LINDBLAD EXPLORER / EXPLORER

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Built under yard No. 260 as a passenger vessel by Nystads varv Ab, Nystad, Finland for K/S A/S Explorer & Co. (L.Usterud-Sevenson & Co.), Oslo.
18 June 1969 launched under the name LINDBLAD EXPLORER.
Tonnage 2.480 gross, 1.142 net, 560 dwt., dim. 72.88 x 14.03 x 8.01m., draught 4.2m, length bpp. 64.89m.
Powered by two 8-cyl Atlas-MAK diesel engines, 3.800hp, one controllable pitch propeller.
Accommodation for 118 passengers.
1969 delivered to owners.

After delivery used for special discovery voyages to Arctic and Antarctic waters.
11 Feb. 1972 grounded off La Plaza Point, Antarctic.
25 Feb. 1972 refloated by the German tug ARCTIC, then towed to Buenos Aires for temporary repairs.
03 May 1972 arrived under tow at Kristiansand, Norway for repairs.
June 1972 sold to United Cruising Co. Ltd., Nassau, Bahamas (Ab Svenska Amerika Linjen, Götenborg.)
After repair used again for cruising.
1980 Sold to Lindblad Swire Cruises Ltd., Panama.
July 1982 Sold to Salénia Ab. Stockholm.
December 1983 transferred to Ferry Service Curacao NV, Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles.
October 1985 sold to Vienna International Shipping Corp., Nassau, Bahamas (Discoverer Reederei GmbH, Germany) renamed SOCIETY EXPLORER.
October 1989 transferred to Liberia flag, with homeport Monrovia.
1992 Sold to Explorer Shipping Monrovia, Liberia, renamed EXPLORER.
2004 Sold to GAP Adventures, Toronto, Canada, managed by Sea Chefs Cruise Services, Hamburg, Germany.
Tonnage given as 2.398 gross, 773 net, 559dwt.
June 2006 arrived at the Mariotti yard in Genoa for a refit.
October 2004 in service after a refit at Genoa, where she was fitted out with a sprinkler system etc. sailed for South America.
November 2004 till March 2005 used in the cruise trade to Antarctic.
March 2005 made cruises to and up the Amazon River. Also during the summer season made cruises to Greenland and the Arctic waters.
From November 2005 again for cruises to the Antarctic waters till April, thereafter again cruises to the Amazon River.
June 2006 till August 2006 made cruises to the Arctic waters, in November 2006 made a roundtrip around Newfoundland.

23 November 2007 in collision with an ice-floe south of the South Shetland in which she got holed and water flowing inside the hull.
At that time she had on board about 100 passengers and 54 crew, the passengers were evacuated and rescued by the ANTARCTIC DREAM and later transferred to the NORDNORGE.

24 November 2007 the EXPLORER sank in about 1400 meters depth of water

Falkland Islands 1993 16p sg 687, scott 584. 1994 35p sg 720, scott 617
Tristan da Cunha 1998 45p sg641, scott ?. 2004 60p sg?, scott?.
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands 1998 30p sg 279, scott?
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands 1988 24p sg184, scott 132 as LINDBLAD EXPLORER.

Marine News 1986/163. some translated from http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/lindblad_explorer_1969.htm

[aukepalmhof]

South Africa cover LINDBLAD EXPLORER.
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands 2016 55p sg?, scott? 55p: M/V Lindblad Explorer - the first vessel specifically built for taking fee paying passengers to the Antarctic in 1969 and was the first cruise ship to visit South Georgia.