To spend a lazy weekend in a period style cabin, have one too many cocktails, feel the pace of life slow down a little and to find an excuse to dress up for the evening meal. I hope you save her, she’s gorgeous.
@@hd-xc2lz Sad truth is that there is no customers for it. There are plenty of this types of ships that have stopped cruising just few years ago because no customers. They did cruise mediterranean, canary islands, caribbean late as 2013. For example Rygerfjord, Princess Märtha and Baltic Star is now moored permanently in Sweden, Stockholm and is used as a Hostels (in the downtown district Södermalm, by the lake Mälaren). One is in Finland, Turku acts as a floating museum and Hostel, MS Bore... maybe the name was bad enough? :D But yeah, they did the oldstyle cruises all over the world. Nobody just wants it anymore. I have visited them all and they still got the era feel in them. Just go booking and search for Loginn, rygerfjord or Bore
@@SergeyPRKL Interesting, thank you. Sad that I missed the boat(s) on this idea. Curious to hear from you what you think was missing for customers that led to discontinuation.
It's really sad what happened to the SS United States, but this would be a massive project. The ship is huge, and it seems there is little to no interior left.
@@Hjerte_Verke The USS Olympia would be a better restoration project. I want to see it along with the Texas to be housed inside of a museum to keep it dry. They probably could last centuries that way.
I was born in 1955 as well. In 1967 I took a trip on the MV WAPPEN VON HAMBURG from Hamburg to Helgoland. Later I worked 26 years at her building shipyard Blohm + Voss. I am very happy to see that this monument of German Shipbuilding will be saved by you. Regards Rico
@@peterwenke7273 Ich wäre mir da nicht so sicher. Habe als 4jährige meine Eltern auf der Alten Liebe verloren. Wir sind danach noch über Jahre hinweg einmal im Jahr mit einem der Schiffe nach Helgoland. Aber ich könnte nicht mit Bestimmtheit sagen, welches der drei Schiffe es nun war. Denn unter dem Namen "Wappen von Hamburg" lief eine ganze Serie aus vier Schiffen, von denen zwei Schwesterschiffe sind. Wenn die das so Ernst genommen haben wie bei den sechs Cap-San-Schiffen, dann unterscheiden sich bei denen nur die Bau-Nummer der Werft und die Internationale Registriernummer. Bei den beiden zuletzt gebauten sieht das dann schon etwas anders aus. Aber wer zählt als Kind schon Fenster und Luken? Mit Stand von heute: WAPPEN VON HAMBURG ist der Name einer ganzen Serie von Seebäderschiffen der HADAG 1. Wappen von Hamburg, Bj. 1955, IMO 5088227, Hdw Verbleib: als Aurora in Restauration 2. Bunte Kuh, Bj. 1957, IMO 5340493, Norderwerft, Schwesterschiff von IMO 5088227, nach Verkauf über Griechenland 1971 an Sheikh Ahmed ab Ende der 70er vermißt. 3. Wappen von Hamburg, Bj. 1962, IMO 5386057, (= Alte Liebe II, Helgoland III) 2014 abgewrackt. 4. „MS WAPPEN VON HAMBURG“, Bj. 1965, IMO 6510887, Hdw, als "MERCATOR II" 2010 in DK teilzerlegt, abgewrackt. Schiffsschraube liegt in Flensburg als Denkmal.
So sad to hear and see that on the 22nd of may 2024 she started taking on water through hole in her hull and partialy sank at her birth in Stockton 😢 I do hope she salvagable after all the time, hard work and money chris put into restoring her, and she dont get sent to the scrappers
@@toomanyhobbies2011 Sad but true. I am...uh..."older"...and I can clearly remember the past wherein the media largely acted with some integrity and was widely trusted by the public. They have squandered all their credibility in search of "hits", a market share, and in pursuit of a biased and corrupt political agenda. I don't see how they can ever get that credibility back.
Martmns The Chronicle has fallen from a real news source to a bunch of kid intern activists. They make fun of "reporters' who would actually waste time on finding facts ..
@@darthkek1953 Yup .... Sad. I wish we could save all old ships but he could be gifted a complete restoration and in 10 years it would need it again. Boats are always aging. Starting with a new one is bad enough. Maintenance is crazy. Restoration is a federal government thing ...
@@williampotter2098 they make better artificial reefs, if we saved every bolt and bulkhead of historic value the planet would turn into a rust heap. And alot of pre atomic era metal is worth alot of money because it doesnt contain trace radition. Which is why ww2 ship wrecks are vanishing. Black market sakvage crews are diving and dismantling them
@@kingjellybean9795 i agree about reefs but it actually costs a lot of money to turn a boat into a reef as you have to strip it of all the toxic stuff. Turning THAT beast of a ship into a reef would be a major, major project.
Taking on a project like this is very brave - or naive - vintage ship restoration & preservation is one of the most daunting enterprises one can embark upon...
Ich liebe dieses Schiff. Die Aurora ist ein Wunder und alle, die helfen, sind ein perfektes Beispiel für Entschlossenheit und Kameradschaft. Darum bin ich auch dabei! Ganz Hamburg, Buxtehude, Stade und Helgoland wissen, dass wir gemeinsam sehr viel schaffen können, wenn wir zusammenhalten und die Möglichkeiten, die sich hier bieten sind grandios und unerschöpflich!
I like that this guy's T-shirt sports the coat of arms of my home town 'Hamburg'. The ship was actually called 'Wappen von Hamburg' ('The Hamburg Coat of Arms') once. Originally, she was not so much an overnight cruise ferry, but a day-cruiser/liner, designer to link Hamburg to the islands in the north sea (especially Heligoland), which is a trip of about six hours.
Mr, you don't need to convince anyone. Everyone can see this is very special. Your main problem will be getting guests to leave because they would fall in love with it too. You do this right there will be companies lining up to use it for hospitality. A winner.
All my congratulations for undertaking these very noble endeavours. I wish Mr Willson plenty of success , and I would be glad to see this fine ship sailing again. Best wishes from Paris / France
In case anyone was wondering, the badge in his shirt is the coat of arms for Hamburg in Germany. I myself am a German living close to the northern sea and an I am an aspiring captain so i wanted so tell you how much i appreciate your work an how much you inspire me. Thank you for keeping old and precous boatwork alive :)
Tie it up in a river for the protection of the fresh water. Put some fresh paint on it and run it as a restaurant. She will cost you big money. With 40 years in maritime I know.
Nice-looking vessel! I hope your project succeeds in whatever you want the ship to be. Good luck. It will take much money and effort, especially if you intend to sail it in some capacity. There are numerous inspections, permits and blessings from regulatory agencies, all which take time and money. These permits and inspections are not a one-time affair. Using it as a static display or museum ship will be a MUCH easier task. Having the ship in fresh water is a good idea; try to keep it in fresh water. Topside maintenance will be much reduced. Use good quality paint and prepare the service well. Don’t forget about hull openings in the machinery spaces and elsewhere. These need to be inspected/monitored for leakage. If a static display, you could consider having steel plates welded over the openings. One less worry about flooding. These are some of what I learned after working on ships my whole career and being involved in 3 historic vessel operation/restoration/maintenance work in the Bay Area. I may sound like a doom-sayer here. That isn’t my point. Maybe these comments will assist you with keep the project going and make it work for you. I hope to see more of your project. Thanks.
I doubt the German shipyard workers ever imagined their efforts would end up in a place called Little Potato Slough, in the middle of California, 50 miles from the ocean.
That is totally awesome. What a beautiful ship. She has Classic lines, and looks graceful at dock. Timeless. I bet when you pull up at St Tropez, the other glass boats blush in embarrassment. She's a BOND boat and more beautiful than anything they make nowadays. You lucky S.O.B.
@@DodAederen Not Really. I Guess We All Have Our Passions But Even If You Were A Billionaire, Would You Want To Waste Millions Of Dollars On Such A Big Boat?
She really is a beautiful ship. If kept in fresh water she could last many years. You'll need a business plan, even in FW old ships have a maintenance appetite. You're doing great work!! I wouldn't mind staying there somehow and help you out, but I can't lift heavy stuff. I look forward to seeing the finished result!
This guy has not been on a modern cruise ship if they think they don’t do luxury any more. I like his passion but stop with the, “they don’t make em like this any more”. They do it far better now than they ever have.
Quite frankly cruise ships built in the last 30-35 years look like late 80s apartment blocks stuck on fat, squat hulls, they have none of the style or grace of the passenger-liners of old.
I wish this man luck with his project. A truly beautiful ship and definitely worth saving. These old and very stylish ships are a rarity in today's world full of absolutely hideous balcony barges people call modern cruise ships.
I absolutely love the ship, and I could spend the rest of my life just visiting historical ships , unfortunately people especially young people just don’t care about stuff like this. Military vessels should be preserved also, enough people just don’t care.
Go and put your money into an old ship or old military vessle then and preserve one. It's no good just saying someone else should do it. Action speaks louder than words.
@@PreservationEnthusiast You must be a Trump supporter, I like THEM and Do support them by visiting when ever I can. All I was saying is the younger generation doesn’t care about some mouldy old boat. So it’s hard to get support for such projects. So I am not sure where your going with this. That’s why he got the like from me Because it HELPS!
Really inspiring. These "pocket" vessels provided such an intimate, yacht-like experience. Reminds me of a wonderful Italian ship I took years ago, the Ocean Islander (formerly City of Andros).
If I every win the lottery can I buy it and put a hot tub on deck and then decorate it Art Deco style. It's a beautify ship, I never new it's full history, but I actually had a picture of it growing up in the 80s. Love from Scotland and good luck to Mr Wilson.
Nice to see aurora again used to see around and about over years living in Southampton been watching ship happens on UA-cam and your name came up on their just to see what you doing With her keep it up Michael
You need to worry about the bottom. I've seen many people living on a old large boat or small ship waste their time and money fixing things that don't keep the vessel afloat. Steel will rust and dissimilar metals in the water create electrical currents that can cause metals to dissolve at high rates. It's even worse if the power isn't properly grounded. I've seen propeller blades that were gone in a few weeks from improperly installed equipment. Most vessels like this get scrapped. Usually at state expense when they sink or are about to sink. The bottom alone could need millions. After that, do the engines run or even turn over? Parts may only be available from ship scrappers. Or they have to be custom made. Getting this ship to running condition is not possible for the average person. You're probably looking at tens of millions or more. I sympathize, it would be great to make it run, but unlikely to ever see the ocean again.
You're a little ray of optermism aren't you? Fortunately the fact he even owns this incredible boat proves he's not one of the "you'll never do that" gloom merchants. He OWNS it, more than you will ever do.
@@breakfast917 Sorry, but I've seen it play out many times. Just painting the ship, inside and out, all surfaces, would take a several tons of paint. Few people have any idea what it costs and how much labor it takes to maintain a large vessel. Most waste their time doing things that don't relate to keeping the ship afloat. I owned a shipyard. Now I liveaboard and cruise a small ship.
@@breakfast917 He's right you know, that is an old hull corrosion is a real concern, you can send a diver down to have a look but the only way to really inspect it is out of the water, and of course, then there are the repairs. I watched a guy work for months patching and repairing corrosion on a steel-hulled boat that was a fraction of the size of that ship.
@@breakfast917 - he's right though. These beautiful old ships can take a lot, but what's slowly, unnoticed, happening below the water line is what gets them eventually.
As a child my late father took us aboard the NSS Savannah when it docked in the port of Southampton in the U.K. ( i am now 62 years old) As a dockyard engineer he felt that this was the way to go rather than the all perveying smell of fuel oil that vessels reeked of regardless of type. I believe that the NSS SAVANNAH is now docked in a section of Baltimore Harbour, a sad reflection of its former self.
If this doesn't give someone inspiration i don't know what will. This must be the most fantastic enterprise by a private person that i have ever seen anywhere. I can hardly believe this! What is your ultimate goal with her?
"made in Germany"; We had a BC coastal cruise ship, a little smaller than the others, manned by a German crew. I had planned on taking it to an Alaska/Inside Passage Canada cruise. It could fire off of Prince Rupert in the mid eighties and never saw action again. Too bad, really. Large enough to go anywhere; small enough you'd meet everyone on board.
Well I like his dream. But of course I believe we all know this will not end well. As he mentioned no one could figure out what to do with an old "pocket" cruiser that would allow it to make money. So maybe a museum is his suggestion. Those do not make money either. Now maybe he could go run some things on kickstarter of gofundme or similar things to get added funds to bring the ship back to looking like it did in it's glory. I'd love to see that, maybe he gets donations from other ship lovers and it's made to look so grand again. I see a lot of videos tied to it and it seems like a small group of people who are working on the ship. But a ship that size needs a LOT more workers to bring back up to it's glory and without that it will rapidly get into a cycle of as one thing is fixed another breaks and the work will never end (it is a ship and weather and water are not kind mistresses).
You summed it up perfectly. I think a wedding venue and film location were his other suggestions. But he'll need an continuous stream of bookings at premium prices just to cover ongoing maintenance and painting etc. Unfortunately ship enthusiasts are full of suggestions about "They should make a museum/hotel etc" but when it comes to putting their own money into the bottomless pit, the enthusiasts are not so forthcoming! There's always go fund me type internet money raising but many of these schemes are dubious and it's becoming a well worn idea. I wonder if it's all sustainable in the long term?
He's basically fitting out the interior to use as a wedding venue/museum ship. I very much doubt if it will be seaworthy or even river worthy. Too expensive to do that.
![1 YEAR REBUILDING AN OLD BOAT INTO A MODERN YACHT TIMELAPSE [START TO FINISH]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/D570ADd0DGQ/mqdefault.jpg)
To spend a lazy weekend in a period style cabin, have one too many cocktails, feel the pace of life slow down a little and to find an excuse to dress up for the evening meal. I hope you save her, she’s gorgeous.
Guarantee he'd have a repeat customer base for that experience.
I couldn’t agree with you more
@@hd-xc2lz Sad truth is that there is no customers for it. There are plenty of this types of ships that have stopped cruising just few years ago because no customers.
They did cruise mediterranean, canary islands, caribbean late as 2013. For example Rygerfjord, Princess Märtha and Baltic Star is now moored permanently in Sweden, Stockholm and is used as a Hostels (in the downtown district Södermalm, by the lake Mälaren). One is in Finland, Turku acts as a floating museum and Hostel, MS Bore... maybe the name was bad enough? :D
But yeah, they did the oldstyle cruises all over the world. Nobody just wants it anymore. I have visited them all and they still got the era feel in them. Just go booking and search for Loginn, rygerfjord or Bore
@@SergeyPRKL Interesting, thank you. Sad that I missed the boat(s) on this idea. Curious to hear from you what you think was missing for customers that led to discontinuation.
I wish people like this would invest in getting the SS United States restored.
It's really sad what happened to the SS United States, but this would be a massive project. The ship is huge, and it seems there is little to no interior left.
@@simonm1447 Yep, the United States was gutted entirely of its interior. It is quite literally an empty shell.
@@Hjerte_Verke The USS Olympia would be a better restoration project. I want to see it along with the Texas to be housed inside of a museum to keep it dry. They probably could last centuries that way.
Agree, it is in very bad shape and about to sink!
You won't get that with Beijing Biden.
I was born in 1955 as well. In 1967 I took a trip on the MV WAPPEN VON HAMBURG from Hamburg to Helgoland.
Later I worked 26 years at her building shipyard Blohm + Voss.
I am very happy to see that this monument of German Shipbuilding will be saved by you.
Regards Rico
My dear, I were born 1948 in Hamburg and this is definitely the "BUNTE KUH", I made approx. 17 round trips Hamburg - Helgoland and return
Prima! Dankeschön 👍🏻
@@peterwenke7273 Ich wäre mir da nicht so sicher. Habe als 4jährige meine Eltern auf der Alten Liebe verloren. Wir sind danach noch über Jahre hinweg einmal im Jahr mit einem der Schiffe nach Helgoland. Aber ich könnte nicht mit Bestimmtheit sagen, welches der drei Schiffe es nun war. Denn unter dem Namen "Wappen von Hamburg" lief eine ganze Serie aus vier Schiffen, von denen zwei Schwesterschiffe sind. Wenn die das so Ernst genommen haben wie bei den sechs Cap-San-Schiffen, dann unterscheiden sich bei denen nur die Bau-Nummer der Werft und die Internationale Registriernummer. Bei den beiden zuletzt gebauten sieht das dann schon etwas anders aus. Aber wer zählt als Kind schon Fenster und Luken?
Mit Stand von heute:
WAPPEN VON HAMBURG ist der Name einer ganzen Serie von
Seebäderschiffen der HADAG
1. Wappen von Hamburg, Bj. 1955, IMO 5088227, Hdw
Verbleib: als Aurora in Restauration
2. Bunte Kuh, Bj. 1957, IMO 5340493, Norderwerft,
Schwesterschiff von IMO 5088227, nach Verkauf über Griechenland 1971 an
Sheikh Ahmed ab Ende der 70er vermißt.
3. Wappen von Hamburg, Bj. 1962, IMO 5386057, (= Alte Liebe II, Helgoland III) 2014 abgewrackt.
4. „MS WAPPEN VON HAMBURG“, Bj. 1965, IMO 6510887, Hdw, als "MERCATOR II" 2010 in DK teilzerlegt, abgewrackt. Schiffsschraube liegt in Flensburg als Denkmal.
the boat sunk
So sad to hear and see that on the 22nd of may 2024 she started taking on water through hole in her hull and partialy sank at her birth in Stockton 😢 I do hope she salvagable after all the time, hard work and money chris put into restoring her, and she dont get sent to the scrappers
Note to The San Francisco Chronicle - It's not 'shipwrecked'' and it's obviously not 'derelict' either.
Typical media, liers to the core.
Typical "click-bait" title. Shameful.
@@toomanyhobbies2011 How do you know a journalist is lying?
Their mouth is open or keyboard is typing.
@@toomanyhobbies2011 Sad but true. I am...uh..."older"...and I can clearly remember the past wherein the media largely acted with some integrity and was widely trusted by the public. They have squandered all their credibility in search of "hits", a market share, and in pursuit of a biased and corrupt political agenda. I don't see how they can ever get that credibility back.
Martmns The Chronicle has fallen from a real news source to a bunch of kid intern activists. They make fun of "reporters' who would actually waste time on finding facts ..
I can smell the cash burning. I wish you well. Do save her if you can.
He could spend $20m on that ship without blinking to get a $20k a year museum.
@@darthkek1953 Yup .... Sad. I wish we could save all old ships but he could be gifted a complete restoration and in 10 years it would need it again. Boats are always aging. Starting with a new one is bad enough. Maintenance is crazy. Restoration is a federal government thing ...
Lmao it's daddies money, if he made it he wouldn't throw it away like that
@@williampotter2098 they make better artificial reefs, if we saved every bolt and bulkhead of historic value the planet would turn into a rust heap. And alot of pre atomic era metal is worth alot of money because it doesnt contain trace radition. Which is why ww2 ship wrecks are vanishing. Black market sakvage crews are diving and dismantling them
@@kingjellybean9795 i agree about reefs but it actually costs a lot of money to turn a boat into a reef as you have to strip it of all the toxic stuff. Turning THAT beast of a ship into a reef would be a major, major project.
Holy Cow! I'm restoring a 102 yr old , really cool, grand ole house. Nothing is easy... can't imagine what you're facing. Good luck my friend.
I really, REALLY hope that he can finish this project and restore the this beautiful old ship back to service.
The world needs more people like this guy.
the boat sunk
Guy is a swindler.
Thank you for tastefully not ruining a perfectly serviceable video with obnoxious music.
Taking on a project like this is very brave - or naive - vintage ship restoration & preservation is one of the most daunting enterprises one can embark upon...
google the boat.
Ich liebe dieses Schiff. Die Aurora ist ein Wunder und alle, die helfen, sind ein perfektes Beispiel für Entschlossenheit und Kameradschaft. Darum bin ich auch dabei! Ganz Hamburg, Buxtehude, Stade und Helgoland wissen, dass wir gemeinsam sehr viel schaffen können, wenn wir zusammenhalten und die Möglichkeiten, die sich hier bieten sind grandios und unerschöpflich!
That is a beauty!
I like that this guy's T-shirt sports the coat of arms of my home town 'Hamburg'. The ship was actually called 'Wappen von Hamburg' ('The Hamburg Coat of Arms') once. Originally, she was not so much an overnight cruise ferry, but a day-cruiser/liner, designer to link Hamburg to the islands in the north sea (especially Heligoland), which is a trip of about six hours.
hamburg city was geht ab
@@guillotineschnapp3862 Fischmarkt, Digger, Fischmarkt!
Good for you! Keep it historic! We are losing a nuff of our history these days, glad to see someone trying to save a piece of it..
I have nothing but the utmost respect for folks who restore these transport titans of yesteryear. Best of luck from NZ.
Good luck...I'm exhausted just thing of the work that needs to be done.
Thank you for keeping history alive
She is beautiful, from a time when how a ship looked mattered.
yes so true . it has to be elder dempster lines m v aureol gets my vote
When ships had curves. Beautiful!
Mr, you don't need to convince anyone.
Everyone can see this is very special. Your main problem will be getting guests to leave because they would fall in love with it too. You do this right there will be companies lining up to use it for hospitality. A winner.
All my congratulations for undertaking these very noble endeavours. I wish Mr Willson plenty of success , and I would be glad to see this fine ship sailing again. Best wishes from Paris / France
Fantastic project you undertaking, restoring a piece of history for our generations to come.
I smell a Go Fund Me project on the horizon...
In case anyone was wondering, the badge in his shirt is the coat of arms for Hamburg in Germany. I myself am a German living close to the northern sea and an I am an aspiring captain so i wanted so tell you how much i appreciate your work an how much you inspire me. Thank you for keeping old and precous boatwork alive :)
Tie it up in a river for the protection of the fresh water. Put some fresh paint on it and run it as a restaurant. She will cost you big money. With 40 years in maritime I know.
Yes....but do not forget...we have CORONNA VIRUS... You have to be crasy to OPEN a restaurant
The man fell in love with a ship. I can relate to that!!
Gotta say how much I admire your passion for this ship, and hope that you'll make this dream come true.
This ship dates back to the time when a cruise was an adventure!
Ships have a way of attracting exactly the right owner to take care of her. I have a feeling that happend here too.
She certainly has beautiful elegant lines
She.s a beauty...wish I could see her and restore a little piece of her..best of luck to you.
Nice-looking vessel! I hope your project succeeds in whatever you want the ship to be. Good luck. It will take much money and effort, especially if you intend to sail it in some capacity. There are numerous inspections, permits and blessings from regulatory agencies, all which take time and money. These permits and inspections are not a one-time affair. Using it as a static display or museum ship will be a MUCH easier task. Having the ship in fresh water is a good idea; try to keep it in fresh water. Topside maintenance will be much reduced. Use good quality paint and prepare the service well. Don’t forget about hull openings in the machinery spaces and elsewhere. These need to be inspected/monitored for leakage. If a static display, you could consider having steel plates welded over the openings. One less worry about flooding. These are some of what I learned after working on ships my whole career and being involved in 3 historic vessel operation/restoration/maintenance work in the Bay Area. I may sound like a doom-sayer here. That isn’t my point. Maybe these comments will assist you with keep the project going and make it work for you. I hope to see more of your project. Thanks.
more power to you. I wish you all the best. I'll book a spot on it.
Look at these absolute chads DIYing their own luxury cruising yacht.
I shudder to think of all the asbestos mitigation in a ship that old... yikes.
I doubt the German shipyard workers ever imagined their efforts would end up in a place called Little Potato Slough, in the middle of California, 50 miles from the ocean.
That is totally awesome. What a beautiful ship. She has Classic lines, and looks graceful at dock. Timeless. I bet when you pull up at St Tropez, the other glass boats blush in embarrassment. She's a BOND boat and more beautiful than anything they make nowadays. You lucky S.O.B.
I fish here all the time glad to see it being restored we gotta run a fund raiser for the guy to help him
If he wants money he should start a youtube channel to show what hes doing.
No
Why in the world would anyone donate money to this project. Its not a charity.
Man if I was a billionaire I would fix it up and use that as my private yacht.
Yeah, When You're A Billionaire, You Can Waste Your Time & Money On All Kinds Of Crap!
@@thewatcher5271 Envious?
@@DodAederen Not Really. I Guess We All Have Our Passions But Even If You Were A Billionaire, Would You Want To Waste Millions Of Dollars On Such A Big Boat?
@@esltogo6898 I'll Take Your Word For It. I've Never Actually Owned A Boat. I've Had A Few Motorcycles In My Past, Though I Don't Have Any Now.
Billionaires get much, much nicer yachts. To their exacting tastes.
Including post-war "vintage" if that's your _chic._
Looks great. Nice piece on the Aurora. Glad the footage worked for you.
She really is a beautiful ship. If kept in fresh water she could last many years. You'll need a business plan, even in FW old ships have a maintenance appetite. You're doing great work!! I wouldn't mind staying there somehow and help you out, but I can't lift heavy stuff. I look forward to seeing the finished result!
Can i ask what the odd curved piece of metal just above the water on the aft section is? Is it a stabilizer? You can see it between 0:01 and 0:04
The lines of this vessel are stunning.
Thank you for the backstory. I've seen this vessel every time I cruise down Little Connection Slough and always wondered.
This guy has not been on a modern cruise ship if they think they don’t do luxury any more. I like his passion but stop with the, “they don’t make em like this any more”. They do it far better now than they ever have.
Actually modern cruise ships are more like floating hotel? I was not very the impressed with a cruise we took in 2019
Quite frankly cruise ships built in the last 30-35 years look like late 80s apartment blocks stuck on fat, squat hulls, they have none of the style or grace of the passenger-liners of old.
There's an old adage about boats. "How do you wind up with a nice boat and a small fortune? Start with a large fortune."
Beautiful old grandeur.
I work on ships and love this era of shipping, good luck with the build.
Isn´t this ship the former "WAPPEN VON HAMBURG" which sailed between the harbor of Hamburg and the little island Helgoland? What a beauty!!!
Indeed, Wappen von Hamburg, 1955.
What a great work he is doing. Many more old ships should end up in hadns of guys like him👍
I wish this man luck with his project. A truly beautiful ship and definitely worth saving. These old and very stylish ships are a rarity in today's world full of absolutely hideous balcony barges people call modern cruise ships.
I absolutely love the ship, and I could spend the rest of my life just visiting historical ships , unfortunately people especially young people just don’t care about stuff like this. Military vessels should be preserved also, enough people just don’t care.
Go and put your money into an old ship or old military vessle then and preserve one. It's no good just saying someone else should do it. Action speaks louder than words.
@@PreservationEnthusiast I didn’t say someone else should do it! I said no one cares whether anyone does it, Me, You, or whoever.
@@papabits5721 Well, you seem to care about it, otherwise you wouldn't be making the point. So if you care, go out there and do something about it.
@@PreservationEnthusiast You must be a Trump supporter, I like THEM and Do support them by visiting when ever I can. All I was saying is the younger generation doesn’t care about some mouldy old boat. So it’s hard to get support for such projects. So I am not sure where your going with this. That’s why he got the like from me Because it HELPS!
So cool. Would love to see her sail under power someday
Looks great! I remember when it was docked in San Francisco, I wanted it then!
Just stumbled on this vid. I hope you succeed in making this dream come true. It's a truly magnificent ship and deserves a first class refit.
Both for the History, and the Beauty - I'm glad this is happening, and I'm more than a little jealous ...
Aurora same name as my mother..
I love it.
Thankyou for sharing that and good luck.
Beautiful lines. Hope you are successful.
Really inspiring. These "pocket" vessels provided such an intimate, yacht-like experience. Reminds me of a wonderful Italian ship I took years ago, the Ocean Islander (formerly City of Andros).
went to mykonos on delos in 1963 great memory ,never thought i will see her again
She is a beautiful shaped vessel
So much nicer than those ones build lately
Doh! After that intro, I was ready to be engrossed in a fifteen hour documentary... Cool canoe!
If I every win the lottery can I buy it and put a hot tub on deck and then decorate it Art Deco style. It's a beautify ship, I never new it's full history, but I actually had a picture of it growing up in the 80s. Love from Scotland and good luck to Mr Wilson.
Nice to see aurora again used to see around and about over years living in Southampton been watching ship happens on UA-cam and your name came up on their just to see what you doing With her keep it up Michael
Wow, I admire this guys optimism all I see is $ bills and big ones. What's the hull like for a start?
Beautiful isn’t she.
Beautiful vessel.
Hellooooo from the UK... Nice boat!
Good for you chase your dream and never look back
Pretty cool! Good luck on the restoration
Will the engines fore up?
1955 gebaut in unserer schönen Stadt Hamburg von Blohm & Voss.
You need to worry about the bottom. I've seen many people living on a old large boat or small ship waste their time and money fixing things that don't keep the vessel afloat. Steel will rust and dissimilar metals in the water create electrical currents that can cause metals to dissolve at high rates. It's even worse if the power isn't properly grounded. I've seen propeller blades that were gone in a few weeks from improperly installed equipment. Most vessels like this get scrapped. Usually at state expense when they sink or are about to sink. The bottom alone could need millions.
After that, do the engines run or even turn over? Parts may only be available from ship scrappers. Or they have to be custom made. Getting this ship to running condition is not possible for the average person. You're probably looking at tens of millions or more. I sympathize, it would be great to make it run, but unlikely to ever see the ocean again.
You're a little ray of optermism aren't you? Fortunately the fact he even owns this incredible boat proves he's not one of the "you'll never do that" gloom merchants.
He OWNS it, more than you will ever do.
@@breakfast917 Sorry, but I've seen it play out many times. Just painting the ship, inside and out, all surfaces, would take a several tons of paint. Few people have any idea what it costs and how much labor it takes to maintain a large vessel. Most waste their time doing things that don't relate to keeping the ship afloat. I owned a shipyard. Now I liveaboard and cruise a small ship.
@@breakfast917 He's right you know, that is an old hull corrosion is a real concern, you can send a diver down to have a look but the only way to really inspect it is out of the water, and of course, then there are the repairs. I watched a guy work for months patching and repairing corrosion on a steel-hulled boat that was a fraction of the size of that ship.
@@breakfast917 - he's right though. These beautiful old ships can take a lot, but what's slowly, unnoticed, happening below the water line is what gets them eventually.
Or...... You could just focus on the positives in life.
As a child my late father took us aboard the NSS Savannah when it docked in the port of Southampton in the U.K. ( i am now 62 years old) As a dockyard engineer he felt that this was the way to go rather than the all perveying smell of fuel oil that vessels reeked of regardless of type. I believe that the NSS SAVANNAH is now docked in a section of Baltimore Harbour, a sad reflection of its former self.
At 2:00, is that an old minesweeper from Eureka tied up next to Aurora?
If this doesn't give someone inspiration i don't know what will. This must be the most fantastic enterprise by a private person that i have ever seen anywhere. I can hardly believe this! What is your ultimate goal with her?
What were the other two vessels?
A beauty. Would be sad, if it will be scrapped.
I love this! Thank goodness people wanna save old vessels. I'm seeing the four 90s Fantasy class ships go to scrap and weeping about it!
Very stylish - it looks like a Royal Yacht
man you are so lucky!!!
Best of lucks dude!
And it's sinking
Well done good luck with a great project bro.
"made in Germany"; We had a BC coastal cruise ship, a little smaller than the others, manned by a German crew. I had planned on taking it to an Alaska/Inside Passage Canada cruise. It could fire off of Prince Rupert in the mid eighties and never saw action again. Too bad, really. Large enough to go anywhere; small enough you'd meet everyone on board.
Still trying to find a derelict shipwrecked yacht in this video... No such luck
It was commercial passage-maker and says "cruise ship" in the title.
Nobody said it was a yacht.
Our first cruise was on the SS Constitution, a ship of a similar vintage. You're right; there's nothing like a small ship to enjoy cruising on.
I've been following this journey for a while now and I had no idea it was in the delta! I assumed it was in some place like the Carolinas.
Well I like his dream. But of course I believe we all know this will not end well. As he mentioned no one could figure out what to do with an old "pocket" cruiser that would allow it to make money. So maybe a museum is his suggestion. Those do not make money either. Now maybe he could go run some things on kickstarter of gofundme or similar things to get added funds to bring the ship back to looking like it did in it's glory. I'd love to see that, maybe he gets donations from other ship lovers and it's made to look so grand again. I see a lot of videos tied to it and it seems like a small group of people who are working on the ship. But a ship that size needs a LOT more workers to bring back up to it's glory and without that it will rapidly get into a cycle of as one thing is fixed another breaks and the work will never end (it is a ship and weather and water are not kind mistresses).
You summed it up perfectly. I think a wedding venue and film location were his other suggestions. But he'll need an continuous stream of bookings at premium prices just to cover ongoing maintenance and painting etc.
Unfortunately ship enthusiasts are full of suggestions about "They should make a museum/hotel etc" but when it comes to putting their own money into the bottomless pit, the enthusiasts are not so forthcoming!
There's always go fund me type internet money raising but many of these schemes are dubious and it's becoming a well worn idea. I wonder if it's all sustainable in the long term?
Is this being cleaned up to just look good, or is it being restored as a functional ship?
He's basically fitting out the interior to use as a wedding venue/museum ship. I very much doubt if it will be seaworthy or even river worthy. Too expensive to do that.
$$$$ want to invest
Thought it sunk ?
Total water of money from the beginning
Hello I am planning a trip down there in May would it be possible to go aboard this fantastic old girl?
I wish I had the money he does. I’d buy the Duke of Lancaster for the same reason he bought Aurora. Well done man for saving her.
When he gets the ship going he needs to go tow the Mcbarge in and get started on it!!
So cool! Is it sea worthy?
I can't imagine it looks good under the waterline...
I wonder how he is going to get it through the sand bars in the delta
Nice detail that you wear the crest of the hanse city of Hamburg of your shirt.