TSS RYNDAM 1951- 2003 - The sister of the TSS STEFAN BATORY/ Statek Siostrzany

TSS RYNDAM (1951-2003) was a sister ship to TSS MAASDAM (1951-1968) that ultimately became TSS STEFAN BATORY (1968-88). The TSS RYNDAM was built for the Holland America Line in Dutch shipyard Wilton-Fijenoord's Schiedam in 1951. Later in her history, she changed the name to TSS WATERMAN, TSS ATLAS... and TSS COPA CASINO at the end. Below you’ll find a summary of interesting article regarding the few last years of the ship's existence as TSS COPA CASINO. A more detailed history of the ship can be found in the “History” section of this web site...

​TSS RYNDAM (1951-2003) byl siostrzanym statkiem dla TSS MAASDAM (1951-1968) ktory w okresie pozniejszym przemianowany zostal na TSS STEFAN BATORY (1968-88). Zostal on zbudowany dla Holland America Line w holenderskiej stoczni Wilton-Fijenoord's Schiedam w 1951 roku. Po zakonczeniu sluzby w Holland America Line nosil nazwe TSS WATERMAN, TSS ATLAS... i na koncu TSS COPA CASINO. Ponizej umieszczone jest streszczenie artykulu dotyczacego ostatnich lat istnienia statku, jako TSS COPA CASINO. Bardziej szczegolowa historie statku mozna znalezc na tej stronie internetowej w sekcji “History”...

TSS RYNDAM in original Holland America Line colors; sister ship to TSS MAASDAM that became the TSS STEFAN BATORY in 1968/ TSS RYNDAM w oryginalnych barwach Holland America Line; siostrzany statek to TSS MAASDAM, ktory stal sie TSS STEFAN BATORY w 1968 roku

TSS COPA CASINO - History

TSS COPA CASINO (ex. TSS RYNDAM)
Sister ship to the TSS MAASDAM (later TSS STEFAN BATORY)
sinks on the way to the Ship Breakers; March 2003
'Gambling icon COPA CASINO in Watery Grave' - by Lee Davidson
Summary of the article from Cruise & Caribbean News, May 12, 2003:

A former cruise ship that brought gambling to coastal Mississippi before dockside casinos were legal, recently sank off the coast of the Dominican Republic, ending a 61-year odyssey. On March 16, 2003 the ship plunged to its final resting place 7,500 feet (2,500 meters) under the Caribbean Sea's surface, so ended the journey of the COPA CASINO, which was built in 1942 and launched 9 years later.

The cruise ship was launched in Scheidam, Holland, in 1951 under the name RYNDAM. It was operated by Holland America Lines, one of the world's largest cruise ship companies. But before that, in 1942, the ship's main plate and frame was built amidst the bombings and pillaging of World War II (1939-1945). "It laid up just floating, waiting for the war to get over. It's one of the only vessels that survived the war - it wasn't sunk or scrapped". In the'50s and '60s, the vessel was based in New York and carried cargo and people on cruises across the Atlantic for HollandAmerica.

In 1972, the ship was sold to the Greek Epirotiki cruise company for $2.5 million, according to published reports. The ship's name was changed for ATLAS. Cruise business decreased in the late 1980's due to terrorist threats in the Mediterranean area and ATLAS was laid up.

Carter, a Gulfport (Mississippi, USA) resident bought the vessel in 1989 for an undisclosed amount. Under Carter's direction, it called on the Port of Gulfport under the name the PRIDE OF MISSISSIPPI. Passengers were taken on "cruises to nowhere," journeying about eight miles out to the Gulf of Mexico's international waters, where they could gamble.

In search of more gamblers, in the spring of 1989, the vessel spent some time making calls to the Port of Galveston in Texas, USA. It underwent another name change, appropriately dubbed the PRIDE OF GALVESTON for its brief travels to westward Gulf waters.

At this point, Carter and his co-owner and Gulfport friend Terry Green, sold their stock back to another co-owner, who declared bankruptcy. Once the assets were liquidated, Green and Carter bought the vessel back, according to Carter. He said they brought it back to the Port of Gulfport, where it was given its final name COPA CASINO, and traveled to places like Cozumel, Mexico. Also in 1989, lobbyists began pushing Mississippi legislators to legalize dockside gambling. In 1992, the law passed allowing floating casinos to be docked at the port in Gulfport.

On Sept. 14, 1993, the COPA CASINO opened dockside in Gulfport and became the seventh casino on the coast. It remained docked there, out of commission, for about eight years. Carter said at one time he thought about sinking it off the MississippiGulfCoast to create a natural reef.

"The military was considering using it for target practice and it would have been great for the fishing industry, but it was too expensive," he said. He and his co-owner would have had to cover the $500,000 cost to sink it about 50 miles out of Biloxi in 280 feet of water, he said.

In fall 2002, the new Copa Casino barge opened to the public, which meant Carter had a limited amount of time to remove the original Copa. Carter said he sold the vessel for $190,000 in December to a company in Louisiana. That group was responsible for hauling it out of Gulfport.

In January 2003, the Louisiana group sold the vessel to a New York-based group for $500,000, he said. It is unclear who owned the ship when it left the GulfCoast bound for India. The vessel was towed out of the Port of Gulfport on Dec. 27, 2002. The next day it arrived in Mobile (Alabama, USA and was tied at the Alabama State Docks, according to Mobile's harbormaster. The ship stayed in Mobile until Jan. 28, 2003.

James Lyons, director of the Alabama State Docks, said he wasn't surprised the former cruise ship didn't complete its final voyage. He said the month that the vessel was docked in Mobile (Alabama, USA) was a nervous time.

"We took it because it was going to be a couple of days, but they couldn't get it up in the water back to get it to Chickasaw, so we kind of got stuck (with it). They couldn't keep the water out of it," Lyons said. "One day it was leaning one way and the next day the other way. I was holding my breath hoping it wouldn't sink," he added.

After that, it spent time at a privately owned shipyard in Mobile before beginning its 45-day voyage to ship breakers in India.

On March 3, 2003, the tug FAIRPLAY XIV began to tow the former RYNDAM. The tug and her tow were destined for Alang, India. It never made it out of the Caribbean Sea, instead tilting and sinking during daylight hours on March 16, 2003. It had been at sea two or three weeks, officials said.

Capt. David Carey, the Port of Mobile's harbormaster, said it was fortunate that the ship began to sink during the day, so that the towing vessel that pulled it could break away from the doomed ship before it submerged fully.

To Carter, the ship's descent into the Caribbean was a fitting end. "I'm tickled," he said. "The one good thing about it is we had cleaned it up considerably. It wasn't a terrible pollutant. May she rest in peace."

The old COPA CASINO (TS/S RYNDAM) had a space for 1200 gamblers, was about 27,000 square feet in size, had some 700 slot machines, 20 table games and three casino cocktail bars; everything on two decks. The new COPA CASINO barge holds nearly 4,000 patrons, is about 98,000 square feet big, has 1,200 slot and video poker machines and two restaurants.

In beginning of 2003, the COPA CASINO also gained permission from GulfportCity to build a hotel on the site...


LINK: After visiting the TSS COPA CASINO in 2001

TSS COPA CASINO - Dzieje

TSS COPA CASINO (wczesniej TSS RYNDAM)
Blizniaczy statek dla TS/S MAASDAM (STEFAN BATORY)
zatonal w drodze do stoczni zlomowej; marzec 2003
'Symbol Hazardu COPA CASINO pochloniety przez morska otchlan'
Skrot arykulu Lee Davidsona z "Rejsy po Karaibach", Maj12, 2003

Dawny oceniczny liniowiec, ktory zapoczatkowal ere hazardu na wybrzezu Mississippi (USA), zanim hazard ten zostal calkowicie zalegalizowany w portach tego stanu, zatonal u wybrzezy Republiki Dominikanskiej w swoim ostatnim rejsie do stoczni zlomowej w Indiach. Statek zatonal na glebokosci 7,500 stop czyli ok. 2,500 metrow. Zakonczyla sie w ten sposob 61 letnia (!!!) kariera atlantyckiego liniowca, ktorego budowa rozpoczeta zostala w 1942 r, przerwana ze wzgledu na Druga Wojne Swiatowa, zakonczona zostala wodowaniem w 1952 r.
Po latach sluzby w HollandAmerica jako TS/S RYNDAM i w greckiej firmie Epirotiki jako TS/S ATLAS, statek zostal sprzedany w 1989 r. amerykanskiemu przedsiebiorcy z Mississippi (USA) o nazwisku Carter.

Carter zmienil nazwe statku na PRIDE OF MISSISSIPPI i sprowadzil go do Gulfport - miasta polozonego na wybrzezu amerykanskiego stanu Mississippi, ktore od tego momentu stalo sie portem macierzystym dla statku. PRIDE OF MISSISSIPPI przeksztalcono na plywajace kasyno. Statek wyplywal on na regularne rejsy "do nikad", 8 mil poza Zatoke Meksykanska, gdzie na "miedzynarodowych wodach" pasazerowie mogli swobodnie uprawiac hazard na pokladzie.

W celu pozyskania jak najwiekszej liczby pasazerow-hazardzistow, w roku 1989 statek zaczal zawijac do portu Galveston w stanie Texas (USA). Zmieniono wowczas nazwe na PRIDE OF GALVESTON. W okresie tym wlasciciel statku, Carter poczal czynic operacje finansowe (wlacznie z zadeklarowaniem bankructwa) ktore doprowadzily do sprzedania i ponownego odkupienia statku. Jednostka zmienila  nazwe na COPA CASINO i rozpoczela regularne rejsy dla hazardzistow z Gulfport do Cozumel (Meksyk). W 1992 nastapily zmiany w ustawodastwie stanowym Mississippi, ktore pozwalaly uprawiac gry hazardowe na zadokowanych w porcie statkach / plywajacych kasynach. We wrzesniu 1993 r. COPA CASINO na stale zadokowala w Gulfport, gdzie cieszyla sie duza popularnoscia przez kolejnych osiem lat.

W miare jak statek starzal sie, Carter zaczal myslec o jego likwidacji i pozyskaniu jakiejs nowej jednostki na plywajace kasyno. Rozwazana byla mozliwosc zatopienia COPA CASINO i utworzeniu z niego czegos w rodzaju podwodnej rafy dla pletwonurow, ale koszt zatopienia w kwocie ok $500,000 USD byl za wysoki. Statkiem interesowala sie rowniez armia, ktora chciala wykorzystac go do treningow w strzelaniu jako cel. Zainteresowanie bylo takze ze strony rybakow, ale nic z powyzszych pomyslow nie zostalo zrealizowane.

Jesienia 2002, nowa COPA CASINO zostala otworzona na pokladzie ogromnej, nowoczesnej barki, a stary statek zostal sprzedany przez Cartiera za $190,000 USD przedsiebiorstwu z Louisiany, a potem  zostal on odsprzedany innemu przedsiebiorstwu z Nowego Jorku za $500,000 USD. Stary liniowiec zostal odholowany z Gulfport 27 grudnia, 2002 i dzien pozniej trafil do portu Mobile (Alabama, USA), gdzie byl zadokowany do 28 stycznia, 2003 przy Alabama State Docks. James Lyons, szef doku w Mobile wspomina ze byl to bardzo nerwowy czas jako ze na statku byly bardzo duze przecieki, nie nadarzano z wypompowywaniem wody. Statek doslownie przechylal sie kazdego dnia na inna strone.

Przed rozpoczeciem planowanej na 45 dni podrozy do stoczni zlomowe w Alang (Indie), statek spedzil pewien czas w prywatnym doku w Mobile, gdzie prawdopodobnie probowano likwidowac ogromne przecieki. Mimo tych staran jednostka nie byla w stanie przeplynac na holu nawet Morza Karaibskiego, gdzie zatonela 16 marca 2003. Capt. David Carey, szef portu w Mobile powiedzial ze szczesliwie sie zlozylo, ze COPA CASINO zaczela tonac w ciagu dnia, przy dobrej widocznosci zaloga holownika FAIRPLAY XIV miala czas na zluzowanie lin holowniczych i oddalenie sie na bezpieczna odleglosc znim nastapilo calkowite zatoniecie. (...)

TSS ATLAS, Ex TSS RYNDAM

In early 90 the ex TSS RYNDAM was also known as TSS PRIDE OF MISSISSIPPI, floating casino sailing the Gulf of Mexico / Na poczatku lat ’90 dawny TSS RYNDAM byl takze znany pod nazwa TSS PRIDE OF MISSISSIPPI, plywajace kasyno w rejonie Zatoki Meksykanskiej

TSS COPA CASINO, ex TSS RYNDAM was listed for scrap for $350.000; seen under tow from port of Mobile Alabama, USA to the Shipbreakers in Alang India, March 2003 / TSS COPA CASINO, ex RYNDAM holowany z portu Mobile w Alabamie USA, do stoczni zlomowej w Alang Indie, Marzec 2003