The SS Nantucket (renamed SS Naushon) was the last steam-powered ferry in regular operation on the East Coast of the United States. It was owned and operated by the Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority

The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority

The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, referred to coloquially as The Steamship Authority or simply the SSA, is the statutory regulatory body for all ferry operations to and from the Islands from the Massachusetts mainland, as well as being an operator of ferry service...

 between 1957 and 1987.

Details

The Nantucket had one vehicle deck plus three passenger decks. Staterooms were available for passengers. The bow and stern portions of the vehicle deck were extra tall, thus enabling the vessel to accommodate large vehicles such as trucks.

The name "Nantucket" was re-assigned to the Steamship Authority's brand new ferry in 1974. This was a state-of-the-art diesel-powered ferry which is still in use today. The SS Nantucket was renamed the SS Naushon, a name held previously by two other Steamship Authority vessels; one in service from 1846 to 1848, and the other from 1929 until 1942.

Incidents

• During an emergency stop in Vineyard Haven Harbor on April 5, 1980, the Naushon's anchor broke multiple undersea power cables for the island of Martha's Vineyard. The Naushon had experienced a boiler feed-pump failure and had lost power while traveling from Nantucket to Woods Hole. In order to avoid drifting while repairs were made, the anchor was dropped. Owing to a combination of factors, including a rock that had jammed the anchor, strong currents, and the extra drag being exerted by a coast guard vessel which had moored to the Naushon, the anchor did not hold. After digging a trench across the seafloor for about 700 feet (213.4 m), the anchor apparently snagged the undersea cables. Once repairs were completed, the Naushon prepared to resume its journey. At the exact moment the anchor was weighed, power ceased flowing through the cables. The cables were later discovered to have snapped.

• On August 11, 1981, while approaching Woods Hole in heavy fog, the Naushon experienced a bow to bow collision with the 156 feet (47.5 m) freighter Aurige. The Aurige, which was departing Wood's Hole, was carrying sixteen passengers and several vehicles, while the Naushon was carrying 350 passengers plus vehicles. Sixteen people were injured in the incident, which occurred more than a mile offshore.

Casino years

After its ferry service with the Steamship Authority ended, the Naushon became a gaming vessel. It served from December 1993 to October 1995
as the Cotton Club riverboat casino docked in Greenville, Mississippi

Greenville, Mississippi

Greenville is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 48,633 at the 2000 census, but according to the 2009 census bureau estimates, it has since declined to 42,764, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It is the county seat of Washington...

.

The Cotton Club did not stay in Greenville for long. In October 1995, the vessel and its supporting infrastructure were acquired by Alpha Hospitality. Alpha replaced the Cotton Club with the Jubilee, a larger casino vessel from their less successful Lakeshore, Mississippi

Lakeshore, Mississippi

Lakeshore is an unincorporated village on the western end of Hancock County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is part of the Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area....

 site at Bayou Caddy. Meanwhile, the Cotton Club was moved to Bayou Caddy, renovated to have a "Roaring Twenties theme", and renamed Bayou Caddy's Jubilation. Alpha hoped that the smaller vessel would reduce operating costs at the Bayou Caddy site. However, Bayou Caddy's Jubilation was ultimately unsuccessful. After being open from December 1995 until July 1996, it was shut down by the Mississippi Gaming Commission due to insufficient working capital. Alpha actually had planned to close it down themselves in one more month, as the Lakeshore site had been operating at a loss for some years.

After lying dormant for several years, the vessel began a process which would lead to its final relocation. In July 1999, Bayou Caddy's Jubilation was transferred to Casino Ventures. Casino Ventures planned to refurbish it for use as the Splash Back casino at Mhoon Landing

Mhoon Landing, Mississippi

Mhoon Landing is an unincorporated community located on the Mississippi River in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States. Mhoon Landing is approximately northwest of North Tunica and approximately southwest of Tunica Resorts.-References:...

 in Tunica, Mississippi

Tunica, Mississippi

Tunica is a town in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States, located near the Mississippi River. Until the early 1990s the town was one of the most impoverished places in the United States, semi-famous for the particularly deprived neighbourhood known as "Sugar Ditch Alley", named for the open...

. Alpha received $150,000 in cash, a $1,350,000 promissory note and a 15% membership interest in Casino Ventures for the transaction, but cautioned its shareholders that "Alpha cannot provide any assurance that Casino Ventures will succeed." As Gaming Today observed, "One thing is for sure. They will have plenty of parking space. At one time four casino vessels occupied property at Mhoon Landing," but "they moved away as it became obvious that locations closer to Memphis were preferred by both customers and employees."

Nevertheless, the vessel was moved to a man-made pond at Mhoon Landing, a process hindered by low water levels in the Mississippi River.
Although Casino Ventures had originally planned to open the vessel within four months of securing financing, they were still seeking additional financing by 2003. That April the Mississippi Gaming Commission announced site approval for the project was expiring.

Trivia

• The Naushon appears in the 1975 movie Jaws
  Jaws (film)
  Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
  
  . Footage of the Naushon and the entering Tisbury, MA is used to portray countless boatloads of unsuspecting beachgoers flooding onto "Amity Island". The footage occurs about 45 minutes into the movie.