User:Roskiy/Seebad Warnemünde

The Atlantic Princess is a cruise ship built in the German Democratic Republic in 1961 under the name Seebad Warnemuende. After doing coastal trade in East German waters until the early 1990s, it was used as a passenger launch on the Arcachon Bay. A pioneer of tourist boats on the basin, it was then the first to be able to cross the famous passes.

Condemned by its age, it left France in the early 2000s for Martinique, before joining the Dominican Republic. It was there that it ran aground on a beach during a tropical storm. Seriously damaged and half a century old, it was decided to scuttle it, but the ship sank on its own in the spring of 2009. It is now a recognized diving site in the West Indies, although its shallow depth leads to rapid degradation of the wreck during storms.

History

The Seebad Warnemuende was built in 1961 by the Edgar Andre shipyard in Magdeburg-Rothensee. Launched on January 20, 1961, it was delivered six months later, on June 13, to the East German company Weiße Flotte, which put it into service on the Warnemünde-Gedser line. After two years on this service, it was transferred to a more national service, providing coastal trade between the German ports of Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar and Wolgast.

In 1964, the young Swedish company Stena Line, founded two years earlier, chartered it for a year (the contract was eventually extended for a second year) and inserted it on the link between Gothenburg and the island of Læsø. It remained there until October 1966, and suffered only one major incident during those two years when, on June 29, 1964, it ran aground in the port of Gothenburg. At the end of its charter contract, it resumed its previous route along the German coast until 1993, before being decommissioned in Stralsund and put up for sale.

The passes of the Arcachon basin

Au début de l’année 1995, il est repéré par les membres de l’Union des Bateliers Arcachonnais (UBA) qui recherche alors un bateau de promenade pour assurer des mini croisières sur le bassin d’Arcachon, mais surtout assez résistant pour franchir les célèbres passes et ainsi faire quelques miles dans l’Atlantique.

The name Atlantic Princess is reference to the Pacific Princess from the TV series "The Love Boat".

Bought for a little over 2 million francs, it was brought back to France and underwent a complete renovation to be adapted to its new activity. However, its commissioning worried oyster farmers, who feared that the ship would pollute the waters of the basin, which would have a devastating effect on oyster farms. It was therefore equipped with an ultra-sophisticated wastewater filtration system.

It was put into service in July 1995 under the name Atlantic Princess, in reference to the Pacific Princess used in the television series The Love Boat broadcast in France in the 1980s. Three decks were accessible to passengers, including a panoramic one, and the fact that the ship was then the only one to venture beyond the passes, renowned for their dangerousness and the many shipwrecks that took place there, offered a great success to its cruises departing from the Eyrac pier in Arcachon.

In 1999 or September 2000, depending on the source, the ship, then about 40 years old, was sent to Fort-de-France, then to Bayahibe. It was there that its career ended: on August 15, 2008, Tropical Storm Fay hit the Dominican Republic. The Atlantic Princess was washed up on the beach. Damaged and nearly 50 years old, it was decided to scuttle it in the bay to make it an artificial reef and a dive site. The preparatory work for decontamination, which consisted in particular of emptying it of 100,000 gallons of contaminated water, was carried out and the scuttling was planned for the month of December 2009. However, the ship took on water and eventually sank on its own on May 6, 2009. This sudden disappearance means that the wreck is at a very shallow depth, the highest point being only 12 m deep. It therefore deteriorates very quickly during the passage of tropical storms. The top of the ship has now disappeared, and it is strongly discouraged to enter inside because of the danger posed by the pieces that have detached from it.

Notes and references

[[Category:Ships built in Germany]] [[Category:Ship names]] [[Category:1960s ships]] [[Category:Ships of France]] [[Category:Cruise ships]]