BBC news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/8603276.stm

Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1263922/Titanic-sailor-rescued-Caribbean-SOS-friend-Wales.html?ITO=1490

US Coastguard’s 1 April press release: http://www.d7publicaffairs.com/go/doc/586/509295/

MV Kelso
anchored off the Settlement


with the 1961 volcanic cone & lava flow behind with the eastern Settlement houses visible behind the bow.

MV Kelso was built in 1971 by Hayashikane Shipbuilders, she was previously named MV Toko Maru. MV Kelso has a crew of 38 and can carry 12 passengers. MV Kelso was withdrawn from Tristan service after being sold in 2009.

See 2009 Shipping News for details.

Dimensions :


1678 gross tonnes

71.7 metres long

11 metres wide (beam)

6.8 metres depth

120 m2 cargo capacity

8000 hp Nigata engine

Titanic returns to Atlantic waters – breaks the ice at Georgetown – and remains afloat!

Story edited from emails and especially from www.saint fm:


We
learn MV Kelso was sold by the fishing company Ovenstones to a
Californian resident in July. He intends to convert her into a private
‘motor yacht’ and has re-named the vessel MY TITANIC!
The
ship arrived at St Helena on 16th August and is reported to have caused
some concern amongst island officials as, though the ship called itself
Motor Yacht Titanic, when the police( led by St Helena’s Chief of
Police, Royce Hipgrave) inspected it from the wharf, there was no ship
name visible. Checks found no vessel registered as MY Titanic on
systems, so great caution was used in eventually establishing that the
vessel was bona fide.

Later
senior officers of the MY Titanic visited Saint FM and clarified that
the MY Titanic is the former Kelso, had been sold to an American and is
on its way to St Kitts, but as the name Kelso was retained by
Ovenstones Company it has to be renamed and re-registered thereby the
confusion.  Master Donald McLoughlin reported that the Titanic is en
route to Granada in the Caribbean to undergo a three or four year refit
into a private vessel. Owner Mr Bill Schlagel  explained he had picked
the Kelso as his new yacht as it was good value and had ‘superb engine
plant’. Bill intends to spend $10 million converting the vessel.

So
the vessel and its crew made new St Helena friends before departing on
Monday 17th August, successfully breaking the ice caused by its unusual
arrival and hopefully it will avoid the infamous icy fate of the
original White Star Line ship RMS Titanic in April 1912.