crowdpub

A passenger ship returning from Antartica to Argentina ran aground on Matha Strait just north of Antartica. Rescue workers are conducting rescue operations. There have been no reports of injuries and the ship is not heavily damaged. Passengers included eight Australians, 14 Britons, 9 Canadians, and 32 Americans.
http://latinamericacurrentevents.com...-matha-strait/

Eschew

This is not the first time and probably won't be the last. If you recall, one sunk a couple years ago and another run aground last year.

Dayenu

I wonder why I can't find this on other website... when did it happen? I found about December 10 - is it the same?

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/p...-loss/134434/1

traveller69

There are lots of articles on line but here is cruise critics report

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4344

Dayenu

Thanks for the link, 69.

SelfPropelledTripod

I think the lack of news of these stories is mainly that they don't have a lot of mass appeal, but also because it's so remote. And so the only information usually comes from the ship lines themselves, maritime safety organiations, the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators, etc., who are honest and informative, but have no particular interest in making any of this particularly newsworthy, either. Personally, I wish there were more info, as I was scheduled to be on the Clelia II last year before it hit that rock. All these events feel kind of personal now.

I made some comments in DMBTraveler's current trip report on his recent Antarctic trip. The ship is the Polar Star, a former Swedish icebreaker, doing a somewhat unusual itinerary further south than the other expedition cruises typically go. It hit an uncharted rock, breached its outer hull, but not the inner hall. No injuries, no environmental damage. That happened several days ago (I think on the 31st), and they cruised back north to a Polish research station (Arctowski, on King George Island), where divers inspected the damage. At that point, they unloaded passengers there for transfer to other ships, and they're sailing the Polar Star back through the Drake with just crew and staff aboard. Three other expedition cruise operators have stepped in to help take the Polar Star passengers back to Ushuaia. Certainly not the trip people were expecting, but an adventure nonetheless. I hope some of those passengers write Fodor's trip reports when they come back.