MV ''Rachel Corrie'' is a 499 GT

coaster Coaster (stylized as COASTER) is a commuter rail service in the central and northern coastal regions of San Diego County, California, United States operated by the North County Transit District (NCTD). The commuter rail line features eight s ...

owned and operated by the

Free Gaza Movement The Free Gaza Movement (FGM) is a coalition of human rights activists and pro-Palestinian groups formed to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and publicise the situation of the Palestinians there. FGM has challenged the Israeli–Egyptian ...

. The ship is named in honour of Rachel Corrie, a deceased member of the

International Solidarity Movement The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led movement focused on assisting the Palestinian cause in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. ISM is dedicated to the use of nonviolent protests and methods only. The organization ...

. Built by J.J. Sietas in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1967, she was originally named ''Carsten''; she has also carried the names ''Norasia Attika'', ''Manya'' and ''Linda''. In June 2010 the vessel was intercepted by

Israeli Defence Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

while attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and to deliver humanitarian aid.

Description

The ship was built as yard number 625 by J J Sietas,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Completed in May 1967, she is long, with a beam of and a depth of . The ship is powered by a Deutz diesel engine which can propel her at .

History

Early history

Originally named ''Carsten'', she was sold in 1993 to P Buck, Antigua and renamed ''Norasia Attika''. She was sold on 8 December that year to Ariadna Shipping Ltd, St Vincent. On 1 February 1994 she was placed under the management of H Möller KG, Germany. She was renamed ''Manya'' on 24 November 2000. On 23 February 2004 she was sold to Hanza Bunkering Ltd. She was renamed ''Linda'' on 24 November 2003. On 30 August 2005 she was sold to Lackner Ventures Ltd. On 28 November 2005, she was placed under the management of Eestinova. ''Linda'' was used by Guinness for exporting

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

before being converted for use as a freighter. Her port of registry was Phnom Penh. The

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owne ...

6715281 and MMSI Number 515886000 are allocated. ''Rachel Corrie'' uses the Callsign XUJW8.

1999–2009

By 2009, the ship had been bringing timber into Dundalk, Ireland from the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

for the previous 10 years.Margaret Roddy
Port comes to aid of stranded crew
, The Argus, 26 August 2009. At the end of July that year, the Cambodian-registered vessel and its crew were abandoned by its owners, Forestry Shipping, of Riga, a company which has gone out of business.Terry Conlon
Crew to stay aboard ship for 'as long as it takes to get paid'
,

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

, 22 August 2009. The crew were left with one day's food and were owed arrears of pay that totaled €42,000. With the assistance of the Irish union

SIPTU SIPTU (; ''Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union''; ga, An Ceardchumann Seirbhísí, Tionsclaíoch, Gairmiúil agus Teicniúil) is Ireland's largest trade union, with around 200,000 members. Most of these members are in the Rep ...

, an affiliate of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), they were repatriated to their home countries in November 2009.

2009–present

After being seized by the High Court on behalf of the ITF, the ship was sold at auction in Dundalk for €70,000 to the

on 30 March 2010. This enabled ITF Inspector Ken Fleming to pay the crew their arrears. It was outfitted at Brown's Quay in Dundalk, Ireland, for use in a voyage to Gaza. While there, a significant amount of navigational equipment worth between €15,000 and €20,000 was stolen from the vessel. The ship was renamed in honor of Rachel Corrie, an American college student crushed to death by an Israeli army bulldozer while trying to prevent a house demolition in Gaza. The vessel was launched on 12 May 2010 from Dundalk with the full title MV ''Rachel Corrie''.

2010 Gaza journey

MV ''Rachel Corrie'' had intended to sail with the six ships of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, but was unable to join the other ships because of mechanical problems that forced it to undergo repairs in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, possibly resulting from Israeli sabotage. The other six ships were confronted by a raid on 30 May 2010. In the violent clashes that followed, nine Turkish activists were killed and several dozen activists and ten IDF soldiers were injured. The ship got underway on 31 May 2010, with her crew insisting that they would go to Gaza. Despite repeated requests by the Irish Government and others to let the ship through to Gaza, Israeli commandos boarded the ship from speed boats at around noon on 5 June 2010, in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

about from Gaza, seized control, and took ship and passengers to Israel.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rachel Corrie 1967 ships Ships built in Hamburg Merchant ships of Antigua and Barbuda Merchant ships of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Merchant ships of Latvia Merchant ships of Cambodia Gaza flotilla raid Rachel Corrie Ireland–Israel relations Maritime incidents in Israel Maritime incidents in 2010