1.
GV. PAN ALBLASSERDAM DOCKS PAN TO NARROW WATERWAY.


2.
LV. STERN OF THE "PRESIDENT JUSCELIND".


3.
LV. BOWS.


4.
Angle V. NAME PLATE.


5.
CU. WATER BAFFLES.


6.
Angle V. HAWSERS TO STOP SHIP FROM RUNNING INTO FAR BANK AFTER LAUNCHING.


7.
SV.PAN THE WIFE OF THE BRAZILIAN AMBASSADOR ARRIVING.


8.
SCU. DITTO.


9.
STV. DITTO.


10.
SCU.PAN THE LADY AIMS THE BOTTLE AT THE SHIP, BUT IT FAILS TO BREAK.


11.
LTV. CROWDS.


12.
SCU. THIS TIME A SUCCESSFUL THROW.


13.
LV. SHIP SLIDES AWAY.


14.
CU. BAFFLES SLIDING INTO THE WATER.


15.
LV. TOWARD. THE SHIP APPROACHING THE FAR BANK PEOPLE RUN.


16.
TGV. CROWDS.


17.
SV. V.I.Ps.PLATFORM.


18.
GV. PAN THE SHIP AFTER THE SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHING.




Initials S-D/CW MR/VCW



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Brake-flaps and twelve drag-anchors prevented the Verolme United Shipyards' latest tanker, the 33,000 ton "President Juscelino Kubitschek", from piling up on the opposite bank of the Noord River. The river is 764 feet wide at the launching site and the tanker is 660 feet long, leaving a margin of about 104 feet.

When the wife of the Brazilian Ambassador, Mrs. Cerin de Sousa-Leao, successfully smashed the champagne bottle on the tanker's bows, at the second attempt, the vessel glided down the shipway and plunged into the Noord. Engineers who has so carefully planned the launching waited, hoping that "President Juscelino Kubitschek" would stop before it reached the opposite bank. It did, with about 50 feet to spare!