NavArch64

To brisalta ... excellent discussion of repair ... thank you for the reference.

Weather in Ketchikan looks very nice ... for those who stayed onboard, finally a good outcome. Afternoon temp up to 69 ... beautiful.

Ruby Princess almost to Ketchikan ... looks like all is well ... due to the berth at 0730 local time.

All good comments. I am particularly impressed by those of brisalta and Boatdrill ... excellent. In conclusion, I enjoyed the discussion.

As usual, you are perfectly correct. (I did choose my words very, very carefully, however. Therefore, I would ask that no one add any words to my post that I did not use.)

It was painted on the hulls soon thereafter.

We wish all 2677 passengers a safe and enjoyable voyage. Everything else concerning this incident is up to the USCG and PCL. My personal conclusions are unimportant ... I apologize to any who were offended. Ruby Princess is one of my favorite ships ... perhaps I was more concerned with the ship than anything else. (Taken at Grand Turk in 2012)

And with that, Ruby Princess is off the berth and on her way.

Given the excellent video provided earlier today showing the details of the allision, and given that the only "hands" on the thruster controls were a Princess Navigation Officer (presumably the Master), assuming the SF Bar Pilot did his/her job of properly advising the Captain, and assuming that there were no ship system failures (which we don't know yet), it appears that we can come to a preliminary conclusion, pending additional information. I am interested in any comments.

Just to be clear, the bridge voice recorder is a component of the voyage data recorder VDR. I would be most interested in hearing (or viewing a transcript) of the dialogue between the Captain, Staff Captain and SF Bar Pilot, before, during and after the allision. I would also be curious as to the type of conversation between the three principals during today's 4pm (scheduled) departure on the bridge of Ruby Princess. I can only guess that it will be a different SF Bar Pilot than the one on Thursday morning ... but no conjecture on this either.

Of course, the VDR will be very important in the USCG investigation as well ...

I agree with your comments ... in the first approach, it appears as if the tug on the after port side pulls away, as if the tug Captain fears getting crushed between the ship and the pier. Also, during this first approach, it does not appear that there is any change in heading or speed of the ship as the allision becomes imminent. That to me, doesn't make sense. But, as is always pointed out on CC, conjecture is dangerous and can often be wrong. The bridge voice recordings will be most revealing when they are eventually released in the USCG accident/incident report.

The video will be an important component of the USCG investigation. I would guess that Santa Clarita (PCL HQ) and Miami (CCL Corp HQ) will find it interesting as well. I see clearly what happened, but I still don't know why.

The key to a 4pm sailing today ...

For those onboard Ruby Princess waiting to sail, I recommend a visit to the Jeremiah O'Brien currently moored on the west side of Pier 35. SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a Liberty ship built during World War II and named after the American Revolutionary War ship captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818). Now based in San Francisco, she is a rare survivor[a] of the 6,939-ship 6 June 1944 D-Day armada off the coast of Normandy, France.[5]