.jpg) Bianca C. on her maiden voyage withCosta Cruises off coast ofGenoa, 1959 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name |
|
| Builder | Boatyard atLa Ciotat |
| Launched | June 1944 |
| Completed | July 1949 |
| Maiden voyage | 1944 |
| In service | 1944 |
| Out of service | 1961 |
| Fate | Caught fire and sank on 24 October 1961 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger ship |
| Tonnage | 18,427 gross register tons (GRT) when lost[1] |
| Length | 180 m (600 ft)[2] |
| Capacity | 400 passengers[2] |
| Crew | 300[2] |
MVBianca C. was a passenger ship that sank on two occasions, the first time inFrance before being completed, and the second time after an explosion and fire off the island ofGrenada.
Built during World War II at the boatyard ofLa Ciotat, a town on the southern coast of France, the ship was first launched in June 1944 under the nameMaréchal Pétain. Construction had not yet been completed, so the ship was towed toPort de Bouc, nearMarseille, where she was scuttled by the Nazi Germans in August. When the hull was raised, it was renamedLa Marseillaise and towed toToulon before being returned to La Ciotat to be refitted as acruise ship.[citation needed] When the remodeling was completed in July 1949, she sailed toYokohama. In 1957, the ship was given the nameArosa Sky after being sold toPanama'sArosa Line. She was refitted again and became the company'sflagship. She was chartered by the exchange organizationAmerican Field Service to bring students between the U.S. and Europe. Within two years Arosa Line was forced to sell the ship toCosta Line, anItalian company also known as Linea C. After that 1959 sale, the ship was renamed theBianca C. (the second Costa C ship so named) for one of the owner's daughters, and was refurbished once again. TheBianca C.'s main route ran from Italy toVenezuela, including stops in theCaribbean.
In October 1961, the ship was on a trip fromNaples toLa Guaira, Venezuela.[3] On October 22, it docked off Grenada when an explosion occurred in the engine room in the early hours of the morning. One crewman died immediately, and eight others were injured. As fires broke out, approximately 700 passengers and crew scrambled to abandon the ship while Grenadian fishermen and boat owners, awakened by the noise of the explosion, near the harbor ofSt. George's rushed to help. Survivors were taken to the capital, where makeshift hospitals were hastily established to provide shelter and food. Because Grenada did not have the equipment to quench such a large fire, a call for help was sent and was received by the British frigateHMS Londonderry atPuerto Rico. It took two days for theLondonderry to arrive, and by that time theBianca C. had begun to sink. The burning ship was in the mainanchorage and would block the harbor if it sank there, so aLondonderry boarding party boarded the flaming ship to attach a towline. The anchor lines of theBianca C. were burned, and today the anchors are still at the mouth of the St. George's harbor. Meanwhile, theLondonderry moved to tow theBianca C., but the latter ship was listing to port. Thousands of Grenadians watched from the mountains as the tow progressed for six hours, but theBianca C.. had only moved 6 km (3 nmi) when asquall started and the towline broke. TheBianca C. sank quickly into 50 metres (165 ft) of water, about 2 km (1 nmi) from the popular tourist beach atGrand Anse.
In the 1970s, aTrinidadian firm salvaged theBianca C.'s propellers and sold them for scrap. As the top of the ship is in only about 30 metres (100 ft) of water,scuba divers can reach it and in the late 1980s and early 1990s some removed parts of the boat for souvenirs. In late 1992, the rear third of the ship was torn off and the ship began to deteriorate quickly, though at 180 metres (600 ft) in length it is still the region's largestshipwreck. A bronze statue ofChrist of the Abyss was given by the Costa Line to Grenada in appreciation of the country's hospitality, and the statue stands in the Carenage surrounding the harbor at St. George's.
The Times named theBianca C. as one of the top tenwreck diving sites in the world.[4]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1961 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
12°03′11″N61°45′32″W / 12.053°N 61.759°W /12.053; -61.759
