I just did a google search and did not realize the ship had recently been sold. I had been awaiting updates on the progress of the restoration and now I know why I haven't. Very sad.
Thanks, Peter. This sad story just popped up in my feed. Like many, I had followed some of the restoration, but news had gone dark. It certainly brings to light the challenges of restoring/preserving/maintaining even a moderately-sized vessel in an age when it seems there is less and less interest in keeping bits of history around and accessible to future generations.
As a native Stockton citizen and an amateur boat/ship enthusiast, this really breaks my heart especially learning just recently the historical facts on this ship. I have passed this ship dozens of times going on small road trips or fishing on the levees nearby. I never knew that this ship had such a history!
So grateful for you, Peter. You truly carry on the legacy that Frank Braynard and William H. Miller established. You’re the most important maritime historian in the United States, maybe the world. This video really helps us to process the loss of this grand ship that has an important place in passenger shipping.
Wow, Dave, you are always so kind but I'm truly humbled by your post here. Thank you -- I will continue to try and bring my viewers with me on my quests to document and preserve what is left of the se once glorious ships. :)
@midshipcinema and you're certainly correct. Ships do have a soul. Every time I board Queen Mary in Long Beach I feel such a warm and loving energy as long as I'm on board. I honestly never want to go on land again.
AURORA sounded as if it was screaming for help. Very sad this lovely ship has sunk, I'm glad you got to visit her, at least from the outside before she sank. 😥😥 Thank you for another video of a lost ship that we'll never forget.
I spent a year on her when she was the EXPEX in Los Angeles harbor. After working aboard, I saw a Calif. Maritime Academy book in the ships small library Ended up going there and spending 23 years at sea in the Merchant Marine. This ship changed my life and gave me the world.
Wow, fascinating! I've never encountered anyone who had anything to do with her EXPEX phase. I saw her anchored off Long Beach when I was with some friends on their boat celebrating the 4th of July. We circled her and I took some slides. Would love to learn more about what she was doing there or what the plans were before they sold her to Friendships.
@@midshipcinema EXPEX was suppose to be a world traveling floating U. S. products Export Exhibition Ship in order to generate world trade for U. S. Manufacturers. I along with other workers and the owner/ his family lived on the ship. It changed my life. I was basically a deckhand and ran the launch that took people ashore to the office everyday. I knew I wanted to have a career at sea and although the project never got off the ground, it changed my life. I went back to community college and then went to the Calif. Maritime Academy. I spent 23 years at sea, 22 on 3 U. S. Navy auxiliary oceanographic research ships. I saw the world. Working on this ship gave me the discipline to go back to school and follow my dreams. A real shame what has happened. We all know the saying, ships are holes in the water you dump money into. I also think ships have the closest thing to a soul that inanimate objects can have. I sailed many years on the RV Melville. She finally reached her lifetimes end and was given to the Philippines Navy. Also worked on RV Roger Revelle and RV Sally Ride.
Thank you. Peter have been following this channel for a while and wondered what had happened. So sad to hear about the end of this beautiful old liner. Robert put so much effort into the restoration of this vessel. Cheers from Brisbane Australia: James
So sad and such happenstance. I cannot see or understand what politics could have intervened to terribly complicate this project.But i'm sure that there will be an explanation at some point. All I know is that whatever has happened, the ship has been seemingly betrayed and she is showing it. I guess the shock comes from seeing so much progress being completed and in such a forward and practical and beautiful direction that that she is now all of a sudden sunk. It is a kick in the teeth quite frankly. I feel very sorry for chris who put in fifteen years of his life to this. This is more than a gut punch for him but more like a stab in the heart. Amazing Work as always Peter.
There is a world of people who don't care or even worse, who think ships are an eyesore. Battling them can be unsurmountable when taking on a project like this. I think Chris gave his all and then some to make this project happen.
This is just so sad. I wondered why there have not been any updates on her over the last months. I just figured they had stopped working over the winter and that there would be an update soon. I certainly never thought this would be the update.
Oh Peter, such SAD news, indeed! Another one bites the dust....they're all going away, little by little. Very distressing news. Thank you for sharing and I applaud you for your constant and untiring efforts to document these grand old girls.
Thank you, Andy. This really is so sad after all the work and time invested in her restoration. We who love old passenger ships are destined to be heartbroken over and over again.
Well what a month, this sad news and I’ve also been tracking the Bella Fortuna, former Song of Norway making her way through the Suez Canal and mostly likely destined for Alang. My very first cruise was on this ship and I fell in love with her! You are right Peter - ships do have a soul, they deliver us safe passage through storms and serve their owners well. We’ve seen so many classic ships scrapped over the past 20 years, with 911, SOLAS, Covid, the desire by most folk for balconies etc Times are hard and sad for ship enthusiasts 😕😕
I believe my father has a copie of amen from that ship in the form of a booklet with a painted picture. I'm going to have to look through his 🤑 now. It's such a sad story.
Such sad news. Iv watched all Chris' videos regarding this beautiful old cruise ship. Iv recently visited the queen Mary in longbeach from the uk and was hoping that one day the aurora would be a candidate for a visit. I feel like chris has put his heart and soul in to this old girl. My thoughts are with him and what ever he plans to do next. He should put a vieo up on his channel as im sure he will get an enormous amount of support and comfort from it. Peace ✌️
I just can’t believe this, I wore my 2018 AURORA shirt yesterday, and was wondering if and when the 2024 version will come out. Then I saw Chris’s post and I’m still so surprised at what’s happened. 😢
Been a long time goal for me to visit this classic vessel and finally made the visit in 2023. Even then, I felt the restoration was a doomed effort but remained hopeful, sadly I was right but it didn’t have to be that way. Truly tragic!
Hi Peter. I "get" what you have said here. She sounded like "I need help, I can't breathe." To me she looks just the right size, not too big and not too small, for a complete overhaul, to become a really nice floating Yacht, or small expedition ship, yes? I'm sad she sunk at berth. Will look forward to your upcoming videos and the documentary.
Thank you, Jeremy. I agree that she would be a perfect yacht. Her lines are spectacular. As a cruise or expedition ship, her size, lack of balconies and all the regulations are prohibitive to return on the investment.
so shocked to hear about the aurora i sub to the restoration project channel but nothing had come up in my feeds about it this is the 1st time annything has ...such a sad loss of a historic ship and all that time and effort not to mention money that the owner had invested in restoring her! 😢😢
Yes, a huge blow to the cause of passenger ship restoration. On the bright side, he shined a light on this little beauty and gave her some love in her final years.
That ship has a beautiful bow. If you're new to this planet, the front of a ship is the bow, the rear of a ship is the stern, the right hand side is the starboard side when you're facing the bow when you're on board, and the left hand side is the port side when you're facing the bow when you're on board.
The Scandinavian Mini passenger liner Gamle Skogoy was sunk at its moorings for years submerged to its funnel and is now being restored. She was built around the same time. Since 2017
Let's not forget you guys are keeping multiple retired warships alive, incl USS Constitution (one of very few original sailing vessels to have served in battle), Texas, Wisconsin, Iowa etc. If we are conserving more ships it can't be by a lot, and even if that's the case, take a step back, convert the total tonnage rather than the amount of ships. U.S is ahead by leaps and bounds. Don't get me wrong, Aurora's sinking is absolutely gutwrenching. Here's hoping she'll be raised and restored.
She looks like and reminds me of Aristotle Onassis's private yacht Christina 'O ... Very sad to see another historical ship that resembles and reminds us of better times in a better era fade into the ashes of history... Hopefully someone saves. She would make a wonderful private yacht..... Greetings from beautiful Greece 🇬🇷
Greetings! Yes, she has a similar form to the beautiful CHRISTINA. I agree that she would make a wonderful yacht for a supremely wealthy person with good taste. We can only hope there is some oligarch out there who agrees. :)
It is hard to believe with all the hard work that had gone into the ship, that it would just suddenly sink. I hope it was not intentional. I pray there might be some hope in raising her back up and fixing her.
Much work done. All of it cosmetic.. or most of it. All it takes is a through hull valve to surrender to corrosion, and it's all over. It's such a shame. She was unique, technically innovative for her time and so pretty.
I little late But I am saddened about the fate of Aurora I had no idea she was sold I found out about her fate several months ago actually, the fact she was so close to being saved to!
That screech sounds like metal scraping metal - the minesweeper moored outboard of it was already partially sunk (can see its wreck in newsclips of aurora sinking) so maybe aurora was scraping against that (mooring lines slackened a little and new owner not checked on them) and that’s worn a hole in her hull.
Yes, there is probably a logical explanation for the creaking. She wasn't listing, so I think it was more the connection with the gangway in the wind. Plus, the minesweeper has a wooden hull but either way, the timing and mood made it easy to anthropomorphize the cries of the AURORA. This was the very first time I have felt that familiar sadness I have when visiting doomed ships while in her presence.
Now because the Aurora sank. There's now a push to remove a lot of the abandoned vessels in the Delta. Which comes to mind, what's going to happen to the USCGC Fir? The last information I can get, was their Facebook Page asking about possible new owners. But that was on February 5, 2023. And since than, it's sitting there still. I've tried to message them about what's going to happen to her, but no response other than 'seen'. The owner or former owner did a lot of work on her, from repainting, changing the actual structure to her original layout, adding new generators, etc. But it all stopped. I hope it doesn't have the same fate as the Aurora, and the other vessels right next to it.
It is such a sad state of affairs. When the other vessels started piling up around AURORA, I did not think it was good for her future as it gave the impression that these ships were all derelict. When I last visited FIR, she was immaculate. I hope someone will step in to rescue her but with all the liability for possible pollution and other issues as well as it being next to impossible to find a willing berth, I don't think there is much hope.
@midshipcinema the fact that she sank in freshwater gives me some hope. praying that someone who actually wants to preserve this piece of history buys her and restores her.
Any idea who the new owner is/was ? I wonder what that sound you heard actually was, and did it have to do with the sinking ? Was she crying out for help, rather than pain ?
Saddened fan here. Why did you feel sadness before it sank? Had the guy that bought it on Craigslist already sold the ship and so it was no longer on the river to restoration? Or was was that still in full swing and it was some kind of odd premonition spurred on by the eerie sounds you recorded? If it was already sold when you got that footage and that part of "the dream" was over, I can see that sense of sadness when you looked at it; but if not, that sadness was almost otherworldly. Would you mind elaborating on that a bit? Thanks
Thanks for your post. I felt the sadness of her there because I knew that Chris had sold her. After all the years I had followed the ship, this was the first time in a very long time that I felt there was no hope. I had seen AURORA in that same spot many times and always had hope for her continued restoration and a bright future. The eerie sounds were very unusual and disturbing, which contributed to the sadness I felt
@@midshipcinema OK so he had already sold it, his his dream and ours as followers was over. Do you know why he sold it? And is the timing on the sinking after he sold it suspicious to you. Thanks for responding, I'm really bummed, I remember when they put in the digital fire place in the bar, good times.
@@robertkees6048If your angling towards an insurance job think again. I doubt very much there was insurance on it. Most insurance companies want a recent hull inspection. This was just incompetence at its most destructive. No work on the hull but we rebuilt the hand rails.
I'll probably do a full top to bottom video tour of the ship taken during my visits over the years but haven't done so yet. Sorry you are disappointed but I didn't make any claims about showing her interiors. If you go on the Aurora Preservation Project channel, you might be able to find some of her interiors. :)
Yes,, I've been called the Flying Dutchman for classic ships for good reason. Even my friend Lis felt something was awry that day. This one is very personal as I have followed this ship for so long and rejoiced in her recovery over the past fifteen or so years.
@@midshipcinema I saw an recent interview with Chris - he said they never left it unattended and had pumps at the ready. New owner probably didn't think. I'm wondering where the leak is?
I'm guessing there was no new unnamed owner. Chris must have come to the fairly obvious conclusion that he could not afford to repair the hull in dry dock and that for that same reason no one would buy it. So he fakes an anonymous sale and abandons ship. Of course I could be wrong but what else was he going to do?
Honestly, I do not know what is actually going on. I'm very disappointed with this whole situation. Chris said he would never give up the ship, so if he did, it must have been a very traumatic decision to make.
She sank?????? What the hell? A RU-vid channel pops up, loads some videos that seem to have been shot a few years ago, and now she's gone. So what is her current disposition?
Half sunk and waiting for the next step, which will likely be scrapping in place or being refloated and towed off for scrapping unless someone with a lot of money and passion steps in to save her and we all know what the chances of that are...
@@midshipcinema Peter, that makes me sick to my stomach. Another piece of history gone. Please do keep us informed of her disposition, as I can't find a thing about her current status, and I doubt Chris will post anything about her ever again.
❤ That sounded like crying for someone or something. And it was heard. After decades of bringing people joy… To some it might sound strange but I am sure more than one person (that would be me) can imagine talking to a ship.
Poor girl finally gave up her fight to live. The previous owner put a valiant fight to save her. But it must of been a daunting task, and god knows how much the final cost would of been. Certainly more then even the richest few could manage.
Fresh water usually does well in preserving the metal a bit longer but nature always wins and is working against the ship 24/7. I wonder why someone in Germany has not had interest in the ship as they do not have that many museum ships for obvious reasons and this is the only one left of that ship builder as far as I know but I have not read up much on it.
It will be interesting to learn what actually did sink her. A hole or leaking valve or general hull corrosion. In the meantime, the ship does have an active following in Germany and the ideal thing would have been for her to be placed atop a barge and transported to her original homeport of Hamburg. The two ships that replaced her have been recently scrapped and her original running mate disappeared decades ago. She is the last of her kind. Although it is unlikely anyone with the funds will step up and save her at this point (again, depends on her overall hull condition), she has survived many seemingly hopeless situations thus far. Thanks for posting.
@@midshipcinema Thank you for the comment that is great information. I think the same if someone has not saved her until now I rather doubt they will show up going forward but time will tell.
One of the first video of the Aurora « restoration » project was the restoration of the guardrails. I was surprised to see that I was the only one thinking it was literally like changing the curtains in a burning house. This whole project was a PR stunt from the beginning taking advantage of the gullible people. And let’s be frank, even in her prime, the Aurora was never that of a particular interest.
It was definitely not a PR stunt but a well-intended effort that finally met an obstacle that it could not overcome. And, perhaps to you, the ship was not of particular interest, but to many around the world, it was of great interest. I can assure you that AURORA is the last of her type and was, until this event, an important link to the past.
I was enjoying following along the work being done on this amazing craft. The engines, the progress. It had a hole and sunk? Oh well? Nobody just watching this valuble machine? Can't start pumping and fix a hole? Out of money? Insurance? B.S.
Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this pop up in recommended. Considering the painstaking restoration she was receiving, this has got to $uck for Chris even if he had sold the ship. Bah 😭
restoring & preserving a historic ship is a never ending story of work & money investment...usual far beyond the means of an individual...the ending is sad, perhaps unavoidable ??
It is as you say. I think there was hope that an entity with the right funding would come along and take the restoration to the next level. Nonetheless, what was done kept the old girl around 15 years more and gave her a chance to be admired by people around the globe. Hugely devastating outcome but at least she has had a few moments of glory in recent years.
Have to agree, I followed the YT Channel and only recently checked as I had not seen new postings for awhile. Work on any ship this neglected starts from the Bottom and goes up, not from the Top as they approached it. Dry Dock and Hull repairs should have been at the top of the List but that starts out very expensive. Though I will add they had numerous deck leaks that allowed rainwater to infiltrate that they were addressing.
Not an American ship, so not sure what you are getting at. There's a much bigger, actual American ship on the east coast that might fit your analogy better.
@@midshipcinema Very soon, in the not too distant future, there will be no more proper ships left! Oh for the teak decks, the sheer, the open wing bridge, the mid day ships bell, no theme park novelties (yuk), a proper cosy cabin, et el! Saw a photo not so long ago, which I would rather have not seen, my beautiful Saga Ruby driven up onto the beach ready for demolition!! 😣😣😢😢😖😖
to be fair she is not sunk - rather down by the stern and leaking oil - we have a similar preserved naval ship back home that is lying half sunk at her moorings since 2021 and yes would seem no hope for her either - the big u has been in philly far longer than she ever sailed the seas - if ever a ship should be scrapped the big u should have been in the history files by now !
Tow her where exactly to be scrapped by who? It was abandonment which caused her to sink in a wildlife estuary. Other notable examples of abandonment of ships include the SS United States , the San Francisco Bay Southern Pacific Railroad ferry boats , and the 77 Elco World War 2 torpedo boats. The latter were all burned in the Philippines by the U.S. Navy. They had thin plywood hulls fastened with millions of screws.😮
Well, they towed the MAZAPETA off for scrap locally, so wherever she went, perhaps. If they cannot find a place in the Delta or Bay Area, then the irony is that she would probably be dry docked at BAE in San Francisco, have her hull secured, and get towed off to Brownsville like the recent ships in the MARAD fleet at Suisuin Bay. Also, the UNITED STATES is not abandoned. Forlorn and in distress, perhaps, but not abandoned.
There is 100% / Zero Chance anyone will purchase this ship for restoration. This vessel was built in Germany and sailed under foreign flags. Geez we have the Blue Ribbon award winner the USS United States and it sits rotting away in port at Philadelphia PA ! ! !
The SSUS is about 25 times larger than this ship, for one. Her restoration is a much larger and more expensive project. I think we are all on the same page that a restoration is unlikely but at some point someone thought she would make a good yacht and perhaps someone might think so again.
I'm happy that the Queen Mary is getting restoration work and new paint, wood refinishing, LED lighting, etc, ever since Long Beach regained full control of her and is not going anywhere. The QE2 is also in good condition in the Middle East, as is also the Rotterdam. Keep in mind that all those ships still have their interiors as well. The Big U, I hate to say it, is a lost cause unless someone comes forward with a ton of money and redoes the interior and removes the rust. The SSUS Conservancy wants to eventually move her somewhere else, because they are in a nasty legal battle over dock fees.
I understand saving assets of TRUE historical value (this wasn’t one)…but anyone who donated money to the prior owner’s “restoration” of this hulk should’ve just flushed it down the toilet and saved on the postage.
@@midshipcinema Yes frankly, I do. The same situation is happening now (and has been for years) with the SS United States. Individuals, foundations, Gibbs’ granddaughter, and yes…taxpayers have been pouring money…lots of it…into this worthless cause of finding a new use for this now-useless ship. It will NEVER sail again…and it will NEVER become a profitable venture in any other form. It should either be scrapped and it’s steel used to build modern infrastructure, or…towed out to the Atlantic and sunk as a habitat for marine life. The latter would be an honorable burial for what…in 1952…was a marine engineering achievement. As a retired financial guy, I absolutely hate seeing money wasted on impractical “likely to fail” projects…money that can be spent to better humanity. We need to pick our battles carefully. Question…who’s going to foot the bill to remove that hulk from the mud? Seriously. Please, PLEASE don’t tell me it won’t be CA taxpayers.
@@kiowa1508 I'm happy to host civilized dissenting opinions but not when they are with malicious intent or just to boost the ego of the poster. Real facts are welcome but your uninformed opinion about the historic merits of the ship are mean spirited and clueless. Trolls need not apply here.
@@midshipcinema BTW…do you not have any concern about who will pay to haul the Aurora out of the mud? Sometimes dissenting voices are necessary to temper the romanticism of preserving history. Much needs to be saved (I live near Valley Forge and wish many more artifacts from our nation’s founding were with us), but it needs to be balanced with common sense. You certainly can agree with that…right?
Oh come on... That ship does not meet the definition of ocean liner. But seriously folks, that is just a average looking small ship. There have been some truly beautiful ships that in the end were beached to meet their fate with the Breakers. It's history is meh at best. The sad part is not that she sunk, the sad part is she wasn't recycled.
I've been on that beach nine times salvaging items from some of those old beauties. Just because AURORA doesn't meet your standards of "beautiful" doesn't mean we all have to wish her gone. And completely disagree on her history. She has had quite a few milestones in her long career and there are no ships left like her. In a better world she would be saved.
To say her history is "meh" is lame, and misinformed. No she was not a great ocean liner (like the Queen Mary, that is currently being allowed to rot) But she does have history of note. She was also a ground breaker with her propulsion systems, a very modern ship of her time. As the OP has said many times, she could of been a magnificent vessel again, for someone with way to much money to spare.
@@crissyb00The Queen Mary is not being allowed to rot any longer. Long Beach has put millions (from the Tideland fund, which is from Port fees and the drilling of oil and gas, so no taxpayer money) as well as fees from Carnival's terminal next door into her and she looks better now than she did a couple years ago. Is she perfect? Heck no. It is going to take a long time to repair and replace what is broken on a ship that is almost 100 years old. It can be done, it just takes time. The same could be said with Ford and Michigan Central Station. That place was coming apart and now it's been mostly restored.
They must be done milking all the donations from the community...time to bail out, and hand it over to the Tax payers to clean up. While they laugh all the way to the bank. Well played....
One must have insurance for an insurance job. I doubt that insurance was even possible for her situation. Best to not make assumptions until there are more facts available.
