MS Nordkapp - History of Nordkapp

History of Nordkapp

The Ofotens and Vesteraalens steamship company commissioned a new ship which was to be built at the Kvaemer Kleven shipyard in Ålesund.

It was christened on 23 March 1996 by Queen Sonja of Norway in a double ceremony with MS Polarlys, which was built at a neighbouring shipyard.

In February 18, 1997, MS Nordkapp travelled to Trondheim to work as a hotel ship during the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1997

In 2005 MS Nordkapp was taken out the Norwegian coastal route and put into service in the Baltic Sea before cruising Antarctica to Chile. In 2005 and 2006 Nordkapp would sail the western coast of Norway during spring, summer, and part of fall before returning to sail the Chile/Antarctica route in the winter (summer in southern hemisphere). In May 2007 MS Nordkapp returned to full time to Norway's coastal route.

In January 2007, the vessel ran aground off Deception Island, part of the South Shetland Islands, without reported injuries.

On 29 November 2001 at 7:40pm the ship suffered a total engine failure on both main engines outside of Henningsvær in Lofoten. The ship dropped both anchors to avoid running aground while the evacuation was prepared, but after 2 hours the engineers managed to start the engine and the ship returned to Bodø, Norway.