Rescue role for former trawler
German shipyard Pella Sietas in Hamburg-Neuenfelde has taken on the former British trawler and fishery research ship ‘Clupea’, which is being overhauled and refitted by March for service as a refugee rescue ship in the Mediterranean.
The 32.31m long and 7.9m wide Clupea is being revamped for the private German humanitarian group Sea-Watch. During the overhaul at the Russian-owned shipyard, it will also be renamed Sea-Watch 2.
The future captain of the ship, Ingo Werth, told Maritime Journal the overhaul was going as scheduled as of January. He noted that no technical modifications had been made up to then apart from the installation of a new 50kW generator – which the yard said was a modern Diesel auxiliary – and two new on-board boats, all funded by voluntary donations.
Capt. Werth said the ship, built in 1968 in Aberdeen, still had its original Lister Blackstone 8 cylinder engine with a 4 cylinder compressor for start-up. Original ship specifications said the engine was of 660bhp and developed 11.75knots over a controllable pitch propeller. Werth also mentioned two Cummins generators of 167kW and a Lister air-cooled 3 cylinder generator for port operation. He also said the ship had a six ton HIAB 190 crane mounted on the after-deck.
The crane and generators are being overhauled and the A-Frame removed. Coating and anti-fouling is being renewed and cabins refurbished and adapted to new needs. A medical station for seriously injured people is also being added – a facility which Sea-Watch notes had not previously been available to it.
Shipyard spokesman Fridtjof Rohde told Maritime Journal work was being carried out “at cost and on call” – presumably a reference to funding. He mentioned pipe and steel structure inspection and replacement where necessary, a kitchen refit, and cable and connections replacement with docking and recoating due in February.
Ingo Werth said the future Sea-Watch 2 was built in Aberdeen in 1968 and served with fisheries authorities until 1991 when management was passed to private operators for charter to offshore, ornithological and diving interests. He said it was bought at the end of 2015 by Sea Watch for €200,000.
Sea-Watch 2 joins the 21.1m Sea-Watch 1 (ex GO 46) – a former Dutch fishing cutter which will be 100 years old next year. That old ship is driven by a 10 cylinder MAN HP 340 diesel built in 1987 and has Reintjes gears and a 65 hp 4-cylinder bow thruster.
The Sea-Watch Verein, headquartered in Berlin, said it wanted the ship in service off the Libyan coast as soon as possible. It said the new ship would enable the organisation to operate all year round and in bad weather conditions when, it reported, most of the deadly accidents happened.
By Tom Todd
