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Subscribe to RSSPassengers on Princess Cruises' 113,000-ton, 3,080-passenger Ruby Princess witnessed a dramatic rescue on Monday in the Bahamas.
Close to midnight, as the ship was sailing through the Bahamas en route to St Maarten, the ship's officers picked up a distress call from a trimaran that had lost navigational power and was drifting, with three French nationals on board.
Ruby Princess changed course and put down a lifeboat, which picked up the three sailors. Hundreds of passengers and crew witnessed the rescue, which was recorded by passenger Anton Anderssen from Michigan (with thanks to cruise blogger Captain Greybeard for alerting us to this video).
A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises in the U.K. told Cruise Critic that none of the three had required medical attention, and that the U.S. Coastguard and Bahamian authorities had been notified. Ruby Princess arrived in St Maarten on schedule.
Here's how the rescue unfolded:
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They lost "navigational power", but couldn't figure out where they were, or just were afraid to stay on the boat all night? Whatever happened to carrying nav charts and a sextant aboard and knowing how to use them? The SAILBOAT could have set course for land -- of which there is plenty in the Bahamas -- and figured out how to repair their nav system, rather than abandoning a seaworthy craft in the middle of the night. Sounds like a great ploy for ter ror ists to use to get aboard a cruise liner.
mathuin - I was thinking the same thing. I am assuming that there is something missing from this article about the nature of problem of this boat. Otherwise, I was thinking you shouldn't be on a sailboat if you didn't know the basics.
"Navigational power" means "ability navigate", which means ability to move and steer. It does not mean "we lost power to our digital compass and became whiny." They probably lost their rudder, or some other critical piece like that is broken.
according to other medias, they had a broken rudder, a "damaged mast", and a medical emergency.
Time to require basic licenses for sailing, just like cars, eh? If you can't do basic navigation by the stars, you can't sail beyond the coast.
Just like it is required in most of Europe, including France, and the French Antilles where this boat was most likely from.
see #1.2
So, is there now an abandoned but seaworthy boat floating around as a hazard to navigation? Who's responsible for the abandoned craft? Most of the sailors I know wouldn't think of abandoning their boat if it wasn't actually sinking or on fire.
I completely agree Dave. That was crazy. Something more to the story perhaps!
I have an idea where a free boat is....
first one who ties a line to it can claim the right of salvage.
Stand by your man, right or wrong.