You can look at the Scheherazade megayacht, you can write about it, and even talk about it (not its owner though), but try coming close and the crew unleashes chaos. Scheherazade has been in the port of the Italian city of Carrara, seized by Italian officials. It hasn’t seen much in the name of activity, but all that changed speedily when a journalist hopped aboard a boat on Marina de Carrera. It must’ve seemed like a threat of some sort to the crew of the 460 ft megayacht designed by Espen Oeino and interiors by Francois Zuretti. The otherwise calm day turned topsy-turvy with people scrambling on one of the decks of the six-level luxury vessel.
They opened the boat’s sprinklers, perhaps to maintain distance, and a crew member was extra vigilant, observing the film crew of Radio Liberty and the TV channel Present Time with binoculars. The $700 million floating palace features a Turkish bath, a sauna, a cryotherapy chamber, two helicopter decks, and a hydro massage room. It also has a drone that was dramatically launched from the deck to monitor the film crew. Meanwhile, the menacing crew of the yacht took seats on the deck with fire hoses ready to attack whoever came too close to deserve it.
The journalist and cameraman were interrupted by the Italian police unit, who did not interfere with the filming. The journalists launched their drone to shoot the magnificent vessel, a move that was challenged by another drone launched from the Scheherazade helipad. In James Bond style, the filming crew experienced technical difficulties like unexpected interference and loss of communication with the drone. It sounds like the anti-drone system installed on Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich’s $610 million Solaris superyacht that tracks potential intruders as far as 20km away and provides GPS coordinates of both drone and pilot together with the device’s speed and compass heading.
It is not confirmed if superyacht Scheherazade is being guarded by security firm La Lince from the neighboring town of La Spezia, but they have been spotted in the footage. It is also possible that the people attacking the journalists are not crew members but members of the security company. The vessel is a grand floating mansion undergoing repair work despite being seized. The owner’s deck has his-and-hers suites with separate bathrooms, walk-in closets, studies, and dressing rooms. There are a total of 22 cabins capable of accommodating 40 guests and a total crew of 94.
