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Ile De Lumiere
Sourced from www.photoship.co.uk
Photo shows vessel as "Magdalena", prior to her time as "Ile De Lumiere"
Built
1962
LR No.
5086217
Gross
963
Net
456
Dimensions
87.25m x 11.89m
Registered
Noumea
First Visit
21 March 1975
Last Sailing
12 September 1981
Names
Danielle V
Magdalena
Ile De Lumiere
Seini
Years
1962-68
1968-74
1974-86
1986-88

Built in Kinderdijk for French owners, she was powered by one 2380hp Smit-Bolnes diesel engine, producing a service speed of 14.8 knots.

Acquired by Compagnie Des Chargeurs Caledoniens, she operated to Sydney, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island and New Caledonia from Onehunga and, from late 1981, Auckland, before being withdrawn from service in 1986.

On 14 June 1977 a spare crankshaft broke loose in the hold en route from Norfolk Island to Onehunga. A watertight door was damaged, allowing ingress in heavy seas, but thankfully she wasn't far from her destination and arrived later that day.

She was notorious for her carriage of Vietnamese / Kampucheans to the safety of Australia and New Zealand during the political disagreements involving those nations in 1979. Setting sail from Onehunga on 15 March, she arrived in Norfolk Island, and from there headed to Noumea, where she was fitted out with 120 beds and four operating theatres in March, before sailing for Singapore, arriving there on 14 April.

Sourced from www.elde-modellbau.com

Her first three months were spent at anchor off Pulau Bidong, 200 miles northeast of Kuala Lumpur, treating some of the 40,000 Vietnamese refugees there.

She then sailed around the South China Sea picking up refugees from small boats, and in five days had rescued 847 people! She then carried 1000 refugees to France, setting sail on 2 July 1979.

After this, she worked under United Nations control at Natunas in the South China Sea, but as larger hospital ships came on board, she was redirected to Kampuchea, where she ferried food supplies as directed by Red Cross.

Her work in this role concluded at the end of the year, at which point she was refitted for cargo work and resumed her Sofrana charter, operating between Onehunga, Sydney and Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands. Her first visit to Onehunga following her return to service took place on 9 March 1980.

Save for her time on refugee rescue duty, she was Norfolk Island's principal carrier between 1975 and 1986, and the island recognised her service by issuing a stamp of "Ile De Lumiere".

Sourced from www.shipstamps.co.uk

In 1986, she was chartered to Tongan interests, with Warner Pacific Line utilising her services for the final two years of her life before she sailed for Kaohsiung in April 1988, a journey prompted by the collapse of one of her derricks, which took out a second derrick, while loading at Tarakohe in August 1987.

Even on that voyage, she had some work to do, towing "Tasi" and "Lali" to the same breakers' yard, where work commenced on deconstructing all three vessels in May.

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