Last Congo liner

The Charlesville was the last Belgian Europe-Africa Liner, (these liners were called Congoboot since they mainly sailed for the Congo), and it operated between 1951 and 1967 as a mixed cargo/passenger ship between Antwerp and Matadi in what was Belgian Congo back then (present-day Democratic Republic of Congo). The first owner was the Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) shipping line. She was the last in a series of five ships built between 1947 and 1951 to link Belgium with its colony.

From 1967 onward, she was operated as MV Georg Büchner by the VEB Deutsche Seereederei from Rostock in Germany, then from 1974 by VEB Deutfracht/Seereederei from Rostock, until she was decommissioned in 1977. The ship was then used as a training ship and later on the city of Rostock transferred ownership to an association for traditional ships (Förderverein Traditionsschiff e.V.) which operated the ship as a youth hostel and training facility.

Demise

Due to financial problems the association sold the ship to a shady company based on the Seychelles (Argent Ventures Ltd.). The final buyer, however, was the scrap yard UAB Subare in Klaipeda, Lithuania. The Flemish umbrella organisation for maritime heritage Watererfgoed Vlaanderen ('Flanders Water Heritage') launched a final attempt at saving the ship and repatriating it to its original home port of Antwerp. Although the ship was a listed monument, the mayor of Rostock granted the authorisation to tow the ship to the scrapyard, be it under fierce protest. During her passage to Klaipeda, the ship sank under unclear circumstances in Polish territorial waters.

Watererfgoed Vlaanderen continues to campaign for the floating and repatriating of the shipwreck, which could become a central attraction in a major new shipping and port museum in Antwerp. There, the Charlesville could be united with two other iconic ships: the medieval Cog of Doel and the Belgica, the first expedition ship to spend the winter in Antarctica.

Yard: Cockerill Yards, Hoboken (Antwerp)

Owner: Compagnie Maritime Belge

Crew: 140

Maximum no. of passengers: 240

Grand Duc/Wikimedia Commons

The Charlesville in the port of Rostock as Georg Büchner.

The ship is protected under artikel 303 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

• Wikimedia Commons.
  Charlesville.