Explorer - being evacuated

Has anyone gotmore details about what's happening? Apparently the Explorer has hit something near the South Shetlands and is being evacuated!

CNN is reporting that the ship has been evacuated and she is expected to sink.

found this on CNN.com for you...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/23/antarctica.ship.ap/index.html

Ship sinking in Antarctic waters

• Story Highlights
  
• 150 passengers evacuated from a ship after it struck object in Antarctic waters
  
• Ship, named Explorer, was expected to sink, British coastguards said
  
• Passengers in lifeboats, captain and first officer remain on board

==================================

LONDON, England (AP) -- More than 150 people have been evacuated from a ship that struck an object in Antarctic waters, Britain's Coast Guard said Friday.

The ship, named the Explorer, was expected to sink,

said Neil Oliver of the Coast Guard station at Falmouth, England.

"We know she has hit something, and all the passengers are off on lifeboats.

The last we heard was that the captain and first officer were remaining on board," Oliver said.

"They do expect her to go down shortly."

The Coast Guard reported that 154 people were evacuated.

Just saw this on the internet.

Several details in the article.

100 passengers with 54 crew. 152 evacuated to lifeboats. The captain and his first officer has opted to stay aboard the ship? What is that going to solve?

The Antarctic Dream is coming to their rescue. Unfortunately it is over an hour away, so it is going to be a bit before they are rescued. Prayers that everyone is okay and that the weather is good.

Since it is late Spring down there, they may still have some daylight.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/23/antarctica.ship/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

LONDON, England (CNN) -- More than 150 people have abandoned a sinking cruise liner that collided with an iceberg in Antarctic waters, a Chilean navy captain told CNN.

Passenger ship Explorer reported problems near the South Shetland Islands, south of Argentina. The area is in a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom.

Capt. Carlos Munita of the Chilean navy said they received a distress call from the Explorer, saying the vessel had hit an iceberg around 10 p.m. ET Thursday.

He added a Norwegian rescue ship had arrived at the scene.

Tour companies describe the Explorer as a passenger ship which runs tours between South America and Antarctica.

Some 154 people are reported to be on board ship, which carries a Liberian flag, including 100 passengers. However the nationalities of those on board is not yet known.

Passengers and crew have been evacuated onto lifeboats, but the captain and the first officer are reported to have stayed on board.

"The great majority of people, including all the passengers, have been safely taken off the Explorer and are now being recovered by the first of the vessels to arrive on scene in response to the distress call," Dave Jardine-Smith, head of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's (MCA) search and rescue team in England said.

"The passengers and crew from the Explorer have not been in lifeboats very long," Jardine-Smith said. "They should be, hopefully, in good condition. We are told that there are no injuries."

Earlier, Mark Clark, a spokesman for the MCA told the Press Association five ships were on their way to help the sinking vessel.

"She hit something and is taking on a serious amount of water, that is all we know."

The temperature in the area is said to be at around minus 5C, with a sea temperature at around minus 1C, forecasters told the Press Association.

Stephen Davenport, senior forecaster with MeteoGroup, said:"It wouldn't take long for hypothermia to set in at that kind of temperature in the sea.

"They do get very bad storms down that way, and gale force winds especially, because there is no land in the way," he told PA.

Lt. Matt Alex from the US Coast Guard Atlantic Area command center said the boat is owned by Gap Adventures, based in Toronto, Canada.

Some more links from this morning - sad to hear about it.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2007/11/23/25982/crew-attempting-to-stabilise-sinking-explorer.html

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2007/11/23/25981/hurtigruten-ms-nordnorge-is-to-be-first-ship-to-sinking.html

Also look here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7108835.stm#graphic

The ship is now at a 45 degree list and the captain has abandoned ship, which means he doesn't feel the ship can be saved. Not a good sign by any means. I am a bridge officer so I know that when he leaves the ship that's pretty much the end.

"The captain and his first officer has opted to stay aboard the ship? What is that going to solve?"

I would think that if they are not in imminent danger, they would be staying on the ship to continue communication links with the outside world and to gather as much data as possible before the ship sinks, taking all information with it. Also, just to determine if there is any chance at all of saving the vessel. I am sure that Admiral Horatio Nelson on this board may be able to add to this discussion as he said above he is a bridge officer. Would love to hear his comments.

So sorry this is happening---certainly does make one think about the very real dangers and adds new level of respect for the judgments of a Captain on a ship in these waters!

"The captain and his first officer has opted to stay aboard the ship? What is that going to solve?"

 

I would think that if they are not in imminent danger, they would be staying on the ship to continue communication links with the outside world and to gather as much data as possible before the ship sinks, taking all information with it. Also, just to determine if there is any chance at all of saving the vessel. I am sure that Admiral Horatio Nelson on this board may be able to add to this discussion as he said above he is a bridge officer. Would love to hear his comments.

 

So sorry this is happening---certainly does make one think about the very real dangers and adds new level of respect for the judgments of a Captain on a ship in these waters!

Well the BBC spoke to the captain of one of the rescue vessels and he said that the captain and the chief engineer had stayed onboard for a time to continue pumping operations however they had now abandoned the ship also, so they must have decided it was not possible.

Just out of interest if you abandon a ship anyone can claim the ship if they are in the area (assuming it doesn't sink), so the captain will generally wait until the last moment.

Communications can be carried out after leaving the vessel, to an extent. The crew in liferafts would have VHF radios, Airband radios (for comms with rescue aircraft) and they should also have a portable Satellite phone, such as an Iridium phone. All this equipment (apart form the Iridium phone) is a requirement under GMDSS laws.

The Antartic is tricky as far as Comms goes, as they go outside of normal satellite footprints. Meaning that if they venture below 70 degrees south they lose Inmarsat comms (Inmarsat is the Satellites available in normal areas. However I looked in my ALRS (Admiralty List of Radio Signals) and the area they are is within this range, so they would have had access. They had this equipment onboard as I saw a picture of the ship and it was equipped with Inmarsat B comsat.

There is a picture of the listing ship on the BBC website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7108835.stm

What a shame to lose a nice ship

because of nothing more than a 4-6 in. dia. hole!

Years ago when I dabbled in marine and industrial photography underwater

I think I heard of a special (flat? rubberized? Kevlar?) material for just such emergencies

1/4 in. - 1/2 in. thick sounds about right?

where you get a diver into the water (yes, admittedly freezing!)

and he slaps an 18 in. square patch of this stuff on the hull

enough that the water pressure outside

forces the stiff-enough-yet-flexible-enough patch onto the hull

to stem the major flow of water.

Of course you'd still be pumping all the way to port/dry dock,

but effectively the boat would be saved.

Now then... you'd need to carry with you...

* several of these patches "in case".

* a diver...or a crew member with enough such skills

* with thermal gear/dry-suit to survive the 3-5 mins. he'll be down there with..

* Scuba gear

All very hypothetical of course,

but such a (wacky?)methodology may have saved Enterprise

to do another cruise some day :confused:

What a shame to lose a nice ship

because of nothing more than a 4-6 in. dia. hole!

 

Years ago when I dabbled in marine and industrial photography underwater

I think I heard of a special (flat? rubberized? Kevlar?) material for just such emergencies

1/4 in. - 1/2 in. thick sounds about right?

where you get a diver into the water (yes, admittedly freezing!)

and he slaps an 18 in. square patch of this stuff on the hull

enough that the water pressure outside

forces the stiff-enough-yet-flexible-enough patch onto the hull

to stem the major flow of water.

 

Of course you'd still be pumping all the way to port/dry dock,

but effectively the boat would be saved.

 

Now then... you'd need to carry with you...

* several of these patches "in case".

* a diver...or a crew member with enough such skills

* with thermal gear/dry-suit to survive the 3-5 mins. he'll be down there with..

* Scuba gear

 

All very hypothetical of course,

but such a (wacky?)methodology may have saved Enterprise

to do another cruise some day :confused:

Although the Explorer has always prided themselves of boldly going where no other Cruise Ship has ever gone before, she is certainly not the Enterprise!

You would need a military/professional diver with experience in Antactic waters - there are some, but not many - as there is no commercial diving in Antarctic. And the diver would have to be in the water for at least 20 minutes, from jumping into the water, swimming to the whole, sticking the patch, then swimming back to the platform. Avoiding the ice bits that caused the hole in the first time. Assuming there is favorable weather conditions... it could work.

What a shame to lose a nice ship

because of nothing more than a 4-6 in. dia. hole!

I think it very unlikely the whole was so small. A punching hole would be more likely at the bow or stern but the whole was amiships and is more likely to be a tear than a punched whole as the ship would not be moving sideways.

As anyone will know by watching Titanic, if you get a whole in one zone or compartment, the watertight doors will be closed and the ship should still be able to float. If you have holes in more than one then you risk losing the ship. I think it will probably become apparent that the whole was bigger than first thought, probably across two or three watertight compartments.

I sailed on her in 1995 and she was starting to show her age at that time.

She has been through a number of owners since her famous days with Lindblad. Each time she was sold more and more of the souvenirs of her days of fame were removed and sold off.

As sad as this is, I am glad that she did not end up going to a salvage beach in Asia.

Thanks to Heaven all on board are saved.

Well the BBC spoke to the captain of one of the rescue vessels and he said that the captain and the chief engineer had stayed onboard for a time to continue pumping operations however they had now abandoned the ship also, so they must have decided it was not possible.

 

Just out of interest if you abandon a ship anyone can claim the ship if they are in the area (assuming it doesn't sink), so the captain will generally wait until the last moment.

 

Communications can be carried out after leaving the vessel, to an extent. The crew in liferafts would have VHF radios, Airband radios (for comms with rescue aircraft) and they should also have a portable Satellite phone, such as an Iridium phone. All this equipment (apart form the Iridium phone) is a requirement under GMDSS laws.

 

The Antartic is tricky as far as Comms goes, as they go outside of normal satellite footprints. Meaning that if they venture below 70 degrees south they lose Inmarsat comms (Inmarsat is the Satellites available in normal areas. However I looked in my ALRS (Admiralty List of Radio Signals) and the area they are is within this range, so they would have had access. They had this equipment onboard as I saw a picture of the ship and it was equipped with Inmarsat B comsat.

The ship was near the S. Sheatlands, so it was basically on the main thoughfare to Antarctic - communications would not be a problem. So much so that three ships responded to the SOS - the Endeavor, the Nordnorge and the Antarctic Dream.

The ship was well within the Inmarsat area, as well as within reach of VHF radio to most stations. The area where the ship is reported to be is also whithin Iridium reach, as well as telexes - the official communication tool betweeen ships opperating in the Area.

There are several reasons to stay with the ship as long as possible. If they had managed to beach the ship they would maintain claim on the salvage opperations, be able to rescue the passengers belongings.

But most important, there is an increasing concern about the increasing traffic of ships to the Antarctic may pose a greater environmental risk to this . A sinking ship will spill oil on the ocean and may cause other disturbances.

Last year the Nordnorge hit the rock that is in the middle of the entrance to Deception Island, and caused a fuel leak that took weeks to be cleared.

I think it very unlikely the whole was so small. A punching hole would be more likely at the bow or stern but the whole was amiships and is more likely to be a tear than a punched whole as the ship would not be moving sideways.

 

As anyone will know by watching Titanic, if you get a whole in one zone or compartment, the watertight doors will be closed and the ship should still be able to float. If you have holes in more than one then you risk losing the ship. I think it will probably become apparent that the whole was bigger than first thought, probably across two or three watertight compartments.

It makes sense that the hole would be on the side and not the bow, as the plating is thicker on the bow.

Most ships do travel with their watertight doors closed if there is ice in the water. I am very curious to hear the reports about the accident and learn what has really happened. An acquantaince of mine was on board, Brad Rees, Expedition Leader.

It is a shame and the end of a wonderful adventure. I agree though that this is an honorable way for her to end her career, rather than being salvaged.

I used to work for the Explorer many years ago. A&K used to own the ship, and sold her around 2000, because the "Old Lady" was getting, well, tired...

There were some concerns about hull integrity at the time, but I am still surprised to hear that a bit of ice broke her hull, after all it was steel plate inches thick (at least on the bow...)

According to their plan the ship was arriving to the Peninsula after a visit to the Falklands and South Georgia that started in Ushuaia November 11.

There is also a growing concern among the staff that operates in Antarctica about the increased ship traffic in the area, as well as the fact that they are extending the season by starting cruises earlier and finishing later...

When I started working on Expedition Ships in 1993 nobody would think of starting a cruise so early in November...

I don't to think much about it, but I am devasted. She was not the prettiest ship around, but she was certainly part of cruising history.:(

My congratulations to the Captain and Crew to be able to get all abord into the Life Boats safely.

We sailed on the Marco Polo two years ago to Antarctica.

Very hostile environment to abandon ship in!!!

From what I saw on TV, the waters were calm.

This is everyone's worst nightmare. I've sailed on expedition ships in the Arctic and Antarctic in bad seas and in ice. You can't sleep because of the violent rolling, all the metal creaking, and waves covering your porthole. At any moment, you figure you're going to put on your lifevest and get in the lifeboats. This had to be "A Night to Remember" for these passengers. Thank God there is increased traffic down there now and they were saved.

It makes sense that the hole would be on the side and not the bow, as the plating is thicker on the bow.

Most ships do travel with their watertight doors closed if there is ice in the water. I am very curious to hear the reports about the accident and learn what has really happened. An acquantaince of mine was on board, Brad Rees, Expedition Leader.

It does make sense but my point for making it was that it tells you of the probable type of hole that would have been made, a tear rather than the hole that was reported. Yes it's usual for ships in this area to sail with watertight doors closed, as a bridge officer I have sailed there many times. The fact that they were most likely closed and the fact the ship is in this danger tells me the hole is spread across more than one compartment.

I have attached a picture from the BBC website here.

Oh, I totally agree with your deduction, sorry if it sounded that I was contesting it.

My point is that that if they had the watertight doors closed, etc, then it is almost certain that the hole is not "fist sized" and spans more than one compartment.

I have sailed on the Explorer on the past, and they have always been very proud of their ice reinforced hull... but the old lady was very old.

My other point is that there is a lot that is not being, like the ground of the Nordkapp on the rock in the entrance to Deception Island in January this year.

On the other hand a news site from Chile reports that the ship is not in danger of sinking and that they are dispatching the ice breaker Veil to try and salvage the ship, and a plane to fly the passengers from Frei Station at King George Island.

http://www.terra.cl/noticias/index.cfm?id_cat=302&id_reg=882762

On the photos on this site, she seems to be under power, sailing backwards.

There is a report from Lloyds list that the ship had defects of it's water tight doors at last inspection. The ice in the pictures from Nordnorge webcam was quite small by antarctic standards. I know from other websites there has been a lot of early break up of ice this year & some early cruise ships could not get down to Port Lockroy but this happened in open water 60 miles from the peninsula. Ice conditions vary year by year, I actually crossed the Antarctic circle on Nov 5th 50 years ago in an old pre-war RN ship due to early break up of ice that year! This ship was a lot stronger than those giant HAL & Princess ships going down there. Does not bear thinking about if a similer incident happened to them with all their semi-imobile passengers!!

Although the Explorer has always prided themselves of boldly going where no other Cruise Ship has ever gone before, she is certainly not the Enterprise! :eek::eek:

Ooops! sorry about that.:o

Slip of the tongue

There is a report from Lloyds list that the ship had defects of it's water tight doors at last inspection. The ice in the pictures from Nordnorge webcam was quite small by antarctic standards. I know from other websites there has been a lot of early break up of ice this year & some early cruise ships could not get down to Port Lockroy but this happened in open water 60 miles from the peninsula. Ice conditions vary year by year, I actually crossed the Antarctic circle on Nov 5th 50 years ago in an old pre-war RN ship due to early break up of ice that year! This ship was a lot stronger than those giant HAL & Princess ships going down there. Does not bear thinking about if a similer incident happened to them with all their semi-imobile passengers!!

It is very unfortunate about possible defects on the water tight doors!!!:eek:

I totally agree with you. There is an increasing number of ships going to Antarctica, and most have no business being there: unprepared staff, inexperienced bridge officers, and of course, ships without hull strength and where you cannot fasten down chairs, tables and equipments.

Last season the Nordkapp hit the well known rock in the entrance of Deception island. The Princedom was hit by a severe storm on the Drake passage, their x-ray machine was not securely fastened to the deck, topled and generated a radiation leak inside the ship...

The demand for experienced personal has increased too rapidly, and there has been not enough time (or interest) to train staff. On the other hand, the relatively mild weather from the last few years has ships like the Princedom, The World and others believe that they too, without any special equipment, can visit Antarctic - after all they will not be making any landings...