MV Brigitte Bardot (formerly Gojira and Ocean 7 Adventurer) is a unique high-tech 35 m (115 ft) stabilized monohull twin diesel engine powered vessel designed by Nigel Irens. Construction of Ocean 7 Adventurer began in June 1997 and she was launched on 16 March 1998. The official naming ceremony took place on 3 April 1998 in London‘s West India Dock.
Originally named Cable and Wireless Adventurer she was built for the purpose of circumnavigating the world in less than 80 days. This was successfully accomplished in July 1998 in 74 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes, traveling more than 22,600 nautical miles (41,855 km). This achievement set a new Guinness World Record for a powered vessel. However, on 27 June 2008 Earthrace (later renamed Ady Gil), the biodiesel powered wave-piercing trimaran, set a new world record when it docked at the Vulkan shipyard in Sagunto, Spain after completing a circumnavigation in just 60 days 23 hours and 49 minutes. Both records are longer than the 60 days, 21 hours claimed by the US Navy’s USS Triton nuclear-powered submarine during Operation Sandblast in 1960.
In 2007 the vessel was acquired by Ocean 7, a Cape Town based marine brokerage and charter operation and operated under the name Ocean 7 Adventurer. The vessel was recommissioned and transferred to a mooring at the V&A Waterfront. The vessel was available for charter, film work and the occasional marine rescue operation. In 2008 she was repainted in Rat Race Media graphics and was the star of a TV series on kykNET, Aqua X. The series started in October 2008 and aired until January 2009. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) acquired the $4 million vessel for its 2010–11 campaign against Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary and renamed her MV Gojira (Romanized Japanese for Godzilla). Captained by Lockhart “Locky” MacLean, she was the first Australian-flagged vessel to be operated by the Sea Shepherd Society, and though slower, she is twice as large as Ady Gil, making her more stable than the boat she replaces.
In May 2011 the SSCS was served with a notice from the copyright holders of the Gojira/Godzilla franchise, regarding the unauthorized use of the trademark. The Society promptly changed the vessel’s name to Brigitte Bardot in honor of the French fashion model, actress, and singer whom Paul Watson, the founder of Sea Shepherd, took on an anti-sealing trip in 1977. In addition to a new name, the vessel also received a new paint scheme; the overall black scheme was replaced by a grey coloration similar to that of a naval vessel.
