MV ''Discovery Sun'' was the flagship and sole ship of Discovery Cruise Lines, a

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

-based tour operator. She was built at the

Orenstein & Koppel Orenstein & Koppel (normally abbreviated to "O&K") was a major German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876, in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel. Ori ...

shipyard in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

, Germany in 1968 and was renovated in 1995 and then updated in 2000. She was previously named ''Scandinavian Sun'' for day cruise operator SeaEscape. MV ''Discovery Sun'' provided a regular service from

Port Everglades Port Everglades is a seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, located in Broward County. Port Everglades is one of South Florida's foremost economic engines, as it is the gateway for both international trade and cruise vacations. In 2022, Port Eve ...

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

Grand Bahama Island Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly in area and approximately long west to east and at it ...

and acted as a passenger cruise

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

service. On 20 August 1984, while operating as the ''Scandinavian Sun'', a fire broke as the ship was docking at the

Port of Miami The Port of Miami, styled as PortMiami and formally known as the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world and one ...

. The fire was started by lubricating oil leaking from a diesel generator, and spread through a ladder access way and open passageways to the passenger areas of the ship. One crew member and one passenger were killed, and 57 passengers and crew were injured.

Fate

In September 2011, Discovery Cruise Lines ceased operations, citing high operating costs and lack of profitability. ''Discovery Sun'' was subsequently offered for sale, but there was no buyer or charterer. ''Discovery Sun'' was broken up for scrap at

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

on 13 February 2012.

External links

Discovery Cruise Line Website
- archive.org copy
Professional photographs
from shipspotting.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Discovery Sun 1968 ships Casinos in Florida Cruise ships of Germany