Crippled QE2 Slowly Steams Toward Boston With Torn Hull

The Queen Elizabeth 2 steamed slowly toward a Boston dry dock Sunday, two days after an underwater ledge ripped a 74-foot gash in the hull, forcing the evacuation of 1,815 passengers at sea.

Federal investigators said it could take months to determine what caused the accident. There was no immediate damage estimate.

Too big to navigate the Cape Cod Canal between the peninsula and the mainland, the QE2 took the long way around the cape under its own power Sunday, accompanied by a Coast Guard cutter and two tugboats. It was expected in Boston early today.

The accident occurred Friday, on the last leg of a five-day round-trip cruise from New York to Nova Scotia and back. No one was injured.

The last of the passengers arrived in New York on Sunday morning after an all-night journey by ferry from the stranded liner to Newport, R.I.; from Newport to Providence by bus, and from Providence to New York’s Penn Station on three chartered Amtrak trains.

The investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board could take six months, spokesman Brent Bahler said.

The British Transportation Department has also opened an official inquiry into the accident, according to Lt. Jane Wong of the U.S. Coast Guard. She said the Coast Guard’s own investigation would not begin until the ship reached Boston Harbor.