One Ocean Expeditions (incl 2019 financial issues)

www.travelweekly.com.au/article/it-is-the-right-thing-to-do-hurtigrutens-compassionate-offer-to-one-ocean-expeditions-customers/

02 DEC 2019

IN THE LIGHT OF FURTHER CANCELLATIONS BY ONE OCEAN EXPEDITIONS (OOE) AND ONGOING UNCERTAINTY ABOUT ITS FUTURE, HURTIGRUTEN HAS STEPPED IN WITH A COMPASSIONATE OFFER FOR AFFECTED AND CONCERNED PASSENGERS.

Damian Perry, managing director at Hurtigruten across the Asia Pacific, said the company understands the stress cancellations cause agents and travellers, and is assisting re-bookings with a heavily reduced ‘compassionate fare’ for those directly impacted by OOE’s cancelled cruises or potential cancellations this season.

“As a business, our core values are caring about the environment, cultures, oceans and people,” Perry said.

“Although there will be a cost to Hurtigruten, we believe it is the right thing to do for travellers and agents and to help rebuild trust in our industry.”

Hurtigruten’s offer is being made independently of OOE, and any booking or financial disputes remain with OOE and the traveller.

Agents and travellers interested in applying for a compassionate fare with Hurtigruten should contact apac.assist@hurtigruten.com or call our team on 1300 322 062 (Australia) or 0800 005 201 (New Zealand).

OOE urged its passengers and partners in late October to be patient as it works to restructure the business, conceding that the past few months had been “extremely challenging” for the company. This included the sudden withdrawal of two of its three vessels.

Former and current crew members of OOE claim they haven’t been paid in months, and the company recently cancelled a forth consecutive voyage, according to multiple media reports.

This is not the first time Hurtigruten has offered to help customers of another company this year, having lent a hand to those affected by the shocking collapse of Bentours in September.

www.squamishchief.com/news/local-news/squamish-newsmakers-of-2019-two-prominent-businesses-in-financial-trouble-1.24043716?fbclid=IwAR3CdAK5CeI54Nq3fq-VCmQjY51JI_o08g93o0hAgg2vQ3uw6oE1CR3onWA

SQUAMISH NEWSMAKERS OF 2019: Two prominent businesses in financial trouble
The Chief staff / Squamish Chief
DECEMBER 31, 2019 06:00 AM

A pair of businesses that made names for themselves in Squamish found themselves in financial trouble this year.
Westcoast Outbuildings has declared bankruptcy and One Ocean Expeditions has shut its doors for the foreseeable future.

Over the summer, Westcoast laid off all of its employees. Despite owner Geoff Baker’s promise to right the ship, the company would later declare insolvency in October.
According to the package provided to creditors by the company’s insolvency trustee, Westcoast listed just $261,581 in assets and more than $3.7 million in liabilities.
The company was hit with several lawsuits in the summer. The legal actions included claims from Rona Inc. over an allegedly unpaid $133,000 bill.
The Surrey Board of Education and the Nisga’a Village of Gitwinksihlkw also sued Westcoast for allegedly failing to deliver on building projects.
The board of education alleged that Westcoast failed to deliver 10 portable buildings while allegedly refusing to return a $291,000 deposit. The school board claims the company admitted in July that it hadn’t built any of the portables and “had appropriated and/or converted all or part of the deposit to uses not authorized.”
Westcoast failed to deliver on a “Welcome House,” which is a tourist centre building, according to the Nisga’a band.
In its lawsuit, the Nisga’a village claimed it made payments of more than $537,000 toward the project, but the company allegedly used the money on unrelated projects without authorization.
In September, Baker told The Chief he was unable to comment on projects that were the subject of court proceedings. In its legal response to the Nisga’a’s lawsuit, however, Westcoast Outbuildings and its founders deny wrongdoing.
The claims have not been tried or proven in court.
Regarding One Ocean, the Squamish-based Antarctic touring company ran into troubles earlier this year after two of its three vessels were recalled by their Russian owners due to a financial dispute.
Months later, the company would shut its doors, saying that it was in the process of restructuring.
Following that, One Ocean has been declaring a series of rolling cancellations for trips. As of press deadline, the last trip cancelled was for Dec. 31.
This has left many would-be voyagers wondering if they can recover their money for tickets, which are extremely pricey. For example, in one case, a passenger The Chief talked to said his pair of tickets cost almost $30,000 USD. Others are wondering if their trips will still pull through.
The owner of One Ocean, Andrew Prossin, has told The Chief that he’s been working on a solution, but declined to elaborate much further.
In letters sent to passengers of cancelled trips, Prossin has been saying that One Ocean has been in discussions with a potential partner to rebuild the business.
In the meantime, for those affected by the cancellations, Prossin has been encouraging them to contact their insurance providers.
However, passengers are not the only ones who’ve been affected.
Workers for One Ocean have been alleging the company hasn’t been paying them.
In late November, the amount of employment standards complaints alleging One Ocean failed to pay wages almost doubled in comparison with the beginning of that month.
At the time, the Ministry of Labour told The Chief that 37 complaints — up from 19 — had been filed with the Employment Standards Branch.


Linked within the above article is this older article
www.squamishchief.com/news/local-news/employment-standards-complaints-against-one-ocean-expeditions-almost-double-1.24023377

Employment Standards complaints against One Ocean Expeditions almost double
The Squamish company has said it's been talking with potential partner to restructure business

Steven Chua / Squamish Chief
NOVEMBER 29, 2019 04:41 PM

As One Ocean Expedition cruises continue to be cancelled, the number of complaints alleging the company failed to pay wages has almost doubled.
Two days after the company announced the cancellation of its Dec. 1 trip, the Ministry of Labour told The Chief that 37 complaints — up from 19 — have been filed with the Employment Standards Branch.

In a statement issued on Nov. 26, the ministry said the complaints are coming from employees of the company. An officer has been assigned to the case, and an investigation is ongoing.
However, the head of One Ocean has said that he's working on a "solution" to the corporation's financial woes.

A letter with the company letterhead posted online by customers and a travel agency notes that the business is continuing to restructure.
"Our recent efforts at restructuring our business have been going well and we are in advanced discussions now with a qualified potential partner to rebuild our business," reads the letter, signed by the head of the company, Andrew Prossin.
"However, some facets of the restructuring have created complications that will keep us from operating your voyage. Again, please accept our apologies."
In the message, Prossin encourages customers to contact their insurance provider.
Save for the fact that he is working on trying to save the company, little other details have surfaced.
"A number of people have been working very hard on a solution to this difficult and regrettable situation," Prossin told The Chief on Nov. 15.
"A solution is very close, and we just need the time to see if we can get that across the line," he said at the time.
He declined to comment further, and has not responded to subsequent requests for comment made via phone, email and Facebook. The Chief has knocked on the door of the business, but no one answers.
The rooms are dark on the first floor, but lights have seen on the second floor.
Meanwhile, at least some customers and contractors have been left with their hands open.
For one customer, Prossin's words haven't been reassuring.
"That's either a genuine update, which is very vague, or it's just stalling — I don't know which one," said John De Silva, who bought a trip for two.
"It doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy….We don't want to lose $24,000 [USD]."
De Silva's voyage, slated for February 2020, was scheduled to be on the RCGS Resolute, which still remains docked in Buenos Aires.
An Argentine federal judge has ordered the ship to stay in port due to a significant debt, CBC News reported.
The company's other two ships were recalled by their owners earlier this year due to a financial dispute.
Customers aren't the only ones left looking for answers.
Annie Novoa of Remarkable Clean says that her cleaning company is owed more than $3,000 by One Ocean.
Documents she provided to The Chief state that the tourism operator did not pay four invoices worth of work done from August to October.
On Oct. 24, One Ocean asked to put a pause on the office cleaning services and said an update regarding payment would be given at a later date, Novoa said.
However, since then, One Ocean has been silent on the matter, she said.
Novoa said she doesn't know what will happen to the money, which represents about half a pay cycle's worth of wages for the company. She says the missing cash will prevent her from giving her staff Christmas bonuses this year.
Novoa said that while the case has drawn international attention, it's had a big local effect too.
"Just because it was an international big company it doesn't mean that the little people were not affected," she said. "We were as well."

www.expeditioncruising.com/2020/01/one-ocean-into-administration.html

Saturday, 11 January 2020
One Ocean into administration
#expeditioncruising .


Source Travel Daily

ONE Ocean Expeditions (OOE) overnight advised customers it is set to be placed into administration and has confirmed its upcoming 17 Jan “Ultimate Antarctica” departure would not take place.

The company has not operated any voyages since Oct 2019, with its RCGS Resolute impounded in Argentina over a payment dispute.

However, since then OOE has continued to solicit bookings on its website, while telling customers on cancelled cruises it would provide a “future cruise credit” rather than any refunds.

The company claims to have entered into a partnership with another unnamed “high quality expedition operator” to provide customers with options to book for a discounted price.

Passengers may also attempt to seek a refund of monies paid to OOE, which will occur via a “business administration process overseen by a court appointed Monitor/Trustee”.

“Alternatively, as OOE will soon enter a formal restructuring process (business administration) under the Canadian legal system, you may be able to seek refunds through the cancellation terms of your travel insurance policy,” the company said, offering to provide supporting documentation to assist any claims.

www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23150-one-ocean-expeditions-could-make-a-comeback-with-new-ship.html

One Ocean Expeditions Could Make a Comeback With New Ship
June 29, 2020

One Ocean Expeditions could sail again as Managing Director Andrew Prossin said in a court filing that he is negotiating to finance a new ship and is also talking to other expedition operators about their excess and unneeded capacity.

The news could come as a surprise to some as the brand saw its ship, the RCGS Resolute, arrested in Buenos Aires over the winter and operations suspended; it appeared the company and brand were finished.

Prossin later detailed an immense set of challenges in a May court filing following an April bankruptcy filing.

Now, Prossin is working to collect a $19 million judgement against Terragelida, which was essentially the vessel management company that One Ocean had chartered two Russian research ships from.

The company has also collected an insurance payment, and is looking to reclaim over $3 million in its assets currently stuck aboard the RCGS Resolute.

The big news of the new ship deal would give the company the independence it needs, Prossin said.

“If successful, this would give One Ocean direct partial ownership of its own vessel and eliminate the uncertainty and risk inherent in a vessel charter arrangement,” Prossin stated. “To facilitate this transaction, One Ocean has been negotiating with several non-competitive parties who wish to sub-charter the vessel a substantial amount of days each year.”

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/one-ocean-expeditions-restructuring-plan-1.5771191

One Ocean Expeditions avoids bankruptcy as B.C. court approves restructuring plan

Company intends to resume voyages in June 2021

Andrea Ross · CBC News · Posted: Oct 21, 2020 3:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 22, 2020

Beleaguered B.C.-based luxury cruise company One Ocean Expeditions will be allowed to restructure its business to avoid bankruptcy, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The company's proposal, which includes providing creditors — some who paid tens of thousands of dollars for voyages that never happened — the option of using that money toward a future trip is "fair and reasonable" and in the best interest of stakeholders, B.C. Supreme Court justice Sandra Wilkinson said.

The company is nearly $29.5 million in debt and was forced to seek creditor protection earlier this year when the leases on two of its ships were cancelled.

Over the past two years, one of OOE's ships collided with a rock in the Arctic Ocean, while another was arrested and held in harbours in Iqaluit and Buenos Aires for non-payment of debts. Previous employees have spoken out about not being paid and customers reported having trips cancelled at the last minute without receiving refunds.

The company's insolvency trustee, PricewaterhouseCoopers, said it believes the restructuring proposal will be a better deal for creditors than bankruptcy.

If the company is able to restructure, it intends to restart booking trips by the end of the year for voyages as early as June 2021.

Credit for future trips

As part of the approved proposal, eligible customers who previously paid deposits or the full amount for trips that were cancelled will be able to use, depending on some conditions, either half or all of that money as credit for a future trip.

Depending on which option they choose, some customers will not be able to receive money from a $600,000 "dividend pool" the company intends to fund and make available to eligible creditors.

OOE has arranged for investors to acquire a new ship, which will be chartered to OOE to continue cruise operations.

The charter will be funded in large part by an "anchor tenant," who will book up to four months of time on the ship per year. The company still needs to finalize this deal before it can commit to proceeding with trip booking, court was told on Wednesday.

The company will also continue to pursue outstanding litigation claims, which exceed $20 million.

There's no indication customers will receive full refunds for previously cancelled trips.

Neither Andrew Prossin, CEO of OOE, or PricewaterhouseCoopers immediately responded to CBC's request for comment.

At the opening of a new helipad in Sydney, N.S., earlier this month, Prossin told a small crowd he intends to return to the community next year with a new cruise ship once his company emerges from creditor protection.

He declined an interview at the time.

Although creditors voted in favour of the restructuring proposal last month, it hinged on the court's approval.

'Too many questionable possibilities'

That approval is no comfort for Marta Gill, an Ontario woman who paid around $13,000 for a cruise through Canada's Northwest Passage in 2019 that didn't happen.

She does not intend to use her credit for a future cruise.

"That would mean putting more money in the hands of a man who already owes me over $13,000. Why would I do that?" she said.

Gill isn't convinced the company will be able to restructure. She says the proposal is filled with "too many questionable possibilities."

Neva Hilliard and her husband Chris from Mission, B.C., spent $44,000 for the same cancelled trip last year after the company came highly recommended.

Now, they believe that sum is long gone and don't expect to see any of it refunded — nor the extra money they spent on legal advice.

"There's likely not going to be any refund in any way. However, if he proceeded to bankruptcy, there'd definitely be no money," Hilliard said.

"I don't know what else we could have done to determine the risk factor with this company."

Gill hopes future customers who pay for cruises with the company take caution.

"I saved and saved and saved in order to take what I thought was going to be an educational trip, something to see those lost ships that had been found under the ice," Gill said.

"I just wish that everyone who signs up is wary of what the outcome might be."

vancouversun.com/news/a-high-seas-tale-of-polar-adventure-intrigue-shipwreck-and-bankruptcy

A high-seas tale of polar adventure, intrigue and shipwreck
Squamish businessman hopes to beat the odds and revive adventure tour company

Daphne Bramham
Published Jan 29, 2021 • Last updated Feb 05, 2021

This is a murky, maritime tale of tax havens, flags of convenience, convoluted multi-party ownership, arcane law, alleged conspiracies, even terrorism, and a little town in British Columbia.

Hanging over it is the ghost of Sir John Franklin. The drama began little more than two years ago in the infamous Northwest Passage, not far from where two of the famed explorer’s expedition ships remained hidden at the bottom of the sea for nearly two centuries.

At the centre of this improbable story is One Ocean Expeditions, a Squamish-based adventure travel company that became a world leader in small-ship, polar adventures with three ships doing 70 voyages annually. As one of Canada’s largest private vessel companies, it had gross annual revenue of close to $75 million and full-time and contracted staff of more than 500.

In August 2018, one of its three ships went aground in the Arctic, setting off a wave of events that spanned the poles and four continents. The cost of the grounding, cancelled voyages and repairs mounted and eventually drove One Ocean into bankruptcy protection.

The story involves a bizarre cast including a Russian cabinet minister, oligarchs, a former Canadian prime minister, the Venezuelan president, a Portuguese president forced to repent, and, possibly, mercenaries. Because, as the story unfolded, a Venezuelan Coast Guard ship was sunk and an ice-strengthened cruise ship was sold at auction for less than the cost of a Vancouver condo.

And, as could only happen in a story like this, the final few chapters are unfolding during a global pandemic.

At the centre is One Ocean owner Andrew Prossin, who depending on one’s vantage point is either an embattled and (possibly) naive entrepreneur or the devil incarnate. But he’s also relentlessly optimistic and determined to rebuild.

“We had 13 good years and one bad one,” he said recently.

In October, a B.C. Supreme Court justice gave Prossin a chance to rebuild after the majority of One Ocean’s creditors agreed to his $4.1-million restructuring plan.

It’s not clear whether creditors’ approval of the restructuring plan — including One Ocean’s only secured creditor, Canada’s taxpayer-financed Export Development Corp., which is owed US$2 million — was a vote of confidence or a weary reflection that should Prossin pull this off, at least the unsecured creditors would get something rather than nothing.

Before the vote, Prossin told the judge that he has a group of third-party investors willing to purchase a 100-passenger, 35-cabin ship. The plan, he said, is to operate a 120- to 160-day schedule of East Coast, Arctic and Antarctic expeditions starting this June.

“I’ve done a lot against the odds,” said the Cape Breton native, who has a history of making brash decisions.

It was just before the 2008 recession that he chartered a couple of down-at-the-heels Russian research vessels ships — the Akademik Ioffe and Akademik Sergey Vavilov — and marketed their less-than-luxurious cabins as part of the polar adventure.

He based his company in Squamish and incorporated it in landlocked Alberta. He hired and trained all of the staff — only two of whom had ever even been to the Arctic, let alone to Antarctica.

But can Prossin beat the odds again when among One Ocean’s unsecured creditors are disgruntled passengers who spent nearly US$12 million for trips they never took and suppliers and contract staff owed another US$12 million?

Can he do it in a pandemic? Even Prossin isn’t certain.

But he’s relying on what he learned racing ocean-going yachts.

“People make mistakes constantly when you’re racing. You can’t take those mistakes personally. You just have to keep going forward.”

Disaster in uncharted waters
One Ocean Expedition started 2018 on a 10th-anniversary high.

In January, ecologist Ari Friedlaender did groundbreaking research working off an One Ocean ship when he attached suction-cupped tags to minke whales. Passengers on that Antarctic trip were given an unprecedented glimpse of a day in the life of the relatively unknown species.

Aside from the allure of travelling with scientific researchers, One Ocean expected another sales bump later in 2018 with the release of the movie Where’d You Go Bernadette? Based on a best-selling novel and starring Cate Blanchett, the film’s “Antarctic” scenes were shot in Greenland in 2017, on a One Ocean ship with the company’s logo prominently displayed.

Bookings were already brisk, including for a third ship scheduled to join the One Ocean fleet in October 2018 for the Antarctic season.

Unlike the other two, which were Russian-flagged, the new ship was Portuguese-flagged and chartered from Bahamian-based Bunnys Adventure & Cruise Shipping Company Limited.

Its name was Hanseatic. Ignoring the superstition that bad luck attends a ship’s renaming, Prossin had it rechristened the RCGS Resolute, taking the name of the 19th–century British Navy Arctic exploration ship. And, because of One Ocean’s charitable support for the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, the society allowed it to use the RCGS prefix: “Royal Canadian Geographical Ship.”

Even before the Resolute set sail, bad things began to happen for One Ocean.

On Aug. 24, 2018, the Ioffe hit a rock one day out of Kugaaruk, Nunavut, and only a few hours after passengers had completed their evacuation training. A Russian captain only 40 days into his Arctic command had turned into Lord Mayor Bay near where the Franklin ships had been found.

The navigational chart warns that its accuracy is “uncertain” and much of the sea floor uncharted. But, according to One Ocean’s August 2019 statement of claim in Federal Court, the master and crew were “negligently” going seven knots with “at best, only standard depth-sounding navigation aids that only gave the AI (Akademik Ioffe) information as to the depth immediately below the vessel.”

The ship juddered. The alarm rang. Ioffe’s hull had been punctured.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

Thousands of kilometres south in Cape Breton, Andrew Prossin was preparing for his wedding, over which former prime minister Stephen Harper officiated on the following day. The two men share a fascination with the Arctic and cemented their friendship during the government-funded search for the Franklin ships.

Prossin ordered the Vavilov — already carrying a full load of passengers — to immediately change course and rush to aid the Ioffe and its 102 passengers. One Ocean staff scrambled to charter planes to get passengers out of the Arctic and on flights home. In court filings, One Ocean claims US$2.8 million for those costs alone.

Meantime, Ioffe was under the control of the Canadian Transportation Safety Board as it did its investigation. That was followed by months in dry dock in Quebec for repairs.

Ioffe’s remaining Arctic trips were cancelled, along with nine of its scheduled Antarctic voyages. That meant rebooking some passengers and refunding money to others.

Although the Vavilov and the RCGS Resolute were still operating, costs began mounting with no resolution to who was responsible for the Ioffe’s repair costs.

Under international maritime law, any creditor who has a proven claim can get a local court order to have a ship held until the debt is paid. Even though the Ioffe was in Canadian waters, Prossin chose not to have it “arrested.” In retrospect, he admits that was likely a mistake.

“I don’t dwell on past decisions. But on that day, it was a sensible decision because it would have ended the relationship with the Russians. So I said we would wait until after the Antarctic season.”

But in its 2019 Federal Court filing, One Ocean asked for the right not only to arrest the Ioffe and the Vavilov, but the other seven ships owned by the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology. None of the defendants, who include the Shirshov Institute and the Russian Academy of Science, which employed the Russian captain and crew, has responded to One Ocean’s claims.

Ioffe’s repairs — which cost more than US$6.5 million — were completed in December 2018, but it was January before the ship finally arrived in the Falkland Islands to complete the remaining five cruises of its sold-out 2019 One Ocean schedule.

As 2018 with all its challenges came to a close, Prossin celebrated on board the Resolute with Harper. But for Prossin, 2019 was only going to be worse.

Alleged conspiracy
On March 11, 2019, One Ocean filed for arbitration in London’s Admiralty Court with Cyprus-based Terragelida Ship Management Limited, which negotiated the contracts with One Ocean on behalf of the Shirshov Institute, to recover the costs and damages resulting from the “negligent navigation” of the Ioffe.

Terragelida’s ownership traces back to Russian Dmitry Zograf, an “entrepreneur, philanthropist, scientist,” according to the website for the 2017 Antarctic Art Science Expedition held on board the Vavilov.

A month after the arbitration was filed and the Antarctic tour season ended, the Ioffe and the Vavilov failed to make a scheduled stop on April 19 in the Canary Islands.

A week later, the two ships made an unscheduled stop in Lisbon. In the middle of the night, crew rushed to unload some of One Ocean’s gear and left it sitting unattended on a dock, according to a source who asked not to be identified.

“It was all very Wild West type stuff,” he said.

One Ocean has estimated that the value of what remained on board at US$1.5-million — it was “primarily alcohol,” but also small dinghies, wetsuits and other gear used by passengers.

From Lisbon, the ships sailed into the Baltic Sea before tying up at their home port of Kaliningrad.

The Shirshov Institute, which owns the ships, gave Prossin a letter from a Russian cabinet minister ordering the ships home and it sent emails to Postmedia and others saying that the government-controlled institute had nothing to do with the ships’ contract between One Ocean and Cyprus-based Terragelida.

But the institute did confirm that the contract for the ships’ use was good until “autumn 2019.” As far as anyone knows, the ships have not ventured outside Russian waters since May 2019.

One Ocean alleges in its Federal Court of Canada lawsuit that the Shirshov Institute conspired with its contractor, Terragelida, “with the intent to injure the plaintiff by destroying or damaging the business” through a customer boycott.

It alleges that Terragelida instructed another Cyprus-based company, Gernefo Ship Management, to write a letter dated May 3 that was sent to One Ocean’s customers, agents and competitors advising them that the Ioffe and the Vavilov were “not available for passenger operations” in 2019-20.

One Ocean suggests the conspiracy was “motivated by the desire to avoid delivering the vessels for the balance of the 2019 season” and their potential arrest in Canada pending a judgment against the Russian institute and its crew for the Ioffe’s grounding.

With the two ships tied up in Russia, One Ocean had to cancel dozens of Arctic and East Coast voyages. That cost it close to US$12.5 million, according to Prossin’s affidavit filed in B.C. Supreme Court in May 2020,

Awash in debt
With Ioffe’s repair costs unresolved, legal costs, passengers demanding refunds and little cash coming in — less than $100,000 a week in new bookings instead of $1 million a week — One Ocean’s bills were mounting.

On Aug. 8, 2019 — the same day that One Ocean filed its sweeping claim of conspiracy in the Federal Court of Canada asking for damages — the Resolute was arrested in Iqaluit by creditors demanding $89,000 owed them.

One Ocean found the money within 24 hours and Resolute resumed its schedule. It was arrested again in St. John’s and then in Halifax before sailing to Ushuaia, Argentina, to begin a 19-day trip to Antarctica for which each passenger had paid a minimum of US$21,195.

Meantime, Prossin was scrambling to find new partners or get new financing. Those attempts fell through in October, according to his affidavit.

Twice that month at two different ports, Resolute was denied fuel. Finally, on Oct. 27, Resolute tied up in Buenos Aires — seven days and 1,690 nautical miles north of Ushuaia.

Its 140 passengers never got close to Antarctica. They were offered vouchers for a future voyage. But they were left to make their own arrangements home. Some had insurance that covered the costs, but many did not.

With One Ocean unable to pay Resolute’s charter fees, the contractor repossessed the ship on Nov. 9.

Instead of immediately cancelling the rest of the scheduled trips through to the end of January and informing paid-up passengers, Prossin kept trying to find the money to keep going. But week after week, passengers were left in the lurch. Some learned of cancellations through a Facebook page run by unhappy travellers.

Finally, in January 2020, One Ocean filed for bankruptcy protection in B.C. Supreme Court.

An international incident
And, here’s where the story takes a very strange twist.

The Resolute finally left Buenos Aires in March after Bunnys Adventure & Cruise Shipping Company put up US$3.6 million to clear the ship’s debt. But by month’s end, the ship with 32 crew on board was drifting in international waters near the uninhabited Isla La Tortuga. What exactly it was doing is disputed as are the details of what happened.

Hamburg-based Columbia Cruise Services, which manages the ship on behalf of Bunnys, said the Resolute was undergoing routine engine maintenance en route to Curaçao when it was approached around midnight on March 30 by “an armed Venezuelan navy vessel.”

It was then “subject to an act of aggression by the Venezuelan navy.” The commander of the 80-metre patrol boat Naiguata demanded that the Resolute follow it to Puerto Moreno on Isla de Margarita. But while the Resolute’s master awaited instructions from head office, the Naiguata’s crew began firing shots at the 122-metre Resolute.

Then, the Venezuelan ship “purposely collided” with Resolute and “continued to ram the starboard bow in an apparent attempt to turn the ship’s head toward Venezuelan territorial waters,” according to Columbia Cruise’s press release.

The Resolute’s ice-strengthened hull sustained minor damage. The Naiguata sank.

The Resolute stood by for over an hour until it was cleared by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre to resume sailing to Curaçao, according to its owner.

But Venezuela accused the Resolute and its crew of “terrorism” and being “cowardly and criminal since it did not attend to the rescue of the crew.”

Published reports say rumours circulated in Venezuela about the Portuguese-flagged Resolute clandestinely transporting armed mercenaries to try to depose President Nicolas Maduro.

Portugal founded the Lima Group of 14 countries that has demanded an end of Venezuela’s human rights abuses and called for free elections. The Lima Group is supported by Canada, the United States and as many as 50 others in insisting that Juan Guiado won the disputed 2019 presidential election.

Bizarrely, Resolute’s ramming forced Portugal to recognize Maduro’s government — at least long enough to try to sort out how the Resolute managed to sink a military vessel.

In June, the cursed Resolute came to an ignominious end. Despite a book value of US$25 million, it sold for little more than the price of a two-bedroom condo in Vancouver, fetching only US$600,000 at auction in Curaçao.

Hope floats
So what next? It may be years before all the lawsuits drag through Canadian and Admiralty courts. But it’s also possible that the Russians and their Cypriot management company will never respond.

Will the aging Ioffe, Vavilov and their seven sisters remain sequestered in Russian waters to avoid arrest?

The next chapters about Prossin’s next big gamble are waiting to be written.

It remains to be seen whether enough people will have had COVID-19 vaccinations or will be willing to risk being “bubbled up” on One Ocean Expeditions’ new ship come spring.

“People keep telling me I should write a book,” Prossin told me recently. “But I just want my f–––ing company back.”

dbramham@postmedia.com

Twitter: @bramham_daphne

Disclosure: Daphne Bramham travelled as a guest of One Ocean Expeditions to the Arctic in 2016 and to the Antarctic in 2018.