Stranded (20 page)

Not that Nerup is entirely to blame. For the first time ever in a marine accident, transcripts from the ship's voyage data recorder (VDR) were used in an NTSB investigation. Much like the “black box” in an airplane, the VDR records the parameters of all relevant technical systems on board a ship, including speed, heading, current location transmitted by global positioning satellites (GPS), and even data collected from the four radars installed aboard
Star Princess
. Following the accident they were sent to London, England, where they were played back for NTSB investigators in December 1995. From those playbacks, investigators were able to reconstruct the actual track of the
Star Princess
from the radar, gyro, and GPS coordinates contained within.

Crucially, the VDR also contains an audio track recorded from a handful of live microphones located throughout the navigation bridge. When the NTSB reviewed the tracks, the audio quality was poor. Princess Cruises, to their credit, promptly furnished the NTSB with transcripts of all conversations that took place on the navigation bridge between 01:02 and 01:59 on the morning of June 23, 1995. The discussion on the bridge between the officers on duty and the pilot in the run up to the collision revolved mainly around their family relationships and issues, and personal grooming habits. In their report, the NTSB investigators noted that “the matters discussed by the watch officers and pilot were not of a navigational nature and were not related to shipboard duties.”
[5]
Not a single officer on the bridge of the
Star Princess
questioned Nerup's decision-making process. They were talking about how they like their hair cut, and where their wives and kids were.

The stigma of the
Star Princess
proved to be impossible for Robert Nerup to shake. On April 2, 1996, he surrendered his Alaska marine pilot's licence following a decision and settlement by the State of Alaska. Bearing the identification number eighty-three, it was issued on December 9, 1980, and expired on the last day of 1996. His file was permanently marked with a clause, issued in all capitals:

LICENSE SURRENDERED — WILL NEVER AGAIN APPLY FOR MARINE PILOT LICENSE OF ANY SORT ISSUED BY THE STATE OF ALASKA.
[6]

He never went back to sea.

Cruise ships have increased rapidly in size since 1995. Vessels that were once considered large — like the former
Star Princess —
now barely qualify as midsize. Capacities are on the rise, too, with the largest ships currently sailing in Alaska capable of carrying nearly four thousand passengers. They are, first and foremost, a safe, reliable, enjoyable way to see Alaska. In many ways, they tend to mimic their aviation counterparts in terms of safety, but also in scope and scale when something goes awry. In recent years, events like the sinking of the
Costa Concordia
and the loss of power aboard the
Carnival Triumph
have illustrated that modern cruise ships, like any technology, are far from infallible. But to sail through Lynn Canal today on one of these floating technological marvels can be as deceiving as it was on that blustery night in October 1918 when
Princess Sophia
steamed toward her inevitable fate. In their final report into the grounding of the
Star Princess
, the NTSB noted that the greatest danger in Alaska may very well be the one thing that is entirely out of human control: mother nature.

Considering the unforgiving nature of the Alaskan marine environment, with its deep, cold waters and rocky shores, and the remoteness of the areas of operation, an accident caused by the poor performance of a pilot cannot be tolerated. Too many lives are at risk.
[7]

INTRODUCTION

1.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia
, 1919
, Library and Archives Canada, lac_mikan_165657; R.G. 42, Volume 355, 8.

2.
“Sport Fish Report For the Week of July 28,”
Juneau Empire
, http://juneauempire.com/outdoors/2014-08-01/sport-fish-report-week-july-28, accessed November 23, 2014.

CHAPTER 1: THE RUSH TO SKAGWAY

1.
Jason Moore, “Cruise Companies Fret New Water Standards,” CLIA Alaska, www.cliaalaska.org/2008/04/cruise-companies-fret-new-water-standards, accessed March 12, 2013.

2.
Pierre Berton,
The Wild Frontier: More Tales from the Remarkable Past
(Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2012).

3.
The Chicago Record 1897
, 97.

4.
“2007 Hassler Expedition — Last Days,” National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime/expeditions/hassler/last_days.html, accessed February 28, 2015.

5.
Berton,
The Wild Frontier
.

6.
J. Bernard Moore,
Skagway in Days Primeval
(Skagway, AK: Lynn Canal Publishing, 1963, 1997), 186.

7.
Ibid., 184.

8.
Pierre Berton,
Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush 1896–1899
(Toronto: Anchor Canada, 2001), 238–39.

9.
Ross Anderson, “The Dawson City Gold Rush Had its Own Bill Gates,”
Seattle Times
, July 16, 1997.

10.
“Klondike Gold Rush,” National Park Service, www.nps.gov/klgo/historyculture/dyea.htm, accessed September 10, 2014.

11.
“2007 Hassler Expedition — Last Days,” National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/maritime/expeditions/hassler/last_days.html, accessed February 28, 2015.

CHAPTER 2: “A SLOW TRIP THROUGH ALASKA”

1.
Betty O'Keefe and Ian MacDonald,
The Final Voyage of the
Princess Sophia (Victoria: Heritage House Publishing, 1998), 46.

2.
Ibid., 62.

3.
Ken Coates and Bill Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia (Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska Press, 1991), 12.

4.
“The Princess Sophia Is the Largest-Engined Vessel That Ever Was Built on the Cart,”
Paisley Gazette
, February 1912.

5.
“1005 Cook St,” Victoria Heritage Foundation, www.victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Fairfield/Cook1005.html, accessed October 17, 2014.

6.
“William Gardner Gabie,” Skagway Stories, www.skagwaystories.org/2011/01/page/3, accessed September 13, 2014.

7.
“The White Pass Hospital & Dr. Dahl,”
Skagway News
, www.skagwaynews.com/alaskan2013.html, accessed September 13, 2014.

8.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC, 433–38.

9.
Ibid., 83.

10.
“Inventory and Survey of Historic Shipwreck Sites,” City of Juneau, September 1992, 29–36.

11.
Dermot Cole,
Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History
(Fairbanks, AK: Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, 2002), 115.

12.
“Wells Fargo: Here For Alaskans, Now and In the Future,” The Alliance, http://alaskaalliance.com/wells-fargo-here-for-alaskans-now-and-in-the-future, accessed October 18, 2014.

13.
Currency & Inflation Converter, Dollar Times, www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=35&year=1918, accessed February 2, 2014.

CHAPTER 3: THE
STAR PRINCESS
SETS SAIL

1.
“Obituary: Ronald J. Kutz,”
Juneau Empire
, July 16, 2002, http://juneauempire.com/stories/071602/obi_kutz.html, accessed January 7, 2015.

2.
“Marine Pilot for Cruise Ship Had Previous Accident in SE,”
Daily Sitka Sentinel
, June 29, 1995, www.newspapers.com/newspage/24540624, accessed January 7, 2015.

3.
“Two Cruise Ships Collide in Skagway, Only Minor Injuries Are Reported,”
The Argus Press
, May 28, 1991, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19910528&id=lkEiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ta0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2238,2171695, accessed January 8, 2015.

4.
“Ships Due Here for Collision Repairs,”
Seattle Times
, May 29, 1991, http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19910529&slug=1286062, accessed January 8, 2015.

5.
“Accident Won't Affect Schedule,” JOC, June 5, 1991, www.joc.com/maritime-news/maritime-briefs_19910605.html, accessed January 8, 2015.

CHAPTER 4: THE STORM

1.
Victoria Daily Colonist
, April 5, 6, 7, 1918.

2.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 53.

3.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 454.

4.
Ibid., 456.

5.
Moore,
Skagway in Days Primeval
, 92–95.

6.
“Reports of Captain L.A. Beardslee, U.S. Navy, Relative to Affairs in Alaska, and the Operations of the U.S.S. Jamestown, Under His Command, While In the Waters of that Territory” (1882), U.S. Library of Congress, https://ia601501.us.archive.org/15/items/reportsofcaptain00unit/reportsofcaptain00unit.pdf, accessed October 20, 2014.

7.
“The Grounding of the
Princess May
,”
Silodrome Gasoline Culture
, http://silodrome.com/grounding-princess-may, accessed February 2, 2014.

8.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia.

CHAPTER 5: THE TURN

1.
National Transportation Safety Board Report, “Grounding of the Liberian Passenger Ship
Star Princess
on Poundstone Rock, Lynn Canal, Alaska, June 23, 1995,” 1997, 55.

CHAPTER 6: THE ACCIDENT

1.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, “Brief of Appellees,” 1919, 15.

2.
Ibid., 16.

3.
Ibid., 16.

4.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 173.

5.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 457.

6.
Ibid., 89.

7.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 172.

8.
Ibid., 171.

9.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 102.

10.
Ibid., 106.

11.
Ibid., 466.

12.
Ibid., 39.

13.
Ibid., 42.

14.
Ibid., 467.

15.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 172–73.

16.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 106.

17.
Ibid., 106.

18.
Ibid., 109.

19.
Ibid., 55.

20.
Log, Diary of Governor of Alaska Thomas Riggs, Jr., July 8, 1918–December 25, 1919, 37–52, http://library.alaska.gov/hist/hist_docs/docs/asl_ms273_1_1918-1919_transcript.pdf, accessed October 25, 2014.

21.
Ibid.

22.
Ibid.

23.
“Cannery Tender,” Lake Union Virtual Museum, www.lakeunionhistory.org/Cannery_Tender.html, accessed October 25, 2014.

CHAPTER 7: THE TURN

1.
National Transportation Safety Board Report, “Grounding of the Liberian Passenger Ship
Star Princess
…,” 7.

2.
Ibid., 7.

CHAPTER 8: STRANDED ON THE ROCKS

1.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 184

2.
Ibid.

3.
Ibid., 5.

4.
Ibid., 25.

5.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 172.

6.
Ibid.

7.
Ibid., 173.

8.
Ibid.

9.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, 24.

10.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 64.

11.
Ibid., 67.

12.
Ibid., 460.

13.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 173.

14.
Ibid.

15.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 62.

16.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, 25.

17.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 43–44.

18.
Ibid., 149–50.

19.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, 27.

20.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 65.

21.
Ibid.

22.
Ibid., 66.

23.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC, 27.

24.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 151.

25.
Ibid.

CHAPTER 9: BEACHING THE
STAR PRINCESS

1.
National Transportation Safety Board Report, “Grounding of the Liberian Passenger Ship
Star Princess
…,” 11–12.

2.
Ibid.

3.
Ibid., 12.

CHAPTER 10: THOSE LAST MINUTES

1.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, 27.

2.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 67–68.

3.
Ibid., 68.

4.
Ibid., 69.

CHAPTER 11: AFTERMATH

1.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, 28.

2.
Log, Diary of Governor of Alaska Thomas Riggs, Jr.

3.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 476.

4.
Ibid., 477.

5.
Ibid., 84.

6.
Ibid., 82.

7.
Ibid., 83.

8.
Ibid., 88.

9.
Coates and Morrison,
The Sinking of the
Princess Sophia, 127.

10.
Ibid., 145.

CHAPTER 12:
STAR PRINCESS
SAILS ON

1.
United States Court of Appeals Case #6390, I.M. BRACE vs. CANADIAN PACIFIC
, 28.

2.
Log, Diary of Governor of Alaska Thomas Riggs, Jr.

3.
Official Inquiry into the Loss of the
Princess Sophia, 476.

4.
Ibid., 477.

5.
Ibid., 84.

6.
Ibid., 82.

7.
Ibid., 83.