On the evening of 20 January 2013, the ship rescued a round-the-world yachtsman, Alain Delord, from his liferaft located 487 nautical miles SSW of Hobart (S49.47.93 E144.20.47) in the Southern Ocean. He had abandoned his yacht after it lost its mast and its hull was damaged in rough weather. The ship, with 100 passengers and 80 crew on board, was on its way from Antarctica to the world heritage-listed Macquarie Island when it responded to the call for help. The captain of the "Orion", Mike Taylor, undertook the 1500 km rescue in moderate to rough seas from Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay. In a race against time, the ship successfully tracked the sailor's emergency radio beacon and effected the rescue with just an hour of sunlight left.