NAD Shipyard

Le Génie Civil – September 1891
Steamship Amédée Courbet
 -The Largest Vessel on the Marseille–Saigon Route

Commissioned on the 7th of September, the steamship Amédée Courbet becomes the new flagship of the Compagnie de Navigation Internationale and the largest vessel assigned to the Marseille–Saigon line. In terms of size, she surpasses the Australien, Polynésien, and Armand Béhic of the Messageries Maritimes Australia service.
Originally constructed by J. & G. Thomson for a Belgian transatlantic shipping company, the vessel was subsequently acquired by the Compagnie de Navigation Internationale, which modified her arrangements for service on the Far Eastern routes.

The vessel, measuring 157.3 metres in length and 16.35 metres in beam, accommodates across three decks 170 first-class, 241 second-class, and 212 third-class passengers. A crew of 192 ensures the regularity and proper conduct of the service.
First-class passengers are provided with five principal public rooms, including a music salon, a lounge, a reading and writting room, a smoking room with veranda and a spacious dining saloon. Second-class passengers are likewise provided with a dining room, a smoking room, and a lounge arranged within the main staircase, complemented by additional seating areas on the lower decks.
Third-class passengers are accommodated in comparatively spacious quarters located in the forward part of the vessel.

Propulsion is provided by two triple-expansion engines, supplied by a set of four single-ended and four double-ended boilers, enabling the vessel to attain a speed of 18 knots, allowing it to complete the route in 28 days under perfect conditions.

December 1931.
A group of trappers and Inupiat travel along the coast of northern Alaska with their dog sleds. In the distance, far out on the ice, they see three ice pillars rising up. Fascinated, they venture out onto the ice. As they approach, a black hull emerges from the ice. It is a ship, completely frozen and covered with ice. No smoke comes from the funnel, no light from the windows and portholes, no one on deck. The ship seems to have been abandoned for a long time. They climb aboard. The holds are open and full of furs. There is no one in the quarters. The coal in the bunkers is almost used up, the fires in the boilers extinguished. The ship is stuck, with no chance of being saved. So they leave it to its fate. As they leave the ship behind, they could hardly have imagined that this ghostly ship would continue to haunt these waters for decades to come.