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Sun 17 Apr, 2005 11:03 am
U.S. National - AP
AP
Seven-Story-High Wave Hits Cruise Ship
Sun, Apr 17, 2005
35 minutes ago
CHARLESTON, S.C. - A seven-story-high wave damaged a cruise ship returning from the Bahamas over the weekend, smashing windows, flooding more than 60 cabins and injuring four passengers.
The Norwegian Dawn was diverted from its route when the ship ran into rough weather on the way back to New York. The 965-foot-long vessel was docked in the Charleston harbor by late Saturday afternoon for repairs, officials said.
"The ship was hit by a freak wave that caused two windows to break in two different cabins," Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement. It said 62 cabins flooded and four passengers had cuts and bruises. The wave reached as high as deck 10 on the ship, company spokeswoman Susan Robison said Sunday.
The ship's hull was damaged but the vessel was not taking on water, said Keith Moore of the Coast Guard Group Charleston.
"All the passengers had donned personal flotation devices as a precaution," Moore told The (Charleston) Post and Courier.
The cruise line said passengers whose cabins were flooded were being flown home from Charleston and the safety of the ship "was in no way compromised by this incident."
The ship left New York last Sunday with 2,500 passengers aboard. It was expected to arrive in New York on Monday.
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Only 4 injuries? That's excellent. I mean I hope they're not serious, but it sounds like it could easily have been far, far more serious.
Scary!
According to the story I'm sure the fact that passengers were prewarned led to their being equipped for adversity. Doubtless without the gear they were wearing at the time that injury count would have been higher.
were they warned about the bad weather, or this particular wave?
It must have been bad weather not that wave. Waves in the open ocean can travel at a great velocity and theoretically would not have provided enough warning time for the passengers to prepare. Rogue waves apparently higher than 100 feet have been reported from time to time. Many of these reports have been regarded as exaggerated but recent technology has confirmed that this occurs.
Another reason to add to my list of why I don't want to go on a cruise. I'm glad it wasn't more serious and I hope the 4 injuries were minor.
I saw the report on the news. It was due to bad weather - but it was a wave that caused the damage. Many passengers were very upset at the cruise line stating it ruined their honeymoon, their vacation, etc. But I cannot see how they can blame the cruise line, unless they could have prevented this or could have docked sooner. I mean when you go on a cruise, don't they usually hold a drill shortly after leaving to prepare people in an emergency? What will happen next, if you go to a beach resort and it rains, can you get your money back?
We take our little boat out into deep water and even though we always keep the "fetch to leeward" weve been hit with sme 20 footers in the Cabot Straits or the Gulf of Maine. They usually come in odd numbers like 1,3,5 . I could imagine that "snowboaters" would have their asses scared offn the frame.
You dont start worrying big time until your prowing at 60% and even then, a small boat takes the seas better than the big ones.
The new Quenn Mary II has been constructed in a modular form so that the compartments actually can flex much more than a standard frame and keel laid ship.Ive been on icebreaker research and drill vessels. These babies are outfit to take whatever the seas can dish out.
I wouldnt go on a cruise ship for all the Titanium in Canada, they are usually
1Poorly crewed
2built like a trailer
3meant for minimum safety
The Quenn Mary II is another story. From what Ive seen on this one, I think I wouldnt mind taking passage since its being captained by a solid experienced captain and pilot, Its built in the latest code derived from warships and its nav systems are better than the space shuttle
I was on the Quiberon in the Bay of Biscay when it got smashed by a huge wave. The boat was hours overdue at Plymouth, everyone on board was sick, but compensation was free breakfast, if you could hold it down.
I'm confused about feet mentioned and stories mentioned.
Re buildings, we tend to average out stories at ten feet each, thus a seven story wave would be 70 feet. So in the article I see that a 47 foot wave hit the twelfth story. Huh?
Steve-I love the compensation for a stomach churning encounter with a rogue wave, A FREE BREAKFAST.
One day Im sure were gonna read that one of these big cruise liners capsizes because of its weird sail area.
osso - That struck me too. I just figured the passenger was guessing.
I wouldn't have wanted to be in one of those jacuzzi's that went sailing on its own. Could you imagine???
The guy I saw on the news said they had gone to the lounge and someone was playing the Titanic song on the piano. At least someone had a sense of humor during all of this.
Farmer
Yes I thought SeaFrance had a particular sense of humour over that.
also noticed that after 24 hours battling the weather, when it finally subsided and we were late, the ship SLOWED DOWN presumably to save a bit of fuel.
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