Aurora - the ship of hell

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Can anyone tell me if there is a way to research the time that a ship was launched?

I?ve been looking at the launch of the Aurora. For those who don?t know the story, this is a luxury cruise ship, currently adrift in the Adriatic which has been labelled the ?ship of hell?. More than 450 of its passengers are reported to be suffering from chronic diarrhoea and vomiting caused by the highly contagious Norovirus. The conditions are such that it has been refused permission to dock in Greece and has previously been turned away from Dubrovnick and Venice. It?s now heading towards Gibraltar although it is feared that they won?t accept it either and it will be forced to return to its home port of Southampton.

I?m trying to obtain the time it set sail ? so far all I have discovered is that the cut off time for check-in was 3:30 pm, 20 October. The chart below is for that time ? quite an interesting comparison to the Staten ferry disaster launch chart. (I think we noted a while back that the presence of the two malefics ? Mars and Saturn ? in water signs does not bode well for shipping generally).
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This ship has an interesting history. During the naming ceremony the champagne bottle failed to break and fell into the sea ? traditionally a sign of bad luck. It then left on its maiden cruise but had to turn back after 18 hours due to propeller shaft bearings at a ?6 million loss to the owners ? P&O.

It was launched on 1st May 2000 ? when all the traditional planets except the Moon were together in Taurus. The Moon was either at the end of Pisces (conjunct Scheat and trine Mars) or the beginning of Aries, where it made no contact to any other planet except all of the outers. I?d like to find the time because I?m interested in getting accurate angles. Aurora means dawn, so I?m curious to see what?s happening on and around the ascendant.

I have written to P&O press dept, but I don?t expect they?ll reply ? are there any publicly accessible records I can check?

On the name theme, Aurora relates to ?A luminous atmospheric phenomenon appearing as streamers or bands of light sometimes visible in the night sky in northern or southern regions of the earth. It is thought to be caused by charged particles from the sun entering the earth's magnetic field and stimulating molecules in the atmosphere.?

Because of the streamers this is sometimes called ?the merry dancers?. Pliny tells us that this phenomenon was looked upon by sailors as "dreadful, cursed, and threatening".

There was a lot of solar storm activity as the ship set sail from Southhampton on October 20th. This report was published in the Orkney news relating to that date:
Sun spot activity could herald further Aurora displays

A large sun spot is clearly visible on the sun at present - the largest spot of the current cycle according to Rousay astronomer John Vetterlein.
"The sun spot is readily visible to the naked eye," said Mr Vetterlein, "but people must take the necessary precautions before viewing the sun."
There was a display of 'Merry Dancers' (Aurora Borealis) last night and with the current levels of sun activity, John suggests watching out for further displays.
I?m not sure of the relevance of this, just toying with the symbolism of this apparently unlucky ship. (I?ve also thought that since the dawn relates to the east, which is considered hot and dry, that?s just a badly chosen name for a vessel that lives in the cold and moist ? there you go, I?m getting very superstitious with all this scorpionic energy in the air).

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Deb,

Try getting information from the insurers - I think its Lloyds of London who generally do ship insurance and I believe they have archives of all ship building and history.

Linda

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Deb

I have been looking up some information for you.

Aurora was built in Germany at the Meyer Werft Boatyard in Papenburg. She left there 'early' for Southampton on 18 Feb 2000.

She was named on 27 April 2000 at Southampton. (Ihaven't found a time yet..still looking)

Maiden voyage was 1 May 2000.

I will send any other info I think relevant that you haven't already got if I find it.

Mary

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Thanks Mary. If you come across any times please let me know.

Latest update is that the Aurora was allowed to dock at Gibraltar (just after 5.30am today, 3rd November according to news reports). Spain then sealed its border with Gibraltar for fear of infection spreading from sick passengers.

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Deb

I found the following on the Royal Engagements site. I suspect this may be the closest to the time. This was April 27 2000

The Princess Royal 11:00 a.m.
will name the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company's Cruiseliner, 'Aurora' at Southampton Dock,
Southampton, Hampshire.


Mary

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Have you tried your local travel agent? They book people on cruises all the time and must have a good idea of the time period between final check in and the ship setting sail. They would have to tell passengers to check in x number of hours before departure in the same way airlines do. If you know that final check in was 3.30pm and most ships set sail two hours after final check in you have your departure time.
Of course they'll probably think you're mad but just go to a different travel agent next time you want to book a holiday cruise.

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Thanks for the ideas - which have all helped.

It seems that the Aurora usually has a 3-3:30 pm check in and usually sets sail at 18:00 hrs. I?m not sure if there were any delays on 20th October but the chart below is what I?m currently looking at. It has Saturn angular ? a sign of the ship not reaching the destination safely. The Sun is also angular (is there something to be read in the fact that a ship whose names celebrates the goddess of dawn sets sail at sunset??); the sun rules the 6th house highlighting illness issues and the Moon is on the cusp of the 6th which Lilly takes as a classic sign of sickness among the travellers. The 9th house has general rulership over journeys or voyages and its ruler, Jupiter, is heavily afflicted, located in the 6th.
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Mars, lord of the ascendant, signifies those that sail in her. It is located in the 12th house (passengers weak and confined) conjunct Uranus and opposing Jupiter (9th-ruler), in the 6th. The advertising literature for the cruise promised that it would be ?a truly explosive holiday!? and with so many suffering chronic sickness and diarrhoea, I?m sure it was. Mars is also applying to the trine of Saturn of course, the contact of these two malefics was traditionally taken as a presage for times of sickness and plague and the Aurora is sensitive to their influence because she was ?born? under their conjunction.
Mercury, ruler of the 2nd house, is combust, showing financial loss, and Venus, ruler of the 7th (destination) is angular but peregrine, in detriment and on the trine of Saturn.

The latest news is that the ship has left Gibraltar, but has also left some of its troubles behind there. Spain has sealed the borders so this is escalating into a political mess.

Mary, thanks for the naming information. I?ve been looking into that ? the ceremony began at 11:00 am and culminated 30 minutes later in the traditional ?breaking of the bottle? ? which, of course, failed to happen. So I?ve set a chart for 11:30 am which I think must be significant for that moment.
Before I get to that, this quote demonstrates the feeling of ill-omen that is said to accompany such an event:
The Titanic was never christened. The christening of a ship is when it is blessed and a bottle of champagne is smashed on its hull.
The christening of a ship is a ritual that goes back to the early days of shipping. It was a sacrifice to the gods to ensure a safe journey. At that time it was taken seriously but by the Titanic's time it was just good luck. Some people believed that it was ignoring this naval custom that was the cause of Titanic's end.

http://www.spinaweb.ie/showcase/2001
/spin1149/spinaweb/hometx/construct.html
With the Aurora, the bottle fell out of its harness before it even hit the hull. When Princess Anne was later asked to perform the ceremony on another ship she joked that she was surprised to be asked after what happened with the Aurora. Of course, this was widely reported since the Aurora suffered dismal failure on its maiden cruise.

Another point about the christening ceremony is that P&O gave wide publicity to the fact that it would be the world's first cruise ship to have a wake illuminated by coloured lights to recreate the aurora australis and aurora borealis lights seen near the south and north poles. In view of the way that the aurora lights are also considered to be unlucky and a bad omen to shipping, the christening ceremony and the naming of this ship was laden with bad symbolism.

The astrological chart pretty much reflects this. The ceremony chart has the asc-ruler sun on the square of Neptune on the descendant. I?ve seen angular Neptune in a lot of shipping disaster charts. The Moon rules the 12th and moves from the square of the sun to the square of Jupiter ? ruler of the 9th, (fame through highly publicised attention to difficulties); MC-ruler Mars is conjunct Saturn with Uranus on the square. Saturn rules the 6th house of course, with the Sun on the trine of the 6th house cusp.
Image
Interesting story. I wonder if everyone in Gibraltar will come down with the virus now. Personally, I'm not even sure we should let the ship dock at Southampton :lol:

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Whilst looking into the above I came across something that I bet a lot of people know but I didn't - strange coincidences of the Titanic
The Book "Futility"

In 1889, 14 years before Titanic's maiden voyage, the book "Futility" was written by an English author Morgan Robertson. It was a fictional book, which told the story of a boat called the "Titan".

The Titan was the biggest ship in the world and the story is about her maiden voyage across the Atlantic in the month of April. The ship, which was going too fast, collided with an iceberg and sank killing most of the people on it.

This is very strange, as all the details about "The Titan" were nearly the same as those about "The Titanic".... her weight and length, too few lifeboats, the number of compartments. Also the reason she collided with the iceberg in the book was because the crew were too confident of the ship and went faster than they should. Another similarity was the fact that there were not enough lifeboats on the ship. The author was illustrating mankind's growing lack of respect for the forces of nature and the danger of technology.
There are lots of web references and extracts of the book available online.

Curious. :?

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I did notice the book mentioned on one site when I was looking for 'Aurora'. I bookmarked it to look at later. There are so many references to Psychic events that the hairs on the back of my neck went up and stayed there. Eery, good job it's not halloween :twisted:

Does make you think though.


The charts look very interesting and I will have a proper look tommorow.

Mary

Launching of aurora, 6pm

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moon approaching opposition of mars from Virgo, Lillie says is a flux in the belly. misery aches follow this unlucky position, death within 30 days. weakness in legs or ankles. never a desease easily removable with this unfortunate aspect.

the nineth house cusp is sagitarius, Jupiter is in detriment in the 6th.

Jupiter - lungs, ribs, grisels, liver, the pulse, arteries, convulsions, inflamation, windiness in the veins. putrification.

Virgo - melancholy, deseases in the intestines and bellyaches. wind cholic.

the lord of the ascendent is in the 12th moving AWAY from the ascendent, which makes it look like it will be long before they make port. also far from the lord of the journey Jupiter, so a long time before they make port.

the part of fortune is in the 3rd which might mean that communication might bring this ship to port. or perhaps when Venus becomes trine Mars, which seems to aid healing?

last thought, the sun is the ruler of the sixth house and it leaving the sixth and entering the seventh, the fever may be short lived?

MissB

refitting, rebirth if you will...

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Just a thought, but ships that are refit, and then re-christened seem to lose that trail of bad luck, they might consider this, since the ship seems about due for refit.

worked for the Fife
;-)

Also has anymore news come in from this vessel? will they be sending the equivelant of the cdc (center for desease controle) out to the ship?

MissB

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The ship landed back at Southampton and the passengers disembarked amongst complaints of being held 'like prisoners' and threats of seeking legal action for financial recompense.

I spoke briefly to Dennis Elwell the other day on another matter; he remarked upon a separate incidence of contagious ships affecting the UK.

There is considerable controversy over American toxic 'ghost ships' heading towards our ports for dismantling and there are political moves by environmnetalists here to prevent that happening. "The ships contain toxins like asbestos, lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. According to America's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the health effects that have been associated with exposure to PCBs include acne-like skin conditions in adults and neurobehavioral and immunological changes in children."

I see this as another manifestation of Mars trine Saturn in water signs. Currently Saturn is on the UK midheaven and Mars is on the cusp of the 6th house, opposing Jupiter on the cusp of the 12th, so we are sensitive to their influence upon matters of viruses and disease.