Friday, 04 August 2017 00:37

Bring the SMIT-LLOYD 1 back home!

On december 16, 1964 the keel of yardnumber 256 was laid at the shipyard of “De Hoop” at Lobith. The vessel was launched on April 10th, 1965 and received yardnumber 642 to be completed at H.H. Bodewes Shipyards at Millingen. She was christened “Smit-Lloyd 1”. Despite her name she was the second of a series of newly designed type of vessels to accommodate oil rigs and work stations all around the world’s oceans.  The “Smit-Lloyd 1” had a long career. First she sailed under the flag of L. Smit & Co’s Internationale Sleepdienst at Rotterdam. Not much later she became part of the ever growing fleet of Smit-Lloyd N.V., Rotterdam. After a succesful 20 year career she was sold to Sea Service Ltd., Valetta, Malta and renamed in “Sea Serv III”. Apparently her new owner was very happy because another 20 years were added to her name. In 2004 she was sold to First Pacific Trading Company Ltd., managed by Tankship Management Ltd, also at Malta under the name “Ramla Bay”. After only two years she changed owners again without losing her name. She was sold to Island Fendering at Malta. In 2010 she was bought by her current owner Dipmar Gemi Kurtarma, a Turkish company that gave her the name “Deep Supporter”. And now she’s for sale. We would like to get her back to the Netherlands 18TH VOLUME, NO. 62  DATED 02 AUGUST 2017   12/27   and bring her back to her original outfit. To conservate and to exploit. She’s the very last vessel of this type that became an example of the whole offshore industry. We would like to set up a foundation. Of course we need to find out if this plan has a chance. The owners are willing to sell this ship for 250.000 euro’s. Suppose we’re able to raise that amount of money? Then what? We will have to find permanent docking facillity. A few ideas: 1. Get her out of the water and find a dry spot on land to put her on display. This could be a parking lot or a round-a-bout. This way the vessel will not have to be under class and the maintenance costs are lower. But eventually the public interest will fade away because she’s not a sailing ship. As vandalism will set in and before you know it the ship will be wrecked. 2. Keep the vessel in the water at a permanent docking facillity with the possibility to arrange trips in the harbor. This way the ships doesn’t have to be under class but can be exploited. The Port of Rotterdam is big enough and has a lot of interesting places to entertain people. This might lead to an income large enough to put her under class eventually. 3. Put her under class and have international trips. For this of course we need an certified crew. This is the most expensive possibility. What can we do with the “Smit-Lloyd 1”? We can set up excursions, wedding parties, live performances of bands and of course there will be an excursion through the ship guided by people who sailed her. She is in A1 condition and the only thing that needs to be done is painting her back in her original colours. Every piece of equipment on board is original. We would like to keep her away from the scrap beaches. We have until October to place a bid so we are in need of serious money. Please donate. Help us to bring her back home !!!!! Go to the donation site HERE and join use for a change