"Spirit of Nantucket" has run aground

[tuttleje]

A small cruise ship, the "Spirit of Nantucket" has run aground in the waters near Knott's Island in Virginia Beach

The location is about 3 miles North of the Pungo Ferry Bridge on the Intercoastal Waterway.

The ship is taking on water.

U.S. Coast Guard has pumps on the ship.

The Coast Guard is currently preparing to evacuate the passengers.

65 people on the ship.

I'm listening to the Coast Guard but I'm too far away.

The TV 10 helo pilot is talking to the Coast Guard helo pilot.

Very Interesting!

Live feed from wavy.com (Channel 10).

http://www.wavy.com/global/story.asp?s=7329836

 

[kc4jgc]

VBPD traffic is on the marine patrol TG (44688).

The location is on the North Landing River (part of the ICW) in Virginia Beach. As Tuttleje said, this is 2-3 mi north of the Pungo Ferry Bridge. For those of us familiar with the area, The bridge is where Captain George's Restaurant was located. The location is about 8 miles north of Knotts Island.

Word has it that the ship began to take on water after a seal broke; the captain ran it aground to keep the vessel from sinking.

All passengers are off the ship ( no injuries) and are at the Creeds fire station for the time being.

The Spirit of Nantucket was in the midst of a 10 day cruise down the ICW from Washington. The last stop was to be Charleston SC.

 

[TPKeller2]

They were on Day 6 of a 10 day cruise from Alexandria to Charleston, SC.

http://www.cruisewest.com/destinations/southatlanticcoast/cradle_of_colonial_america_2007.aspx

Very nice little cruise package, if you can afford it... cheapest cabin on the ship was $3,500 per person!

Theron

 

[TPKeller2]

They are now thinking that the ship hit a large debris mass. This article has some details:

http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-debris.n12,0,4814912.story?coll=hr_breaking_500

Theron