Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

Silversea's Silver Explorer cruise ship suffered damage on January 12, 2013 while sailing the Drake Passage to Antarctica from the port of Ushuaia, Argentina.  Four crew members were injured in the incident and were treated in the ship's infirmary.

News sources say that a large wave struck the cruise ship and knocked out a window on the ship's bridge at a height of at least 30 feet above the waterline.

The small expedition cruise ship carried 133 passengers and 113 crew members. The cruise line stated that four crew members suffered injuries and were treated at the medical center of the ship.

Silversea is not saying much else except the usual PR comments that everything is fine.  It will be interesting to hear the passengers' version of what happened.

The next cruise scheduled for January 21st has been canceled.  The cruise line states that the Silver Explorer should back to its normal schedule of cruises to Antarctica trip on January 31st.

Cruises to Antarctica, or to the Arctic, are not for the timid. Rough weather, high winds and big waves are to be expected  Check out the Clelia II cruise ship in distress in Antarctica which has been viewed over 350,000 times on our YouTube page. It made our top 5 cruise ship disaster videos. There have been a number of incidents where cruise ships to the polar regions have lost power, suffered smashed windows, run into rocks, and have even capsized:

The Clelia II - Another Antarctic Cruise Ship Skirts Disaster 

Clipper Adventurer Cruise Ship Runs Aground in the Arctic

The Clelia II Skirts Disaster Again in Antarctica

Another Near Disaster in Antarctica: Polar Star Runs Aground

M/V Plancius Adventure Cruise Ship Stranded in South Atlantic

Who's Responsible When a Cruise Ship Sinks in Antarctica?

Were you on the Silver Explorer and have info, photos or video to share?  Please let us hear from you. 

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CNN iReport contains a first hand account from a passenger describing a collision between Silversea Cruises' Silver Shadow cruise ship and what is being described as a Vietnamese container ship near Halong bay, Vietnam. The report indicates damage to both the cruise ship and the container ship.   The passenger's account and a photograph of the damaged container ship are below:

"We're on Silversea silver shadow cruise ship and we just collided with a Vietnamese container ship near Halong bay, Vietnam. We slammed into the side of it, in thick fog

The other ship was severely damaged, and crew hurt, damage to our ship is being asessed in hong kong. Passengers were called to muster stations.

Our ship has a hole in the bow, heres a pic of the other ship, it was struck in two places - their bridge, and we ripped a large tear in the side too.

I have more pics of the damage, sending this from my cellphone.

Many Brits and U.S. on board

Cruiseline is down playing incident but its serious.

Andrew lock  Sent from my iPhone"

11:00 AM Update: Silversea Cruises issued a press statement this morning, admitting only that a “minor incident” occurred last Friday (March 16th) as the cruise ship was approaching Ha Long Bay, Vietnam.

"Silver Shadow was involved in a minor incident on March 16, 2012 at around 4:20 GMT as it was approaching the pilot station in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. There was contact between Silver Shadow and a local commercial vessel. Silver Shadow incurred limited minor dents and guests' safety was never compromised. The ship was fully operational and continued on its course to Ha Long Bay where all shore tours operated normally.  Silversea will carry out a full investigation into the incident."

Silvereas is mum regarding the extent of the damage to the container vessel or whether there were casualties aboard the other vessel.  

Silverseas did not release information until after the collision was reported on CNN and mentioned repeatedly on Twitter. 

2:00 PM Update:

Cruise passenger Andrew Lock has a facebook page where he uploaded photos and a video describing the events. 

CNN has excellent coverage of the story.  CNN's video is below:  

If you were on the cruise and have additional information, photographs or video, please leave a comment below.

Photo credit:  Andrew Lock via CNN iReport  

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