HER STORY
Since her construction in 1958, Kinfish has gone through several episodes including upgrades and modifications to fit the demands of her various areas of operation. She has served as a sea rescue cruiser, mapped the oceans for the Norwegian government and sailed as a survey vessel all over Europe. In 2018 Kinfish entered the expedition market where she is currently in service under ownership and management of Northern Expeditions.
Constructed to save lives
Her story begins back in 1958 when the U.S. Ambassador in Norway at the time ordered her construction from the dockyard “Stord Verft” in Norway. She was given construction nr. 51 and upon completion at the dockyard, she was donated to the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue. She had her first port of registry in Oslo, Norway and was stationed in Norway’s south-western district. As tradition prevails, she was named by the donator to “Ambassador Bay”.
During the following 27 years she patrolled the Norwegian coast and battled all types of weather to reach vessels in need of assistance. According to official record, Ambassador Bay assisted a total of 571 vessels, she rescued 57 men from a certain death and salvaged 17 vessels from a total loss at sea.
In 1985 when she was sold to a private owner and changed name to P/R Geofjord.
Transformation to enter the survey market
In 1985 the Ambassador Bay became P/R Geofjord and changed port of registry to Bergen, Norway. The new owner had other plans herl and in 1986 she was put back at the dock yard for some major re-modifications, this time at Båtservice Verft in Mandal, Norway. At the yard she was lengthened by 9 meters and had the aft deck replaced. The electrical system was modernized and the old main engine was replaced with the 750 bhp Grenaa Diesel that is still pulling her load today.
Her new area of usage was as a hydrographic survey vessel within the oil- and gas industry. During the following years she took part in most of the major mapping- and preparation projects for pipe-laying between the Norwegian offshore oilfields and the Norwegian coast. She also mapped the seabed in preparation for putting down the still-in-use gas lines to Germany, Belgium and England.
In between she did bottom surveys for sea chart mapping and in 1990 she was chartered by the Norwegian Hydrographic Service (“Sjøkartverket”) to take part in an extensive mission to update the navigational charts along the Norwegian coast and in Svalbard.
In Government Service
After four years in charter with good results, P/R Geofjord was sold in 1994 to her charterer, the Norwegian Hydrographic Service. She was given the name Sjømåleren and registered in Stavanger, Norway.
Under ownership of the Norwegian government she had another major upgrade session and then continued with mapping of the seabed for the new electronic chart route along the entire Norwegian coastline.
Another few years into her service she was part of the pioneering project of mapping the uncharted waters around Svalbard.
Sjømåleren was in active service for the Norwegian government until 2001 when the authority had a new, larger hydrographic vessel delivered to replace her.
Back to her previous owner
In 2001 Sjømåleren was bought back from the government by her previous owner, Geoconsult. Her name was changed to Geosund and she was once again registered in Bergen, Norway.
The following year she was used on the Norwegian oil fields and in the rapidly growing offshore wind farm business as a supplement to her owner’s new, larger vessel.
In 2002 she was sold yet again, this time to a French company within the survey industry.
Under French flag
The French survey company IX Blue bought Geosund in 2002. She was placed in the Norwegian International Register and kept sailing under Norwegian flag for a few more years before shifting to French flag. She was then registered in Marseilles, France and changed name to R/V Ixplorer.
Under French flag she worked with survey of oil trench lines around the Mediterranean Sea and for the offshore wind farm industry on the French Atlantic coast and in the English Channel. During this time, she was also used as a platform for testing of IX Blue’s own production line of gyro-/sonar equipment and for control and evaluation of French military control systems.
R/V Ixplorer sailed under French flag until 2016, when she found the way back to her roots in Norway.
Back to her origin
As IX Blue placed the order of a new, larger survey vessel, the Ixplorer was put out for sale. In 2016 she was bought by Northern Research Shipping AS, a Norwegian company with extensive experience in ship building and specialization in the survey industry. She changed flag back to Norway and was registered in Grimstad under the name Kinfish.
During the following year her new owner put much effort into further improvements and modernizations. The Kinfish was put through an extensive upgrade on technical equipment including complete remake of the survey station into a new double purpose survey station and lounge. The bridge equipment was updated to modern standard with new electronic chart systems.
The cabins and interior spaces were upgraded to a decent living standard with the old surveyor cabins remade into five double ensuite and one tripe ensuite passenger cabins. She was equipped with a bow- and stern thruster for integration with a brand new engine control system and a dynamic positioning system (“DP system”) for advanced survey and subsea operations.
While in dry dock the already ice-classed hull was further ice strengthened to ensure safe navigation in the Polar regions.
The idea from her new owner was to improve the ability of the vessel in the survey business while expanding her capability to also take passengers on exclusive expeditions worldwide.
Kinfish today
The work by Northern Research Shipping towards further improvements of the ship was later influenced by Northern Expeditions AB, her next owner in line, as discussions for a joint venture in the Arctic expeditions market was initiated less than a year from her shift back to Norwegian flag.
A cooperation between the two companies resulted in Northern Expedition purchasing Kinfish in April 2018. The ship was brought up to Svalbard just one month later and completed her first ever season as expedition vessel with great results.
Upon completion of her first season the ship was brought back to Sweden for further improvements and adaption to the expedition market. She went through a 5-year inspection for class renewal and shifted to Sweden with Gothenburg as a home port.
Since her entry into the expedition market, Kinfish has proven well capable to facilitate expeditions in the Arctic including Svalbard and East Greenland, the Norwegian coast and more. She has also been used for ski&sail cruises, diving excursions, whale safaris, Northern lights expeditions and other adventure travel. In addition to her main operational area, she is capable to support in marine research, hydrographic-, geotechnical- and geophysical survey operations, in oceanographic missions, subsea operations, treasure- and wreck searches, marine research and much more.
Though having gone through several upgrades and modifications over the years, many features still remain from her old days in service. The interior has been upgraded remembering her background in the survey market and she is kept fully capable to perform on the survey market in addition to expeditions and cruises.
The latest modifications made by Northern Research Shipping and continued by Northern Expeditions has resulted in a high-tech expedition vessel with capacity to sail and explore worldwide.
Curiosities
The expected vessel prefix for Kinfish would be M/V, which stands for “Motor Vessel”, but in honor of her background, we have chosen to keep the prefix R/V, meaning “Research Vessel”.
To spice up her background story, recently released secret documents show that the her early years as sea rescue cruiser was not all about salvage and rescue. Turns out she had a double life and participated in several covert military operations as a spy vessel in-between her sea rescue missions.
Learn more about her vast background onboard or please send us an email with any questions you may have!
