The Corinthian is a passenger ship that was originally built under the name Renaissance Four at the Cantiere Navale Ferrari SpA shipyard in La Spezia for the now insolvent Italian shipping company Renaissance Cruises and put into service in 1990. In 2009 the conversion for expedition cruises in the Antarctic and Arctic took place . The ship can accommodate about 100 passengers.
On December 26, 2009, the ship was pushed aground by a wave off Petermann Island in Antarctic waters and had to be towed free by another ship.
On September 8, 2010, the ship ran under the name Clelia II at Boyle Marine in Little Current after an engine failure.
At the beginning of December 2010 the Clelia II got into distress during a storm on her return voyage from Antarctica to Ushuaia . With wind speeds over 90 km / h and seven meter high waves, a wave struck in the Drake Passage window on the bridge and the penetrating sea water led to the failure of part of the electronics; one of the machines also failed. After a repair, the power supply and the failed machine could be put back into operation. The ship continued at low speed and reached the port of Ushuaia in Argentina accompanied by the National Geographic Explorer , who has been sailing for the Lindblad Expeditions shipping company since 2008 . There were 88 passengers and 77 crew members on board , one of whom was slightly injured.
