The Delta Queen, indeed, is a national treasure. The steamboat is also in grave jeopardy.

The Delta Queen has languished, tied to a dock in Chattanooga since 2009, slowly deteriorating.

Its recent purchase may be reason for hope. The new owner is a group of investors whose main aim is to preserve and protect the 1927 vessel, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark,

The best way to protect it, said Cornel Martin, the president of the new company that owns it, is to get the steamboat renovated, repaired and put back into service.

To do so requires legislation to exempt the Delta Queen from the provisions of the Safety at Sea Act of 1966, which bars wooden vessels from carrying overnight passengers. Until 2007, the Delta Queen had been given exemptions from that law to allow it to cruise with overnight passengers.

In 2007, an attempt to renew that exemption failed and attempts to earn another one, even as late as December of last year, have likewise been unsuccessful.

The reasons for those denied exemptions seem more a factor of politics than safety.

The Delta Queen is as much a part of Natchez history as anyone else’s. So many of us recall the familiar sound of her calliope as she prepared to dock at Natchez to allow her passengers to tour our city.

The new company is still looking for a city to call its homeport after $5 million in renovations are complete. Perhaps Natchez should contend for that role.

We hope Mississippi’s representatives in the senate and house will take a lead role in helping pass an exemption to allow the Delta Queen to cruise with passengers again.

We may not get another opportunity to save this important part of our nation’s history.