Tour of the Legendary Isle of Caprice

Although gaming wasn’t legalized until 1994 in Mississippi, gamblers were spinning the roulette wheel and doubling down in our area all the way back to the 1920s.
The Captain Pete shuttled hundreds of families to the popular barrier island from 1925 to 1930 when the island disappeared beneath the waters of the Mississippi Sound.
Passengers made the most of the ten mile voyage out into the Mississippi Sound, some drifting back in time, a scene maybe not so different from that of the Isle of Caprice back in the 1920s. The island, now submerged, but once a hot spot, housing a casino resort, families, bathing beauties and according to legend, maybe even a few rum runners. Isle of Caprice Proprietor Susan Hunt said, “Lots of fun and frolicking where everybody wanted to be.”
That all changed when the island, situated between Horn and Ship islands, disappeared under water in 1930, just five years after Susan Hunt’s grandfather, Skeet Hunt, made it famous. “Some of the theories are there was a hurricane and then there were sea oats that disappeared. From what I get from a lot of historians, it was a sinking island and it just went under,” said Susan Hunt.
On this voyage, the history of the island comes back to life. It’s been 86 years since anyone has ventured out to the Isle of Caprice like Jack Madison’s family did back in the 1920s. According to Indian legend, the island will surface again, but it’s more than a legend to Susan Hunt, proven by the money she still sinks into the island. “The Hunts are paying the taxes. We pay $8.49 a year in taxes. We pay taxes so when the island comes back guess what the Hunts will own an island.”
And people like Jack Madison still hold fast to their memories. “For me, the Isle of Caprice is still there.”