29yrswithaGApass Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I ran across an article that mentioned the Six Flags S.S.Admiral, a modern day riverboat that Six Flags operated for a very brief time in the mid 80s. I found the following information on the vessel. To me it is not the most attractive looking boat. It sure seems like a strange entertainment venue for Six Flags. Anyone know more? SS Admiral was an excursion steamboat operating on the Mississippi River from the Port of St. Louis. The vessel has a 1930s streamlined, art deco style, in contrast to the "gingerbread" ornamentation of more traditional passenger and pleasure steamers (described by Mark Twain as "wedding cakes on rafts"). At 374 feet long and 92 feet wide, the Admiral is longer than a city block, and the first all-steel inland steamer. At the time of its construction, the Admiral was the largest passenger vessel on U.S. inland waterways. S.S. Admiral Partners bought the boat and completed a $30 million-plus renovation (including removal of the engines and stripping the interior of much of its art deco trim and fittings). Since 1979 it has operated from moorings near Eads Bridge as the President Casinos. It boasts 1,230 slot machines, 59 gaming tables, 18 restrooms, and one restaurant. In the late 1980s, the boat was operated by Six Flags, which decided to shut the venture down due to high costs. On 27 June 2005, Bernell Dorrough reported in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Columbia Sussex Corp. wants to buy the President Casino on the Admiral for $57 million and replace it with a new vessel at the riverfront site. If the plan goes forward, it likely would mean the end for the ship, a metal-clad, Art Deco-style vessel that once operated as an excursion boat on the Mississippi River." Source: Wikipedia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 I remember seeing that boat during my St. Louis trip a few years back. I took a river boat tour from the Arch that went up and down the river along the city. They talked about the Admiral as we went by it, it did used to be a wedding cake type riverboat, at some point it was stripped down to it's hull and rebuilt in that cool Art Deco style. After many years the river authority deemed it unsafe to travel due to the extreme age of it's hull which was built back in the 1890s I think. So it was permanently docked and turned into a casino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrceagle Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Interesting bit of trivia. I can't say it's too out of the ordinary. Hersheld owns many duck tours and other tourist attraction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 I forgot to say that the hull is riveted instead of welded because that was how they built steel hulls at the time. It was also another reason it was deemed unsafe for travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted August 20, 2011 Report Share Posted August 20, 2011 From stltoday.com: Admiral's theater barge moved to Indiana As the Admiral slowly disappears under salvagers' cutting torches, workers in Jeffersonville, Ind., are preparing the old excursion boat's theater barge as a floating entertainment center on the Ohio River near Louisville.The barge, which dates from the Admiral's pre-casino time as an attraction run by Six Flags Corp., arrived in Jeffersonville on Aug. 5. Larry Thomas, Jeffersonville's spokesman, said Friday that work will begin next week to restore the barge's ballroom and movie theater. The city plans to complete the rehab by next summer and moor the barge across the Ohio from downtown Louisville. Jeffersonville paid Pinnacle Entertainment, the Admiral's previous owner, $750,000 for the barge. Meanwhile, the Admiral is getting scrapped at Luhr Bros., a boatyard on the Mississippi near Columbia, Ill. Bill Kline, spokesman for the boat's current owner, St. Louis Marine, said Friday that workers scrapping the Admiral's Art Deco metal skin will complete the job in four or five weeks. "Part of the superstructure is still standing but they're working their way through it," he said. What will happen to the Admiral's steel hull is yet to be determined. Kline said it might be cut up for scrap. But it might also have value as a floating dock because its large deck could accommodate cranes or other heavy equipment, he said. The Admiral left the St. Louis riverfront for the last time on July 19. The boat had been a St. Louis fixture since 1940, when the owner, Streckfus Steamers, completed the boat's sleek, million-dollar Art Deco skin. Hull weakness discovered by the Coast Guard in 1979 ended the Admiral's cruising days. Streckfus sold the Admiral to a Pittsburgh businessman who removed its diesel engines and announced a plan to move the boat there. He later sold it to interests in St. Louis, where it reopened in 1987 as an entertainment center managed by Six Flags. It flopped. Reconfigured as the President Casino in 1994, the Admiral was once again busy. But disputes last year between Pinnacle and Missouri gaming officials over the President's declining revenue led to the company's decision to surrender the casino's state license and sell the Admiral to St. Louis Marine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) Very sad, I am surprised they would still want to use the hull since it was built in 1907. The S.S. Admiral used to be the Albatross, a side wheeler. It was converted into the art deco S.S. Admiral in 1940. Edited August 22, 2011 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.