Original Prinsendam

[cruisingrob21]

I've come across an old magazine xerox about the sinking of the original Prinsendam in the Gulf of Alaska.  I also have blue prints.  Are folks interested in me posting it?  I only ask because it takes time to get all the images scanned.

 

For those unfamiliar...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Prinsendam_(1973)

 

[rkacruiser]

Thanks for your offer.  There may be some posters who would be interested.  There are sites on the internet that also provide the story and the photos.

 

An excellent book concerning this tragedy is Burning Cold by H. Paul Jeffers.  The book includes some photos as well.

 

One of the ship's Junior Deck Officers was the Master of the Zaandam when I sailed on her during her initial Caribbean season.

[janmcn]

Friends of ours were on this cruise and kept a great scrapbook of all the articles done on it. Learned from them the importance of knowing where your clothes, shoes, and keycard are even in the dark! They were a bunch of very lucky passengers!  (Alas, both of them are gone now.)

Edited April 13, 2019 by janmcn

[rkacruiser]

10 hours ago, janmcn said:

Friends of ours were on this cruise and kept a great scrapbook of all the articles done on it. Learned from them the importance of knowing where your clothes, shoes, and keycard are even in the dark! They were a bunch of very lucky passengers!  (Alas, both of them are gone now.)

 

Thank you for your post.  Stories such as theirs are also the reason a small flashlight is packed by me and placed in the night stand next to the bed.  Do you know if your friends were in one of the lifeboats that were quickly found and rescued or in the last one found, some of whose occupants were in danger of hypothermia?

[janmcn]

The older one who had health issues was in the first lifeboat to be loaded, but still they were 8 hours in the frigid water. He was one of those first rescued. The other ended up being interviewed on The Today Show soon after he was on land. Yes, flashlight too.

[rkacruiser]

11 minutes ago, janmcn said:

The older one who had health issues was in the first lifeboat to be loaded, but still they were 8 hours in the frigid water. He was one of those first rescued. The other ended up being interviewed on The Today Show soon after he was on land. Yes, flashlight too.

 

Thanks for replying!  Reading the book about the Prinsendam tragedy, I recall that many of the passengers were wearing little than nighttime clothing.  And, one of the lifeboats almost became lost because of getting so separated from the others.  It's no wonder that the current Muster Drill instructions emphasize for guests to "put on warm clothes, hats, and shoes" before reporting to their Muster Station.

 

It's by the Grace of God that no passengers or crew lost their lives during that tragedy.