The owner of the Becky Thatcher, which is sinking in the Ohio River off Neville Island, has contracted with a company to demolish and remove the historic steamboat.

Owner Jeffrey Levin moved the 84-year-old stern-wheeler from Marietta, Ohio, to Pittsburgh in October in hopes of restoring it as a floating restaurant and bar. Last week, however, the top two decks collapsed into the bottom deck and the boat began taking on water. Mr. Levin said the boat, which was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, was "a total loss" and could not be repaired.

Representatives of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Pittsburgh have been monitoring the boat and have instructed Mr. Levin that it has to be removed from the water because as it sinks and breaks up it represents a threat to other vessels navigating the river.

Employees of Delta Demolition Group, of Newton Falls, Ohio, have been visiting the boat and expect to begin the removal next week, said Lee Chaklos, company operations manager.

"We do have the contract for demolition," Mr. Chaklos said Friday. "But this will be a first for us. We've done barges, we've done ships, but not like an old Mississippi steamer."

Mr. Chaklos said he started Delta Demolition Group in 2005 "with an old Chevy pickup truck and a cutting torch" and has built it into a company that demolishes water towers, steel mills and other structures. The company's specialty, he said, involves abandoned and collapsed bridges. Delta Demoltion removed the Osgood and Mill Street bridges in Mercer County, he said.

Mr. Chaklos would not say how much the job might cost Mr. Levin, who had insured the boat himself, or how long the job might take. But he intends to start next week.

"A steamboat, in that design, is basically a barge with a three-story hotel attached to the top of it. And it has taken on water. But there are still a lot of things to be determined."

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