10 Of The Worst Cruise Ship Disasters

MV CELEBRITY MERCURY

In a relatively small and enclosed community like that aboard a ship, disease can spread with amazing speed and severity. The conditions aboard a cruise ship are even better for contagions, with people spreading infectious diseases at buffets, discos, and the horrifying bacterial soups commonly called hot tubs.

Because of these and other factors, a 2010 outbreak of norovirus aboard the MV Celebrity Mercury soon spread to almost 500 people out of a total population of 1800, leading to gastroenteritis, vomiting, and diarrhea so bad that the sanitary systems were nearly overwhelmed.

Celebrity Cruises sent in medical personnel to help with the outbreak, and over-the-counter medicines were largely effective treating the victims, but the Celebrity Mercury was sold the following year to a German cruise conglomerate.

MV SEABOURN SPIRIT

A smaller cruise ship typically touring the western Mediterranean, the Seabourn Spirit was rated the best small cruise ship in early 2005 by Conde Nast Traveler for its intimate atmosphere and attentive service. Unfortunately, the next time Seabourn Spirit made headlines it was after a November incident where two Somali pirate vessels attacked the cruise liner with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

The clever and level-headed crew responded with a Long-Range Acoustic Device-a nonlethal sonic weapon that blasts enemies with powerful sound waves-and the only injuries suffered were to former Gurkha Som Bahadur Gurung, who remained at his station at the LRAD despite being wounded by RPG shrapnel.

After escaping the pirates and reaching safe harbor in the Seychelles, the Seabourn Spirit was aided by the destroyer USS Gonzalez after discovering a live RPG round was still embedded in the hull. After the disarming and removal of the grenade, the Spirit continued on its schedule like nothing happened; Gurung and another crewman were later presented with bravery medals by Queen Elizabeth II.

MS ROYAL PACIFIC

Formerly an Australian long-distance car ferry, the MS Royal Pacific was sold to Greek owners who converted the car deck to a seagoing casino and set her up on a series of gambling-focused "cruises to nowhere" out of Singapore, where it made mad bank for years until August 23rd, 1992, at exactly 2:20 am local time.

That was when Taiwanese fish processing vessel Terfu 51, traveling at full speed despite terrible visibility conditions, slammed into the Royal Pacific and tore a six-foot-diameter hole above and below the waterline. What happened afterward is still the subject of much debate...

Some sources claim the crew abandoned ship without even bothering to wake the passengers, while others state that the captain and crew did their best to evacuate a rapidly sinking ship. Most accounts say that nine people died during the event, three drowning during the rescue and six others unaccounted for and presumed trapped within the hull.

MS COSTA CONCORDIA

One of the largest ships ever to be fully evacuated after a wreck, the MS Costa Concordia was ultimately judged a gross enough failure on the part of the officers and crew that Captain Francesco Schettino was brought up on manslaughter charges by the Italian government.

The wreck was the result of an unauthorized detour on Schettino's part in order to salute the island community of Isola del Giglio. The captain claimed knowledge of the local seabed but he apparently wasn't knowledgeable enough to prevent the massive ship from running aground on a coral reef, breaching the hull and flooding the engine room.

Despite clear evidence of massive structural damage, Schettino refused to contact harbor officials and attempted to steer back to port at Giglio. Worried passengers contacted the Giglio authorities on their own, and by the time the ship finally grounded in shallow water rescue vessels were already on the way.

In the ensuing rush to evacuate, many crewmembers were accused of failing to assist passengers, prime among them Schettino himself who abandoned ship long before the passengers had gotten clear.

Enraged Italian Coast Guard officer Gregorio de Falco ordered the captain back on ship, famously threatening him with "Schettino, maybe you saved yourself from the sea, but I'll make you pay for sure." 32 lives were lost in the accident.

SS MORRO CASTLE

The American steam-driven luxury cruise liner SS Morro Castle served for four years on the popular New York-Havana route, a cruise that was made all the more lucrative by travelling in international waters and thus circumventing Prohibition laws against alcohol consumption.

In late 1934, however, the happy ship's career came to a tragic end, as a mysterious fire spread from a storage locker to consume much of the ships center section, gradually cutting off electric power, radio communication, and the hydraulic lines necessary to steer the ship to safety.

Crewmembers not occupied with trying to hold back the fire tossed life rings and floating deck chairs overboard in a desperate attempt to save the passengers that had been forced to leap overboard. 

However, high and heavy seas made it difficult to swim and many passengers unskilled in the use of life preservers were knocked unconscious by the floatation devices after jumping into the water. The deadly fire cost 137 lives and lead to a revolution in fire safety and ship-building practices.

SS EASTLAND

Bizarrely, one of the most lethal accidents on the Great Lakes occurred on a ship that was riding at anchor and securely moored to the wharf. From 1903 on, the steamship Eastland regularly crossed the Lakes carrying passengers to various summer resort destinations, seeing heavy service in spite of a well-documented tendency for the top-heavy ship to list from side to side alarmingly.

In 1915, the Eastland was one of three steamers commissioned by the Western Electric company to transport employees from the Chicago suburbs to Michigan City, Indiana for a gigantic company picnic.

Over 2500 eager passengers piled on board the ship, leading to a visible list that the crew tried to correct by shifting ballast. The ballast shift wasn't enough, and the crew failed to control the passengers' movements; the great number of people still on the upper decks made the ship even more top-heavy than usual, and at some point enough people shifted over to the side opposite the wharf that the huge ship rolled onto its side, coming to rest on the river bottom twenty feet below.

Despite the quick actions of rescuers and the Eastland's position barely yards from land, 844 passengers died, many of whom trapped below decks or crushed under sliding furniture.

Famous poet Carl Sandburg, then working as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, angrily accused ship owners and regulators of ignoring safety regulations, also claiming that many of the Western Electric workers were only there because the company had ordered them to attend the staged picnic.

MS ESTONIA

The concept of the "cruiseferry" is unfamiliar to most Americans, as most of our roll-on/roll-off car ferries typically take less than two hours to travel between destinations and rarely feature any amenities more complicated than a bunch of vending machines and a hamburger restaurant that's always closed for some reason.

Cruiseferries take a more leisurely approach to moving cars and people across the water, typically taking two or three days during which passengers can enjoy all sorts of overpriced restaurants and amusements before being off-loaded with their car for the next stage of their vacation.

If this sounds interesting to you, consider this-while these ships superficially resemble dedicated cruise liners, the need to have cars drive on and off from ship to shore means these vessels all feature giant doors close to the waterline and a huge car deck that can quickly and fatally flood with water.

The MS Estonia ran afoul of this design problem in 1994, when heavy seas critically damaged the protective visor over the bow car door and the crew ignored the signs of a possible catastrophe; shortly thereafter the visor and doors gave way, the Estonia listed over a full ninety degrees, and a tardy lifeboat alarm was sounded-far too late for many passengers now trapped in their tipped-over cabins.

Confusion over the nature of the emergency hampered rescue efforts, and while Finnish border guard helicopters and fellow cruiseferries did what they could, the rough and freezing Baltic sea claimed a horrific 852 of the 989 passengers and crew aboard.

RMS LUSITANIA

Briefly the largest ship in the world before the launch of her sister ship Mauretania and the White Star Line super-ship class that included the Titanic, the Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania enjoyed seven years of passenger and mail service on the transatlantic route before being pressed into Admiralty service as an armed merchant cruiser.

When it became apparent that the Imperial German surface fleet couldn't hope to sneak past the Royal Navy and interfere with shipping, Lusitania's guns were removed but the ship was still subject to the demands of the British military, meaning that in addition to its regular passenger service it would be loaded with ammunition and explosives for the Allied forces.

None of this was made clear to the American or British public, so when the German Embassy basically announced its country's clear intent to sink the Lusitania on its May 1915 voyage from New York to Liverpool in an advertisement printed directly underneath the announcement of her return voyage, the reaction of the American passengers on the cruise was only mild concern.

Captain William Thomas Turner assured his passengers that the Lusitania was too fast for submarines to catch, which it was until he shut down one of the boilers to conserve valuable coal. In spite of this, the Lusitania might have reached Liverpool safely if it hadn't stumbled across the German submarine U-20, which was making its way home low on fuel and ammunition and fired on the huge steamship as a target of opportunity; the torpedo struck a hold carrying munitions, causing a secondary explosion that the Allied press reported as a second torpedo attack.

Lusitania listed hard to starboard, interfering with the launch of lifeboats. While the Lusitania was in violation of rules concerning what military materials could be carried by a neutral or civilian ship, the death of nearly 1200 passengers and crew was impossible to ignore, and the sinking of the Lusitania is considered to be one of the major reasons why the United States entered the war.