HMAS ''Moresby'', named for the explorer Captain

John Moresby Rear Admiral John Moresby (15 March 1830 – 12 July 1922) was a British naval officer who explored the coast of New Guinea and was the first European to discover the site of Port Moresby. Life and career Moresby was born in Allerford, Somerset, ...

, was a hydrographic survey ship of the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN). Serving in the RAN from 1964 to 1998,Wilson, Michael; Royal Australian Navy 21st Century Warships, Naval auxiliaries 1911 to 1999 including Defence Maritime Services, Profile No. 4 - Revised Edition , Topmill Pty Ltd, Marrickville. , p. 37 ''Moresby'' was then sold into civilian service. Renamed MV ''Patricia Anne Hotung'', the ship was chartered by the

International Organisation for Migration The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers. The IOM was ...

Construction

''Moresby'' was launched at the

State Dockyard The State Dockyard was a ship building and maintenance facility operated by the Government of New South Wales in Carrington, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia between 1942 and 1987. History In 1942, the State Dockyard opened on the site of ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on 7 September 1963 by the wife of Rear Admiral Gatacre. She was commissioned into the RAN on 6 March 1964. ''Moresby'' was the only ship of her class to be constructed.

Operational history

Throughout her career in the RAN, ''Moresby'' sailed over 1 million miles, and carried out surveys of

Torres Strait The Torres Strait (), also known as Zenadh Kes, is a strait between Australia and the Melanesian island of New Guinea. It is wide at its narrowest extent. To the south is Cape York Peninsula, the northernmost extremity of the Australian mai ...

, the

D'Entrecasteaux Channel The D'Entrecasteaux Channel is a body of water located between Bruny Island and the south-east of the mainland of Tasmania, Australia. The channel is the mouth for the estuaries of the Derwent and the Huon Rivers and empties into the Tasman S ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

Exmouth Gulf Exmouth Gulf is a gulf in the north-west of Western Australia. It lies between North West Cape and the main coastline of Western Australia. It is considered to be part of the Pilbara Coast and Northwest Shelf, and the Carnarvon Basin geolog ...

Wilsons Promontory Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nea ...

and the

Gulf of Papua The Gulf of Papua is located in the southern coast region of New Guinea. It has a total surface area of . Geography Some of New Guinea's largest rivers, such as the Fly River, Turama River, Kikori River, Purari River, and Wawoi River flow i ...

Decommissioning and civilian service

In October 1999, ''Moresby'' was sold to Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist

Eric Hotung Eric Edward Hotung CBE (June 8, 1926 – September 20, 2017) was a Hong Kong billionaire businessman, financier, and philanthropist. Biography Hotung was born to Robert Hotung's second son Edward Hotung and Irish woman Mordia O'Shea in 1926 in Ho ...

via Caravelle Investments Limited of Hong Kong for A$584,985. She was renamed MV ''Patricia Anne Hotung'', and underwent a A$1 million refit at Maritime Engineers in Fremantle, Western Australia, enabling the ship to carry 500 passengers and 2,021 tons of cargo. ''Patricia Anne Hotung'' sailed in support of the

(IOM), and transported approximately 10,000 refugees from the

West Timor West Timor ( id, Timor Barat) is an area covering the western part of the island of Timor, except for the district of Oecussi-Ambeno (an East Timorese exclave). Administratively, West Timor is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. The ca ...

camps to

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

between January 2000 and 24 July 2001. IOM Director General Brunson McKinley described the ship's role as "invaluable" and "a remarkable contribution to the international humanitarian effort to bring East Timorese refugees home to begin rebuilding their devastated country"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moresby Survey ships of the Royal Australian Navy 1963 ships Ships built in New South Wales