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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Rogue wave damages "Semester at Sea" ship |
| 2005-01-27 |
| From the "Water: Why does it continue to hate us?" Dept. Edited for brevity. A 50-foot Pacific wave temporarily disabled a "Semester at Sea" ship filled with hundreds of college students yesterday, injuring two crew members as it broke windows and damaged the vessel's controls, the Coast Guard said. Coast Guard vessels and aircraft from Alaska and Hawaii were dispatched to help the 591-foot Explorer, about 650 miles south of the Aleutian Islands and about 1,600 miles from Honolulu. The ship for a time operated on just one of its four engines and could do little more than keep the bow headed into heavy seas using emergency steering. By last night, a second engine had been started and the ship was making headway at a speed of about 10 knots, or about 11.5 mph, said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Glynn Smith in Alameda, Calif. Jim Lawrence, a spokesman for V. Ships, the technical managers of the ship, said no one was critically hurt but he did not have details on injuries. He said the ship may head to Midway Island, about 800 miles away. The weather in the region has been unsettled recently, with winds gusting to 50 mph or more. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #6 Next seminar, "How to immerse yourself in deep sea diving" |
| Posted by: Duke Nukem 2005-01-27 6:34:25 PM |
| #5 My brother actually stowed away on board the old ship (SS Universe) in '79 or '80. His girlfriend was a student. The ship left Long Beach for Honolulu. He helped load baggage, acted low key, went to classes and hid in her closet during the lifeboat drill. The bartenders all knew him by name (how odd??). There were 5 other stowaways on that trip, all of whom ended up in the brig. My brother ate dinner at the captain's table and the girlfriend payed for his flight back to LA. God I miss him. |
| Posted by: Remoteman 2005-01-27 4:32:28 PM |
| #4 It's a high seas education... in DEATH! |
| Posted by: BH 2005-01-27 3:22:15 PM |
| #3 Sounds a bit like my freshman year in college. Except replace "50-foot Pacific wave" with "beer." |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2005-01-27 2:32:57 PM |
| #2 Engine's broke. Steering's broke. Ship is in danger of capsizing. That is not a disaster, that is a training opportunity of the first order. Drag those sorry college boys out of the swimming pool, throw them in the engine room and make them save their own lives. Make 'em barf in the bilge instead of their stateroom. Let 'em figure out what a crescent hammer is all about. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2005-01-27 12:30:27 PM |
| #1 Actually our other Pittsburgh paper has a better and more fact-filled article. |
| Posted by: Dar 2005-01-27 12:11:55 PM |