MV Lyubov Orlova

2013

The ghost ship, the North Atlantic, the rats Location: Atlantic Ocean, last seen off Newfoundland · Coordinates: 47.00°N 49.60°W · Casualties: 0 · Survivors: N/A (unmanned) · Depth: never located · Cause: abandoned · drifted · sank — Broke free from her tow on 23 January 2013 while being towed from Newfoundland to the Dominican Republic for scrapping. Drifted across the North Atlantic for sixteen months, tracked intermittently by transatlantic aircraft. Last emergency beacon activation from the life raft was in the Irish Approaches in March 2014; presumed foundered. · Fate: drifted · presumed sunk · Type: cruise liner · ex-Soviet · Tonnage: 4,251 tons · Crew: 0 · Flag: Cook Islands (derelict) · Launched: 1976 Soviet-built Antarctic cruise liner, unmanned and under tow from Newfoundland to the Dominican Republic for scrapping in January 2013. Broke free from her tow in a North Atlantic storm; no attempt was made to reclaim her because the tow crew declined to endanger their vessel. Drifted across the Atlantic for sixteen months, tracked intermittently from the air, famously reported to contain a population of rats surviving on each other. Her life raft beacons activated in the Irish Approaches in March 2014; she was not seen again and is presumed to have foundered. The Vessel The MV Lyubov Orlova was a Soviet-built ice-strengthened passenger cruise vessel, built at the Brodogradilište Kraljevica yard at Kraljevica, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) in 1976 and commissioned on 21 December 1976. She was 100 metres long, 4,251 gross tons, and powered by twin diesel engines producing approximately 4,000 horsepower. Her design was a small ice-strengthened cruise ship intended for polar tourism. She was named after the Soviet actress Lyubov Orlova (1902-1975) and had been operated on various polar tourism routes through the late Soviet period and post-1991. Her specific operational history through the 1990s and 2000s had included Antarctic cruising, Russian Far East tourism, and Arctic expedition work. By 2010, the Lyubov Orlova had been essentially decommissioned from active tourism service. The specific commercial operator had gone bankrupt; the specific ship had been seized at the port of St John's, Newfoundland, Canada in 2010 for unpaid debts. She subsequently remained at dock at St John's for approximately two years while her legal status was being resolved. In early 2013, the ship was scheduled for disposal as scrap. The specific Canadian owner had contracted with a Dominican Republic scrapping company; the ship was to be towed from St John's to the Dominican Republic for final dismantling. The Disaster The specific drifting ship progressed eastward across the North Atlantic through the subsequent weeks and months. The specific drift pattern was determined by the prevailing North Atlantic currents and wind systems; the ship's position was tracked intermittently by various maritime authorities. The specific tracking of the drifting ship was complicated by multiple factors: (i) the ship's transponders were progressively failing as her batteries depleted; (ii) satellite tracking was intermittent; (iii) the specific drift track was variable; (iv) international jurisdictional responsibility was substantially unclear. In February and March 2013, the ship was detected on multiple occasions by satellite imaging and by intermittent transponder signals. The specific positions ranged from approximately 48 degrees north, 30 degrees west (central North Atlantic) to approximately 50 degrees north, 22 degrees west (eastern North Atlantic). The specific public and media interest in the drifting ship was substantial. The specific "ghost ship" narrative captured significant international attention; multiple media organisations, maritime researchers, and curious members of the public tracked the ship's drift. Speculation about the ship's ultimate fate - whether she would make landfall on the European coast, sink in the North Atlantic, or continue drifting indefinitely - was substantial. The specific confirmation of the ship's fate has been substantially unclear. The final confirmed tracking si