La Famille Express Shipwreck Turks & Caicos
La Famille Express Shipwreck Turks & Caicos Drone video distance test to a remote area off the shores of Turks and Caicos. 5 mile roundtrip test with moderate winds.
How Did the La Famille Express Get There?
The history of the La Famille Express began in 1953 and in a much colder environment – the Soviet Union. The vessel started life as an oil rig service ship, transferring supplies to remote offshore oil wells. At its initial lunch, the ship was christened the Форт-Шевченко, or Fort Shevchenko in English, after the military port town in the Caspian Sea.
the anchor from the La Famille Express shipwreck
The La Famille Express's anchor.
Decades later in 1992, the Fort Shevchenko was decommissioned. For about ten years, the ship saw various uses in the Baltic area, and then became the maritime La Famille Express under the Panama flag in 1999, and served as a regional freighter ship in the Caribbean. At this point in its life, the La Famille Express was in poor condition and being used to transport bulk rock, not something that a valued freighter ship would be used for.
The La Famille Express became firmly planted in the shallow waters of the Caicos Banks during Hurricane Frances in 2004. Under the high winds, the unmanned vessel had actually dragged its anchor from the South Dock area of Providenciales, a distance of almost 12 miles (19km). This anchor is still in the water near the ship.