Name Argo Beam 25 ft (8 m) Sail plan Staysail Schooner Length 34 m Tons burthen 148,000 kg | Status Active Draught 10.1 ft (3 m) Launched 2006 Draft 3.08 m Builder Marsun Shipyards | |
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Propulsion Sail and 1 × Caterpillar 425 hp (317 kW) diesel engine | ||
The S/Y Argo is a two-masted Marconi rigged schooner. She is owned and operated by Seamester Global Programs as a sail training vessel. Argo is certified and inspected by the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency as a Category “0” vessel, allowing her unrestricted operation in the world's oceans. She is registered in Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
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History
S/Y Argo was designd by Bill Langan as an inspiration of the schooner Black Douglas (now rechristened El Boughaz I). The motivation and backing for the project came from the success experienced by Seamester's smaller schooner Ocean Star. She was completed in June 2006 in Samut Prakan, Thailand at Marsun Shipyards.
Argo is a two-masted staysail schooner that measures 112 feet (34 m) overall and accommodates twenty six students and seven professional crew on ocean voyages. Sailing under the Seamester flag, Argo circumnavigates on 90-day college semester-based programs and shorter 21-day and 60-day programs during the northern hemisphere summer.
Argo completed her first circumnavigation back to Thailand in December 2008 and was due to start her second when the piracy off of the coast of Somalia and Yemen prevented safe passage through the Gulf of Aden. Argo continues to circumnavigate with students aboard, taking the southerly route to Cape Town via Christmas Island and Mauritius.