MOTOR SHIP “GEORGI BENKOVSKI” AROUND THE WORLD, 1967–1968
On 25 December 1965 the MS “G. Benkovski” with Captain Asen Bondzhev, departed from Burgas, following the route: Novorossiysk – Palma de Mallorca – Cuba. At the beginning of 1966 the ship was in Cuba, when from there, instead to Bulgaria, the ship was ordered to head to Vietnam. There was confusion among the crew – some were frightened by the upcoming long voyage, others by the military situation in Vietnam.
On 9 May 1966 at 02:07 local time “G. Benkovski” left the Matanzas Bay, Cuba and headed for Panama. On 14 May 1966 passed through the Panama Canal and began the transition across the Pacific Ocean – the longest that can be made by a ship. The next were: Hong Kong – Japan – Hong Kong – Haiphong, Vietnam. In Haiphong port, the ship stayed for 90 days – from 28 June to 25 September 1966. Although the ship was neutral in the military conflict between the USA and Vietnam, she experienced air alerts 11 times a day.
Captain Assen Bondzhev recalled those days:
“… next to us was positioned a Chinese ship, armed with cannons and machine guns. During the air raid, the Chinese fired, and the Americans dropped bombs from above. The scariest part was that all the Vietnamese boats came and hid next to our board. The Americans knew about this, they flew low over the ground and fired at them with machine guns. While we were in Haiphong, another Chinese ship was sunk…”
After Vietnam MS “G. Benkovski” continued along the route: Singapore-Aden-France-Cuba-Varna, crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the second time during a single voyage. She returned to Bulgaria on 28 April 1967.
This is the longest round-the-world voyage in Bulgarian history – 485 days without returning to Bulgaria and without crew change.
Second Round-the-world voyage of MS “G. Benkovski”
The voyage began on 15 July 1967 from Varna under the command of FGM Lyuben Enev and Chief Engineer Alexander Buyukliev. The ship passed through Gibraltar and headed to Cape Town – Singapore – Japan. The reason for choosing this route was the blockage of the Suez Canal during the Six-Day war between Israel and Egypt. “G. Benkovski” was the first Bulgarian ship passed by Cape of Good Hope.
From Japan, with cleaned holds and prepared separations the ship headed to Vancouver, Canada, where loaded five types of seeds. The return journey to Japan was in extremely bad weather with 15-meters ocean waves. There was a trade to Canada and back. There was another round trip to Canada, and only after the third the ship set sail from Vancouver toward the Panama Canal – Gibraltar – Malta – Varna.. On 17 May 1968 near Gibraltar MS “G.Benkovski” completed the second circumnavigation of the globe.
The voyage lasted 11 months and 5 days, covered 49 500 miles and transported 58 900 tones. The Pacific Ocean was crossed five times between Japan and Canada and the passage from Vancouver to Gibraltar took 34 days.
On 25 December 1965 we set sail on a three-month trade and returned after 16 months with round-the-world voyage behind us.
FGM Assen Bondzhev
