"Explorer" Hits Iceberg en Route to Antarctica

When I posted the entry below a couple of hours ago, I wrote that I wouldn't keep monitoring all the reports -- but of course, I did. The New York Times web page includes an image of the red-hulled "Explorer" lying practially on her side in amid the ice floes in forbodingly gray water. The site also includes a link to a podcast interview by the Times' Andy Revkin with travel journalist Jon Bowermaster, who happened to be a guest lecturer aboard the "National Geographic Endeavor," which reached the stricken "Explorer" at about the same time as the "Nord Norge." He reported that by the time the two ships reached the scene at 3:00 a.m., passengers and crew had been in lifeboats for about four hours.

The Times report, written by Revkin and Graham Bowley, indicated that the engine room was flooded early in the incident. According to the report, this was not the first time this same ship, which was built in 1969, had experienced problems in these dangerous waters. The Times reporters wrote, "In February 1972, the Explorer, then operating for a Norwegian line as the Lindblad Explorer, ran aground close to the same spot, in similar circumstances. Amid the heaving seas, all her passengers then — mostly Americans — had to be rescued by the Chilean Navy."

While earlier reports indicated that the ship had a double hull, the Times reported: "It had a double bottom, a second sheath of steel to protect it if the ship runs aground, but the vessel did not have a double hull, a complete second complete sheathing of steel — developed after the Titanic, with a double bottom, sank. Built in 1969, the Explorer was small, to move swiftly through dangerous waters."

When passengers are required to attend a lifeboat drill shortly after boarding any ship, they usually do so a bit grudgingly, thinking they will never need to know how to put on their life jackets or to which lifeboat station they are assigned. But I'm betting the approximately 100 passengers on the "M/S Explorer" (above left, during a normal Antarctic trip), a relatively small expedition ship and not a luxury cruise ship, were glad they knew what to do and where to go when she hit an iceberg and began taking on water.

All of the passengers and 54 crew members escaped without injury and were taken aboard the "M/S Nord Norge," which then went on King George Island in the South Shetlands. The"Explorer" was "in a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom," according to CNN's report of the incident. The "Nord Norge" reportedly had room for the "Explorer's" pasengers who might want to continue on their trip, according to Susan Hayes of Toronto-based G.A.P. Adventures, which owns the ship.

She told CNN that "there was plenty of time for calm evacuation" and pointed out that passengers heading for Antarctica are equipped for cold weather. When the incident occurred on Thursday night, air temperatures were said to be 23 degrees Fahrenheit, with sea temperature at just around freezing. That's springtime in Austral waters.

Again according to CNN, "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. G.A.P. Adventures spokeswoman Susan Hayes said it was not an iceberg but a 'submerged piece of ice.' She added that while the ship was listing at 35 degrees or more it was not clear whether it would sink." Susan Hayes from Gap adventures talks about the rescue mission.

Several online news reports have been posted, and I'm not going to keep track of all of them, but I've seen various numbers of passengers (91 to over 100). At last report, the ship had not sunk but was listing 35 degrees. CNN reported that "Explorer" was 12 days into a 19-day program according, but on a 25-day itinerary, according to timesonline.com. Also, different media cited different numbers regarding the degree the ship was listing (initially 21 degrees, then 35 and later as much as 40), but of course, that changes as crews try to pump water out faster that it flows in. The collision with the iceberg or submerged piece of ice reportedly left a fist-size hole in the hull, but water was coming in through resulting cracks.

G.A.P. Adventures' website describes the "Explorer": "At only 75 meters in length and equipped with an ice hardened double hull and a fleet of robust zodiacs, she is a go-anywhere ship for the go-anywhere traveller." My first reaction was: Imagine how much worse the circumstances would have been if she were single-hulled ship. Later, I wondered how such a small puncture could wreak such damage on a vessel of that size.

In some ways, I can identify with the entire situation. My husband and I and a friend traveled to Antarctica some years ago aboard the "Disko," a ship built for coastal travel in Greenland where it subsequently ran aground. The "Disko" was not built for the rough Drake Passage that we crossed between Ushuaia, Argentina, and the Antarctic Peninsula and where the "Explorer" ran into trouble. That was our sole Antarctic experience, but our friend has been back twice since then. Antarctica is that captivating! As a guest blogger on Feast, I recently reviewed a book called Berserk in the Antarctic, about an unbelievable crossing of the Drake in a 27-foot sailboat called "Berserk." Few people would have given the little Berserk odds of making it to Antarctica and back but she did, and few people would have given the "Explorer" odds of not making it.