1. Gambling Ships West Palm Beach Fla
2. Gambling Ship Movie
3. Gambling Ship Jacksonville Fl

CRUISE LINES. This new ship scheduled to begin two-night cruises between West Palm Beach and Grand Bahama Island in February 2015 with 2 night cruises to the Bahamas. The Grand Celebration has 10 public decks and 751 cabins; more than 60 percent have ocean views and 14 suites have balconies. The ship has five pools and Jacuzzis.

MS Palm Beach Princess was a cruise ship operated by Palm Beach Cruises on casino cruises out of the Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, Florida.^[1][4] She was built in 1964 by WärtsiläHelsinki New Shipyard, Helsinki, Finland for Finland Steamship Company as Ilmatar. From 1970 until 1974 and again from 1978 to 1980 she was marketed as a part of Silja Line fleet. In 1973 she was lengthened at HDWHamburg, Germany by 20.04 m (65 ft 9 in). Between 1975–1976 she was chartered to Finnlines. In 1979 she was converted to a cruise ship.^[1]

In 1980 the Ilmatar was sold to Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab, without a change of name. In 1984 she was sold to Grundstad Maritime Overseas and renamed Viking Princess for cruising with Crown Cruise Line. In 1997 she received the name Palm Beach Princess.^[1] After several further changes of ownership, the ship was sold for scrap in 2011.^[3]

On 28 November 1968 the Ilmatar collided with the Siljavarustamo ferry Botnia in the Åland archipelago, resulting in the death of six people on board the Botnia.^[8]

• 2Service history
• 3Design

Concept and construction[edit]

In the early 1960s the Finland Steamship Company decided to construct a 5,171 gross register ton ship for the Finland—Sweden service the company operated in collaboration with Steamship Company Bore, Rederi AB Svea, and Siljavarustamo, a joint subsidiary of the three companies. For the first time in Finland SS Co's history, the new ship was fitted with diesel engines and included side-loadable car deck for 50 cars.^[4] Her service speed was planned at 16.50 kn (30.56 km/h), and she was to carry 1000 passengers, 332 of them in two classes with berths and the rest as classless deck passengers.^[1][4]

The construction of the new vessel was awarded to Wärtsilä's Helsinki New Shipyard, and she was the largest ship built by the shipyard at the time.^[4] On 29 October 1963 the ship was launched and christened Ilmatar (spiritess of the air, a character from the Finnish national epic Kalevala) by Sylvi Kekkonen, the wife of Urho Kekkonen who was the President of Finland at the time.^[1][3] The Ilmatar was delivered on 15 June 1964.^[1]

The Ilmatar was found to be too small from the start, and in 1973 she was docked at HDWHamburg, Germany, where she was lengthened by 20.04 m (65 ft 9 in), increasing her passenger capacity to 1210, passenger berths to 450 and car capacity to 75.^[1][4] Additional engines and two additional propellers increased her speed to 20 kn (37 km/h). Due to the increased passenger capacity the number of crew carried was also increased from 93 to 113.^[6] In 1978–1979 she was rebuilt for cruise service at the shipyard that had built her,^[1] with cabins rebuilt^[3] and a casino, swimming pool, gym, cinema^[4] and lounge featuring live entertainment were added.^{[citation needed]}

Service history[edit]

1964–1980[edit]

Following delivery, the Ilmatar was used on traffic from Helsinki or Turku to Skeppsbron in Stockholm. In July of the same year she lost her rudder near Mariehamn.^[1] During 1965 she was also used on short cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn in the Åland Islands.^[5] The Ilmatar's traffic was suspended during the winter of 1966 for two weeks due to thicker than usual sea ice in the North Baltic. Traffic ceased on 16 February 1966, when the Ilmatar was left in Turku. Traffic could recommence at the end of the month, when the Karhu was able to break a route through the ice to Stockholm.^[9]

On 28 November 1968 the Ilmatar was en route from Stockholm to Turku in heavy fog with 177 passengers on board. She was scheduled to pass Botnia of Siljavarustamo near Långnäs, Åland around 2 AM. Both ships were in radar and radio contact with each other and their captains agreed on where and when the ships would pass each other. Despite the precautions, the ships collided at 2:12 am, after the Botnia had accidentally drifted to the wrong side of the shipway. Due to the heavy fog, visual contact was not established until five seconds before the collision. The Ilmatar's bow hit the Botnia's starboard side in a 40° angle, tearing a 40-meter gash on the Botnia and destroying eight cabins. One crew member and two passengers of the Botnia were killed instantly, while seven passengers were seriously injured and three of them died later on. The Ilmatar's bow was entirely destroyed but no people on board here were seriously injured. She was able to continue to Turku under her own power, and re-entered service after repairs on 8 December 1968. The crew of the Ilmatar were found innocent of causing the accident.^[8]

In 1970 Finland SS Co, Bore and Svea restructured their joint operations, creating a new marketing company Silja Line.^[10] As a result, the Ilmatar came to be marketed as a Silja Line vessel and logos of the new company were painted on her sides. In 1973 she was lengthened at HDWHamburg. Following the lengthening, she was mainly used in Finland Steamship Company cruise traffic, and only occasionally for Silja Line service. In 1974–1975 she was used in Finland SS Co's Helsinki—Copenhagen—Travemünde service.^[1] In 1975 the company withdrew from the joint Finland—Germany service with Finnlines.^[4] As a result, the Ilmatar was chartered to Finnlines from 25 May 1975 until 6 July 1976 and used on the Helsinki—Copenhagen—Travemünde service. In 1976 Finland Steamship Company changed their name to Effoa. Following the end of charter to Finnlines, the Ilmatar was used by Effoa on cruise traffic aimed at the German and Finnish markets, with her itenaries taking her to the Baltic Sea, Norwegian Fjords and the Mediterranean.^[1][6]

From the beginning of 1978 the marketing of the Ilmatar's cruises was taken over by Silja Line, and Silja Cruise logos were painted on her superstructure. Her cruises were successful, and during the winter 1978–1979 she was rebuilt as a genuine cruise ship by Wärtsilä.^[1] Restrictions placed on cruise traffic by the Soviet Union, the long maritime strike of 1980 and following increased crew costs resulted in the decision to stop cruise service in June 1980.^[3][11] The Ilmatar returned briefly to Helsinki—Stockholm service for Silja Line, until she was sold on 27 October 1980 for $6.5 million to Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab, one of the owners of the Hurtigruten consortium.^[1][3][6]

Gambling Ships West Palm Beach Fla

1980–1984[edit]

Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab re-registered the Ilmatar in the Norwegian International Shipregister, but kept her original name and initially even Effoa funnel colours, although these were later changed to those of Vesteraalens Dampskibsselskab. The ship was used for cruising around Europe until 27 November 1982, when she was laid up at Toulon, France.^[3][4]

1984–1997[edit]

Gambling Ship Movie

After being laid up for over a year, the Ilmatar was sold to Grunstad Maritime Overseas, renamed Viking Princess and re-flagged to Panama. Initially the Viking Princess was used for cruising from San Diego, California to Mexico in Crown Cruise Line colours from April 1984 until November 17, 1985,^[12] when she was moved to cruising from West Palm Beach to the Caribbean. Following the bankruptcy of her owners, the Viking Princess was laid up in October 1995.^[1]

1997–2015[edit]

In November 1997 the Viking Princess was sold to Deerbroke Invest, renamed Palm Beach Princess and used for casino cruising out of West Palm Beach in the colours of Palm Beach Casino Line. Her ownership changed several times during the following years, but she continued cruising on the same route in the same colours.^[1][13]The ship generally operated twice daily gambling cruises to nowhere for over the next 12 years.

By the end of 2009, trouble began to mount for the ship and the cruise line. The ship had suffered mechanical problems with its main engine, forcing it to use its auxiliary engines and rely on tugboats to enter and exit the port per the direction of the US Coast Guard. The staff and crew had rioted over pay issues. And the cruise line was under a backlog of debt due to missed voyages because of the mechanical failures. By early 2010, the cruise line ceased further cruises and was looking into bringing in a replacement ship. ^[14]

In February 2010, General Manager Greg Karan announced a potential deal to turn the ship into a floating hotel in Haiti for relief workers. Company officials claim that this plan is meant to shore up financing so that the ship could be replaced, but workers feared that it was a ploy to force them to buy their own tickets home.^[15] As of February 17 the ship had stopped sailing. Fearing that the workers and ship would be dumped in Haiti will little recourse, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration paid for 44 Filipino workers to fly to the Philippines aboard Philippine Airlines flight PR103 from Miami.^[16] They were the last of the original crew and are still owed wages. They were making $400 per month.^[17]

Gambling Ship Jacksonville Fl

On April 7, 2010 the ship left the Port of Palm Beach and headed for Freeport, Bahamas with its final destination then unknown. There was a skeleton crew of 19 on board. They had refused to leave due to unpaid wages and the chief financial officer brought cash payments of the wages. The ship's propellers then refused to turn and the ship was pushed out to sea by tugboats.^[18]

In November 2011, shortly after she was sold to Imperial Ships LLC headquartered in La Paz, Bolivia, the ship was reportedly sold for scrap.^[3]

In February 2014, a report came in stating that the ship did not get scrapped, and had been laid up for some time at a scrapyard in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. According to Google Earth satellite pictures, the ship was laid up in Santo Domingo, with demolition of the ship evident starting in late 2014. Later photos on a ship spotting site confirmed the ship was indeed being scrapped. ^[19] The ship was fully dismantled sometime in late 2015.

Design[edit]

Exterior design[edit]

The Ilmatar was originally built with a yacht-like external appearance, with a sleek raked bow and a rounded stern. In keeping with the ferry design of the day she did not have a traditional funnel, but two slim exhaust pipes at near the back of the superstructure. The bridge was located on a separate deck on top of the superstructure, almost amidship. A half-arch shaped dummy 'funnel' was attached to the back of the bridge structure, and the Finland Steamship Company colours were painted there.

The 1973 lengthening altered the ship's external appearance. The 20.04 m (65 ft 9 in) extension meant she lost her yacht-like looks and now appeared more like a liner. In addition to the lengthening, new spaces were built behind the bridge, which meant the removal of her original stylised dummy funnel. A new, large but low dummy funnel was built on the top and behind the added top deck structure.^[6] Her rear sun deck was also slightly extended.

When the Ilmatar became the Viking Princess, the dummy funnel was heightened to almost twice its original height. At some point during her career as Viking Princess the ship's rear sun deck was radically extended with the addition of a two-level overhanging structure.

Interior design[edit]

The Ilmatar's original interior layout was a compromise between the traditional two-class passenger liner and the new ro-ro car/passenger ferry. In order to transport cars, she was fitted with a gate on the port side, from where cars were driven inside the ship and then lifted mechanically to the actual car deck. This arrangement was already out of date when the ship was delivered, as Finland SS Co.'s subsidiary Siljavarustamo had taken the delivery of the first ro-ro ferry with bow and rear gates on the North Baltic already in 1961.^[20] An extra cardeck was added on the ship coinciding with the 1973 lengthening, but that too was served by the side gate and a lift.^[6]

Although the Ilmatar was built as a two-class ship, she had only one dining room that was used by both classes. Other facilities included a first-class smoking room, located one deck higher from the dining room. As built she had six passenger-accessible decks.^[5][6] The 1973 lengthening saw the addition of several new cabins, a children's playroom and a new waste processing plant. More cabins were added during a 1974 refit at the Valmet shipyard in Vuosaari. In the 1979 conversion into a cruise ship more luxurious cabins were added and a swimming pool was constructed on the rear deck.^[1][6]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^{abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz}Malmberg, Thure; Stampehl, Marko (2007). Siljan viisi vuosikymmentä (in Finnish and English). Espoo: Frenckellin Kirjapaino Oy. pp. 240–242. ISBN978-951-98405-7-4.
2. ^'Palm Beach Princess gambling ship receives new owner'. Cruise Business Review. Cruise Media Oy Ltd. 2008-11-11. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
3. ^ ^{abcdefghijklmnopq}Asklander, Micke. 'M/S Ilmatar (1964)'. Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Retrieved 2012-11-29.
4. ^ ^abcdefghijBoyle, Ian. 'Ilmatar'. Simplon Postcards. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
5. ^ ^abcMalmberg & Stampehl (2007). p. 52
6. ^ ^abcdefghiMalmberg, Thure (1983). Laivoja ja ihmisiä (in Finnish). Helsinki: Effoa. pp. 158–160. ISBN951-99438-4-6.
7. ^'Palm Beach Princess Ship Decks'. Palm Beach Casino Line. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
8. ^ ^abMalmberg (2007). pp. 102–103
9. ^Malmberg & Stampehl (2007). p. 63
10. ^Malmberg & Stampehl (2007). p. 106
11. ^Koski, Sami. 'Valkeat kaunottaret saapuvat'. Valkeat Laivat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2008-03-01.
12. ^Los Angeles Times; October 31, 1985
13. ^'Palm Beach Princess'. Palm Beach Casino Line. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
14. ^Quinlan, Paul. 'Palm Beach Princess gambling cruises halted today as crew protests pay, captain's firing'. Palm Beach Post. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
15. ^Palm Beach Post Article
16. ^ABS CBN News
17. ^Palm Beach Post
18. ^Palm Beach Post April 8, 2010
19. ^Photographer, Username: wogo. 'Palm Beach Princess - IMO 6402937'. ShipSpotting.com. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
20. ^Haavikko, Paavo (1983). Vuosisadan merikirja: Effoan sata ensimmäistä vuotta (in Finnish). Helsinki: Effoa. p. 82. ISBN951-99438-1-1.

A gambling ship is a barge or other large vessel used to house a casino and often other venues of entertainment. Under the old three-mile limit of territorial waters they were anchored usually just over three nautical miles off the United States coastline to avoid governmental interference. Organized crime was frequently involved in their operation.

Some state governments later tried to control the effect of gambling ships through the use of convoluted statutes.^[1] When territorial waters were redefined to 12 nm, this made the prospect of maintaining a gambling ship by any means extremely impractical.

• 4Legality

Gambling ships in California[edit]

In 1928, the lumber schooner Johanna Smith was converted to a gambling ship and moored off Long Beach, California. She caught fire and sank in 1932.^[2]

On New Year's Day 1937, during the Great Depression, the gambling ship SS Monte Carlo, known for 'drinks, dice, and dolls,' was shipwrecked on the beach about a quarter mile south of the Hotel del Coronado, near San Diego.^[3]

The barge Monfalcone was purchased in 1928 by a group including Los Angeles crime family boss Jack Dragna and started offering gambling off the coast of Long Beach. The ship sunk in 1930 after a fire started aboard the barge.^[4]

Other gambling ships operating during the 1930s included Rose Isle (aka Johanna Smith II), Casino (fka James Tuft), SS Texas (aka City of Panama; aka Star of Hollywood; aka La Playa), Showboat (aka Mount Baker; aka Caliente), SS Reno (operating off San Diego), and William H. Harriman (operating off Santa Barbara).^[5]

Anthony Cornero operated the gambling ships SS Rex and SS Tango during the 1930s.^[6] California Attorney General Earl Warren ordered raids on the gambling ships. On August 1, 1939, state authorities raided SS Texas and SS Rex off Santa Monica and Showboat and SS Tango off Long Beach. A court ruling later that year permanently shut them down. However, in 1946 Cornero opened the SS Lux off Long Beach. It was quickly shut down. In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an act prohibiting the operation of any gambling ship in U.S. territorial waters.^[7]

Californian gambling ships appear in several novels of the period, including Sing a Song of Murder (1942) by James R Langham, The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937) by Erle Stanley Gardner, and Farewell, My Lovely (1940) by Raymond Chandler. The 1940 film 'Gambling on the High Seas' was set in part aboard a gambling ship, SS Sylvania. Other films that feature gambling ships include Gambling Ship, Dante's Inferno, and Smashing the Money Ring.

Gambling ships in Hawaii[edit]

Hawaii is one of three states that does not legalize any types of wagering such as gambling. So for a gambling ship to be sent from a Hawaiian island would be a very hard accomplishment. Hawaii has some strict laws on what types and which country flagged ships can dock in its ports. These ships that have gambling on them are cruise ships. Even though Hawaii has strict rules on its ports, a foreign flagged cruise ship can still dock in a Hawaiian port if it travels in international waters.^[8] During these cruises there would be gambling on the ship once it got to international waters. A cruise ship would not be allowed to have any type of gambling aboard its ship if its initial or final destination was not to a port on one of the Hawaiian Islands even when those ships are in international waters.^[8]

Gambling ships in Hong Kong[edit]

The popularity of gambling ships increased in Hong Kong following the anti-corruption campaign under Xi Jinping which began in 2012, under which high-ranking government officials and executives at state-owned enterprises are barred from gambling in Macau. In 2011, the Immigration Department reported 466 thousand passenger boardings of tourists from mainland China onto gambling ships, a 17.4% increase from 2010. Eight gambling ships were in operation in Hong Kong in 2013, many of them operated by triad syndicates. These ships have been criticized for their use of misleading sales techniques and for their risk to public safety due to the difficulty of law enforcement against their operation.^[9]

Legality[edit]

Some cities and city officials do not agree if gamblingships should be allowed to go out to sea and gamble but then come back and dock in ports where gambling is illegal. The gambling ships have to travel for over forty five minutes to reach international waters before they could gamble legally.^[10] In the city of New York, where gambling had been deemed illegal, there are some companies that would send their gambling ships to go out to sea into international waters which is about forty five minutes out so people could gamble on their ships legally. New York State AssemblySpeakerSheldon Silver was completely against the concept, arguing that returning with gambling paraphernalia into the Port of New York and New Jersey was illegal.^[10] Other speakers said that the gambling ships would be great for the city because they would bring in tax revenues and tourism that would help the cities economy. There were other cities around New York City that allowed gambling and if New York did not let gambling ships be legal, those other cities may take all of the potential profit. Ultimately it was up to the mayor to decide if the gambling ships would be allowed or not.^[10]

Enforcement of the Law[edit]

There was once an incident off the shore of California by Santa Monica Bay. A man, Tony Cornero, owned a ship called 'Rex.' Cornero licensed his ship from the state of Nevada, where gambling was legal, and set anchor three miles out from the coast of California.^[11] There were water taxis that would carry boat loads of people out to the 'Rex' and they could gamble on the ship. A State Attorney General, Earl Warren, did not like having this ship off the coast of his state. Warren set out with the sheriff department and drove boats out to the 'Rex' to shut it down.^[11] Cornero would not give in for eight days. But when he did the dispute went to the courts. California’s supreme court decided that 'three mile line' that marked international waters was not actually only three miles out from the nearest shore. The 'Rex' was shut down permanently.^[11]

Gambling ships a bust[edit]

Even though there is a lot of money to be made in the business of gambling ships, not all of them work out the way they were supposed to. Manhattan Cruises based out of Manhattan ran into a problem of not enough people showing up on their overnight cruises. So the company was not making enough money to break even.^[12] The company is now trying to make multiple departures from the port throughout one day. The company thinks that it will be easier for passengers because they do not have to stay on all day and this could help the company make more money.^[12] It was hard for the company to make money because the mayor put high fees for the gambling ships to use the city’s piers.

With bigger companies come bigger ships which makes it that much harder on the smaller companies who are trying to get in the gambling ship industry. Smaller companies are sometimes faced with the choice of merging with bigger companies or going out of business. There are different factors that make it hard for the smaller companies to compete with the larger companies such as Carnival Corps and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.^[13] One of the factors is that the bigger companies can afford to make newer and bigger ships. Newer ships can hold up to 4,400 passengers and crew.^[13] These smaller ships can not carry those large of numbers. Newer ships acquire more updated safety requirements from the IMO, International Maritime Organization.^[13] The smaller companies have older ships that are not equipped with the new safety standards and will have to get these requirements if it can afford them. An analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., Steven Eisenberg, says this type of industry will be ruled by two to three big companies who will rule the sea in gambling ships.^[13]

See also[edit]

• Mr. Lucky (film) (1943), starring Cary Grant as a gambling ship operator
  • Mr. Lucky (TV series), loosely based on the same premise
• Gambling Ship (1933), also starring Cary Grant

References[edit]

1. ^CAL. PEN. CODE § 11300
2. ^'Johanna Smith'. California Wreck Divers. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
3. ^Graham, David E (Jan 2, 2007). 'Busting the House: Casino Boat Crashed into Coronado 70 Years Ago'. SignOnSanDiego. San Diego: Union Tribune. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012. Retrieved Mar 19, 2011.
4. ^Monfalcone - California Wreck Divers
5. ^More on California's Gambling Ships by Stephen P. Alpert Coin Slot Magazine April 1980 [1]
6. ^The other S.S. Rex – a gambling ship off Santa Monica, California in the 1930s and early 1940s. by Michael L. Grace cruiselinehistory.com August 2, 2009 [2]
7. ^Tony Cornero And The S.S. Rex Los Angeles Magazine June 28, 2013
8. ^ ^abMcDowell, E. (2001, May 6). Hawaii Still Resists Cruise Ship Gambling. New York Times. p. 3.[3]
9. ^'內地打貪　澳門止步 港八賭船爆海戰搶客'. Apple Daily. 15 July 2013.
10. ^ ^abcToy, V. S. (1995, November 20). Debating legality of plan for cruise-ship gambling. New York Times. p. B2.[4]
11. ^ ^abcKalambakal, V. (2002). The BATTLE of Santa Monica Bay. American History, 37(1), 36.
12. ^ ^abOnishi, N. (1998, May 5). Gambling ship stops operating overnight cruises. New York Times. p. B10.[5]
13. ^ ^abcdDe Lisser, E. (1995, November 24). Forecast for cruise industry is stormy, andsome of the smaller fleets may sink. Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition. p. B1.