Career change from salvage tug to superyacht.

(From Lloyds List)

IT is HARD to imagine the likes of oil-cum-football mogul Roman Abramovich or the nouveaux riches sailing in a converted oceangoing salvage tug launched in 1973 into Monte, the Caribbean or any other of the world's social hotspots, writes Christopher Mayer.

More is the pity, perhaps, because there is an army of superyacht watchers out there desperate to see vessels with tradition enjoying a new career.

Such is the story of the Lone Ranger , a superyacht that spent 10 demanding years as the salvage tug Simson , rescuing stricken ships and their crews and towing large oil installations and other enormous structures during one of the more challenging eras for the oil industry.

Today, the Lone Ranger is home to its owner at sea, covering tens of thousands of miles in colder climes as well as the warmer environs of the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas.

It is a far cry from early 1973, when the Deutz-powered, twin-screw, 77.73m Simson was completed at Schichau-Unterweser in Bremerhaven for the Hamburg company Bugsier Reederei und Bergungs.

Twenty years on, in 1993-94, the Simson was converted in Malta under the supervision of Claus Kusch and, as the Simson S, was transformed into a tender and seaplane carrying, helicopter capable, long-range private yacht for yachtsman Jack Setton, described as a trailblazer in the burgeoning hi-fi and audio market of the 1970s and 1980s.