Explorer vessel in Phuket searching for work
The MY Sarsen - waiting for a charter.
Need a boat that can go anywhere? Anywhere there’s plenty of water? Actually, not so much a boat – more of a small ship. Across the Pacific? Easy. Penguin watching at the South Pole? Sure, why not? We have just the boat for you – and it’s in Phuket.
In fact, the MY Sarsen has been in Phuket, moored at Ao Po Grand Marina, for more than six months, waiting for a charter. She belongs to Moir Holdings Australia Pty, a company set up by wealthy Australian Fred Moir, who made his money in mining machinery.
Fred has a Thai wife and a house in Phuket, hence the Thai connection. He also employs an almost entirely Thai crew for the Sarsen. The full complement is 18 crew, though currently there are only six aboard.
Fred told the Phuket Observer, “The original plan was to do trips down to the Antarctic.” (The Sarsen was built in the 1970s as a research vessel and has a reinforced hull to allow it to work in pack ice.) “We did two trips down there, but we couldn’t get a lot of interest in keeping the thing going. So I’ve just got her parked here while we think what we’re going to do next. I’m quite happy to look at opportunities.”
One possible charter on the horizon is a trip to Howland Island, smack in the middle of the Pacific. Howland Island was the destination of the final flight of 1930s aviatrix Amelia Earhart. She never made it, and the location of her aircraft – and her remains – is still a mystery. The Sarsen‘s charterers hope to solve the mystery.
But apart from that trip, the Sarsen’s diary is pretty much free. So if you’d rather not buy that B10 million condo right now, here’s a way to use the money – just book the Sarsen for a couple of weeks and take a load of friends with you.
To find out more about the Sarsen, go here. To get in touch with Fred Moir, email us.
And Fred also has a 10-seater Pilatus PC-12 aircraft for charter. So now you have a choice – slow or fast.
