Throughout its lengthy career, it has frequently made headlines from daring rescues in the hostile southern oceans and its many contributions to scientific research, to a well-publicised on-board murder several years ago.
Earlier this year, its owner, the South African government, took delivery of a replacement, the 12,900-gt SA Agulhas II (built 2012). Expectations were that the older vessel would finally be pensioned off into a static role or sent to the scrapheap.
