ISTANBUL, Aug 7
(Reuters) - The MS Pacific, a cruise ship made famous by its appearance in the
popular U.S. 1970s television show "The Love Boat," has sailed its
final voyage to a ship-breaking yard on Turkey's Aegean Sea coast, a shipping
group said on Wednesday.
Called the Pacific
Princess when it was on the long-running comedy, the iconic 13,500-tonne,
171-m-long (561-foot-) vessel will be stripped for its metal and parts, said
Ersin Ceviker of the Ship Recyclers' Association of Turkey.
Aaron Spelling's
"The Love Boat," starring Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain, ran on
the U.S. television network ABC from 1977 to 1986. The show was set on board
the Pacific Princess, which mainly sailed from California to the Mexican
Riveria.
Each week passengers and
crew members, caught under the Pacific Princess' romantic spell, engaged in
love affairs or humorous encounters during the one-hour show.
"This ship has
undergone several modifications over its lifespan. It had been decommissioned
for five years, and renovation now would have been too costly," Ceviker
said.
Turkey's Izmir Ship
Recycling Co. acquired the 42-year-old Pacific for 2.5 million euros ($3.3
million).
The vintage cruiseliner
arrived from Genoa, Italy, at the breakers in the seaside town of Aliaga in
Turkey late on Tuesday after a difficult trip in a violent storm, Ceviker said.
The Pacific began taking
on water and required the help of additional tugboats to make it to Aliaga. It
was now listing on its starboard side at Aliaga. ($1 = 0.7513 euros) (Reporting
by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky).
Source:
Reuters. By Ayla Jean Yackley. 7 August 2013
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