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Sad News on Westerdam in Alaska


Lady Arwen
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In any case, and however it happened, it is still sad, and should be the focus of this thread.

My sympathies to all impacted by this, whether family, friends, or others.

 

I agree, Ruth. The speculation regarding how and where is, IMHO, disrespectful.

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I agree, Ruth. The speculation regarding how and where is, IMHO, disrespectful.

True, but I was referring to a rather mean-spirited post which has been removed. It was derailing the thread.

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There is some confusion here. Were there 2 similar incidents?

A man of same age fell or jumped from a balcony at about 4am in the same area a few days ago.

The ship was The seven Seas mariner, on her way to Victoria and onto Vancouver.

Sandra

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Can't they review videos from all the onboard cameras which I believe provide a view along all the outside decks?

The SSM incident does have video. Not available to us, but the news piece said that cameras caught the incident.

Sandra

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So you're saying that a "ship-wide" search isn't really a "ship-wide" search?

It's possible. When I was in the Navy, we had a shipmate who "disappeared" for over a week while we were on a long deployment. After several days of searching the "entire" ship, it was decided by the Captain that he must have fallen overboard. When his squirreled away stash of food and water eventually ran out, he emerged from his hidey hole and admitted that he was just depressed, homesick and tired of working so hard.

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With no disrespect intended to the deceased nor his family intended, I have a question that maybe a present or former crew member can answer. And, my question DOES NOT imply a direction of duties to any of the ship's personnel.

 

Since outside deck cameras are in operation, and I assume the video feed goes to the Security Office, why does any person overboard not instantly observed? Or, at least, noticed very quickly so that the Bridge can be notified of the situation and that the ship can commence a recovery operation?

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Unfortunately, these types of stories give the cruise industry a bad name. To the uninitiated, they make it seem like falling overboard from a cruise ship is a simple thing to do. We all know that it isn't. You are either doing something you shouldn't be doing, you get thrown overboard or you jump.

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With no disrespect intended to the deceased nor his family intended, I have a question that maybe a present or former crew member can answer. And, my question DOES NOT imply a direction of duties to any of the ship's personnel.

 

Since outside deck cameras are in operation, and I assume the video feed goes to the Security Office, why does any person overboard not instantly observed? Or, at least, noticed very quickly so that the Bridge can be notified of the situation and that the ship can commence a recovery operation?

 

How many cameras are there, 100s? I don't believe they are monitored real time; I think the hope is to record an incident with the hope of replaying it when something has been reported.

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Unfortunately, these types of stories give the cruise industry a bad name. To the uninitiated, they make it seem like falling overboard from a cruise ship is a simple thing to do. We all know that it isn't. You are either doing something you shouldn't be doing, you get thrown overboard or you jump.

 

 

I agree. I have friends who have never cruised and refuse to go because “people are always falling of the ships.” I try to tell them you don’t just fall off walking on deck or standing on your balcony.

 

A tragedy for the family, regardless of what happened.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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With no disrespect intended to the deceased nor his family intended, I have a question that maybe a present or former crew member can answer. And, my question DOES NOT imply a direction of duties to any of the ship's personnel.

 

Since outside deck cameras are in operation, and I assume the video feed goes to the Security Office, why does any person overboard not instantly observed? Or, at least, noticed very quickly so that the Bridge can be notified of the situation and that the ship can commence a recovery operation?

 

The short answer is no. The long answer is, there are hundreds of cameras on board. Security cameras are not for real time surveillance. They're for reference when researching an incident. Many ships, including some in the HAL fleet, have been outfitted with a man overboard sensor system with heat sensing cameras, but I don't know if Westerdam is one of them.

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If you research the MOB - dedicated Man Overboard systems, they report they are highly flawed and not usable technology. Consequently so far their are an expensive experiment that has failed. Interesting research topic. MSC was going to install them, then others followed but none have found them to be that valuable. According to the available online research. Water, glare, salt contamination, vibrations, high seas ..etc. etc. etc.

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The short answer is no. The long answer is, there are hundreds of cameras on board. Security cameras are not for real time surveillance. They're for reference when researching an incident. Many ships, including some in the HAL fleet, have been outfitted with a man overboard sensor system with heat sensing cameras, but I don't know if Westerdam is one of them.

 

 

 

This! There are way too many cameras for anyone to monitor. It’s rare there’s someone, like in the movies, who sits in a security office and watches the footage for all cameras all the time. There’s just too many. Cameras don’t so much prevent crime as allows someone to figure out what happened after an incident.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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A review of the videos showed him going overboard about 6:45am. Wife did not report him missing until 3:50pm. Ship did not report him missing until 7:30pm when they had determined he was not onboard. Between the time he went overboard and the time he was reported missing, the ship had sailed it's 65 mile route into Glacier Bay, and back out again. And during that time, the man would have perished from hypothermia. EM

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Very tragically, this is the second incident of a cruise ship guest going overboard in a matter of three days...

 

On 10 July, a passenger on Regent Seven Seas Mariner disappeared--off the coast of Washington--while the ship was in route to Victoria, BC... The US Coast Guard did recover the unconscious guest after extensive search but, sadly, he was pronounced deceased upon being transferred to a hospital at Port Angeles...

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