Spent over $1M on a boat he found online: no one expected this ending

Technology entrepreneur Chris Wilson bought a cruise ship on Craigslist back in 2008, only to discover that the vessel had a fascinating history.

Built by the Blohm and Voss shipyard in 1955, the ship went on to become the first significant passenger liner built by Germany after World War II, going on to feature as the HQ of Spectre, the criminal organisation in the 1963 James Bond movie “From Russia with Love.”

Willson organised a move for the ship, now named ’Aurora‘: it would be sent to the California river city of Rio Vista, where it ended up remaining for a year. After staying in San Francisco for three years, Wilson had the ship transferred back to the California Delta, and moored the Aurora at Herman & Helen’s Marina in Little Potato Slough, close to the city of Stockton in California’s Central Valley.

“We wanted it in fresh water and we wanted it in shallow water. So it was absolutely the best possible location that we could have put it,” Willson told CNN.

However, after two high profile boats sank in the same area, the unused ship - which Wilson aimed to turn into a museum one day - was starting to get some unwanted attention from angry locals, who deemed it an eyesore. Wilson told CNN that he received a “three-day notice to quit” on “several occasions” as pressure mounted.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was when a 1940s military tugboat named Mazapeta sank in the same waters, with locals rallying against the “pollution issue”. The council stepped in and it was then that Wilson believed his boat no longer had a future in his hands.

Selling it was the only option, and such an historic vessel was bound to have suitors. After finding an interested buyer, the deal was struck: “I didn’t see myself being able to fight that battle anymore. It became far too in depth for me. And I decided for mental health reasons, just to kind of stay away… To move on and find another project and do something else with my life.”

Soon after the sale, however, things took a strange turn. “If I would have known it would have went this direction, I would have stuck it out,” admitted Willson when he found out that the ship was in fact due to be demolished. San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office posted on X on May 22, 2024 that “it has been determined the ship has suffered a hole and is taking on water and is currently leaking diesel fuel and oil into the Delta Waterway.”

“It really hurts that I couldn’t jump back in there and save it,” said Willson. “I had no ownership of it.”

Cruise historian Peter Knego, who became friends with Wilson after falling in love with the boat, said that the town council operation to move and destroy the boat “would likely have cost between $10 to $20 million“, adding that the ship was worth “a couple hundred thousand dollars in a good market.”

A source told CNN that the boat “was towed to Mare Island, and as of April 9, 2025, the destruction of the Aurora was complete except for the final disposal of a few key pieces and material.”

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“I would have worked on that ship my entire life”, Wilson sadly concluded.

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