BIRKA PRINCESS ferry/cruise liner 1986

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a ferry/cruise vessel under yard No 321 by Oy Valmet Ab, Helsingfors, Finland for the Birka Line Ab, Mariahamn, Finland.
16 April 1984 ordered.
29 October 1985 launched under the name BIRKA PRINCESS.
Tonnage 21.484 grt, 10.537 net, 1.680 dwt. Dim. 142.9 x 24.7 x 5.75m. (draught).
Powered by 4 Wärtsilla-Vasa 12V32 diesel engines, 23.972 bhp., twin screws, speed 22.0 kn. maximum.
Accommodation for 1.500 passengers, of which 1.394 had a berth.
Could also carry 80 cars.
Ice-strengthened
22 April 1986 delivered to owners. The building cost 350 FIM million.

After completing used in the ferry service between Stockholm and Mariahamn.
Between 1992 and 2002, was she used as the fictional ship M/S FREJA in the Swedish TV soap “Rederiet”.
From January till March 1999 got an extensively refit by Lloyds Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany.
Passenger accommodation increased to 1537 passengers, her car deck removed.
October 2004 when a new vessel took over her service, she was used in two-night cruises from Stockholm to Turku, Helsinki, and Tallinn and 24-hour cruises from Stockholm to Mariahamn. The new cruise voyages were not a financial success.
02 January 2006 laid up at Mariahamn.
13 February 2006 sold to Louis Public Co. Limassol, Cyprus, for US$35 million.
17 March 2006 renamed in SEA DIAMOND, she was registered in Malta with homeport Valletta.
The same day she sailed from Mariahamn bound for Abo Shiprepair, Nådendal.
02 April 2006 sailed from Nådendal bound for Greece.
06 April 2006 registered under the ownership of Elona Maritime, Ltd. Valletta, Malta, and managed by Louis Cruise Line, Cyprus.
13 April 2006 arrived by the Elefsis Shipyard, Piraeus, Greece.
28 April 2006 transferred to Greek flag, with homeport Piraeus.
01 May 2006 used in the cruise trade from Piraeus.

05 April 2007 at around 16.00 she ran aground on the well-marked volcanic reef east of Nea Kameni within the caldera of the Greek island of Santorini, when on a cruise from Piraeus with onboard 1.195 passengers.
She took on water and got a list of 12 degrees over starboard, the order was given to evacuate the passengers, which took 3½ hours, with 4 persons injured.
The SEA DIAMOND was towed off the reef after her list was stabilized. Later it was reported that two French passengers were missing, and most possible drowned.
The next morning at around 07.00 due to a large amount of water taken on board, she sank, a few hundred meters offshore in water depths, bow 62 meter, and stern 180 meter, and there is much change that she will slide in deeper water.
The two bodies of the two Frenchmen, father, and daughter have never been found.

She grounded in position 36 25N 25 27E.

Sweden 1999 5kr sg2013, scott?

Source: http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/birka_princess_1986.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M/S-Sea_Diamond


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[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

(Aland 2014, inrikes, StG.?)