Estelle (ship)
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The Estelle was a three-masted gaff schooner with a steel hull sailing under the Finnish flag , which was built in 1922 as a herring logger at the Schulte & Bruns shipyard under the name Vesta . The ship became known in 2012 as part of the Ship to Gaza aid fleet .
history
The Estelle was built in 1922 as Vesta in Emden by Schulte & Bruns with hull number 14 as a fishing ship for the Emden herring fishery . The Vesta received the fishing license AE 55. She was sold in 1954 to a Swedish shipowner who had her converted into a coaster and renamed Westa . The fuselage was lengthened by eight meters to 53 meters in 1957. Due to further changes of ownership within Sweden, the ship was named Monica in 1959 and Estelle in 1961 .
The Estelle was sold to a Finnish shipowner in 1965. She sailed as a cargo ship until around 1985, then became the property of the Finnish Eestaas Ltd and was repaired, reconstructed and converted into a sailing ship for around ten years. The first test drive took place in 1994 after the restoration phase had started. Since 1997 the ship was registered as a Finnish merchant steamer. She was also used as a training ship and had been certified for ocean travel since 1999. In 2002 the Estelle completed a trip to Angola and a Greenpeace tour; In 2003 she took part in several regattas . She was also used as a sailing cargo ship.
The ship was operated by the ecological-political association Uusi Tuuliry (New Wind) from Finland. In 2012 it went to the Ship to Gaza Sweden association, which equipped it for an aid transport for the Gaza Strip.
Aid transport and raising 2012
At the beginning of October, the Estelle left the port of Naples. On October 16, 2012, she set off for the Gaza Strip off the Greek island of Gavdos south of Crete with 20 people on board .
Israeli Navy soldiers boarded the Estelle on October 19, 2012 . The masked soldiers took control of the boat on a sea position that, according to Ship to Gaza Sweden, is almost 50 kilometers off the coast of the Gaza Strip. According to Israel, the crew of the ship did not offer any resistance. Five to six Israeli naval ships had circled the Estelle . The ship was to be brought to the Israeli port of Ashdod , around 100 kilometers away .
With the action, the participants wanted to contribute to ending the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian Gaza Strip , which has existed since 2007 . On board were 17 pro-Palestinian activists from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Spain, Italy, Greece and Israel. Four of them were current or former MPs at the time of the trip. They were awaited and arrested by the Israeli police in Ashdod . The ship remained in Israel and sent an AIS signal from there on November 13, 2013 for the last time . The Estelle was then removed from the register. Their whereabouts and condition are unclear.
Technical data and equipment
The ship is equipped with a two-stroke diesel engine from Burmeister & Wain with an output of 180 kW . When powered, the ship can reach speeds of up to 8 knots .
A total of three generators are installed for the power supply , two with an output of 25 kW each and one with an output of 6 kW.
The ship has two holds with a volume of 123 m³ and 200.8 m³ respectively. The ship's load capacity is 220 t.
There are nine cabins on board with a total of 15 beds.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ German Oldie to Gaza ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , THB - Deutsche Schiffahrts-Zeitung , August 9, 2012.
- ↑ Details on the ship , Ship History Archive Flensburg
- ↑ Three-masted gaff schooner Estelle ( Memento of the original from June 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SchiffsSpotter.de
- ↑ Uusi Tuuli
- ↑ Estelle
- ↑ Israel's Navy boards ship with aid delivery for Palestinians , Zeit Online , October 20, 2012.
- ↑ Marinetraffic.com, Estelle ship data , accessed on January 27, 2020
- ↑ a b c Technical data of the ship
- ↑ Cargo transport
