In-depth
a toilet! On Explorer, this was located away very much left to the passengers to work
from the Muster station and meant that, until out what to do.
expedition staff instigated an escort system, I grabbed an oar and, with another
some people left the Muster area without passenger, pushed against the side of the
any tally system to ensure they had returned ship. The oar snapped. From the size of
safely. timber I would not have expected this to
When the power failed, all lights in the happen, which would indicate some rot
cabin went out, and we were fortunate that within the timber. Again no-one seemed in
we were well aquainted with the cabin and, in charge and it was left to the passengers to
the Austral summer, there was just sufficient work out what to do.
light coming through to enable us to see. Explorer goes down. We managed to get enough separation
Once the order to abandon ship had been from the side of the ship for us to start
given there was considerable confusion over rowing, but the lack of command and
which lifeboat to enter. We had been given a restricted space onboard the lifeboat meant
safety briefing on day one of the cruise and that not all oars were put into service.
had been taken to our lifeboat, which was on The crew were unable to find a sea anchor
the starboard side. We were now on day 12 to stream and, with the engine not working,
and had not had another abandon ship drill. the lifeboat took up a beam on attitude to
The first day of the cruise was packed with the seas and started to roll, such that on
large amounts of information and, although I occasions the gunwhales just rolled under.
could remember it was on the starboard side, The lifeboats were open and it would not
I was not sure which lifeboat to enter. have taken much worse conditions for the
In the event we boarded lifeboat No 3, lifeboat to have been swamped.
starboard aft. At one point a crew man Chilean Navy photo – Explorer passengers In conversation with a number of
gestured for us to leave the lifeboat and get arrive at fildes bay on King George Island, passengers immediately after the rescue I
back on the ship. We stayed where we were. antarctica on friday, 23 November 2007. learned that only one lifeboat out of four had
When we entered the lifeboat there was a functioning engine. I believe all 10 Zodiacs
a rope stretched athwartships hindering us were launched and they moved in to assist
moving to the bow. When we had gone back seen the lifeboat swung away from the side by picking up a tow or helping manoeuvre
to our cabin I had decided to ditch the large of the ship, nor seen it launched, so there was the lifeboats, which were now drfting down
foam lifejackets in favour of the inflatable considerable apprehension, as we waited, as onto the ice that had most likely damaged
lifejackets provided for Zodiac excursions. I to what would happen next. I felt at the time Explorer. We were the first to launch and
took the view that mobility was key to our that the delays and lack of understanding the closest to the ice when the Zodiac that
survival and this was an important factor in of the process caused the real potential for had picked up our tow managed to sort out
being able to move past the obstructions. panic amongst the passengers. how to tow us and in the right direction.
That no panic occurred is largely due I estimate we were within 10 minutes of
Confusion reigns to the passengers response and also the coming into contact with the ice.
The ship, under the Liberian flag, was relatively benign incident (the rate at which In our area of the lifeboat sat six people.
equipped with four lifeboats. The aft pair the list increased was very gradual). At some point after the launch we were
mounted port and starboard had a capacity The lifeboats were not fitted with on- handed a plastic packet containing the TPAs
of 59 persons each, whilst the forward load release and I turned to help the [thermal protection aids]. Again no-one
pair, mounted port and starboard, had a crew man wrestle with the forward hook seemed in charge and no instructions were
capacity of 39 persons each. In addition the release. I estimated the waves were 4ft to given as to what these were for, or how they
ship carried four liferafts of 25/20/16/10 6ft maxiumum with the occasional wave should be fitted. Of the six in our area only
capacity. The ship also carried 10 6.0m lipping over into a white horse. Winds four were operational. At least two had their
Zodiac inflatable boats powered by 50hp were around 15knots maximum. Relatively zips corroded when the plastic packet was
four-stroke outboard motors. These were benign conditions for Antarctica. I would opened. I ripped my TPA open and wore it
manned by expedition staff to transfer expect in rougher conditions that it would as best I could. As we were sitting right in
passengers to and from the ship during have been a much more difficult task to the bow we were starting to ship water as the
the cruise. Although not officially part of release the hook. Zodiac took up the tow into wind and waves.
the lifesaving appliances they would play a The lifeboat engine did not start and this I found a spray dodger and wrapped it round
crucial role in the incident. meant we could not move quickly away four of us to provide extra protection.
The confusion over which lifeboat to use from the side of the ship or the swinging Out of our group of six, four people were
caused considerable delays to the launch falls block. We drifted under the forward seasick - one almost continuously, which
of the lifeboat. I saw the crew members lifeboat, which if released, would have incapacited him. Again no-one seemed in
counting passenger numbers at least three come down on top of us. No-one seemed charge or handed out any of the seasickness
times. At the abandon ship drill we had not to be in charge of the lifeboats and it was tablets, which according to the ship safety
The Naval Architect February 2008 17
NA Feb 08 - p16+17+
18.indd 17 05/02/2008 09:32:57
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