“There have not been any injuries to anybody onboard, no pollution of the environment and no breach of the hull,” SunStone Ships said in a statement.

The research vessel that pulled the cruise ship belongs to the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, a government agency, it said.

It said the cruise ship and its passengers will now travel to a port where the damage to the vessel’s bottom can be assessed, and the passengers will be taken to a location from where they can be flown home. There was no immediate comment from the tour company that organised the trip, Australia-based Aurora Expeditions.

Passengers Steven Fraser and Gina Hill, a retired couple from Newport in Sydney, said the ship was freed by a fishing vessel called Tarajoq. The Tarajoq doubles as a research boat that records fish numbers.

The ship is carrying 206 passengers, mostly Australians, and the closest vessel that can help with the rescue is not expected to arrive until Friday. The cruise was scheduled to run from September 1 to September 22.

Retired Sydney couple from Newport, Steven Fraser and Gina Hill, said the restaurant is still functioning and passengers were occupying their days with talks and presentations from the expedition crew showing how to tie nautical knots.

“Everyone’s in good spirits. It’s a little bit frustrating, but we are in a beautiful part of the world. We’re sitting right near the glacier when we open our window,” Fraser said, adding that he had contracted COVID-19 on board the ship.

“We do have a couple of cases of COVID, but there’s a doctor on board ... a lot of people on board are quite elderly.

“It’s a cruise that a lot of wealthy older people do because they can get out into these wilderness areas.”

Fraser said the crew had been moving fluids around on the boat and emptied its ballast – the bottom of the ship which carries extra weight.

“They’ve offloaded the anchor ... and they’ve taken the lifeboats, so they’re floating in the water but they’re still attached to the boat, just to try and lighten the load a bit.”

The ship’s captain initially waited for high tide at midnight to try to float clear, according to Brian Jensen of the Danish military’s Joint Arctic Command in Nuuk. But the mud – a mix of sediment, sand and silt left by a nearby glacier – is exerting suction on the vessel and proving too difficult to break.

The ship waited for the high tide on Tuesday, but that attempt was also unsuccessful, he said.

“Our main priority is the safety of the 206 persons on board,” Jensen said. “It’s very isolated. We’re in the national park ... there’s no population. Luckily, it’s calm and we have time on our side as there’s no imminent threat of a storm.”

Jensen said a Danish naval vessel already at sea off the south-west coast of Greenland has been diverted and should reach the area by Friday morning. At this point, freeing the ship would likely require a third-party vessel commissioned by Aurora Expeditions, the operator, which is based in Sydney. Most of the passengers are Australian, Jensen said.

“All passengers, the expedition team and crew onboard are safe and well,” Aurora Expeditions said in a statement. “Importantly, there is no immediate danger to themselves, the vessel, or the surrounding environment.”

A military flight over the 104.4-metre long and 18-metre wide Ocean Explorer confirmed that its hull appeared intact and no oil had escaped. No injuries have been reported and it’s believed the ship, which is owned by the Ulstein Group in Ulsteinvik, southern Norway, has plenty of supplies.

Aurora Expeditions specialises in polar trips, including a 30-day cruise costing more than $US33,000 ($51,000) per person, according to its website. The company highlights the experiences it offers to view Ilulissat Icefjord, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and spot wildlife like polar bears, beluga whales and walruses.

Alpefjord is in the Greenland National Park, the world’s largest and most northerly national park known for icebergs and the musk oxen that roam the coast.

Greenland, like many Arctic landscapes, is becoming increasingly concerned about the logistics of mounting expensive rescue operations in remote areas.

The number of cruise ships in Greenland has risen 50 per cent in the past year to 600, Jensen said. Last year, the Joint Arctic Command did one medical evacuation and so far this year has done five, he said."

The ship’s captain initially waited for high tide at midnight to try to float clear, Jensen said by phone. But the mud – a mix of sediment, sand and silt left by a nearby glacier – is exerting suction on the vessel and may be proving too difficult to break.

The ship waited for the next high tide which on Tuesday, but that attempt was also unsuccessful, he said.

“Our main priority is the safety of the 206 persons on board,” Jensen said. “It’s very isolated. We’re in the national park, north-eastern Greenland, there’s no population. Luckily, it’s calm and we have time on our side as there’s no imminent threat of a storm.”

Thursday Island’s melancholy and charming cemetery spreads over an entire hillside. The 1880s tombs of Japanese pearl divers are crumpled and tilted by time. So are the piously sentimental, colonial-era tombstones lopsided under eucalyptus trees further up the hillside, recording shockingly youthful lives.

Decima Clark died here in 1901 aged 37. She has a pointy tombstone (“God is Love”) decorated with stone-carved lilies and surrounded by rusting railings. Dead leaves are her only remaining tribute.

View from Green Hill Fort.

The newer graves of the Torres Strait Islanders are lovingly tended and lavish. Angels and crocodiles and an abundance of plastic flowers in riots of colour decorate their gleaming black slabs.

Photos show those lodged inside. There are Chinese and Muslim names and faces, and solidly English ones, and often extravagantly long names that mix cultures.

The cemetery has a memorial to Bernard Namok, who designed the Torres Strait flag. For Indigenous inhabitants, this is the heartland. For the rest of us, this is where Australia ends, or perhaps where Indonesia or Melanesia begins.

The Torres Strait Islands are a marvellously intermediate place with a fusion culture and cuisine you won’t find anywhere else. Torres Strait, Aboriginal, European and Asian elements mingle.

European missionaries and Japanese pearl fisherman came here nearly 150 years ago. World War II saw an influx of American and mainland Australian military personnel. The gun emplacements of Green Hill Fort now provide a marvellous outlook over slumped green islands and turquoise seas scattered with warplane wrecks.

The best sight is Gab Titui Cultural Centre. It displays historical artefacts and contemporary Torres Strait art, and also has a lively program of Indigenous music and dance.

Thursday Island has every tropical island cliche but no big hotel developments or cocktail bars. It’s a laidback, barefoot place for fishing charters and sunset beers.

Despite its cultural density, you can walk around its 3.5 square kilometres in a day and stop along the way to chat to locals. The kids are shy, flashing hellos before pedalling off on their bikes.

Thursday Island is the perfect cruise destination: hard to get to, interesting to visit, small enough to see in a few hours. But as we sail away, I know I’d like to return one day. "