American Queen docks at Cape after alternate course caused by flooding

With the Mississippi River retreating after more than 140 consecutive days of flooding, American Queen was able to dock at Cape Girardeau’s riverfront at 6:15 a.m. Saturday. But not without altering its course along the way.

Danielle Torigian, chief purser of the river cruiser, said the voyage began June 24, but because of river levels the boat was unable to pass under some bridges on its way to Cape Girardeau — even with the ability to lower its fluted stacks. She said that obstacle forced a deviation onto the Ohio River before docking.

“We won’t be able to make it on the upper Mississippi,” Torigian said of the 400-passenger vessel, which, according to the American Queen Steamboat Co. website, is “the largest steamboat ever built.”.

Seated at a high-back chair adorned with a wooden eagle within the vessel’s Card Room, boat captain of nearly 30 years Bobby Duncan said some ports on the lower Mississippi River have been flooded all year. And that’s created somewhat of a challenge.

Duncan has served as captain of American Queen for five years; he’s also the American Queen Steamboat Co. port captain, and a Navy veteran.

“If we don’t have access, we’re not going,” he said.

Every cruise this year has been deviated to some extent, Duncan said. But, he added, “all except for maybe one.”

“We did deliver at all the ports, but we might’ve delivered it from the next town up,” he said.

And that’s how Duncan and his crew “work around it as best we can.” But sometimes that’s not possible, either.

Keeping a close eye on information from the National Weather Service and using data collected onboard, Duncan is able to foresee upcoming obstacles that may require a detour.

“We knew we could get under the [Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge], and it was a limited factor. We’re always watching,” Duncan said of being “glued to” each day’s predictions.

He said if a decision regarding an alternate route were to be made, the cutoff would be the Wednesday before the Monday cruise. Duncan said he likes to do that sooner, if possible. But sometimes it’s just too early to tell.

“We made it up to St. Louis on [July] 22nd and were supposed to continue on up, but couldn’t get past the bridge,” he said. “Barely got into St. Louis; that dock was covered with mud.”

And even though crew members were sent ahead of the ship to inspect the situation, “it was still a little iffy.”

Upon arriving in Cape Girardeau, though, Duncan said he expected the riverfront conditions “to be a lot worse,” even after the recent riverfront cleanup.

A couple of weeks ago when the boat was supposed to dock at Cape Girardeau “and didn’t,” he said, roads were muddy and the cruise line had no access for its buses.

And though the gates at Themis Street were opened July 30 when the Mississippi River dropped to 33 feet in Cape Girardeau, Duncan said there’s no set level permitting a boat to dock.

“It’s really more a product of when they open the gates,” he said. “It seems like it varies a little bit. Whatever the number was, they held off longer this time to open.”

That, Duncan said, altered the ship’s recent scheduled docking in Cape Girardeau.

“We thought we were going to get in and couldn’t get in,” he said. “That figured into us going up the Ohio (River).”

He said deviating from the set schedule also affects passengers’ moral.

“We’ve had some recently book three weeks, from New Orleans all the way up to Red Wing (Minnesota),” he said. “We made it up to basically Memphis, then had to go up the Ohio (River). They were like, ‘What’s the Ohio? We wanted Mississippi.’”

Bob and Barbara Garner of Virginia originally set a course from Minneapolis to Alton, Illinois, “and now we went from Cincinnati to Alton,” he said with a smile.

Passenger Bev Henry of Georgetown, Texas, had just stepped foot into Cape Girardeau alongside her husband, John, when she stopped to notice the murals at the riverfront.

“We were supposed to do the upper Mississippi, and we were unable to. So they did the Ohio. ... So far, [Cape Girardeau] looks great. Murals are wonderful and everybody is real friendly.”

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