Ship details: The Hospital Church vessel De Hoop IV, 208 feet long, 1,106 tons gross, 390 tons net, was built in 1963. The crew consisted of 24 members, including a minister and a doctor. The ship was constructed at N.V. Scheepsbouwwerf Gebroeders Pot in Bolnes, with the hull number 950. From 1964 until 1st January 1989, the vessel served as a mother ship to the fishing fleets, supplying medical, technical and spiritual aid.
Since 2008, the ship has been owned by Timor Offshore Management Ltd. in Cyprus and renamed Timor Challenger. It was registered in Panama and is set to function as a guard ship for a cable laying project in the Gulf of Oman. The IMO number is 6402901.
Radio station: Vereniging Hospitaal Kerkschip De Hoop with weather reports, general messages and Dutch language church services in the seventies and early eighties. Religious services were broadcast in the Dutch language each Sunday and Wednesday with 300 watts on 2316 kHz under the callsign PHKS.
Location: North West European Waters
Trivia: Filming of the movie “The Boat That Rocked” took place on the former Dutch hospital ship Timor Challenger, previously De Hoop, in 2008.
