Research Ship Suffers Heavy Weather Damage COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA, Calif. – Coast Guard units are enroute to the disabled 591-foot Motor Vessel Explorer with 990 people aboard that is in 35-foot seas and winds gusting above 50 miles per hour approximately 650 miles south of Adak, Alaska. This ship was disabled after a reported 50-foot wave broke bridge windows and damaged bridge controls and injured two crewmembers. The Explorer is a 25,000-ton, Bahamian-flagged vessel, that was en route Japan from Vancouver, Canada. The ship currently operating on one of its four engines which can only keep the ship’s bow into the heavy seas. The crew is using emergency steering to maintain its course. The Explorer was being used as a platform for a semester at sea program. Of the 990 people aboard, 681 are students and 113 are faculty and staff. The other 196 are ship’s crew. The ship does have internal electrical power and good communications with the Coast Guard. A medical staff of two doctors and two nurses is also aboard. The Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center for the Pacific Area located in Alameda, Calif., is coordinating the response effort. The 378-foot Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis, is getting underway from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to assist the Explorer. Three Coast Guard HC-130 long range aircraft are en route to the stricken vessel. Two from Kodiak, Alaska and one from Barbers Point Hawaii. The Explorer is approximately 1,600 miles from Honolulu and 800 miles from Midway Island. The Coast Guard has also coordinated with four merchant vessels to divert and assist. The Coast Guard was notified of the Explorer’s situation at about 2:29 p.m. (AST) today. Research Ship Suffers Heavy Weather Damage COAST GUARD ISLAND, ALAMEDA, Calif. – Coast Guard units are enroute to the disabled 591-foot Motor Vessel Explorer with 990 people aboard that is in 35-foot seas and winds gusting above 50 miles per hour approximately 650 miles south of Adak, Alaska. This ship was disabled after a reported 50-foot wave broke bridge windows and damaged bridge controls and injured two crewmembers. The Explorer is a 25,000-ton, Bahamian-flagged vessel, that was en route Japan from Vancouver, Canada. The ship currently operating on one of its four engines which can only keep the ship’s bow into the heavy seas. The crew is using emergency steering to maintain its course. The Explorer was being used as a platform for a semester at sea program. Of the 990 people aboard, 681 are students and 113 are faculty and staff. The other 196 are ship’s crew. The ship does have internal electrical power and good communications with the Coast Guard. A medical staff of two doctors and two nurses is also aboard. The Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center for the Pacific Area located in Alameda, Calif., is coordinating the response effort. The 378-foot Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis, is getting underway from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to assist the Explorer. Three Coast Guard HC-130 long range aircraft are en route to the stricken vessel. Two from Kodiak, Alaska and one from Barbers Point Hawaii. The Explorer is approximately 1,600 miles from Honolulu and 800 miles from Midway Island. The Coast Guard has also coordinated with four merchant vessels to divert and assist. The Coast Guard was notified of the Explorer’s situation at about 2:29 p.m. (AST) today.
