The ship’s history is a series of transformations across different nations:
: On May 8, 1902, the Belem was scheduled to dock in Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Because the harbor was full, it was forced to anchor on the other side of the island. That same morning, Mount Pelée erupted , destroying the city and sinking nearly every ship in the harbor. The Belem was one of the few to survive.
: Renamed the Giorgio Cini , it served as a school for naval orphans in Venice.
: In a historic mission, the Belem transported the Olympic flame from Greece to France for the Paris 2024 Games . What is "Belem.rar"?
: Bought by the Duke of Westminster and later by Sir Arthur Ernest Guinness , it was turned into a luxury pleasure yacht and renamed Fantôme II .
: Purchased back by the Belem Foundation , it was restored to its original name and is now a classified historical monument.
: Decades later, while sailing as a private yacht, it narrowly escaped a devastating earthquake in Yokohama that leveled parts of the city. Five Lives of the Belem