Captain shoots down rumours over mega yacht anchored off Iqaluit
M/Y Shinkai passed through Nunavut’s capital over the weekend
M/Y Shinkai, a steel-hulled mega yacht with a submarine on board, was recently spotted in Iqaluit’s harbour. (Photo by Bill Williams, special to Nunatsiaq News)
An unusual vessel entered Iqaluit’s harbour over the weekend.
The appearance of M/Y Shinkai, a sleek, steel-hulled yacht, caused people to speculate on social media its owner might be ex-KGB oligarch Vladimir Strzhalkovsky.
Strzhalkovsky’s yacht, a similar steel grey vessel called the Ragnar, made headlines last year when it reportedly got stuck in a Norwegian harbour because no one would sell it fuel.
Iqaluit’s rumour mill continued along as RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency officers boarded the Shinkai once it was anchored.
Turns out, the inspection was routine, said Sgt. Pauline Melanson, spokesperson from Nunavut RCMP.
“The Shinkai came from international waters and is required to go through customs, same as when a plane lands from another country,” she said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.
As for its ownership? Shinkai captain Marcus Desaunois demurred when asked their identity, but did say it’s not a Russian oligarch.
“I can assure you; owner and crew are all European,” he said in an email, explaining that last year when the Shinkai was in Norway a local reporter mistook the Shinkai for Strzhalkovsky’s Ragnar.
“Once something like this is on the internet, it is impossible to get out.”
Desaunois originally reached out to Nunatsiaq News in March, indicating the Shinkai would be making its way through the Northwest Passage this summer.
The Shinkai is registered in the Marshall Islands, a tiny island chain in the middle of the south Pacific Ocean. A search of that country’s vessel database only indicates the yacht is privately owned.
There are multiple yacht-enthusiast articles about the Shinkai and most don’t mention the owner. One publication, Super Yacht Times, claims to have the owner’s identity but only behind a subscription paywall.
According to an article in luxury lifestyle publishing company Boat International, the Shinkai is a 55-metre explorer yacht designed to traverse the North. It was launched in 2021.
Included on the Shinkai is a U-boat submarine, called the Worx C-Explorer 3, which holds three people. A Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle is also on the ship.
The yacht uses a gyro stabilizer, which is a spinning wheel device that reduces the boat’s rolling motion in the water.
I was in the Rankin airport when a private jet flew in and dropped off 4-5 people dressed as explorers with wealthy equipment and bags. He made a call or two and in about another hour another private jet landed and picked them up. I overheard the older man telling the captain of the jet they have been far North on a super yacht the size of a football field. Sounds like this may be the yacht in question.
Last year one of these was parked in Arctic bay and rumors were that it was Betsy DeVos and her billionaire family
THANK YOU ????
Seems not very strict country after all. Not very professional as they seem to be from forighers but no as strict.
I wonder if they were drinking Mega pints of wine on this mega yacht? Lol….
To drop into Nunavut waters a $3-million, 3 person sub called the “Most versatile scientific research submersible”, begs the question, what are they researching, looking for?
Who’s funding the research?
Who said that was happening?
Nice boat
Whew. I sure am glad it wasn’t a Russian Oligarch in our Harbour. Western European oligarchs are so much better.
It’s more about. If it was a Russian oligarch involved in the war effort, this boat would be a Canadian boat by now 🙂
Definitely not Russian as she just pulled in to Honolulu harbor this morning