Cruise Ship hits iceberg

A cruise ship in the Antarctic has struck an iceberg in this incident.

Passengers aboard a cruise ship to the Antarctic were roused from their beds and hustled into lifeboats early today, when an iceberg punched a small hole in the ship’s side.

Despite what people may think, iceberg collisions still present a serious danger to modern shipping, much the same as they did for the Titanic back in the day.  To that end, the US Coast Guard runs the International Ice Patrol, which unfortunately for the passengers on the aforementioned cruise ship, only operates in the North Atlantic.

Based on what I can find in the article, the evacuation and emergency procedures were handled in a professional and expeditious manner, which allow the entire crew and passenger complement to escape with no loss of life.  The passengers and crew are currently on board a Norwegian liner, and everything appears to be okay.  The unfortunate downside is that the vessel that struck the iceberg may be a lost cause, because of the publishing of the article I sourced, it was listing heavily to starboard and continuing to take on water.

Icebergs still present a serious danger, especially in the Antarctic region.  The Argentinian Navy and Coast Guard don’t operate anti-ice patrols as effectively as we do in the northern hemisphere, which can lead to situations like this.  The real problem with icebergs though is detection – 7/8ths of an iceberg’s mass is below the surface of the water, which means that a small iceberg can have the same radar signature as a small boat (read: not much), but is still capable of inflicting serious damage on shipping.

Hopefully, they’ll be able to keep The Explorer from going under, and then story can have a completely happy result.  Again, Bravo Zulu to the Explorer’s crew for handling their ship and preventing any loss of life.

2 Comments

  1. “The Explorer’s emergency began when it struck a chunk of ice that tore a hole in its hull about the size of a fist”

    And the crew cant patch a hole that small? Or seal off the compartment? I’m sure that the hole had to have been a lot bigger than a fist to endanger a ship that size. My uncle was a Submariner in WWII and he saw a Japanese ship that had been torpedoed that was still afloat 24 hours later. The damage to that ship has to be much more extensive than a fist sized hole.

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