Posted on Sunday, August 29, 2010 by Martin Cox
Rescue ship -- icebreaker CCGS AMUNDSEN. Photo under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license by Tatiana Pichugina
CLIPPER ADVENTURER (ex ALLA TARASOVA), a 1975-built passenger ship with 128 passengers and 69 crew members on board, has run aground on an uncharted rock in the Arctic Ocean while on a cruise through the Northwest Passage. No injuries were reported and the passengers have been transferred to Kugluktuk, a former copper mine town of about 1,300 souls in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada.
Operated by Adventure Canada, the ship is described as an A-1 ice class ship for unrestricted passenger service. The 330 foot vessel ran around on Friday August 27, and several attempts have been made to free her while the passengers remained on board. Today, the Canadian Coast Guard evacuated the passengers using the icebreaker AMUNDSEN. From the hamlet of Kugluktuk, passengers will be then flown to Edmonton, Canada.
Efforts to free the ship, which remains upright and in calm weather will continue.
Glenn Paull
August 30, 2010 at 6:53 am
With up to date modern electronics its hard to believe ships officers are completely unaware of approaching submerged objects of any nature. I still miss our (Little Red Ship) we lost to alaskan waters.
Andrew Diamond
August 30, 2010 at 10:57 am
Just because a nautical chart is shown on “modern electronics” doesn’t mean that the datum is in anyway recent. In the 1980′s and 90′s I sailed on hydrographic survey ships updating chart data from as long ago as the 1870′s! It is only in the last twenty years that multi-beam sonars have allowed 100% coverage but only in some areas. The QE2 grounding off Martha’s Vineyard in 1992 is a demonstration of the limits of nautical charts. Even a depth sounder will only tell you what’s under you, not what’s ahead of you. The poles are some of the most poorly charted areas of the world as recent accidents have shown. You have to look out the window, guage the change in swell height and the color of the water, slow down and hope this is your day
David
August 30, 2010 at 1:17 pm
LETS HOPE THEY CAN SAVE HER. WOULD HATE TO SEE THE SAME FATE AS THE LITTLE LINDBLAD EXPLORER (EXPLORER) A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO !
Dieter Killinger
August 30, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I believe the “little red ship” referred to was the Explorer which went down in ANTARCTIC waters (formerly Society and Lindblad Explorer)/
Glenn Paull
August 31, 2010 at 5:31 am
Thanks, I am aware of her name but a small group of people who have sailed on her and grew fond of her refer to her as “the little red ship” It makes absolutely no sense to me at all when the oceans cover more then 70% of the earth less then 5% has been explored, yet we can answer questions about planets millions of miles away. Yet for all our reliance on the Ocean, 95% of this realm remains unexplored. ref: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Noranna
August 31, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Does anyone know the exact position; Lat / Lon ??
Harry Crossley
September 9, 2010 at 10:29 am
Am I right in thinking that fish finder types of sonar throw out a much more comprehensive beam these days? I’ve been watching documentaries of deep sea trawlers…North Sea and Berents Sea and their fish finders give very clear pictures of underwater conditions for quite some way around the ship.