UPDATE - This is Empress of the North’s 3rd Grounding

May 14th, 2007 · 11 Comments

The cruise ship Empress of the North that hit a rock off Juneau Alaska this morning has had an eerilly similar incident in the Columbia River last year. As the Winter 2006/2007 Issue of the US Coast Guard’s magazine Proceedings reports:

A river cruise ship goes hard aground on a rocky
ledge outside the main navigation channel of the
Columbia River, near Portland, Ore. The vessel floods
and begins to list to port. Onboard are 260 passengers
and crew, and more than 35,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
It is a mild morning in early spring, but the weather is
notoriously unpredictable in the lower
Columbia this time of year, and sunset is in
seven hours. Many of the passengers are
elderly and cannot debark to shore. The
chill of the air, combined with the cold
water temperature make the onset of
hypothermia a rapid certainty for any per-
son who falls overboard. This is not a drill.
Despite making the Columbia River voy-
age more than 100 times since being built
in 2001, the 360-foot Empress of the North
took an unexpected and nearly disastrous
turn recently, and Sector Portland was
ready to answer the call. The grounding
occurred near Washougal, Wash., just 20
miles east of Portland, Ore. The vessel
would remain there for 54 hours, and
motivate a multi-agency response that
captured the attention of thousands.

We will be reporting more on this story as the news comes in but until then here is the USCG report: LINK

UPDATE: This is the Vessel’s THIRD Grounding Fourth Grounding

gCaptain’s original coverage of the story: Breaking News - Cruise Ship Hit Rock off Juneau Alaska
Description of 2006 salvage operation: LINK
For Live Updates on this story visit NowPublic.com: LINK
Underwater photos of here last grounding: LINK
Vessel’s USCG Deficiency report: LINK

gCaptain’s continued coverage of this incident: LINK

John Konrad is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage currently working as Chief Mate aboard a 835′ ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Since graduating from SUNY Maritime College he has sailed in 4 of the worlds oceans and reports from his ship via satellite.

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Categories: Cruise Ship · Incidents · Lifesaving Incidents · USCG

Tags: · Empress Of The North

11 responses so far ↓

1 Cruise Ship Runs Aground Near Alaska - EON // May 14, 2007 at 8:33 am

[…] his is the SECOND time in under 2 years that this ship has run aground and had to be abandoned: http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/update-this-is-empress-of-the-norths-second-grounding […]
2 BREAKING NEWS : Cruise Ship Sinking Off Coast of Alaska « The Alter Ego of C.Wonder // May 14, 2007 at 8:47 am

[…] This is the SECOND time in under 2 years that this ship has run aground and had to be abandoned: http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/update-this-is-empress-of-the-norths-second-grounding/ […]
3 CWonder // May 14, 2007 at 8:51 am

Thanks a million for the add’l info! So this isn’t “operator” error? I should do more research on running aground. I’m assuming it’s something like “bottoming out”?
4 Breaking News - Cruise Ship Hit Rock off Juneau Alaska // May 14, 2007 at 8:52 am

[…] ← Have you received your Merchant Marine Expeditionary Medal? UPDATE - This is Empress of the North’s Second Grounding […]
5 StumbleUpon » Your page is now on StumbleUpon! // May 14, 2007 at 9:03 am

[…] Your page is on StumbleUpon […]
6 admin // May 14, 2007 at 11:28 am

“bottoming out” would be more of a scrape… running aground means you are stuck either by the bottom itself or by the fact that if you back the ship down you will rip a large hole in the vessel. -JAK
7 Franklin // May 14, 2007 at 11:43 am

Very interesting… good reporting! Those paddle wheels must be real difficult to maneuver.
8 UPDATE - Empress of the North’s Long History of Trouble // May 14, 2007 at 12:43 pm

[…] RSS ← UPDATE - This is Empress of the North’s 3rd Grounding […]
9 Truthy, too. // May 14, 2007 at 5:40 pm

[IMG John A. Konrad, Master Mariner]
10 GMDSS or how I stopped worrying about and started to love/miss the Radio Officer // May 16, 2007 at 12:18 am

[…] using the “SOLAS” tag. The results? I found that the ship had run aground last year, blogged about my discovery and within the hour got a call from NowPublic, a site working with the Associated […]
11 Northstar Cruises // May 27, 2008 at 8:28 am

This is the fourth time? That’s unbeleivable, what ever happened to 3 strikes and your out. One unlucky vessell!