Keel Laid for National Geographic Polar Ship
Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, Inc., a global provider of expedition cruises and adventure travel experiences, and Ulstein Group, Norwegian shipbuilder and ship designer, celebrated the keel laying of Lindblad’s first polar new build. The keel laying at the CRIST shipyard in Gdynia, Poland, marked a milestone in the construction of the sophisticated expedition ship, and served as the official naming ceremony of the line’s latest addition to the Lindblad-National Geographic fleet. “We are thrilled to announce the name of our new polar ship: National Geographic Endurance, due for delivery in the first quarter of 2020,” said Sven Lindblad, President and CEO of Lindblad Expeditions.
North Pole: The Latest Tourist Trap
On August 16, 2015, the geographic North Pole was visited by a Russian surface ship for the one-hundredth time. The Russian nuclear icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) carried 106 tourists from 16 different countries. This was the icebreaker’s seventh cruise to the Pole just this season. Each voyage takes just less than two weeks round trip, and that includes a full day of partying at the top of the world. This is all available for a starting cost of $26,995 per person for a basic two-person cabin with a standard twin bed…
Icebergs across the North Atlantic
From the first voyages across the North Atlantic, icebergs have been a major threat to shipping interests. The most famous disaster was the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912. On her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, the vessel struck an iceberg approximately 400 nautical miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. Less than 3 hours later the Titanic sank beneath the surface, taking with her over 1500 passengers (http://www.titanicuniverse.com/). There were many other ship-iceberg accidents before the Titanic.
This Day in Naval History – June 22
1807 - HMS Leopard attacks USS Chesapeake 1865 - Confederate raider Shenandoah fires last shot of Civil War in Bering Strait 1884 - Navy relief expedition under CDR Winfield S. Schley rescues LT A.W. Greely, USA, and 6 others from Ellesmere Island, where they were marooned for 3 years on Arctic island. 1898 - ADM Sampson begins amphibious landing near Santiago, Cuba (Source: Navy News Service)
