you think?
Purchase Captain Don Sanders’ The River book here
Capt. Don Sanders The River: River Rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure is now available for $29.95 plus handling and applicable taxes. This beautiful, hardback, published by the Northern Kentucky Tribune, is 264-pages of riveting storytelling, replete with hundreds of pictures from Capt. Don’s collection — and reflects his meticulous journaling, unmatched storytelling, and his appreciation for detail. This historically significant book is perfect for the collections of every devotee of the river.
You may purchase your book by mail from the Northern Kentucky Tribune — or you may find the book for sale at all Roebling Books locations and at the Behringer Crawford Museum and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare gift shops.
Order your Captain Don Sanders’ ‘The River’ book here.
Sad, insightful thoughts, Capt. Don. It would seem that greedy competition prevailed to rule the river cruising world in what is now this post overnight steamboat age. We will continue to hope against all hope that an able-pocketed angel will get bit by the steam boating bug and grow a true heart to rescue, restore, and successfully operate the currently idled overnight steamer, the DELTA QUEEN.
Thank you Capt Don for memorializing 2 awful moments in maritime history. Painful as they are, they need remembered. Inciteful questions to which I wonder if we’ll ever really know the answers .
I guess better to serve a purpose as a reef than be cut up,but to see ” America’s Pride” the United States gone seems a comment on America these days .
Thanks for helping folks remember or learn of these awesome Ladies.
*~* Great article, Don, filled with food for thought. I well remember liner UNITED STATES in her prime operating years docked in New York, Southampton, U.K., seen passing at sea. ‘Walked’ the US for a tour finding her exterior design, fittings remarkable. Not so much on her Spartan, fire resistant interiors and fittings. Naturally, she was born, designed, built, operated with a healthy U.S. subsidy. After her retirement saw her then docked in Norfolk, VA still being maintained. Periodically they did raise steam, turn her engines over. I was approached to join an effort to market UNITED STATES as a new concept ‘floating condominiums.’ The glossy plans, artist renderings, big promises left ? questions.’ “Thanks, but no thanks,” I replied and don’t regret it. Then our IRS, finance specialist questioned the concept of floating condos. Her realized high ocean speed soon negated with development of air to air, air to surface, surface to surface guided missiles. Her promises never tried or needed. She was a beauty.