Shipwreck of "World Discoverer"

 ship, shipwreck, tourist attraction

Built in 1974 as the Cruise Ship BEWA Discoverer, this ship spent its life cruising the Southern and Northern poles during the Summer months and cruising the islands of the South Pacific during the Winter for various companies before she was purchased by the Society Expedition Cruise Line and renamed World Discoverer.

On cruise with just under her 137 passenger capacity on April 30th, 2000 the World Discoverer struck an uncharted rock in Sandfly Passage shortly after 4pm local time. The ship rapidly began taking on water and listing to Starboard as the Captain put out a distress call. While the ships pumps held out long enough to allow a passenger ferry from Honaria to remove the passengers and majority of the crew, the ship was clearly losing it's battle. Her Captain put her into the sheltered waters of Roderick Bay where the remaining crew prepared to abandon ship as her list increased to 20 degrees. In a last ditch effort to save the ship, the Captain grounded her here where she settled in shallow water on her Starboard keel listing 46 degrees to Starboard, with the majority of her superstructure above the water.

Though plans were drawn up to salvage the ship, the civil war in the Solomon Islands prevented any organized salvage plan from being put in place, and by the time teams were able to safely reach the ship she had been stripped of most of her valuable or usuable materials. With the Society Expedition Cruise Line filing for bankruptcy in 2004, the ship has sat unsalvaged and is presently a local tourist attraction as she rusts away.