Abandoned Cruise Ship

Twenty years ago, one of the world's most intrepid ships struck a reef that ended its successful career around the globe

The MS World Discoverer was born in 1974 as the BEWA Discoverer in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Designed as a passenger ship, the 87-meter vessel was resold and renamed a few times over her first decade of existence until she was acquired by Adventurer Cruises Inc. in 1985.

One of the main features of the World Discoverer was her double hull construction, ideal for absorption of iceberg impacts, allowing periodic voyages to Antarctic Peninsula region where passengers would enjoy watching ice floe movements either from the ship deck or taking a closer look by using one of the inflatable dinghies the vessel was equipped with.

A true Globetrotter
The World Discoverer had a pretty busy calendar through the Southern Hemisphere. Besides the aforementioned voyages to Antarctic (which would take place from November through February), the ship sailed around the Alaskan region and also near the Russian border around the Bering sea between the months of June and August whilst during the periods from March to May and August to October she would use to cruise the South Pacific Islands.

It was in one of this latter trips on April 30th 2000 that this adventurous and intrepid ship met a large uncharted reef on the Solomon Islands' Sandfly Passage which would put her on premature retirement.

Her captain, Oliver Kruess, aware of the gravity of the situation, sent a distress signal to the Solomon Islands capital Honiara and a passenger ferry was quickly dispatched to the World Discoverer to transport her passengers and crew to safety. Everyone escaped unhurt. The captain then brought the deadly injured ship into Roderick Bay after it began to list 20 degrees and grounded it there to avoid sinking.