World Discoverer
 The World Discoverer off Salaverry, October 1993
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The World Discoverer was a cruise ship that entered service in 1975 . The ship, originally built under the name Bewa Discoverer , was one of the first to be built specifically for expedition travel. In its 25 year career, the World Discoverer has pioneered expedition cruises. So she transported her passengers to places that no cruise ship had called before. Among other things, the World Discoverer was the first passenger ship to master the Northwest Passage in 1985 .
On April 30, 2000, the ship was put aground off Honiara ( Solomon Islands ) and then capsized after running aground on the Mid-Reef, which was still unmapped at the time . Rescue attempts failed due to the civil war that was raging in the Solomon Islands at the time and the progressive damage to the ship.
The wreck of the World Discoverer, looted by the inhabitants of the island in the meantime, lies off Honiara to this day and is a popular destination for tourists to the archipelago.
history
Planning and construction
The ship was built in the Schichau -Unterweser shipyard in Bremerhaven and launched as the Bewa Discoverer on December 8, 1973 . However, it was never put into service under this name, but instead handed over to its owner, the Danish travel company BEWA Cruises, on October 19, 1975 as World Discoverer . At the time of its commissioning, it was, together with the smaller Lindblad Explorer, one of only two cruise ships that had an ice-reinforced hull.
The World Discoverer had reserves of fuel, fresh water, and food that allowed the ship to reach a range of 8,100 miles. This also made it possible to travel to remote places.
period of service
In July 1976, after almost a year in service for BEWA Cruises , the World Discoverer was sold to Adventure Cruises and henceforth registered in Singapore. The ship was offered in addition to the use on the US market for adventure cruises also on the European market under the direction of Society Expeditions.
A bizarre cruise took place in March 1980 when the World Discoverer crossed the Atlantic from Montevideo to Genoa . There was only one passenger on board. The news magazine Der Spiegel reported on this trip in its December 1980 issue.
The World Discoverer had a red hull until 1984 when it was taken over by Society Expeditions in Seattle , Washington , USA . The ship was then completely refurbished inside at the Jurong Shipyard in Singapore and the hull was advertised in dark blue. The World Discoverer was then used as a so-called yacht class cruiser for Heritage Cruises in New York . Previously, the ship was modernized according to the wishes of Heritage Cruises and received a new interior, which the designer Carleton Varney designed. In July 1985, the World Discoverer returned to service for Society Expeditions.
The ship was operated until the end by the expedition cruise operator Society Expeditions, which had moved its headquarters from Seattle to Bremen . The World Discoverer was designed as an expedition passenger ship that was supposed to take cruise passengers to the most remote places on earth. This also included special shipbuilding properties that enabled penetration into polar regions ( ice class A-1). In order to be able to bring passengers ashore outside of port facilities, the ship was equipped with ten Zodiac inflatable boats , two tender boats (named Castor and Pollux ) and later also a glass bottom boat.
In 1985, the World Discoverer was the first passenger ship to sail the Northwest Passage from west to east with cruise passengers on board. The voyage under the command of Captain Heinz Aye took 32 days from the port of departure in Nome (Alaska) to the port of destination Halifax (Nova Scotia) / Canada . The World Discoverer was one of the first ships to take tourists to the Antarctic Peninsula , South Georgia , the South Orkneys and the Arctic . Together with the Lindblad Explorer , she pioneered the development of the Amazon for cruise passengers. The Amazon was navigated as far as Iquitos . Their area of operations included the most remote areas of the South Pacific , including islands such as Pitcairn , Ducie , Henderson (Pitcairn Islands) , Puka-Puka (Tuamotu Islands) , Puka Rua , Fatu Hiva , which were hardly accessible in any other way. After the opening of the border in the east, the Russian polar sea and previously inaccessible areas such as Kamchatka , Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands were also approached.
In 1987 Society Expeditions became the property of the Discoverer shipping company. While Society Expeditions offered the ship on the English-speaking market, the trips for the German market were carried out by the Discoverer shipping company.
In addition to the usual passengers, the World Discoverer also regularly carried research teams on Antarctic cruises to their stations on George Island and other destinations, as they were often unable to finance their own ship. The team members only paid a small fee.
Average
On April 30, 2000 05:00 UTC, the World Discoverer hit the as yet unmapped mid-reef with 192 passengers and crew members in the Sandfly Passage north of Honiara (Solomon Islands) (position 9 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ S , 160 ° 7 ′ 12 ″ O ) and slit open the starboard side . To prevent it from sinking, the master set the ship aground in Roderick Dhu Bay, 1.4 nm further south . There was no personal injury. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, a state agency for sea rescue, assisted in the evacuation of the World Discoverer .
After an examination of the hull by divers , the World Discoverer was written off as a total write-off. Nevertheless, the owner initially intended to salvage the ship. The stranded wreck was later plundered by residents of the Solomon Islands, which were in the civil war, and further damaged in the process. Rescue attempts already started by an Australian rescue company were therefore canceled. There should be no environmental pollution by leaking oil or other fuels. However, it is not known how many pollutants are still in the World Discoverer .
Whereabouts
The wreck is still listing about 38 ° in front of the island at position 9 ° 1 ′ 23.1 ″ S , 160 ° 7 ′ 23.2 ″ E and has since become a popular photo opportunity for tourists to the archipelago.
After the loss of the ship, the former Dream 21 was put into service as the new World Discoverer in 2002 . This ship was called the Prince Albert II in the meantime and has been sailing under the name Silver Explorer since 2011 . In 2004 the company expedition cruise operator Society Expeditions went bankrupt.
Furnishing
The World Discoverer was able to carry 134 people in 5 suites and 67 outside cabins on 7 passenger decks. The ship also had a cinema (which could also be used as a lecture hall), three lounges, a pool at the stern, a library, an on-board shop and the main restaurant Marco Polo .
literature
- Laurence Miller: Company Profile Society Expeditions . In: Cruise Travel . Volume 12, No. 2. Lakeside Publishing Company, Evanston September 1990, pp. 20-23.
Web links
- the ship on faktaomfartyg.se (Swedish)
- "The fate of the World Discoverer" - report on the shipwreck with photos (archive version) ( Memento from February 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Footnotes
- ↑ a b Micke Asklander: M / S WORLD DISCOVERER. In: Facta om Fartyg. Retrieved May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Oliver Schmidt: Whiskey on Icebergs for little Shackletons. In: The press . April 22, 2016, accessed May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ WORLD DISCOVERER Shipwrecked in a remote bay of the Solomon Islands. In: Earl of Cruise. May 27, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2019 .
- ^ Over the Waves: M / S World Discoverer. In: Original Shipster. December 9, 2014, accessed May 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Cruises: two kilos per week . in: Der Spiegel . Born 1980, number 53, Spiegel-Verlag, Hamburg December 29, 1980.
- ^ Pat Neisser: Cruise News . in: Orange Coast Magazine . Volume 12, Number 4, Emmis Communications , Indianapolis Apr 1985, 84.
- ↑ Hapag-Lloyd Kreuzfahrten GmbH: MS HANSEATIC: Successful crossing of the legendary Northwest Passage. In: Reflektion.info. September 5, 2007, accessed May 6, 2019 .
- ↑ Jan Schwochow: Baedeker Weltwissen . Verlag Karl Baedeker , Ostfildern 2014, ISBN 9783829789998 , page 52.
- ^ Laurence Miller: Company Profile Society Expeditions . in: Cruise Travel . Volume 12, Number 2, Lakeside Publishing Company, Evanston Mar 1991, 22.
- ↑ Michael Strumpf: The Fate of the World Discoverer. In: Ruhr University Bochum (archive version). Retrieved May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Goran Blazeski: This half-sunken shipwreck is both eerie and impressive. In: The Vintage News. May 18, 2017, accessed May 6, 2019 .
- ^ John Konrad: The Dead Cruise Ship World Discoverer - Incident Photo of The Week. In: gCaptain. September 27, 2011, accessed May 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Shipwrecked: World Discoverer Cruise Ship. In: sometimes-interesting.com. August 11, 2011, accessed May 2, 2019 .