Decommissioning

In September 2010, Lyubov Orlova was seized at St John's, Newfoundland, Canada due to debts of US$251,000^[12] owed to the charterer, Cruise North Expeditions, from a cruise which was cancelled because of faults with the ship. In addition, the 51 crew members had not been paid in five months.^[13] The ship was impounded in Newfoundland and, in February 2012, was sold to Neptune International Shipping to be broken up.^[1]

Salvage and abandonment

The derelict vessel had been tied up in St. John's harbour for over two years and was being towed to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped. The tug Charlene Hunt, owned by American tug operator Hunt Marine, was contracted to tow the ship. The day after leaving the dock, the tow line parted. The crew of the tugboat tried to reconnect the line but was hampered by 35 km/h (22 mph) winds and 3 m (9.8 ft) waves. By 28 January 2013, Lyubov Orlova was drifting slowly eastward off the southeastern end of the Avalon Peninsula in Canada.

The offshore supply vessel Atlantic Hawk, with a 157 tonne continuous bollard pull rating, under contract by Husky Energy, was tasked with regaining control of the drifting vessel, which was a risk to oil and gas operations in the region. On 1 February 2013, Transport Canada announced that on 31 January, Atlantic Hawk had successfully gained control of Lyubov Orlova.

Once in international waters, Transport Canada decided to cut her loose. "The Lyubov Orlova no longer poses a threat to the safety of offshore oil installations, their personnel or the marine environment. The vessel has drifted into international waters and given current patterns and predominant winds, it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction," the department said in a statement, giving safety concerns as their reason for not pursuing a salvage operation.^[14]

The ship was located on 4 February, approximately 250 nautical miles east of St. John's, (approximately 50 nautical miles outside Canada's territorial waters) and drifting in a northeasterly direction. She could have ended up almost anywhere from the Norwegian Arctic to western Africa, or stuck in the middle of the North Atlantic Gyre. Transport Canada reiterated that the owner of the vessel remained responsible for her movements, and measures had been taken to monitor the position of the drifting ship.^[15]

On 23 February, according to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Lyubov Orlova was spotted at roughly 1,300 nautical miles from the Irish coast.^[16] A week later, the ship was the subject of news reports in Ireland and Iceland, and a caution to smaller vessels was issued.^[17] On 1 March, Irish media reported that a signal from the vessel's emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was received from 700 nautical miles off the Kerry coast, still in international waters. An EPIRB starts transmitting only when the device is exposed to water, leading experts to speculate that the ship may have sunk.^[18] The Irish Air Corps was expected to continue to monitor the region.^[19][20]

A review published in October 2013 cites the receipt of two EPIRB distress signals from Lyubov Orlova in mid-ocean, one on 23 February and another on 12 March.^[21]

Tabloid speculation

In January 2014, there was speculation based on an interview with a salvager in the British tabloid The Sun that the ship might be nearing the coast of England and be infested with cannibal rats. The rumours were subsequently debunked.^[24][25][26]

In November 2017, the British tabloid the Daily Star speculated that wreckage buried in sand on the beach at Coronado, California, might be the missing MV Lyubov Orlova, but the wreck is actually that of the SS Monte Carlo.^[27][28]