MS Kronprinsesse Martha, was ordered in 1928 and built by the International Shipbuilding and Engineering Co in Danzig and delivered in 1929. She was named after the Swedish crown princess Martha who had married the Norwegian prince Olav V. In 1939 she runs aground and lists to starboard side where all her starboard cabins are severely damaged. During the war the Nazis rename her Ryfylke-Norge and use her as a blockade vessel to prevent the allies from entering port. She is severely damaged and sinks a second time but after the war but she is salvaged again. She returns to service and is reengined in 1949 with diesels replacing her steam engines.In 1956 she runs aground and sinks again, She returns to service along the Norwegian coast and sails until 1974 when she is retired and serves as a floating hotel in Stavanger and later Sweden. She is renamed Koster. In 1979 she is refurbished for two million dollars and leaves for the West Indies, sailing as Sport Rover on cruises for divers. The company goes bankrupt and after having changed hands many times she is acquired by Magellan Cruise cy., who wants to operate her in the Caribbean, she sails to Falmouth for conversion but plans fail to materialize and she is left rusting in 1992. In 2000 however she is sold for hotel service, is again restored and has been in the port of Stockholm as a hotel ship ever since.
Fridtjof Nansen
Built 2020, HX Expeditions (128photographs
