TS Leda
Encyclopedia
The North Sea
ferry TS Leda was operated by Bergen Line between Britain and Norway for over 20 years. In 1981 she was rebuilt as a cruise liner
and later became an accommodation vessel
at a penal colony
for terrorists and members of the Mafia
. In 2002, whilst being broken up, she was boarded by Greenpeace
campaigners protesting about conditions in the shipbreaking
industry.
. was a passenger and cargo vessel operated between 1953 and 1974 as a twice weekly North Sea
ferry between Bergen
, Stavanger
and Newcastle upon Tyne
.
Built by Swan Hunter
for Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab (Bergen Line), she was launched in 1952Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab had previously owned a different vessel, SS Leda, built 1920. by Princess Astrid of Norway
accompanied by her father, Crown Prince Olav
. Leda replaced the Vega which had been sunk in the war and was important for the Bergen Line in operating the ferry service (the "Norwegian Royal Mail Route") that had started in 1890. The first Norwegian vessel to be built with stabilisers
,Denny
-Brown fin stabilisers built by Wallsend Slipway
. Leda's powerful steam turbines made her quiet and good at sea. She was of a particularly elegant and, for her day, modern design with a raked stem
, tripod mast and a single broad funnel. She had accommodation for 119 first class passengers and 384 tourist class. with all cabins having hot and cold running water. Up to 18 cars, lifted on and off by electric cranes,On-board cranes, not derrick
s could be accommodated in three cargo holds. She ran two sailings a week in each direction, joined in the summer by her sister ship MV Venus (1931, rebuilt 1948, call sign LDSV). Throughout most of the 1960s she ran three round trips per week in the summer. The sailing took 17 hours to Stavanger; direct sailings to Bergen took 19 hours. The tourist class fare was just over £7.
On her inaugural cruise, with King Haakon
on board, she ran aground in Oslofjord
but this only delayed her entering service by a few days.
her lack of fuel-efficiency and the advent of roll-on/roll-off ferries led to her being laid up in Bergen in 1974, then being chartered as a hostel for oil rig workers
until 1979. She was purchased for use as a livestock
carrier but instead, as Najla,Lloyd's Register
also listed her as Nalja. she was again used for accommodation, this time in the Hebrides
, Scotland.
In 1980 she was purchased by Dolphin (Hellas) of Piraeus
, renamed Albatros, and rebuilt at Perama
to become a cruse liner. The aluminium superstructure was extended, the funnel re-shaped and the mainmast removed. By the time the changes were complete in 1984 a swimming pool had been provided and there were 202 air-conditioned cabins accommodating 484 passengers. After some Mediterranean cruises in 1984, and temporarily renamed Alegro, in the same year she undertook cruises in South America. The year 1985 saw Mediterranean, Atlantic and Norwegian cruises under the name Albatross.
In 1985 she was chartered to the American Star Line (Greek owned) and renamed Betsy RossBetsy Ross
made the first American Flag
. for cruises between Florida
and Brazil
. However, these were undersubscribed so instead she ran cruises between Venice
and Piraeus until being laid-up. By this time her general condition was deteriorating and a charter for African cruises had to be abandoned after a short time.
In 1989 she was chartered as Amalfi, only to be laid up for debt at Venice
. She was purchased at auction in 1990 by Stargas, renamed Star of Venice, and put under the Vanuatu
flag.Under the ownership of Valgas Trading. After a fire in 1991 she was repaired in Rijeka
only to become a floating police hostel in 1992 both at Genoa
For the Columbus International Exposition
celebrating the quincentenary of Columbus’s
first voyage to the Americas. and at Pianosa
, Italy, at that time a maximum-security prison island which housed terrorists and members of the Mafia
. Once more she was laid up at Venice until being brought into operation for Mediterranean Cruises in 1998, with disastrous results stemming from her poor mechanical condition. In 2000 she was last used as a hotel ship at Ravenna
.
, Turkey, to be broken up. Shortly afterwards in 2002, and while she was being scrapped, the Greenpeace
vessel Rainbow Warrior arrived as part of a campaign against toxic waste and poor working conditions in the shipbreaking industry. One of the Greenpeace demonstrations took place on the Star of Venices hulk.
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
ferry TS Leda was operated by Bergen Line between Britain and Norway for over 20 years. In 1981 she was rebuilt as a cruise liner
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
and later became an accommodation vessel
Barracks ship
Barracks ship or barracks barge are terms used to indicate a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sailors. A barracks ship may also be used as a "Receiving Unit" for sailors who need temporary residence prior to being...
at a penal colony
Penal colony
A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...
for terrorists and members of the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. In 2002, whilst being broken up, she was boarded by Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
campaigners protesting about conditions in the shipbreaking
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...
industry.
Bergen Line ferry
TS LedaTS is Turbine ShipSteamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
. was a passenger and cargo vessel operated between 1953 and 1974 as a twice weekly North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
ferry between Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
, Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
and Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
.
Built by Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter
Swan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
for Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab (Bergen Line), she was launched in 1952Det Bergenske Dampskibsselskab had previously owned a different vessel, SS Leda, built 1920. by Princess Astrid of Norway
Princess Astrid of Norway
Princess Astrid of Norway, Mrs. Ferner, is the second daughter of King Olav V of Norway and his wife, Princess Märtha of Sweden...
accompanied by her father, Crown Prince Olav
Olav V of Norway
Olav V was the king of Norway from 1957 until his death. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Olav was born in the United Kingdom as the son of King Haakon VII of Norway and Queen Maud of Norway...
. Leda replaced the Vega which had been sunk in the war and was important for the Bergen Line in operating the ferry service (the "Norwegian Royal Mail Route") that had started in 1890. The first Norwegian vessel to be built with stabilisers
Stabilizer (ship)
Ship stabilizers are fins mounted beneath the waterline and emerging laterally. In contemporary vessels, they may be gyroscopically controlled active fins, which have the capacity to change their angle of attack to counteract roll caused by wind or waves acting on the ship.The bilge keel is an...
,Denny
William Denny and Brothers
William Denny and Brothers Limited, and often referred to simply as Denny, were a Scottish shipbuilding company.-History:The Company was founded by Peter Denny in 1840 and based in Dumbarton, on the River Clyde. Although the Denny yard was situated near the junction of the River Clyde and the River...
-Brown fin stabilisers built by Wallsend Slipway
Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company
Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Company Ltd was formerly an independent company, located on the River Tyne at Point Pleasant, near Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, around a mile downstream from the Swan Hunter shipyard, with which it later merged.-History:...
. Leda's powerful steam turbines made her quiet and good at sea. She was of a particularly elegant and, for her day, modern design with a raked stem
Stem (ship)
The stem is the very most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself and curves up to the wale of the boat. The stem is more often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively...
, tripod mast and a single broad funnel. She had accommodation for 119 first class passengers and 384 tourist class. with all cabins having hot and cold running water. Up to 18 cars, lifted on and off by electric cranes,On-board cranes, not derrick
Derrick
A derrick is a lifting device composed of one tower, or guyed mast such as a pole which is hinged freely at the bottom. It is controlled by lines powered by some means such as man-hauling or motors, so that the pole can move in all four directions. A line runs up it and over its top with a hook on...
s could be accommodated in three cargo holds. She ran two sailings a week in each direction, joined in the summer by her sister ship MV Venus (1931, rebuilt 1948, call sign LDSV). Throughout most of the 1960s she ran three round trips per week in the summer. The sailing took 17 hours to Stavanger; direct sailings to Bergen took 19 hours. The tourist class fare was just over £7.
On her inaugural cruise, with King Haakon
Haakon VII of Norway
Haakon VII , known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the personal union with Sweden. He was a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg...
on board, she ran aground in Oslofjord
Oslofjord
The Oslofjord is a bay in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the Torbjørnskjær and Færder lighthouses and down to Langesund in the south to Oslo in the north....
but this only delayed her entering service by a few days.
Later history
During her long and varied history Leda went through many changes of name, ownership and use. In the oil crisis of the 1970s1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo. This was "in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war. It lasted until March 1974. With the...
her lack of fuel-efficiency and the advent of roll-on/roll-off ferries led to her being laid up in Bergen in 1974, then being chartered as a hostel for oil rig workers
North Sea oil
North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...
until 1979. She was purchased for use as a livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
carrier but instead, as Najla,Lloyd's Register
Lloyd's Register
The Lloyd's Register Group is a maritime classification society and independent risk management organisation providing risk assessment and mitigation services and management systems certification. Historically, as Lloyd's Register of Shipping, it was a specifically maritime organisation...
also listed her as Nalja. she was again used for accommodation, this time in the Hebrides
Hebrides
The Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These islands have a long history of occupation dating back to the Mesolithic and the culture of the residents has been affected by the successive...
, Scotland.
In 1980 she was purchased by Dolphin (Hellas) of Piraeus
Piraeus
Piraeus is a city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens Urban Area, 12 km southwest from its city center , and lies along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf....
, renamed Albatros, and rebuilt at Perama
Perama
Perama is a port city and a suburb of Piraeus that lies on the southwest edge of the Aegaleo mountains. It creates the western terminus of the Port of Piraeus and there is also a port that provides ferry services to Salamis. The town has only one main road connecting Lambrakis and Ralli Avenues,...
to become a cruse liner. The aluminium superstructure was extended, the funnel re-shaped and the mainmast removed. By the time the changes were complete in 1984 a swimming pool had been provided and there were 202 air-conditioned cabins accommodating 484 passengers. After some Mediterranean cruises in 1984, and temporarily renamed Alegro, in the same year she undertook cruises in South America. The year 1985 saw Mediterranean, Atlantic and Norwegian cruises under the name Albatross.
In 1985 she was chartered to the American Star Line (Greek owned) and renamed Betsy RossBetsy Ross
Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross is widely credited with making the first American flag. There is, however, no credible historical evidence that the story is true.-Early life:...
made the first American Flag
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
. for cruises between Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
. However, these were undersubscribed so instead she ran cruises between Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Piraeus until being laid-up. By this time her general condition was deteriorating and a charter for African cruises had to be abandoned after a short time.
In 1989 she was chartered as Amalfi, only to be laid up for debt at Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. She was purchased at auction in 1990 by Stargas, renamed Star of Venice, and put under the Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
flag.Under the ownership of Valgas Trading. After a fire in 1991 she was repaired in Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
only to become a floating police hostel in 1992 both at Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
For the Columbus International Exposition
Genoa Expo '92
The International Exhibition Genoa '92 Colombo '92 took place from Friday, May 15 to Saturday, August 15, 1992 in Genoa, Italy. The theme was "Christopher Columbus, The Ship and the Sea", and the Expo has been released for the 500 years of the Discover of America by the Genoese sailor Columbus....
celebrating the quincentenary of Columbus’s
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
first voyage to the Americas. and at Pianosa
Pianosa
The small island of Pianosa , about in area, forms part of Italy's Tuscan Archipelago. Its name comes from the Italian pianura . Its highest point stands above sea level. Pianosa is part of the Elba island municipality. On clear days, Elbans see Pianosa as a dark blue line over the lighter blue sea...
, Italy, at that time a maximum-security prison island which housed terrorists and members of the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
. Once more she was laid up at Venice until being brought into operation for Mediterranean Cruises in 1998, with disastrous results stemming from her poor mechanical condition. In 2000 she was last used as a hotel ship at Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
.
Demise
In 2001 Star of Venice was towed to AliağaAliaga
Aliaga can refer to:* Aliaga, Aragon, Spain* Aliağa, Turkey* the Filipino municipality of Aliaga, Nueva Ecija on Luzon* a family name, as in the case of the Peruvian writer Felipe Pardo y Aliaga...
, Turkey, to be broken up. Shortly afterwards in 2002, and while she was being scrapped, the Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
vessel Rainbow Warrior arrived as part of a campaign against toxic waste and poor working conditions in the shipbreaking industry. One of the Greenpeace demonstrations took place on the Star of Venices hulk.