MS ''National Geographic Endeavour'' was a small

expedition ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours know ...

operated by

Lindblad Expeditions Lindblad Expeditions (Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic) is an expedition travel company headquartered in New York, NY. The company currently offers expedition cruises to destinations on all seven continents aboard 15 ships with capacitie ...

for cruising in remote areas, particularly the polar regions.

History

The ship was originally a

fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate Trawling, fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing ...

built in 1966 as ''Marburg'', and converted to carry passengers in 1983. First named ''North Star'', then ''Caledonian Star''; she received her present name in June 2001. On March 2, 2001, the ship was struck by a 30-metre-high

rogue wave Rogue waves (also known as freak waves, monster waves, episodic waves, killer waves, extreme waves, and abnormal waves) are unusually large, unpredictable, and suddenly appearing surface waves that can be extremely dangerous to ships, even to lar ...

while crossing the

Drake Passage The Drake Passage (referred to as Mar de Hoces Hoces Sea"in Spanish-speaking countries) is the body of water between South America's Cape Horn, Chile and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It connects the southwestern part of the Atla ...

. The wave smashed the windows of the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and ruined the navigation and communications equipment, but did not cripple the ship. She was assisted by the

Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...

ocean fleet tug ARA ''Alferez Sobral'' and reached

Ushuaia Ushuaia ( , ) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. With a population of nearly 75,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's southern ...

three days later. When ''National Geographic Endeavour'' was retired, the piano was donated to the Tomas de Berlanga school in Santa Cruz, Galapagos. The bridge ceiling, notched with

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

sightings from her time in

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, is with Sven Lindblad. The model, valuable art and other mementos were saved. Some items were transferred to ''National Geographic Endeavour II''. ''National Geographic Endeavour'' was scrapped on 6 May 2017.

References

External links

Details of the ship
Ships built in Bremen (state) Rogue wave incidents 1966 ships Maritime incidents in 2001 Ships of Lindblad Expeditions {{cruise-ship-stub