Anticosti sails away - AMENDED

The former tug supplier and former naval trials craft Anticosti has finally left Canadian waters six years after being sold foreign. [See corrections in paragraph 2 -underlined.]

The ship was built in 1973 by Allied Shipbuilders in North Vancouver as Lady Jean Tide for International Offshore Service (Liberia) an arm of P+O. They ran it only until 1975 when it went to Tidewater Marine of Liberia and was renamed Jean Tide. In the late 1980s when the Royal Canadian Navy needed trials craft for the Maritime Coastal Defence Vessel program, and reserve training, they acquired this ship and sister  Joyce Tide ex Lady Joyce , which they renamed Anticosti and Moresby respectively, Pennant Numbers MA 110 and MA 111. When the MCMDVs were delivered the two were decommissioned in March 2000 and sold. Anticosti left Halifax in tow of Escort Protector (McKeil) December 10, 2001 for Clarenville, NL for new owners, Star Line Inc.and it was registered without change of name in 2002. Ownership later passed to North Atlantic Corp (Cape Harrison Marine) of St.John's. The ship was then available for a variety offshore duties including research.

On about May 10, 2013 in St.John's, NL, a crankcase fire broke out as the ship was being shifted by tug from refit. While the move was being completed the boat slammed into a pier causing damage to both. The fire however self-extinguished before it could spread very far.  I don't believe the ship ever returned to service, and remained laid up until its Canadian registry was closed August 8, 2014. Eventually the new name Todo Pederoso II appeared. [Loosely translated the name means "strong man" or "almighty man"].

Some work was carried out intermittently, and a few old cars appeared on its after deck as possible export cargo, but it was not until quite recently that there have been serious signs of life aboard. This has certainly taken the "manana" principal to heart. Honduras Aero Marine S de RL have been listed as owners since about February of this year and the ship was listed under Honduran registry (it had been Panama since 2014 but that lapsed in 2017).

On April 12 the ship finally got underway from St.John's and sailed giving La Cieba, Honduras as a destination. Central America and the Caribbean region is the graveyard for a lot of old ships and some work is occasionally found for them. Old suppliers are often pressed into service to carry deck loads, but they are really unsuitable for most other kinds of work, and expensive to operate. They usually do not last long.

This one apparently has some life left in it, so lets hope it does see a few more years of use.

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