Br.Ant.Territory : M/S Explorer Passengers on Their Way to Chile.
Submitted by (Juanita Brock) 25.11.2007 (Article Archived on 09.12.2007)

Half of the passengers from M/S EXPLORER have flown to Punta Arenas in Chile.

Photo Thanks to the Chilean Airforce - On her way to Davy Jones' Locker

M/S EXPLORER PASSENGERS ON THEIR WAY TO CHILE

M/S Explorer going down

By J. Brock (FINN)

In the early hours on Friday reports began coming to the Falkland Islands News Network that the M/S EXPLORER, that had left the Falklands more than a week ago was taking on water after hitting submerged ice in the Drake Passage approaching the South Shetland Islands near King George Island at approximately 61.12 S and 59.41 W.

Indications were that the vessel was taking on water in the engine room and the bilge pumps were in operation but were not expected to cope with the amount of water that was coming in from a fist-size crack in the hull below the waterline.  An S.O.S was sent out and answered by ships in the area including M/S (NG) ENDEAVOUR as well as the rescue ship, M/S NORD NORGE.

It was around first light that the ship was evacuated and passengers boarded lifeboats to await the arrival of the M/S NORD NORGE – the closest vessel to the incident.

At 0630hrs a 20 Degree list was reported and by 0800 the vessel was listing 30 Degrees.  By the time it was decided where to take the passengers, they were safely aboard the M/S NORD NORGE.  M/S EXPLORER sank to the bottom of the ocean at approximately 1900LMT on Friday.

The decision to take passengers to Teniente Marsh Base was difficult due to severe weather in the area.  Indeed, not all of the passengers got off the island on the first flight to Punta Arenas in Chile.  Half of the passengers and crew had a second night on the Joint Chilean/Russian Base.

My very first trip to the Antarctic at the end of 1984 was taken on the M/S EXPLORER and after crossing the Drake Passage I landed on King George Island at Arctwoski, a Polish Scientific Base.  When I first sailed with her she was the M/S SOCIETY EXPLORER. I boarded the vessel again in December 1987 to take passage to Punta Arenas in Chile.   Besides seeing her in the Falklands, in 2004, I met with some of her passengers when I was on South Georgia aboard another favourite expedition ship, MS (NG) ENDEAVOUR.

M/S EXPLORER was headed for decommissioning in 2004 but it was decided to give the ship another few years in the Antarctic and was bought by GAP – a Canadian Tourist Company.  Another ship – M/S EXPLORER II was named after the first EXPLORER prior to the vessel going to re-fit.  M/S EXPLORER went into refit and was re-flagged in Nigeria. 

In the late ‘70s the vessel was owned by Lindblad Expeditions and began her career in the Antarctic.  The vessel was among the first to return with tourists after the conflict with Argentina in 1982.