Cdn.-Owned Cruise Ship Finally Sinks After Hitting Submerged Antarctic Ice, But All Aboard Survive

It sounds like something out of The Titanic. But this one had a much happier ending. Ninety-one passengers – including at least 10 Canadians – and more than 60 crew members are safe, after being forced to abandon a cruise ship that hit some submerged ice in the frigid waters of Antarctica Friday.

The M/S Explorer (pictured, top left) was ferrying vacationers in the remote area on the cruise of a lifetime when the large frozen chunk tore a huge hole in its hull, and the vessel began taking on water at an alarming rate.

“What ensued was a hole in the hull about the size of a fist,” reveals Susan Hayes of Toronto’s G.A.P. Adventures, which owns the vessel. “So water started coming in. There was also a crack in the hull that resulted. So the pumps on the ship were able to manage pumping out the water for a considerable amount of time, so much so that we were able to inform the passengers and do a calm evacuation onto life boats, do a distress call.”

The abandoned 2,646-ton vessel finally sank into the bone chilling depths of the sea, after tilting ominously on an angle for hours. Along with the Canuck passengers, the ship was carrying at least 23 British citizens, some U.S. nationals and people from Australia, Holland, Japan and Argentina.

G.A.P. Adventures is based in Toronto but also has outlets in Vancouver and Calgary. It travelled out of Argentina, headed for the scenic Antarctic area, and was near King George Island when it came into contact with the big berg.

King George Island is about 1,100 kilometres south of Cape Horn, the tip of South America.

The emergency began around 11:30pm EST (5:30am Toronto time), and the captain waited 90 minutes before telling those on board to abandon ship. They were loaded onto eight semi-rigid lifeboats and four life rafts. As is naval tradition, the captain waited until everyone else was off before leaving himself.

They spent six long and freezing hours in those crafts, waiting for help to arrive. 

And it finally did, in the form of the Norwegian cruise ship the Nordnorge, which also tours the area. All hands were cold, a bit shaken up, but otherwise in good health. Despite their long ordeal, there were no cases of hypothermia.

The Explorer generally makes two-week long cruises around the barren region, with people paying as much US$4,000 per cabin for the privilege of seeing a part of the world most of us rarely venture into. This 19-day tour was supposed to end on Monday.

The ship was built in 1969 and is smaller than most cruise vessels. It’s supposed to be able to navigate the narrow bays more easily. It’s not clear why the icy rock wasn’t detected.

The rescue ship has lots of room to accommodate the newcomers and they were offered the chance to continue their journey. But most have opted to be delivered to a military base in the area, where they’ll be flown to Chile on Saturday.