MTS Oceanos

MTS Oceanos

MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship that sank off South Africa's eastern coast on 4 August 1991. Launched in July 1952 by Forges et Chantiers de la Gironde in Bordeaux as the Jean Laborde, she was the last of four sister ships built for Messageries Maritimes. The ships were used on the Marseilles – Madagascar – Mauritius service. The Jean Laborde underwent several name changes including Mykinai, Ancona, and Eastern Princess; finally, in 1976, she was registered in Piraeus, Greece, under the name of Oceanos.

After a successful 1988 cruise season in South Africa, the Oceanos received an eight-month charter from TFC Tours (now Starlight Cruises) of Johannesburg. The Oceanos was in a state of neglect, with loose hull plates, check valves stripped for repair parts after a recent trip, and a 10 cm (4 in) hole in the "watertight" bulkhead between the generator and sewage tank.