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MS Prinsendam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ms Prinsendam | |
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|---|---|
| Launched: | 1988 |
| Status: | in service |
| Tonnage: | 38,000 gross tons |
| Length: | 669 feet |
| Beam: | 106 feet |
| Speed: | 22 knots |
| Decks: | 8 |
| Complement: | 793 passengers, 443 crew |
| Registry: | Netherlands |
The ms Prinsendam (formerly Seabourne Sun and Royal Viking Sun) is a cruise ship for Holland America Line and is nicknamed the Elegant Explorer. She was launched in 1988 as the Royal Viking Sun for the Royal Viking Line, and was renamed the Prinsendam when she entered service with Holland America in 2002.
Since the Prinsendam is smaller than most Holland America ships, she is able to stop in exotic ports of call. Annually, the ship completes a Grand World Voyage that lasts over 100 days, however the 2007 world cruise was taken over by the MS Amsterdam due to the overwhelming popularity of the cruise.
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In early March 2007, the Prinsendam was hit by an approximately 70ft rogue wave while on the Antarctic segment of a cruise circumnavigating South America. She suffered minor damage, mainly broken glass and damaged furnishings. Upon her return to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, repairs were made to the vessel, delaying her departure on the next cruise by several hours.
There was also an earlier vessel named ms Prinsendam which was built at Shipyard de Merwede in the Netherlands in 1973. That ship was 427ft long and typically carried about 350 passengers and 200 crew members. The liner was sailing through the Gulf of Alaska, approximately 120 miles south of Yakutat, Alaska, at midnight on October 4, 1980, when a fire broke out in the engine room. The vessel’s master declared the fire out of control one hour later and the Prinsendam sent a radio call requesting immediate assistance. The United States Coast Guard at Communications Station Kodiak, Alaska requested that the ms Prinsendam send out an SOS, but the captain declined. Chief Radio Officer Jack van der Zee sent one out anyways about a half hour later, which alerted nearby vessels.
As the ship's location was out of range of USCG Helicopters, USAF Air Rescue Service helicopters (which have a longer range and can be aerially refueled) airlifted medical officers and Pararescue men to the ship and evacuated the injured from the fire prior to other ships reaching the scene to evacuate the passengers and crew.
- HAL official site
- Cruise Critic review
- Explore North: ms Prinsendam Ship Facts
- Facts and Images of the Prinsendam
- Explore North The Sinking of the Prinsendam, October 1980
- Communications History, Prinsendam Rescue, Recording of SOS in morse code sent by Chief Radio Officer Jack van der Zee of the ms Prinsendam.
- Reprint of the story from Popular Mechanics (April 1981) about the rescue of ms Prinsendam
| Holland America Fleet | Amsterdam | Eurodam | Maasdam | Noordam | Oosterdam | Prinsendam | Rotterdam | Ryndam | Statendam | Veendam | Volendam | Westerdam | Zaandam | Zuiderdam |