Star Breeze Explained

Star Breeze (formerly Seabourn Spirit) is a German-built cruise ship completed in 1989. The luxury liner travels between Europe and Africa, and is owned by Windstar Cruises. In early 2005 she was rated the best small cruise ship by Condé Nast.[1] In April 2015, she departed the Seabourn fleet, and on 6 May 2015 she was rechristened and entered service with Windstar Cruises.[2]

Pirate attack

On 5November 2005 at 5:50a.m., while Spirit was underway 115km off the coast of Somalia with 115 passengers, the ship was attacked by two pirate speedboats launched by a mother ship.[3] Machine guns were fired as well as rocket-propelled grenades at the cruise ship, and the remains of an RPG's rocket motor wedged itself in the wall of a room[4] and was disarmed by sailors from after the attack.[5] It was reported that a second RPG bounced off the stern.[1] No passengers were injured, but the ship's master-at-arms, Som Bahadur Gurung was hit by shrapnel whilst attempting to combat the raiders with a long-range acoustic device (LRAD). The sonic device repelled the pirates by blasting a powerful sound wave.

Security officer Michael Groves and British shipmate Som Bahadur Gurung (an ex-Gurkha) were honoured for their bravery by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday 16May 2007, receiving the Queen's Gallantry Medal and the Queen's Commendation for Bravery, respectively.[6] [7]

The ship then altered its course to Port Victoria in the Seychelles for repairs rather than the originally planned Mombasa in Kenya.[1] The ship then sailed to Singapore and returned to its original schedule.[1]

Later service

In 2019, the vessel was "stretched". It was cut in half and a new 84-foot section was inserted in the middle, with 50 new staterooms, accommodating 100 extra passengers.[8] The lengthening was originally supposed to be completed in February 2020, but was delayed to November 2020 because of asbestos found in the engine room.[9] [10]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Lehr, Peter . Violence at sea: piracy in the age of global terrorism . 2007 . Routledge . 978-0-415-95320-7 . 4–5 .
  2. Web site: Windstar Completes Purchase of Three Seabourn Ships. CIN. Staff. 19 February 2013.
  3. Bomb experts tackle missile, The Herald Sun, 8November 2005
  4. Rebuilding Africa tourism, Christian Science Monitor, 8 November 2005
  5. Cruising into hell, The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 8 November 2005
  6. News: 'I beat pirates with a hose and sonic cannon'. 17 May 2007. news.bbc.co.uk.
  7. Cocktail party follows pirate attack, The Courier-Mail,2005-11-08
  8. Web site: $250M Star Plus Initiative will upgrade our three power yachts.
  9. News: Why Cruise Lines Keep Cutting Their Ships in Half . Bloomberg.com . 4 December 2019 .
  10. Web site: Stretched Star Breeze Delivered to Windstar Cruises. 2024-01-03 . cruiseindustrynews.com/ . en-US.