The two general cargo vessels IGUAPE and YGUAZU were ordered by Suisse-Atlantique Société d'Armement Maritime S.A. Lausanne, Switzerland from the Japanese shipyard Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Shimonoseki.
The IGUAPE was the first ship and was delivered on 27.05.1969 to her owners and sailed initially under the flag of Liberia (registered owner: Maranave S.A. Monrovia, official No: 3218, call sign: 5LAJ).
The company's personnel magazine "Bulletin" published some interesting construction details. For each vessel a total of 3'300 tonnes of steel were used, built up with 170 kilometers of welding seams, using 90 tonnes of welding electrodes. A total of 29 kilometers of electrical cables were laid. The entire piping system measured 11.5 kilometers and 1'100 valves were fitted.
The IGUAPE participated in the international AMVER system of the US-Coast Guard (see also explanation further down) and as a member was asked on 24.03.1970 to assist in an emergency. The IGUAPE was on a voyage from Panama to Japan, when the ship was called to assist the sinking Japanese fishing vessel ANSHIN MARU NO. 12. In the mean time a rescue plane of the US-Air Force took off from a base in Japan and dropped two rescue divers by parachute to assist the distressed crew. Approximately at 18:00 the IGUAPE approached the site and rescued from a raft 15 Japanese fishermen and the two American divers. The fishing vessel was already sunk.
On 21.01.1974 in the port of Chiba, Japan the company registered the ship under Swiss flag and renamed her CORVIGLIA with home port Bâle (registered owner: Oceana Shipping S.A. register No. 90, call sign: HBDE).
1985 Suisse-Atlantique sold the CORVIGLIA to the company Guan Guan Shipping Pte. Ltd. Singapore. The ship was handed-over to her new owners on 23.04.1985 in Hong Kong. She was renamed GOLDEN WONDER and was registered under the flag of Singapore (registered owner: Golden Line Pte. Ltd. Singapore, call sign: 9VPS, off. No: 383364, BRT: 10'255, NRT: 6617, DWT: 16'104). As from 1986 the owning company is Jinyuan Shipping Pte. Ltd. Singapore (same management).
Begin of 1987 the GOLDEN WONDER, after sailing from Singapore was reported as missing, but reappeared on 08.02.1987 when arriving in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. No further details are known to us about this incident.
In December 1995 sold to Marco Shipping Agency L.L.C. Dubai (VAE) and renamed WONDER. As from now she flew the flag of Dubai (off. No: 3997, call sign: A6NG). One year later sold to Indian breakers. Her last voyage terminated on 26.01.1997 in Alang (north of Bombay), were she was broken up by Rajiv Ship Breakers.
SwissShips MB, HPS, January 2017
Additional Information and Stories
AMVER (Atlantic Merchant Vessel Emergency Reporting)
Originally the idea came up after the TITANIC catastrophe in 1912, when vessels passed nearby, without being aware about the disaster in their vicinity. But only in 1958 the plan was implemented by the USA. Initially the system was put into service by the US-Coast Guard as the "Atlantic Merchant Vessel Emergency Reporting" System, hence the short name AMVER. Today it is called "Automatic Mutual assistance VEssel Rescue", as it acts on a world-wide scale.
Ships of all nations can participate in the system on a voluntary base, they report on regular intervals their position, course, speed etc. to the headquarter in the United States. In case of an accident the local SAR-organisations (search and rescue) are contacted and ships in the vicinity asked to render assistance.
AMVER distributes every three months the AMVER-Magazine to the participating companies and ships. Awards for diligent reporting, as well as for successful and courageous rescue operations are distributed, usually by an American embassy or consulate.
Today more than 22'000 vessels of many nations are taking part, even ships under Chinese flag. Since 2000 over 2'800 persons were rescued through this system. The ships from Suisse-Atlantique still today participate in AMVER, although, we may argue with satellite communication and GMDSS on board vessels it has become a bit obsolete, but it still renders valuable assistance. Metrofin in Zürich was another participant in AMVER.
Especially during the "cold war" malicious tongues claimed, the real reason for the AMVER system was to obtain information about the movement of foreign flag merchant vessels for the American secret services. Every reader can make-up his own opinion, if this allegation is correct.
SwissShips HPS, January 2017