FEDERICO C passenger ship 1958

[aukepalmhof]

This Venezuelan postage meter shows the Italian passenger ship FEDERICO C.

Built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard No 1516 by Gio. Ansaldo & C. at Sestri Ponente, Italy for Lloyd Tirrenico SpA, Genoa, Italy.
31 March 1957 launched as the FEDERICO C.
Tonnage 20,416 grt, 12, 167 nrt, 5,761 dwt, dim. 184.4 x 42.1 x 8.6m. (draught).
Powered by two sets geared Laval steam turbines, 28,600 shp. Twin shafts, speed 21 knots.
Passenger accommodation for 243 first, 300 second and 736 third class passengers.
March 1958 delivered to owners.

She was the first new ship built for the company.
22 March 1958 made her maiden voyage from Genoa to Buenos Aires. She mostly made cruise voyages.
04 June 1966 made her first voyage from Naples to Central America.
1968 After a major refit her passenger accommodation given as 186 first class and 1,450 tourist class.
Thereafter mostly used for cruises in the Caribbean with sometimes a transatlantic voyage from Italy to Venezuela and Florida.
1970 Transferred to Costa Armatori SpA, Genoa, not renamed.
1983 Sold to Premier Cruise Line Ltd, Panama, renamed in ROYALE.
She made now cruise voyages from US ports, mostly from Port Canaveral.
1989 Sold to Cia de Vapores Fanal SA, Panama, renamed in STARSHIP ROYALE.
The same year renamed by the company in SEABREEZE I, when she was put in service for Dolphin Cruise Lines.
Before she came in service for Dolphin Cruise Lines she underwent a refurbishment.
Passenger accommodation for 840 passengers and 400 crew.
1990 Sold to Delphin Marina SA, Panama not renamed.
1993 Sold to Cia de Vapores SEABREEZE SA, Panama not renamed.
1997 Sold to Premier Operations Ltd., Panama, when it acquired the Dolphin Cruise Line, not renamed.
September 2000 Premier went bankrupt, and the SEABREEZE I at that time in Halifax, Canada was seized by the mortgage holder.
After a laid up period at Halifax she was bought by Cruise Ventures III a subsidiary of the New York based DLJ Capital Funding.
Sailed to Boston, Mass. for refuelling before she headed for Charleston, South Carolina with only a skeleton crew on board of 34.
17 December 2000 she sank in position 37 36.5N 71 20.23W after the crew safely was airlifted from the ship by a helicopter of the USA Coastguard.

Wikipedia gives the following on the sinking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_SeaBreeze
In December 2000, it sank off the coast of North Carolina/Virginia, when the ship's boiler allegedly broke off and damaged the ship.
The investigation into the sinking of the SEABREEZE I caused international concern, based upon numerous suspicious incidents, including the fact that the ship was likely to fetch only between $5 and $6 million for scrap, but had a $20 million insurance policy on it. The cruise ship sank in international waters flying the Panamanian flag, making Panama responsible for the investigation of the sinking of the ship..
The ship's captain told U.S. Coast Guard rescuers that his ship was in imminent danger of sinking as a result of its engine room being flooded in high winds and 25-foot seas. At the time, the Coast Guard rescuers believed that it was highly unlikely for a ship that large to sink that quickly, and were astonished when the Greek captain demanded that all hands be extracted from the ship, instead of requesting salvage tugs and trying to tow it to shore for recovery. Subsequently, all 34 crewmembers were rescued; there were no passengers on board.
Source: Register of Merchant Ships completed in 1958. http://www.miramarshipindex.org.nz Great Passenger Ships of the World Volume 6. by Arnold Kludas.