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Deutsches Geisterschiff vor US-Küste gesunken

Redakteurin Content Commerce

Berlin. In Kalifornien ist ein 50 Jahre altes Kreuzfahrtschiff gesunken. Das Schiff war früher auch als „Wappen von Hamburg“ bekannt.

Ein 50 Jahre altes Schiff ist an seiner Anlegestelle nahe der kalifornischen Stadt Stockton gesunken. Die nicht mehr fahrtaugliche „MV Aurora“ war früher auf Kreuzfahrt unterwegs. In letzter Zeit lag das Kreuzfahrtschiff im Fluss Little Potato Slough an. Während das Schiff sank, sei ein schimmernder Film im umliegenden Bereich beobachtet worden. Nun soll untersucht werden, um welche Stoffe es sich dabei handelt und ob sie gefährlich sind.

Lesen Sie hier: Kreuzfahrtschiff darf nach Quarantäne an Bord endlich wieder anlegen.

Kreuzfahrt: „Wappen von Hamburg“ leckt

Das Schiff lag demnach im Little Potato Slough-River nahe dem kalifornischen Stockton. Medienberichten zufolge wurde ein schimmernder Film auf der Wasseroberfläche beobachtet, dessen Ausbreitung mithilfe einer Ölsperre verhindert werden sollte. Es konnten zunächst keine genaueren Angaben zur Beschaffenheit oder Herkunft der Substanzen gemacht werden. Die Polizei des San Joaquin County stellte jedoch Vermutungen an, wonach es sich bei den Chemikalien wohl um Diesel und Öl handele.

Weitere Kreuzfahrt-News:

• FTI-Pleite - Kreuzfahrt und Sonnenklar betroffen? Wichtige Infos für Urlauber
• „Wappen von Hamburg“ nimmt vor US-Küste schlimmes Ende
• Diese Top-Ziele sagen monströsen Kreuzfahrtkolossen Kampf an
• Größtes Kreuzfahrtschiff der Welt: Tragischer Vorfall auf „Icon of the Seas“
• „Das ist das größte Geheimnis auf Kreuzfahrtschiffen“
• Flusskreuzfahrt auf Donau endet in Tragödie: Weitere Leichen entdeckt

Im nächsten Schritt sollen nun Tauchgänge stattfinden. Man erhoffe sich dadurch detailliertere Informationen zum Zustand des Schiffs und der Ursache für den Vorfall. Außerdem solle dabei das Wasser von den Stoffen bereinigt werden.

Queens und Ikonen: Die neuen Kreuzfahrtschiffe 2024

„mv aurora“ war früher als kreuzfahrtschiff unterwegs.

• Kreuzfahrt-Checkliste: Diese 11 Dinge dürfen in keinem Koffer fehlen
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Die „MV Aurora“, die 1955 als „Wappen von Hamburg“ gebaut wurde, soll früher auf Kreuzfahrt in der Nordsee unterwegs gewesen sein. Als Seebäderschiff ist sie im Vergleich zu der Größenordnung heutiger Kreuzfahrtschiffe jedoch deutlich kleiner. Durch die diversen Eigentümer war sie auf der ganzen Welt unterwegs und wechselte seit 1980 einige Male den Lageplatz.

Die „MV Aurora“ war übrigens nicht das einzige „Wappen von Hamburg“. Den Namen noch stärker prägte die 1965 gebaute „Wappen von Hamburg“, die bis zu ihrer Verschrottung die meiste Zeit unter dem Titel fuhr. In den 1960er und 1970er Jahren war die „Wappen von Hamburg“ sehr erfolgreich und häufig ausgebucht. In den 1990er Jahren nahm die Auslastung jedoch ab, was schließlich dazu führte, dass das Schiff 2006 außer Dienst gestellt wurde. Danach wurde es an die Mercator Shipping Corporation verkauft und in „Mercator II“ umbenannt. Pläne, das Schiff zu einem luxuriösen Kreuzfahrtschiff umzubauen, scheiterten aus finanziellen Gründen.

In den folgenden Jahren wechselte das Schiff mehrmals den Besitzer und wurde unter verschiedenen Namen und Funktionen genutzt, darunter als Ausstellungs- und Hotelschiff. Im Jahr 2010 wurde die „Wappen von Hamburg“ schließlich nach Esbjerg, Dänemark, geschleppt und dort verschrottet​.

Sie wollen noch mehr Kreuzfahrt-News? Wir geben Ihnen die Hintergründe zum schrecklichen auf der Donau . Außerdem erfahren Sie alles Wichtige zu einem tragischen Unfall, der sich auf dem größten Kreuzfahrtschiff der Welt ereignet hat .

Die wichtigsten Kreuzfahrt-Tipps haben wir übrigens auf dieser Seite für Sie zusammengefasst. Und auf dieser Seite finden Sie weitere spannende Kreuzfahrt-News . Die besten Kreuzfahrt-Angebote finden Sie hier, alle Infos und Berichte über alle Kreuzfahrt-Reedereien haben wir hier für Sie zusammengefasst. Alle anderen Artikel zum Thema Urlaub und Reise finden Sie hier.

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WAPPEN VON HAMBURG - IMO 5088227

Photo details

Description:

On the river Elbe; more about the history of the ship see on the pic from Ted Blank

Vessel particulars

Former name(s):

 -    Faithful   (Until 2008 )

 -    Xanadu   (Until 1998 )

 -    Pacific Star   (Until 1972 )

 -    Polar Star   (Until 1970 )

 -    Delos   (Until 1967 )

 -    Wappen Von Hamburg   (Until 1961 Apr )

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Cruise Ships and Liners built 1950-1960 - 12 photos

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Andreas Schlatterer

Michael Brinkmann

Andreas Hoppe

George.Schneider

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WAPPEN VON HAMBURG

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Watch CBS News

Restoring the Aurora, a cruise ship with a storied past

June 26, 2022 / 9:51 AM EDT / CBS News

The year was 1955, and the Wappen Von Hamburg had just started its life, ferrying tourists from Hamburg, Germany to the island of Helgoland in the North Sea.

So, how the heck did that ship end up, six decades later, on a river near Stockton, California, surrounded by blueberry fields?

"I was actually surfing on Craigslist one day and this thing popped up," said Chris Willson, current owner of the ship, which has been re-christened Aurora. "And it kind of piqued my curiosity.

Correspondent Luke Burbank asked, "Do you remember what the ad said?"

"Actually, it just said 'classic cruise ship for sale," he laughed. "My intent wasn't even to get involved with this."

A former software developer, Willson said initially he just wanted to shoot some video of the inside of the ship: "My idea was to do a virtual tour of the ship, not to buy the ship!" he laughed.

But something about the boat intrigued Willson, so much so that he ended up bailing it out of some legal trouble it was in, towing it to various locations, and eventually paying, he says, around $800,000 for it, making him the owner of a piece of maritime history.

And, also, a lot of trash. "It was full of garbage," he said. "Every single room – household garbage, cups, cans, mattresses scattered all over the place. It was a disaster."

When he sprang the news of his purchase to his brand-new girlfriend, Jin Li, she said she didn't dare look inside the ship: "You see so much horrible. You don't know what's gonna be behind the door or what's in the room.

"I said, 'I don't know about this boat. I don't know what this guy's doing. Thank God we were just dating!'"

But together, slowly, painstakingly, they got to work restoring the ship, with some parts, like the lounge, now looking good.

"We do things like movie night in there," said Willson. "It's just a comfortable place."

And other parts looking, well, less good. He showed Burbank the wheelhouse ("which is pretty ugly"), which over time had been robbed of some of its nautical gear. "The wheel was looted out of here. You know, we have an idea of where some of these things are at, but getting them back is, I think, going to be kind of an impossible mission."

Stripped to the bone and left to rot, Aurora is a survivor with a storied past. Credited as an inspiration behind the hit '70s TV show "The Love Boat," Aurora also made an appearance in "From Russia, With Love," as a Bond villain's yacht.

Ocean liner enthusiast, maritime historian and collector Peter Knego said of the ship, "You look at her, you see those curves and superstructure, her bow, her stern, she's a beautiful creation. And she's so lucky to still be around. Every ship of her generation pretty much is gone."

Knego knew of Aurora's history long before it appeared in a Craigslist ad, because he has a particular passion for all things midcentury and nautical. That would explain why his home in Oceanside, Calif., is a living maritime museum.

Amazingly, Aurora is one of the only remaining midcentury ships still afloat. The rest either sunk or were turned into razor blades – literally! "We shave with them," Knego said. "Canned green beans are made, cars are made out of them, rebar. They're all recycled into new forms of existence."

Burbank asked, "When they talk about turning it into razor blades, that's not just a figure of speech?"

"No! Unfortunately, no."

Thanks to a mostly volunteer crew and, now, a popular YouTube channel, Willson's hope is to turn the ship into a floating hotel, or maybe even a museum, anything that will keep it from going to the scrapyard. Thankfully, he's got Jin Li (whom he also met on Craigslist, incidentally) along for the ride.

"Now I feel the boat is bringing a lot of people together, brought me and Chris even tighter, and brought a lot of interesting people, the local people, the people from Facebook and social media," Li said. "And I think there's more and more people gonna say, 'Well, maybe sometime, a small guy has a big dream wasn't a bad idea.'"

      For more info:

• Aurora Restoration Project on  YouTube  and  Instagram
• Aurora Restoration Project (Facebook Group)
• History of the Aurora (Wordpress)
• Peter Knego's MidShipCinema

      Story produced by Amy Wall. Editor: George Pozderec. 

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• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2020
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• Ocean liners
• Cruise ships
• Passenger ships of Germany
• Museum ships in California

MV Aurora (1955)

• View history

MV Aurora is a cruise ship built in Germany in 1955. After several changes of ownership and name, as of 2020 [update] she is moored in Stockton, California, and undergoing restoration.

• 2 In popular culture
• 3 References
• 4 External links

History [ ]

Aurora was launched as the Wappen von Hamburg for HADAG at Blohm & Voss, intended to be used for day-long cruises from Hamburg to Helgoland . [1] Her maiden cruise in the North Sea carried a full complement of 1,600 passengers. [2]

Five years later, in 1960, Wappen Von Hamburg was sold to the Greek Nomikos Line. She was renamed Delos and refitted as one of the first luxury Aegean cruise ships, with the addition of a swimming pool and air conditioning in all cabins. [3]

In 1967, the ship was sold to the Alaska Cruise Line (Westtours) of Vancouver and renamed to Polar Star for expedition cruises in Alaskan waters, then in 1970 resold to West Cruise Lines of Panama and renamed to Pacific Star and then Polar Star for expedition cruises in the South Atlantic. In 1972 Donald L. Ferguson bought her, renamed her Xanadu , and added antiques to her luxury fittings. [3] [4]

As the cruise industry began to fade, Xanadu was sold two further times and then in 1977 laid up [4] and some of her fittings were auctioned. [3] After repossession by a Seattle bank in Vancouver, she was sold in 1982 to Pan Aleutian Seafoods as a factory ship for crab, and in 1984 laid up again, in Tacoma. [4]

In 1985, a new owner renamed her again to Expex and moored her at Los Angeles for trade show and exhibition use. A forty-foot intermodal container was mounted on her stern. [3] After this venture was unsuccessful, the ship was sold to Friendships, a Christian sect based in Wilmington, California , who renamed her Faithful . They repainted her hull blue but instead of using her for relief work, housed converts on the ship until she was seized by the Coast Guard . [2] [3] Dr. James Mitchell bought Faithful from Friendships to use as a hospital ship, but resold her to in 2005 Dr. Mitchell sold the Faithful , which by now had rusting metal, fading and peeled paint, and missing railings, to Al Boraq Aviation, who planned to refurbish her as a luxury yacht and had her towed to Alameda. [3] This refurbishment did not materialize; she was declared an abandoned vessel and eventually an arrangement was made to have her removed. [3] In 2010 the Life After People episode "Holiday Hell" featured the ship with an interview with maritime enthusiast Peter Knego on her history and condition. [5]

After seeing a Craigslist ad in 2008, Chris Willson bought the ship from the then owner, a marine salvage dealer who had been ordered by the California State Lands Commission to move the ship from Decker Island , in the San Joaquin River delta , but could not afford to do so. Willson had her towed to Rio Vista , where restoration work began, and then a year later, in August 2010, renamed Aurora , to Pier 38 in San Francisco, with plans to eventually open her as a tourist attraction. [2] [6] The following year, a Port of San Francisco wharfinger gave him three days' notice to move Aurora because Pier 38 was to be shut down due to structural and electrical issues. [3] [7]

Aurora was ultimately towed from San Francisco back to the delta in 2012 and moored at a marina in Little Potato Slough, approximately 15 miles from Stockton. [2] [8] Soon after, the marina went out of business over debts and regulatory problems, so Willson and his partner moved to the ship to watch over it. As of 2020 [update] he is working with volunteers to complete restoration of Aurora , with plans to find a location that will host her as a tourist attraction. [2]

In popular culture [ ]

The ship was an inspiration for The Love Boat and was used as a filming location for the 1963 film From Russia with Love . [2]

References [ ]

• ↑ "Day cruises from Bremerhaven/Hamburg to Helgoland" , Cruise Ship Odyssey , archived from the original on August 24, 2008.
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Kurtis Alexander, "Shipwrecked On Little Potato Slough" , San Francisco Chronicle , October 8, 2020.
• ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Chris Willson and Peter Knego, Aurora Yacht News , Wordpress, August 26, 2012, retrieved October 11, 2020.
• ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "M/S Wappen von Hamburg" , Faktaomfartyg.se, retrieved October 11, 2020 (in Swedish) .
• ↑ Martin Cox, "Life after Knego" , Maritime Matters , February 6, 2010.
• ↑ Peter Knego, "AURORA arrives in San Francisco" , Maritime Matters , August 1, 2010, archived from the original on August 8, 2010.
• ↑ Carolyn Said, "Pier 38 deemed unsafe; tech tenants evicted" , San Francisco Chronicle , September 9, 2011.
• ↑ George Schneider, "AURORA - IMO 5088227" at Stockton, Shipspotting , [March 22, 2015], April 16, 2015.

External links [ ]

• Official website , archived on February 20, 2016
• Christopher Wilson, "Aurora Restoration Project Part 1" Museum Ships (first of a series)

Hamburg to Stockton in 50 years: The story of the ‘Aurora’

(FOX40.COM) — How did a first in its class German day cruiser go from cutting the saltwater of the North Sea to taking on the fresh water of the California Delta more than 70 years after it was launched?

The Aurora has called the San Joaquin River home for at least a decade when its current owner Christopher Willson pulled it from the Bay Area into Little Potato Slough.

On May 22, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office reported that the nearly 300-foot vessel had begun to take on water and was leaking fuel and oil into the river.

As this relatively forgotten icon of maritime cruising history floods with the waters of the San Joaquin River it begs for a reminder of the storied life this ship has lived.

Built by Blohm Voss of Hamburg, Germany in 1955, the Aurora was originally christened the Wappen Von Hamburg and would be West Germany’s first large-scale ship building project following WWII.

With up to 1,600 passengers on board the Wappen Von Hamburg would sail from Hamburg to the island of Heligoland in the North Sea by way of the Elbe River as a day cruise.

The relatively slow speed of the ship at 17.5 knots meant that the journey took so long that visitors to the island only had about two to three hours on land before the return ride.

The Wappen Von Hamburg would make this daily out-and-back trip until 1960 when it was sold by the German company to the Hellenic Star Maritime Co. Ltd in Greece where it was renamed the Delos , according to the group Greek Ship Miracle.

Under the Grecian flag, the Delos became one of the earliest luxury Aegean cruise ship with air conditioning in every room and a swimming pool.

During its time in Greece the Delos would portray the luxury yacht in the 1963 James Bond film ‘From Russia with Love’ and a decade later the ship would inspire the cruise liner in the TV show ‘The Love Boat.’

The ship would sail under the Delos name until 1967 when it was sold to Alaska Cruise Lines and renamed the Polar Star .

It’s time in Greece would be the ships longest time of continued ownership while serving as a cruiser.

Now flying under the Canadian flag and under a new name the Polar Star cruised in Alaskan waters until 1970 when it was purchased by West Cruise Line in Panama and renamed Pacific Star.

Again the Aurora would have a short lived run under its new name and was sold in 1972 to Donald L. Ferguson Cruises Ltd. and renamed to Xanadu.

This would be the ships final voyages as a cruise liner and in 1977 after being laid up the ship was repossessed by a bank and later sold in 1982 to Pan Aleutian Seafood as a crab factory ship.

In less than 30 years after first hitting the open waters around Germany, the Aurora had sailed under at least four national flags and along the shores of two continents.

The remainder of the ships life into the 21st century sees it continue to fall into disrepair as new owners with grand ideas fall short and the ship begins to move along the California cost.

Just as the Aurora was waning on her final days, a Craigslist add intrigued Christopher Willson to purchase the ship in 2008 from a salvager.

In a 2023 interview with CMS Morning News, Willson said that he had no intention of buying Aurora and only went to get video of its interior.

Willson had Aurora, then named Faithful, brought from the Bay Area to the waters the California Delta where it was moored at its current location along Little Potato Slough, about 15 miles from Stockton.

The Aurora is one of the few remaining pocket cruise ships from the 1950s that has not been subject to the scrap heap and Willson believes it is truly a one-of-a-kind vessel.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40.

Aurora was launched as the Wappen von Hamburg for HADAG at Blohm & Voss, intended to be used for day long cruise voyages from Hamburg, calling at Cuxhaven, Helgoland, and Hörnum. She was the first ship to be built in West Germany since World War II. However, after only five years with her original owners, Wappen Von Hamburg was sold to Greek interests, the Nomikos Line. With this sale she was renamed Delos and refitted, the additions being a swimming pool, air conditioning in all cabins, a spa, beauty salon, and gift shop.

In 1967 the ship was sold to West Tour and renamed Polar Star for cruising in Alaskan waters. She passed through several owners and names during her decade long stay in Alaska, even once being partially owned by the Holland America Line. Eventually as the cruise industry began to fade, the now renamed Xanadu was laid up in Vancouver in 1977. In 1985 a new Los Angeles-based company planned to rename Xanadu Expex and moor her as an exhibition ship. This plan never took off and she remained laid up. In 1991 there were plans to convert this ship into a hospital ship for use in the Caribbean, but she never operated in this role due to funds falling through.

In 2005 the ship was towed from Vancouver to Alameda, California, with a plan to rebuild her into a luxury yacht in mind. At this point in time Faithful was in a poor visual condition, with the majority of her paint peeled off and faded, her metal rusting, and parts of her wooden railings missing. In 2009 the Faithful was featured on the Life After People episode Holiday Hell, in which maritime enthusiast Peter Knego is interviewed on the history and condition of Faithful.

Soon afterward, the preservation of Faithful to Aurora began, which included repainting her hull white and funnel blue, and adding new carpeting, furniture, and paint to the interior, as well as a dance floor. On August 1, 2010, the newly renamed Aurora set out under tow by the research vessel Robert Gray to be berthed at Pier 38 in San Francisco at 3:00 AM, arriving the next day around 10:00 PM, and tying up at Pier 38 at 10:45. She is to be opened as a tourist attraction in the near future.

On August 12, 2011 the Port of San Francisco wharfinger approached the vessel's owner, Christopher Willson, with a notice that Pier 38 would be shut down due to structural and electrical issues. She is currently berthed in Stockton, CA

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Read about the Restoration Project by owner Christopher Wilson:

• Zufallsartikel

Wappen von Hamburg (Schiff, 1955)

Die Wappen v​on Hamburg i​st ein ehemaliges deutsches Seebäderschiff . Das 1955 gebaute Schiff d​er HADAG Seetouristik u​nd Fährdienst AG w​ar das e​rste von d​rei Schiffen m​it diesem Namen (von d​enen die dritte Wappen v​on Hamburg , a​us dem Jahr 1965, d​as bekannteste war). Sie w​urde für d​en Helgoland -Fährbetrieb gebaut u​nd liegt h​eute in n​icht fahrbereitem Zustand a​ls Aurora i​n Stockton , Kalifornien.

Eine technische Besonderheit d​er ersten Wappen v​on Hamburg u​nd ihres z​wei Jahre jüngeren Schwesterschiffs w​ar der dieselelektrische Antrieb. Dabei produzierten fünf Maybach-Dieselmotoren m​it Generatoren d​en Strom für d​ie beiden elektrischen Gleichstrom-Fahrmotoren m​it einer Leistung v​on 6000 PS. Über e​in ähnliches Antriebskonzept verfügten a​uch die Eisenbahnfährschiffe Theodor Heuss u​nd Deutschland a​uf der Vogelfluglinie .

Wappen von Hamburg (1955–1962)

Bei Blohm & Voss (damals Steinwerder Industrie A.G. ) gebaut, w​urde sie a​uf der Route zwischen Hamburg u​nd Helgoland eingesetzt. Aufgrund i​hrer mit e​twa 17,5   Knoten relativ geringen Geschwindigkeit ersetzte s​ie die HADAG bereits n​ach sechs Jahren d​urch einen Neubau, d​ie zweite Wappen v​on Hamburg , d​ie mit e​iner Geschwindigkeit v​on 21,5   Knoten schneller war. Durch d​ie kürzer dauernde Überfahrt verlängerte s​ich die Aufenthaltsdauer d​er Tagestouristen a​uf Helgoland deutlich.

Delos (1962–1967)

Das Schiff w​urde Ende 1961 für 375.000 Pfund Sterling n​ach Griechenland verkauft u​nd in Delos umbenannt. Während dieser Zeit h​atte das Schiff e​inen kurzen Auftritt i​m James-Bond-Film Liebesgrüße a​us Moskau a​ls die Yacht v​on Ernst Stavro Blofeld (S.P.E.C.T.R.E.).

Polar Star (1967–1970)

1967 w​urde das Schiff d​ann nach Kanada verkauft u​nd als Polar Star für Abenteuerreisen i​n die Polarregionen eingesetzt.

Pacific Star (1970–1972)

1970 w​urde das Schiff a​n West Cruise Lines Ltd verkauft u​nd in Pacific Star umbenannt.

Xanadu (1972–1998)

1972 w​urde es d​ann in Xanadu umbenannt, nachdem e​s von Xanadu Cruises übernommen wurde. 1982 w​ar das Schiff Wohnschiff e​iner schwimmenden Krabbenfarm. Seit Ende 1982 w​urde die ehemalige Wappen v​on Hamburg n​icht mehr reaktiviert u​nd mehrfach verkauft, 1991 w​urde ein Umbau a​ls Kinderhospital i​n der Karibik geplant, w​as auch n​icht realisiert wurde.

Faithful (1998–2009)

1998 erschien d​er Name Faithful . Nach e​inem erneuten Verkauf i​n dem Jahre 2003 sollte e​s in Xanadu2 umbenannt werden, jedoch b​lieb der a​lte Name bestehen.

Aurora (seit 2009)

Am 20.   September 2005 t​raf das Schiff i​n einem s​ehr schlechten Zustand u​nter dem Namen Faithful i​m Schlepp b​ei einer Werft i​n Alameda i​n der Nähe v​on San Francisco ein. Dort sollte d​ie Namensänderung i​n Aurora stattfinden, d​ie vorerst a​ber auch n​icht vorgenommen wurde. 2008 w​urde die Faithful n​ach Rio Vista geschleppt. Dort l​ag sie n​och im Dezember 2009. Es g​ab zwischenzeitlich Pläne für e​ine Versenkung a​ls künstliches Riff.

Im September 2009 w​urde die Faithful i​n Aurora umbenannt u​nd seitdem w​ird das Schiff restauriert. Das Schiff w​urde zunächst n​ach San Francisco verbracht, u​m dort weiter instand gesetzt z​u werden m​it dem vorläufigen Ziel, e​s als Restaurant z​u nutzen u​nd mittelfristig wieder i​n Fahrt z​u bringen. Das Schiff w​urde sogar, k​urz zuvor n​och im s​ehr schlechten Zustand, wieder m​it einem neuen, weißen Anstrich versehen. Es g​ab jedoch Probleme m​it der Hafenbehörde v​on San Francisco, weshalb d​as Schiff einige Zeit später a​n einen z​ur Stadt Stockton gehörenden Liegeplatz verholt wurde. An diesem e​twas abgelegenen Platz i​m Bereich d​es Flussdeltas i​m Nordosten d​er Bucht v​on San Francisco werden d​ie Bemühungen u​m eine Restaurierung fortgesetzt. [1] Das Schiff w​ird Restauriert m​an kann d​as ganze u​nter folgendem Youtubechannel verfolgen https://www.youtube.com/c/AuroraRestorationProject/featured

Schwesterschiffe

Die Bunte Kuh l​ief 1957 b​ei der Norderwerft i​n Hamburg a​ls Schwesterschiff d​er Wappen v​on Hamburg v​om Stapel. Ihren Namen h​atte sie n​ach Hermann Nyenkerkens legendärem Führungsschiff Bunte Kuh , welches d​en Seeräuber Klaus Störtebeker u​m 1401 z​ur Strecke brachte. Sie w​ar bis 1962 i​m Dienst Cuxhaven n​ach Helgoland i​n Einsatz. Danach w​urde das Schiff a​ls Stella Solaris n​ach Griechenland verkauft. Nachdem d​as Schiff 1971 für d​en Scheich v​on Katar z​ur Yacht Naief umgebaut wurde, verliert s​ich die Spur dieses Schiffes.

• Helgoland , cruiseshipodyssey.com – zum Helgoland-Fährbetrieb
• Wappen Von Hamburg, Xanadu, Aurora Yacht Restoration auf aurorayacht.wordpress.com ( Memento vom 3. Oktober 2018 im Internet Archive )
• Videokanal zur Restauration der Aurora auf YouTube.com

Einzelnachweise

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cToDiPefJk

• Español NEW

MV Aurora (1955) facts for kids

MV Aurora is a cruise ship built in Germany in 1955. After several changes of ownership and name, as of 2020 [update] she is moored in Stockton, California , and undergoing restoration.

Aurora was launched as the Wappen von Hamburg for HADAG at Blohm & Voss, intended to be used for day-long cruises from Hamburg to Helgoland . Her maiden cruise in the North Sea carried a full complement of 1,600 passengers.

Five years later, in 1960, Wappen Von Hamburg was sold to the Greek Nomikos Line. She was renamed Delos and refitted as one of the first luxury Aegean cruise ships, with the addition of a swimming pool and air conditioning in all cabins.

In 1967 the ship was sold to the Alaska Cruise Line (Westtours) of Vancouver and renamed to Polar Star for expedition cruises in Alaskan waters, then in 1970 resold to West Cruise Lines of Panama and renamed to Pacific Star and then Polar Star for expedition cruises in the South Atlantic. In 1972 Donald L. Ferguson bought her, renamed her Xanadu , and added antiques to her luxury fittings.

As the cruise industry began to fade, Xanadu was sold two further times and then in 1977 laid up and some of her fittings were auctioned. After repossession by a Seattle bank in Vancouver, she was sold in 1982 to Pan Aleutian Seafoods as a factory ship for crab, and in 1984 laid up again, in Tacoma .

In 1985 a new owner renamed her again to Expex and moored her at Los Angeles for trade show and exhibition use. A forty-foot intermodal container was mounted on her stern.

After this venture was unsuccessful, the ship was sold to Friendships, a Christian sect based in Wilmington, California , who renamed her Faithful . They repainted her hull blue but instead of using her for relief work, housed converts on the ship until she was seized by the Coast Guard .

Dr. James Mitchell bought Faithful from Friendships to use as a hospital ship, but resold her to in 2005 Dr. Mitchell sold the Faithful , which by now had rusting metal, fading and peeled paint, and missing railings, to Al Boraq Aviation, who planned to refurbish her as a luxury yacht and had her towed to Alameda . This refurbishment did not materialize; she was declared an abandoned vessel and eventually an arrangement was made to have her removed. In 2010 the Life After People episode "Holiday Hell" featured the ship with an interview with maritime enthusiast Peter Knego on her history and condition.

After seeing a Craigslist ad in 2008, Chris Willson bought the ship from the then owner, a marine salvage dealer who had been ordered by the California State Lands Commission to move the ship from Decker Island , in the San Joaquin River delta , but could not afford to do so. Willson had her towed to Rio Vista , where restoration work began, and then a year later, in August 2010, renamed Aurora , to Pier 38 in San Francisco, with plans to eventually open her as a tourist attraction. The following year, a Port of San Francisco wharfinger gave him three days' notice to move Aurora because Pier 38 was to be shut down due to structural and electrical issues.

Aurora was ultimately towed from San Francisco back to the delta in 2012 and moored at a marina in Little Potato Slough, approximately 15 miles from Stockton . Soon after, the marina went out of business over debts and regulatory problems, so Willson and his partner moved to the ship to watch over it. As of 2020 [update] he is working with volunteers to complete restoration of Aurora , with plans to find a location that will host her as a tourist attraction.

• This page was last modified on 23 January 2024, at 22:13. Suggest an edit .

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A tech entrepreneur from Santa Cruz CA buys the old historic 1955 Wappen Von Hamburg cruise ship on Craig's List and works to restore her with the help of his volunteer crew. A tech entrepreneur from Santa Cruz CA buys the old historic 1955 Wappen Von Hamburg cruise ship on Craig's List and works to restore her with the help of his volunteer crew. A tech entrepreneur from Santa Cruz CA buys the old historic 1955 Wappen Von Hamburg cruise ship on Craig's List and works to restore her with the help of his volunteer crew.

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Defunct 1950s-era cruise ship takes on water and leaks pollutants in California river delta

This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard District 11 shows The Aurora, a non-operational 294-foot cruise ship moored northwest of Stockton, Wednesday, May 22, 2024, that began to sink and discharge product. A containment boom has been placed around the defunct 1950s-era cruise ship that began sinking and leaking pollution in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, authorities said. (California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP)

This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows official representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the City of Stockton respond to the sinking vessel Aurora, a non-operational 294-foot cruise ship permanently moored northwest of Stockton on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. A containment boom has been placed around a defunct 1950s-era cruise ship that began sinking and leaking pollution in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, authorities said. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Edward Wargo/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

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STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — A containment boom has been placed around a defunct 1950s-era cruise ship that began sinking and leaking pollution in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, authorities said.

The 294-foot (90-meter) ship permanently moored in Little Potato Slough northwest of the city of Stockton began to sink in 13 feet (4 meters) of water on Wednesday, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.

A sheen was observed on the water, and containment booms were deployed around the vessel and the city’s water intake pump station, the Coast Guard said. Photographs show the stern low in the water next to the slough’s grassy embankment.

It was not immediately clear what was leaking. The Coast Guard said the vessel recently changed ownership, so details about what pollutants were on board were unknown. The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said the ship was leaking diesel fuel and oil.

A wildlife care organization was notified, but no oiled wildlife had been observed, the Coast Guard said.

The ship, currently known as the MV Aurora, was built in Germany in 1955 and formerly named Wappen von Hamburg. The ship moved around the world and ended up in the delta when a California man bought it in 2008 with dreams of restoring it as a shoreline attraction.

A former tech developer bought a rusty 1955 cruise ship on Craigslist and estimates he's spent $1 million restoring it. Check it out.

• Christopher Willson bought an old cruise ship off Craigslist 14 years ago.
• The ship, named Aurora, was one of the first vessels Germany built post-WWII, Willson said.
• Willson plans to transform it into a bed and breakfast and a coastal cruiser. 

When Christopher Willson found an old cruise ship on Craigslist in 2008, it was a happy accident.

Willson, a former tech developer, was working on virtual-tour software when he stumbled across a cruise ship named "Faithful" on Craigslist. Keen to do a virtual tour of the ship, he reached out to the owner.

"I pretended to be a potential buyer, and the owner, who was a ship salvager, let me on board. After doing the virtual tour, I went home curious about the ship's history but could not find anything about it," Willson told Insider.

Willson spent days researching the ship's history until he found a photo that looked exactly like the vessel.

"I went through over hundreds of images of vintage ocean liners, and did a lot of matching and cross-referencing of the ship's appearance before I found a match," Willson said.

Willson discovered that the ship was the Wappen von Hamburg, one of the first ships Germany officially built after WWII.

Willson decided to buy the ship, which was covered in layers of old paint , because of its historical value.

Willson told Insider the ship was listed on Craigslist for $1.2 million, but he negotiated with the seller to slash the buying price in half. Insider was not able to independently verify the price of the ship.

After Willson took ownership of the vessel, he renamed it Aurora.

German shipbuilding company Blohm+Voss, which built the ship, confirmed to Insider that Aurora and the Wappen von Hamburg are the same ship.

Willson didn't have any ship-building experience, but his past career as a disaster-recovery specialist taught him how to fix things.

Willson spent 13 years traveling to places destroyed by fires and floods to salvage mechanical and electrical equipment for insurance restoration companies.

"I have always been a fast learner and was always good at working with my hands. I've rebuilt a bunch of cars," Willson said.

The 293-foot cruise ship had three decks, 85 cabins with en-suite bathrooms, a dining room and salon, an outdoor swimming pool, and a lot of structural issues when Willson bought it.

When Willson took ownership of the cruise ship, he it was full of cardboard boxes, old chairs, and mattresses .

"Some of it was useable stuff, but just a lot of it was absolute garbage that we had to get rid of," Willson said in one of his YouTube videos .

The wood on the deck had been completely destroyed by moisture, Willson said. He had to get rid of all the rotted wood and rust before he could even begin the restoration process. 

To give Aurora's hallway a new lease on life, Willson removed the concrete floors and the wood-paneled walls to address the underlying damage.

The passageway is now carpeted and has fresh coats of paint.

In 2015, Willson created a Facebook page called Aurora Project Restoration. People started sharing more information about the ship.

A comment from one Facebook user made Willson realize Aurora was the floating SPECTRE headquarters in the 1963 James Bond movie, "From Russia with Love." After scrutinizing scenes from the movie, he realized it was true.

Other Facebook users shared old travel brochures of the cruise. From 1972 to 1977, the ship was named Xanadu, and it was famous for its voyages around Alaska and North America, per East Bay Times .

"She had a real exclusive air about her; she was very yacht-like," maritime historian Peter Knego told the outlet in 2008. "It was very prestigious to sail in the ship when it was called Xanadu."

Willson said he spends 10 hours a day every day restoring Aurora.

The refurbishment process has picked up pace in recent years.

In December, he launched a YouTube channel called "Aurora Restoration Project," which has helped raise the profile of his project. The YouTube channel documents the ongoing restoration process of the cruise ship. The channel has 13 videos that have garnered a total of 2.4 million views and over 77,000 subscribers.

Willson is expecting a big surge of activity on the boat in July.

"In July, we expect 80 to 100 volunteers, mostly people from Silicon Valley as there is a tech event — Ephemerisle — a mile and a half away from here. The CEO and founder of the internet archive tool, Wayback Machine, will also be joining us," Willson added.

"I do what I can to help Aurora — a great project, and Chris is a very welcoming captain," Brewster Kahle, the CEO of Wayback Machine, told Insider.

Volunteers need not have any relevant skill sets: Willson said he welcomes help from a range of volunteers, from people with experience working on museum ships to people who can only paint.

Renovations are currently 40% completed. Willson told Insider he's already burned through an estimated $1 million fixing the ship.

Willson is also raising funds to help him restore the vessel. He told Insider his goal is to raise $3 million.

"Once you have finished one end of the ship, you have to start all over again by the time you get to the other end. Even a brand new ship requires maintenance right off the bat," Willson said.

Next on Willson's restoration agenda is to fix up the kitchen, which was destroyed by a leaking deck.

"We are just finished removing all of the old and outdated fixtures, and we're currently working on raising money to get this area back into shape," he said.

While some of the cabins on Aurora have been refurbished, Willson says most cabins onboard are still not in good condition.

Willson says he intends to restore all 85 cabins over time. He currently lives on the boat with his wife: "If I don't stay, people will come and just steal things."

The ship is currently docked in Stockton, California, but Willson plans to move it back to San Francisco.

He intends to transform Aurora into a bed and breakfast and an events center.

His end goal is to make Aurora into a coastal cruiser and sell it on a fractional ownership basis.

"I hope to be able to restore it to become a working coastal cruiser and allow it to cruise up and down the West Coast into Mexico and Canada," Willson said.

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Correspondent Luke Burbank asked, "Do you remember what the ad said?"

"Actually, it just said 'classic cruise ship for sale," he laughed. "My intent wasn't even to get involved with this."

A former software developer, Willson said initially he just wanted to shoot some video of the inside of the ship: "My idea was to do a virtual tour of the ship, not to buy the ship!" he laughed.

But something about the boat intrigued Willson, so much so that he ended up bailing it out of some legal trouble it was in, towing it to various locations, and eventually paying, he says, around $800,000 for it, making him the owner of a piece of maritime history.

And, also, a lot of trash. "It was full of garbage," he said. "Every single room – household garbage, cups, cans, mattresses scattered all over the place. It was a disaster."

When he sprang the news of his purchase to his brand-new girlfriend, Jin Li, she said she didn't dare look inside the ship: "You see so much horrible. You don't know what's gonna be behind the door or what's in the room.

"I said, 'I don't know about this boat. I don't know what this guy's doing. Thank God we were just dating!'"

But together, slowly, painstakingly, they got to work restoring the ship, with some parts, like the lounge, now looking good.

"We do things like movie night in there," said Willson. "It's just a comfortable place."

And other parts looking, well, less good. He showed Burbank the wheelhouse ("which is pretty ugly"), which over time had been robbed of some of its nautical gear. "The wheel was looted out of here. You know, we have an idea of where some of these things are at, but getting them back is, I think, going to be kind of an impossible mission."

Stripped to the bone and left to rot, Aurora is a survivor with a storied past. Credited as an inspiration behind the hit '70s TV show "The Love Boat," Aurora also made an appearance in "From Russia, With Love," as a Bond villain's yacht.

Ocean liner enthusiast, maritime historian and collector Peter Knego said of the ship, "You look at her, you see those curves and superstructure, her bow, her stern, she's a beautiful creation. And she's so lucky to still be around. Every ship of her generation pretty much is gone."

Knego knew of Aurora's history long before it appeared in a Craigslist ad, because he has a particular passion for all things midcentury and nautical. That would explain why his home in Oceanside, Calif., is a living maritime museum.

Amazingly, Aurora is one of the only remaining midcentury ships still afloat. The rest either sunk or were turned into razor blades – literally! "We shave with them," Knego said. "Canned green beans are made, cars are made out of them, rebar. They're all recycled into new forms of existence."

Burbank asked, "When they talk about turning it into razor blades, that's not just a figure of speech?"

"No! Unfortunately, no."

Thanks to a mostly volunteer crew and, now, a popular YouTube channel, Willson's hope is to turn the ship into a floating hotel, or maybe even a museum, anything that will keep it from going to the scrapyard. Thankfully, he's got Jin Li (whom he also met on Craigslist, incidentally) along for the ride.

"Now I feel the boat is bringing a lot of people together, brought me and Chris even tighter, and brought a lot of interesting people, the local people, the people from Facebook and social media," Li said. "And I think there's more and more people gonna say, 'Well, maybe sometime, a small guy has a big dream wasn't a bad idea.'"

   For more info:

Aurora Restoration Project on  YouTube  and  Instagram Aurora Restoration Project (Facebook Group) History of the Aurora (Wordpress) Peter Knego's MidShipCinema

   Story produced by Amy Wall. Editor: George Pozderec.

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Man bought an entire cruise ship online and now he lives on board

He has been busy renovating it, but still has a long way to go.

Jess Hardiman

A man who bought an entire cruise ship online has revealed he now lives on board, with plans to eventually turn it into a unique B&B.

Chris Willson was browsing on Craigslist when he stumbled upon a literal cruise ship .

But while many people might have a little chuckle and carry on scrolling, he decided it was the perfect new project and decided to snap it up.

Willson bought the ship – named Wappen von Hamburg - back in 2008, having managed to ‘work out a really good deal with the owner of the vessel’.

He then had the boat moved to California river city of Rio Vista, where he began a lease and kick started the restoration.

Naturally, it’s taken a bit of time to get it up to scratch, given that it’s 293-foot long and has 85 cabins to renovate.

Oh, and it was constructed almost 70 years ago, having been built in 1955 at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany.

When Willson went to go and see it for the first time, he realised just how neglected the 2,496 ship was, even questioning if he was up to the task of doing it up.

But thankfully he saw the potential in it after clocking the five levels of the ship that were beneath the surface, hailed the setup as 'the most spectacular layouts of just about any ship I've seen'.

Willson splashed out $1.2 million on the ship - which has three decks, a dining room and salon and even an outdoor swimming pool – and decided to rename it Aurora.

In an effort to devote more time to the ship’s renovation, Willson and his partner Jin Li ended up moving onto the cruiser , and still reside there.

"I figured it was going to be a long project,” he told CNN.

"The scale of it was massive. It's almost the same as redoing 15 houses all by yourself."

Fast forward to 2022, when Willson predicted he’d spend an eye-watering $1 million on the boat’s upgrades.

Speaking to Insider last year, he explained the project was 40 percent done, and that he needed more cash to finish it off – hoping to raise $3 million to do so.

"Once you have finished one end of the ship, you have to start all over again by the time you get to the other end," he said.

"Even a brand new ship requires maintenance right off the bat."

Willson initially planned to turn Aurora into a shoreside attraction, but now reckons it’d make a good bed and breakfast and events centre, in addition to serving as a working coastal cruiser.

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Jess is Entertainment Desk Lead at LADbible Group. She graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics. You can contact Jess at [email protected] .

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Wappen Von Flensburg

Vessel information, ship in the port.

WAPPEN VON HAMBURG

Oil/chemical tanker, current trip, waiting 4 orders, current position, information.

The current position of WAPPEN VON HAMBURG is in Baltic Sea with coordinates 55.85703° / 17.46613° as reported on 2018-05-28 00:14 by AIS to our vessel tracker app. The vessel's current speed is 6.9 Knots

The vessel WAPPEN VON HAMBURG (IMO: 9255799, MMSI: 636092106) is a Oil/Chemical Tanker that was built in 2002 ( 22 years old ) . It's sailing under the flag of [LR] Liberia .

In this page you can find informations about the vessels current position, last detected port calls, and current voyage information. If the vessels is not in coverage by AIS you will find the latest position.

The current position of WAPPEN VON HAMBURG is detected by our AIS receivers and we are not responsible for the reliability of the data. The last position was recorded while the vessel was in Coverage by the Ais receivers of our vessel tracking app.

The current draught of WAPPEN VON HAMBURG as reported by AIS is 5.2 meters

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