MV Moonta

The Lydia on the beach

• Moonta

The Lydia is a former cargo and passenger ship that serves as a tourist attraction on the beach of Le Barcarès since 1967.

Particulars

The ship was built in 1931 as Moonta on the Danish shipyard Burmeister & Wain. By February 1955, the Moonta drove under the Australian flag for the Adelaide Steamship Company between the ports of Adelaide, Port Pirie, Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Wallaroo. After a short Aufliegezeit the Moonta from June 1955 served for half a year charter in the shipping Tasmanian Steamers. On 21 December 1955, the Greek shipping company Hellenic Mediterranean Lines took over the ship, renamed it in Lydia and put it at the subsidiary Compania Naviera del Atlantico in the Mediterranean. On December 30, 1966, Lydia was placed in Piraeus decommissioned and offered for sale.

The Societe d' Economie Mixte d' Etudes et d' Amenagement des Pyrenees Orientales ( SEMETA ) acquired the ship in 1967 and had it rebuilt in Marseille for its use as a non-driving tourists and casino ship. On June 10, 1967, Lydia was drawn through a specially dug canal to the beach from Barcarès and in position 42 ° 49 ' 39 "N; 003 ° 2' 28 " E fixed, where, in the middle of a theme park as a tourist attraction with a museum Restaurant, nightclub and casino serves. 1974 took over a Japanese company the ship.