Historic MS Coast boat is saved after captain’s death. His family has hopes for its future

The Linda K sat for days near the shore of Deer Island, the water seeping in.

Its captain, esteemed shrimper Richard Kopszywa, died tragically last week after he went to work on the boat in the harbor. The 75-year-old devoted his days to restoring the historic vessel, and he never shrimped alone anymore, his family said. They do not know what happened.

But through their grief, the Kopszywa family is determined to save the boat. One day, they hope to donate it to Biloxi’s Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, where Kopszywa is in the Hall of Fame.

“That’s the logical place,” said his wife, Shelley. “It has to go there.”

A local contractor rescued the Linda K on Tuesday after days of harrowing attempts at recovery. The Coast Guard found the boat last week five miles from shore, empty, out of fuel and taking on water, said Joe Spraggins, executive director at the Department of Marine Resources. Authorities tried to tow it in but the water kept coming. The boat was beached on Deer Island by Friday.

The boat is a Biloxi Lugger — a vessel made from wood, fueled by gas and used often in the 1800s and later as Biloxi’s seafood and shipbuilding industries grew. The Linda K was the oldest such boat still running.

It was built in 1928 and has belonged to the family for more than seven decades. Kopszywa’s father bought the boat in 1947, and Kopszywa started fishing from it at four years old.

The 35-foot Linda K needed great care, Shelley Kopszywa said, because it is almost a century old. It survived Hurricanes Camille and Katrina. It was named after Kopszywa’s eldest sister.

“It’s just part of our family,” Shelley Kopszywa said.

The Linda K could not be lifted from the water at first for fear of it falling apart, Spraggins said. The boat was fragile after it took on water, and Marine Patrol warned boaters last week to idle in the area and avoid creating wakes.

The Department of Marine Resources acted fast, Spraggins said, because high tide and a south wind could have washed the vessel into the channel. Under an emergency agreement, the department asked a local contractor to raise it and move it out of the water. It is now floating again at a shipyard in Biloxi.

Spraggins said the contractor will hold the Linda K there for as long as needed. He said the Department of Marine Resources wants to help the family preserve the boat.

The Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum is open to the possibility of an exhibit and has started discussing it with the Department of Marine Resources, said Robin Krohn David, the museum’s executive director. The museum is also willing to work with the Kopszywa family, she said.

“The whole idea is to save the boat,” Spraggins said. “We’re trying to do everything we can.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2024 at 5:00 AM.