(Click this MS Athena Cruise Ship text link to see the largest size)
The bow of the MS Athena (alt. MV Athena) is pointing towards the Western Entrance with the Straits of Dover and English Channel beyond; the Cliffs of France can be seen on higher resolutions.
The Western Entrance is formed by the Southern Breakwater, out-of-shot to the left, and the Admiralty Pier behind the ship on the right.
This Dover Harbour photo was taken at 6.31 am on Tuesday, 7th of September, 2010, from the lighthouse end of the Prince of Wales Pier.
The two Dover Harbour Board bollard-pull tugs assisting the Athena, DHB Dauntless (on the left) and DHB Doughty (on the right), along with the DHB David Church dredger, berth in the Tug Haven of the Tidal Harbour.
The MS Athena, chartered by tour operator Page and Moy for the 2010 summer season, has just finished "A Taste of Europe", her last summer cruise this year, which began in Dover on Friday, the 3rd of September with the following itinerary: Dover - Amsterdam (Netherlands, Holland; Anne Frank house, Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum) - Zeebrugge (Belgium; for Bruges or Ghent) - Honfleur (France; Saint Catherine Church, Monet's Garden at Giverny, or Paris) .
MS Athena, like the MS Princess Dapne, is a cruise ship owned and operated by Classic International Cruises (CI Cruises) of the World Cruises Agency. She was built in 1948 as the MS Stockholm by Götaverken in Gothenburg for the Swedish America Line (SAL). Since her career with SAL she has sailed under the names MS Völkerfreundschaft, MS Volker, MS Fridtjof Nansen, MS Italia I, MS Italia Prima, MS Valtur Prima and MS Caribe, before beginning service under her current name.
As Stockholm, the MS Athena was best known for colliding with the SS Andrea Doria in 1956, resulting in the sinking of the latter ship:
On the night of July 25, 1956, at 11:10 PM, in heavy fog in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket, the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria of the Italian Line (Società di navigazione Italia) collided in what was to become one of history's most famous maritime disasters.
Although most passengers and crew survived the collision, the larger Andrea Doria luxury liner capsized and sank the following morning. Owing to the collision, 50% of the Andrea Doria's lifeboats were unusable.
However, a number of ships responded and provided assistance, which averted a massive loss of life like that suffered by the RMS Titanic over 40 years earlier (see the Charles Lightoller of the Titanic, 8 East Cliff, Dover photo).
Five crew members on the Stockholm were killed instantly and several more were trapped in the wrecked bow. Despite its having sunk about three feet (0.9 m), the crippled Stockholm helped in the rescue and ended up carrying 327 passengers and 245 crewmembers from the Andrea Doria, in addition to her own passengers and crew. After Andrea Doria sank, Stockholm sailed to New York City under her own power and arrived on July 27. The crushed bow portion was repaired at a cost of 1 million US dollars three months later.
(Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, the ship had a gross register tonnage of 29,100 and a capacity of about 1,200 passengers and 500 crew. Home Port: Genoa, or Genova, Italy. Wreck location: 40°29′30″N 69°51′0″W)
MS Athena Career
Name: 1948 - 1960: MS Stockholm, 1960 - 1985: MS Völkerfreundschaft, 1985 - 1986: MS Volker, 1986 - 1993: MS Fridtjof Nansen, 1993 - 1994: MS Italia I, 1994 - 1998: MS Italia Prima, 1998 - 2002: MS Valtur Prima, 2002 - 2005: MS Caribe, 2005 - present: MS Athena
Owner: 1948 - 1960: Swedish America Line, 1960 - 1985: VEB Deutsche Seereederei, 1985 - 1989: Neptunus Rex Enterprises, 1989 - 1994: StarLauro, 1994 - 2002: Nina Cia. di Navigazione, 2002 - 2004: Festival Cruises, 2004 - present: Nina SpA
Operator: 1948 - 1960: Swedish America Line, 1960 - 1966: VEB Deutsche Seereederei, 1966 - 1985: VEB Deutsche Seereederei (summer seasons)/Stena Line (winter seasons), 1985 - 1994: laid up/rebuilt, 1994 - 1995:Nina Cia. di Navigazione, 1995 - 1998: Neckermann Seereisen, 1998: laid up, 1998 - 2001: Valtur Tourist, 2001 - 2002: laid up, 2002 - 2004: Festival Cruises, 2004 - 2005: laid up, 2005 - present: Classic International Cruises
Port of registry: 1948 - 1960: Gothenburg, Sweden, 1960 - 1985: Rostock, East Germany, 1985 - 1989: Panama City, Panama, 1989 - 2004: Naples, Italy, 2004 - present: Lisbon, Portugal
Ordered: October 1944
Builder: Götaverken, Gothenburg, Sweden
Yard number: 611
Launched: 9 September 1946
Christened: 9 September 1946
Acquired: 7 February 1948
In service: 21 February 1948
Identification: Swedish Official Number 8926 (1948), Italian Official Number 1749 (1993)
Status: In service
General characteristics (as built)
Type: Ocean liner
Tonnage: 12,165 GRT
Length: 160.08 m (525 ft 2 in)
Beam: 21.04 m (69 ft 0 in)
Draught: 7.90 m (25 ft 11 in)
Installed power: 2 × 8-cylinder Götaverken diesels, combined 12,000 hp (8,900 kW)
Speed: 17 kn (31.48 km/h)
Capacity: 390 passengers, 4,700 metric tons deadweight (DWT)
General characteristics (currently) (1) (2)
Type: Cruise ship
Tonnage: 15,614 GRT
Decks: 8
Installed power: 2 × Wärtsilä 16V32 diesels 14,300 hp (10,700 kW)
Speed: 19 kn (35.19 km/h)
Capacity: 556 passengers
Call Sign: CQRV
MMSI: 255801380
IMO number: 5383304
Click to see the official MS Athena webpage.
An MS Athena video from Hansa Touristik (Hansa Tourism):
(1) Wikipedia entry for MS Athena
(2) Marinetraffic entry for MS Athena
The main photo's original webpage is at:
MS Athena Cruise Ship and Tugs in the Western Entrance of Dover Harbour
To be uploaded:
MS Athena Cruise Ship before the White Cliffs of Dover
MS Athena Cruise Ship before the Southern Breakwater.
Also in port this day:
Click to see all MS Athena, Classic International Cruises (CI Cruises), Cruise Ship, and Tug photos.
Clickable thumbnails of all harbour-related photos on the main Panoramio Images of Dover website are available on this blog on the Port of Dover Page (also linked to at the top of the page below the blog title).
The Panoramio photos are each accompanied by a Google Earth satellite map. However, the images are smaller than those on the Images of Dover Blog and the captions are less well formatted.
Port of Dover travel and tourism in the Western Docks.
John Latter / Jorolat
Dover Blog: The Psychology of a Small Town
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