Staff Photo by John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press The lights of the Delta Queen glow just after twilight in downtown Chattanooga on Sunday.

Dueling investors are sparring over the purchase of the historic Delta Queen.

Cornel Martin, who is at the helm of a group effort to purchase the riverboat, said today he learned another group out of Sacramento, Calif., has come to the table.

Both sets of investors have been wooing Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the Colorado-based company which owns the vessel, Martin said.

Xanterra Parks & Resorts did not immediately return an email today asking the identity of the California group.

If Martin can raise enough investor support to buy the riverboat, he intends to refurbish it and allow it to resume navigating the nation's inland waterways as a hotel.

Currently the Delta Queen is docked on the northern shore of the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga and is being used as a hotel.