Navigator faulted in ship’s grounding
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A small cruise ship that ran aground in May did so under the watch of a 22-year-old navigator fresh out of the California Maritime Academy who had no formal knowledge of Alaska waters and no training on that ship, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The riverboat-style Empress of the North hit the submerged portion of a charted rock about 25 miles southwest of Juneau, then drifted a few miles.
The grounding forced the evacuation of 206 passengers, ripped several holes in the ship’s hull and damaged one of the propellers.
The new employee on his first voyage was assigned to the watch because another navigator was ill.
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