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Princess of Adriatic

Discussion in 'Unique, Custom or New Yachts' started by Robbo, Jul 12, 2007.

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  1. Robbo, Jul 12, 2007
    #1
    Robbo

    Robbo New Member

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    Im not sure if im in the right place to ask but here goes !!
    Im trying to find out what ever happened to a yacht called The Princess of Adriatic. She also used to be called The Empress Subaru before a Greek bought here. It was sold some years ago and as best I know was then called The Pearl and based in Dubi. Abu Dabi.
    There is a long story to this yacht and some with bullets flying !!! :cool:
    Some specs ; Builder C.R.N Ancona,Italy.. LOA..154"/47M...LWL 140"/ 42.7M... Beam 25"/7.6M...Year 1979/82 Steel Hull. Engines... MTU. 2 X 2250 hp Each.
    I would love to know how she is doing and what she looks like now !!
    If anyone knows then get back to me and many thanx..
    David
  2. aplescan, Mar 31, 2009
    #2
    aplescan

    aplescan New Member

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    Hi David,
    I'm not sure we're talking the same boat, but I was briefly involved in a strange chapter of her history when I was in Europe. I think it must have been some time between 1995 and 1997, when The Princess of Adriatic was hidding under a different name in the Danube Delta.
    Al.
  3. K1W1, Mar 31, 2009
    #3
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    Hi,

    Here is what I found-

    1979 154 ft 47 m built as Genros, then renamed Santa Maria, then New Santa Maria, then Empress Subaru, then Princess of Adriatic, then Venus, then The Pearl, then Silver Swan then it caught fire and burned down in 2002, in Dubai.

    I know three guys who were on it when it was Empress Subaru, 1 died in a Motor Cycle crash, one works ashore but still yacht related and the other one seems to have disappeared into the mists of time.
  4. Robbo, Mar 31, 2009
    #4
    Robbo

    Robbo New Member

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    I was there when we took her back and we had a gun fight with some Syrians !
    The full story of this can be found in The West Briton news paper dated Thursday July 16 1998. that will give you some pics of what she looked like when we got here back to UK !! One Quote from the paper..
    ( How did such an example of a millionairs lifestyle come to be resting in Cornish waters ? It's a story worthy of of the most gripping adventure novels,as evidenced by the bullet marks on the floor to ceiling mirrors. )
    The name she hid under was the Blenhime registerd in Balize.
  5. Robbo, Mar 31, 2009
    #5
    Robbo

    Robbo New Member

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    Thanx for looking into where she is now and it would be nice to say hi to some guys who worked on her..
    I still have some of the old paper work rom the ship as a momento to keep with the memorys from my time on her...
    It was a hard job taking her back from the Greek owner who let it go into disrepair...Where he is now im not sure but he left a lot of debt behind and many broken souls from his ships !!
    Last edited by a moderator: May 2, 2018
  6. Titch, Mar 29, 2016
    #6
    Titch

    Titch New Member

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    Hi I stayed on board The Empress Subaru in Monaco probably 1987/88. Hawaiian Dave was the chef, Mark was the engineer, and the captain was being held in San Remo...... and there was a ghost that noonewantedtotalkabout......
  7. Titch, Mar 29, 2016
    #7
    Titch

    Titch New Member

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    Guys.....Was there a ghost on board........??? Same boat..?
    Intrigued to know.
    Thanks. Titch
  8. John Kessler, Feb 27, 2017
    #8
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    I hired Mark after being Port Eng. for a year during refit in Ft.L. We (Israeloff) managed Jan Pamela (later Nadine) and ES. She had the greatest engines ever built; 12V538 Maybach/MTU. We had ES at the foot of the "T" at Monaco for the charter show. even engineers served guests in whites. We did a fleet photo op off Mia Bch. Jan Pamela made barely a ripple at 12 Kts but ES made a huge fuss and struggled to keep up with 5000 hp. We got rid of the corroded JetRanger and had a car in its place, rusting away. The Capt, a retired Brit, lived in Menton. We kept ES in San Remo to save money and ran charters all over the Med. 2 good seasons then boss lost interest. I was long gone by then. Never noticed ghosts.
  9. K1W1, Feb 28, 2017
    #9
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    It's quite a co incidence but when I read the notification for this post I was standing next to a cross sectioned 538 at MTU-F where I am doing a 4000 series training course
  10. John Kessler, Feb 28, 2017
    #10
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    You probably note that the engine has six valves per cylinder and a roller-bearing crank. Those and other features common to the gas and diesel engines seen on 1930s Zeppelins, Tiger tanks, 1950s railroad locomotives, and military watercraft to the present. Also a few yachts, where the owners have lots of money.
  11. captholli, Feb 28, 2017
    #11
    captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    The mains were very smooth running engines and gave little trouble with the exception of the air start actuators at times. The capillaries would clog going to the enunciators once or twice a year. Strange place for the Alfa Laval though...
  12. K1W1, Feb 28, 2017
    #12
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    I am quite well aware of what's in the engine. It's the same cross section they proudly displayed when I was first here 30 yrs ago. They say they will rebuild them for customers but cannot make new ones owing to emissions
  13. John Kessler, Feb 28, 2017
    #13
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    Looking at the used-engine market, prices for 538s are not cheap. I suspect military users are exempt from emissions regs., not to mention ALL the less-developed world. I was impressed with MTU field service folks. We had serious injection issues at first. I spent too much time on the flywheel bar during 'cessation-of-drip' timing tests. Can't recall the centrifuge. Never used due to clean fuel. GREAT fuel fill pipe system. Wondering how bad was the fire. Apparently not sunk. Salvaged? I will do a bit of searching with Dubai 2006.
  14. captholli, Feb 28, 2017
    #14
    captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    Centrifuge was smack dab in the middle between the mains center line. You couldn't have missed it without tripping over it.
    So you were on it or involved when that not so bright captain ran the tanks dry off of Jacksonville and had to call for a tow? That was under Sam Israel's watch I do believe...BTW, What Mark are you referring to that you hired? Elliott?
  15. John Kessler, Feb 28, 2017
    #15
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    Sorry...it has been too long and too many hulls. I left Israeloff after one charter season in the Med. Never heard about the fuel incident. Engr would be just as culpable. There were good pneumatic gauges (right boat?). Lost track of the whole outfit afterward. His ugly office girls sold my personal information and I was left owing about $35K in debt. Huge job to get it fixed. I draw a blank on the guy who came in after the old Navy C/E who ****** up my engine room. I interviewed a few people but I guess hiring came later. Last weeks were forgettable with Sam. I had a good friend in a mate/deckhand named Mark and stayed in touch for a few years. There is a (formerly) cute ditzy blonde stew who I still run across at Triton events running the signup desk.
  16. captholli, Feb 28, 2017
    #16
    captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    OK, Thx.
    I understand. What a shame that ES fell on hard times as it was a huge machinery space for the size of vessel and quite a big and comfortable crew's quarters and those days are long gone from interior decorators or (Inferior Desecrators) as I like to refer to them & naval architects under pressure from owners and builders to rob frames out of the machinery spaces Sometimes it amounts to nothing more than poor space planning that's run amuck but accommodations are taking over more and more frames of vessels and things like "pump rooms" are popping up in places where someone has to hold the engineer inverted by his or her ankles to get at equipment. Engine rooms on todays launches are getting smaller and smaller on the 40 to 60 meter vessels making maintenance and equipment removal very difficult and expensive time wise. Just a sign of the times crew quarter space wise and the joke and subsequent sanitation of LY3 be damned. Fuel and water gauges were on the main switchboard on the aft bulkhead starboard end of the switchboard and were 24 volt DC as far as I remember as they had breakers for each one separately on the breaker rail.
    Last edited: Feb 28, 2017
  17. John Kessler, Mar 6, 2017
    #17
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    OK I got the latest info sheet from CRN. I will try to post it now. ALL the information we have been wondering about is there. I will try to trace the current vessel name.
    John K.

    Attached Files:

  18. K1W1, Mar 6, 2017
    #18
    K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

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    The spec sheet shows different engines to the ones you mentioned last week. Was she re engined at some stage?
  19. John Kessler, Mar 6, 2017
    #19
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    I was wrong. Recently looking at a 538 pic I realized this was not our engine.
  20. John Kessler, Mar 8, 2017
    #20
    John Kessler

    John Kessler New Member

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    Note from CRN says they have no current information on "Dubai Queen II" (latest name of Empress Subaru) Last update about 10 years ago. Dubai is a big place...and many big boats.
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