Originally published April 26 2005
Cruise ship damaged by 70-foot rogue wave
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
After enduring some rough seas, passengers on the 1,000-foot cruise ship Norwegian Dawn thought that there was smooth sailing ahead. However, out of seemingly pristine water, a 70-foot wave smacked into the side of the ship, breaking windows and scattering luggage and people all over. The captain said that he had never seen anything like it in his 20 years of experience. Windows were broken on the 9th and 10th floors of the ship and the gift shop and the theater were wrecked by the wave. Fortunately, only four passengers were injured, though the 2,500 passengers on board were given a serious scare.
A "freak wave" more than 70 feet high slammed a luxury cruise ship steaming for New York yesterday, flooding cabins, injuring passengers and forcing the liner to stop for emergency repairs.
The Norwegian Dawn, an opulent ocean liner almost 1,000 feet long, limped into Charleston, S.C., yesterday afternoon after it hit vicious seas in an overnight storm off Florida - then was creamed by the rogue wave after dawn.
It weathered most of a wild storm that featured gale-force winds and choppy seas.
But then the vessel, longer than three football fields, was suddenly smacked by the "freak wave," said Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Susan Robison.
The tidal wave wrecked windows on the ninth and 10th floors and wreaked havoc below decks, destroying furniture, the onboard theater, and a store that sold expensive gifts.
"My daughter said people were freaking out," said Mel Blanck, 74, whose daughter, Caren Hogan, 42, of Matawan, N.J., was vacationing aboard with her family.
In a message Hogan left on her parents' voice mail, she said her ship "feels like the Titanic" and described "water running everywhere, with people getting hurt and panicking."
"She felt lucky that she and her children weren't hurt," said Blanck, whose daughter had called from South Carolina last night.
The floating city of a ship, which was commissioned in 2002, left New York a week ago for Orlando, Miami and the Bahamas.
It had started heading home when it ran into the wicked weather.
During the storm, one frightened passenger called a relative who relayed the information to the Coast Guard, which escorted the ship into Charleston yesterday.
"The ocean is unforgiving; it doesn't care who is out there," said Petty Officer Bobby Nash of the Coast Guard in Florida.
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