M/V Christopher Dean leaving Nassau Harbor, probably taken from a cruise ship, with Paradise Island in the background.
Photo source: http://www.sdusa.com/ships/christopher_dean.php
MAILBOAT NAME: M/V Christopher Dean
PAST NAMES: not known – believed to only have 1 name
DIMENSIONS: 297′ long by 56′ wide, 16′ draft, 548 net tons, 1,827 gross tons, 2,500 tons cargo capacity, broken down by 20 ft. LO/LO / RO/RO: 176 / 44, 40 ft. LO/LO / RO/RO: 72 / 20. 1,950 HP engines, bow thruster, range 6,700 miles at 13 knots, Panama flag
CONSTRUCTION: steel
BUILT: Miho Shipyard, Shimizu, Japan
YEAR BUILT: 1980
EARLY CAREER: not known
BAHAMAS CAREER: brought freight and presumably passengers between ports in the US, Florida, Bahamas and Caribbean islands
CAPTAINS: not known
FATE: still operating but presently in Florida pending sale
OWNERS: King Maritime Group, Mr. (Christopher) Dean King CEO, Fort Pierce, Florida. (No relation to the Dean mailboat family of Sandy Point Abaco).
NOTES: This ship is, like the M/V Legend II, for sale by S. Danoff Ltd. shipbrokers in FLA in April 2015. Admittedly this is not an inter-island mailboat serving the Bahamas, however it has been carrying freight to and from the islands and other destinations for years, and it is the purpose of this blog to preserve the memories of the workboats which toil and deliver people, goods and mail amongst the Bahama Islands. In this particular case this ship, with a 16′ draft is not likely to get into many except the very deepest Bahamian ports.