Take a cruise on Hannibal Qaddafi’s supervillain yacht

The yacht that Muammar al-Qaddafi’s ne’er do well (even by the standards of the Qaddafi family) son was having built for himself was everything you would expect it to be:  Replete with marble columns, gold-framed mirrors and huge statues, the Phoenicia was to have included a 120-tonne tank of seawater for two sand tiger sharks, ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

The yacht that Muammar al-Qaddafi's ne'er do well (even by the standards of the Qaddafi family) son was having built for himself was everything you would expect it to be

The yacht that Muammar al-Qaddafi’s ne’er do well (even by the standards of the Qaddafi family) son was having built for himself was everything you would expect it to be

Replete with marble columns, gold-framed mirrors and huge statues, the Phoenicia was to have included a 120-tonne tank of seawater for two sand tiger sharks, two white sharks and two blacktip reef sharks. Four resident biologists would have tended to the animals. The sharks’ nutritional needs mandated a dedicated food store.

The ship has been bought by MSC Cruises, a major cruise line, which is being a total killjoy and taking out the shark tank and redecorating. “I personally don’t know why, but he wanted a shark tank,” said MSC CEO Pierfrancesco Vago, who has apparently never seen a James Bond movie.

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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