What is Digg?103 Comments
- blurryfingers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+206They all look petrified...
- sliderocity, on 10/12/2007, -4/+98Here is his "brief" account of the events that transpired that day:
This is my story, chronologically, exactly as I remember it. It contains only what I saw with my own eyes. I could make it fantastically more interesting with second-hand accounts of lost wedding rings, exploding jacuzzis, soaring lifeboats, reunited families, etc., but it would fill tomes. Besides, I can't deny others the chance to tell their own tales!
I woke up. It was my 21st birthday. I'd been taking a nap, and it was mid-afternoon. My mother, Linda, was at the door to our cabin, which was a tiny room on the port side of the second deck, the lowest passenger deck, (even before the incident, waves crashed well above our porthole.) There had just been a terrible rending sound, about 5 seconds in duration. The ship seemed to be slightly tilting, but not much more than it would in a sharp turn. “Bobby, get up, I think we're sinking.”
My mother opened the door. It burst inwards to reveal a roaring wind-tunnel rushing past to the left, towards the front of the boat, with little bits of paper or plaster flying past. The only analogy I can give is that of a depressurizing airplane. There were two distinct explosions, a fraction of a second apart, each with its respective hot pressure-wave. My mind did not go to my cell phone, PSP, camera, or even glasses. It went to my sweatshirt, on the shelf above my bed. I grabbed it, pulled my shoes on, and leaped to the door.
We each snatched our life vests from the closet, dashed towards the ornate staircase, and began climbing to the third deck. My life vest was tucked in my elbow, and my mother's was in her hand. We were both body-checked on the first half-flight of stairs, I'm not sure by whom. My mom's life jacket was knocked from her hand, she tipped forward, but ran with her momentum to keep from falling. We left it behind. As we turned around to climb the second flight, she called a warning to a paralyzed group of students that there was water rushing down the hallway.
There could not have been a greater disparity between the second and third decks. It was just like waking up from a bad dream. While there was a general murmuring about the tilt of the ship, people were continuing to drink, smoke, play cards, and chat. One of the several high-school groups on board was walking towards the downwards staircase, and staring at my life vest. I shouted at them not to go down because that the second deck was flooding, and continued dashing upwards. Aside from our urgent warnings to the few staff and passengers that we encountered, the climb to the 8th deck (the evacuation deck,) was uneventful, though increasingly difficult due to the ever-listing ship.
We were the very first people to either of the muster stations on the port (uphill) side. We recalled being instructed during our emergency drill more than three days earlier that there were additional life jackets at the muster stations. We lifted and kicked off the seats to every bench starting from the stern side, only to find almost all of them vacant. The only one with contents was full of child-sized vests. The main throughway was extremely slippery at the point where the outdoor pool had spilled over, so for quite a long while we remained there to caution and help people who were running past and often falling. The angle of the deck was strong enough that even their small slips knocked them down. Using our modest Spanish, we warned the Spanish-only speaking passengers as well.
It was at this point, roughly 20 minutes after the initial collision, that the first three announcements came over the public address system, in English only. This was significant, as prior announcements during the cruise had been in English, Spanish, and French. The announcements were a warning that the water doors on decks 2 and 3 would be closing, and an admonition to stand clear. It was also stated that we should not return to our cabins, that we should move to the life boats, and that the situation was “under control.” The third commanded all crew to report to the second and third decks for a search.
The boat was slowly rotating in circles, and appeared to be moving towards the island. Several large barrels from our ship were in the water. I saw one open barrel that was surrounded by floating life jackets. Nonetheless, at this point everybody seemed to have life vests, which were thankfully in sudden abundance. The increasingly large crowd on the port deck pressed us away from the slippery bench are and towards the rail. Unable to move well, we began taking pictures and sending text messages to family members.
By this point, a small flotilla of at least 12 small duty-free and fishing boats had neared the ship, along with two cruise ships, a ferry, and a large barge just a bit farther away. The first news helicopters had arrived. Shortly thereafter, roughly 4 military helicopters were visible. Ropes were tied from our ship to tugboats, and quickly became taut. I wondered about their purpose in moving our vessel while passengers were still on it. The crowd on the deck thinned slightly, and I moved towards the rear of the ship, to see the other side. I was shocked to find our starboard side roughly three meters from the volcanic island, at the height of the 8th deck. Others were taking notice of this as well, and we presumed that we were actively being towed away from a potentially catastrophic collision. The distance to the sheer rock face became steady, but I returned to the port side nonetheless.
Mothers with young children were painstakingly shepherded towards lifeboats, but then there was a distinct lull in noticeable activity. After quite some time, the remaining women and children were led to the front stairway down to the inclined portion of the third deck. My mother went with them, and I stayed on the eighth deck with people whom staff selected for (relative) agility, though not exclusively males, as there were several teenage girls among us. Eventually, we were told to wet the electronic leads of our vests to turn their emergency lights on. Many of us were left with only spitting as a means of doing so. Over the course of more than half an hour, we slowly walked single file down five decks with only the lights of our vests lighting the way through darkness.
When I reached the hatch on the upwards side, military personnel firmly but carefully pushed me down a rope ladder, and I found myself in a duty-free boat. The atmosphere was defiantly upbeat, as at the time we were unaware of any casualties. I noticed the distinctive dreadlocks of a wonderful pair of Argentinian sisters that I'd met days earlier, and went to sit with one of them and her mother. The first thing they did was get the entire boat to sing me “happy birthday.” I could only grin like an idiot.
I am tremendously thankful for and amazed with the effective assistance of the Greek military, the cruise personnel, the crews of the other boats, and all of the other people who saw us out safely. My thoughts are--and will continue to be--with the Allain family. - CthulhuDawn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+69My neighbor was actually on this ship. She said that safety efforts went smoothly and that she never feared for her life. However, it was still devastating to lose everything she took with her except for the clothes on her back.
- kinesis8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+52The photographer:
"You're on a sinking ship. Say cheese!" - Akaji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+47That's a hell of a 21st birthday...
- KMye, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43@Akaji
Try looking at the pictures before commenting and/or get some new batteries for your sarcasm detector.
I'd agree w/your 2nd point but for the fact that these pictures are exclusive. Two swings and misses, I guess. - Blizzardman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+39We are still doing that women first BS? What ever happened to equality?
- americanuck, on 10/12/2007, -12/+46Buried as inaccurate, those pictures didn't justify the use of an exclamation point or the word disaster in the title. I was excited to see destruction and carnage. Now I don't know what to believe.
- digg-dugg, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35Am I the only one who thought it said Geek cruise ship disaster?
- theblueprint, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31Are you sure you linked to the correct photoset?
- MajorD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23I wouldn't feel too comfortable checking on my upcoming vacation and seeing this...
http://www.gate1travel.com/cruises/ships/louis_SeaDiamond.htm - grooviekenn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23I wonder if everyone had smiles as the Titanic was sinking.
joking aside...
I really can't think of anything worst than to be the captain of a sinking ship with a bunch of people who think it's all a big joke. - Fhionnlaoch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20Betting than being captain of a sinking ship with all the passengers panicking, though.
- CapeKid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21Why is there no picture of the guy playing violin while the ship sinks?
I was lead to believe that all cruise ships have one specifically for that purpose. - ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20That's not all that's wrong...
The words EXCLUSIVE ≠ digg. If its on digg... then it was somewhere else first - sofaKing812, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Yeah, I loved the smiles.
- techweenie1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15dude just because people go on cruises doesn't mean they have dollars flowing from every orifice of their bodies...losing valuables sucks...it'll cost money to replace them, perhaps money that isn't as readily available for these people as you think....although it's not as horrible as something like the Titanic, it still is a disaster, give these people a break man.
- carguy84, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19RUN away from this guy....
http://picasaweb.google.com/sliderocity/CruiseShipPictures/photo#5052221754530601794 - grendel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I have got to get away more often...particularly a cruise.
Hell even when it's sinking people look like they are still having a blast. - crashflow, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10"You know why they put oxygen masks on planes? Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate. It's all right here. Emergency water landing - 600 miles an hour. Blank faces, calm as Hindu cows."
i know its not a plane crash. but the pictures just reminded me of the quote. - gaspy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Considering that Poseidon is the Greek god of sea, I'm pretty sure it's one of the most common ship name... sort of like pointing out that someone's name is 'John' or 'Smith'.
- manmademark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I'd be pretty happy about it too, concidering shore is 1/2 a mile away and the weather looks fairly pleasant. Don't you remember fire drills back in high school or been through a hurricane? Same sort of fun
- huckmank, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Sinking 50 yards from shore probably isn't that terribly scary.
- dbug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Maybe in 100 years you will have learnt how to use the reply button :P
- noreturn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8"You know what happens when that thing goes under? Water vortex to the bottom of the ocean. Weeeeeeee!"
Yeah, you may not want to get your "scientific facts" concerning sinking boats from Titanic. There is no such vortex (you should probably look that word up, too) or sucking of any kind (other than the metaphorical) when any ship sinks. - riah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6This guy looks ready for the worst:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sliderocity/CruiseShipPictures/photo#5052221831840013570 - gravelocity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Thats not a shipwreck, it's Disney's new ride called "Shipwreck Adventure"
- blastin311, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Smile! The boat is sinking.
- prkchpsndwiches, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Anyone read "Geek" cruise ship by accident?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My god, that looks fun! How much was that ride, anyway?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6digg user has girlfriend buried as innacurate
- marcuschi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5well.. as long as you had time to take like 50 pictures
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Dugg for a link to google web albums. That site can't possible be affected by digg effect, so way to go!
- philz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I fired up google, and all I found is a Swedish video site showing the difference between Swedish and British Nightclubs:
http://bubblare.se/svenska_vs_brittiska_nattklubbar/ (prolly NSFW)
Knowing digg, hot girls are always on topic :D - Paladin27, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Looks like someone is exaggerating their story. Those photos show a calm evacuation and excellent crew support.
- sliderocity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31. The pictures weren't anywhere else first, considering he gave them directly to me, and I uploaded them to Picasa.
2. Yes, they're real. You're a retard if you think otherwise. I'm not that desperate to get on the Digg front page, believe it or not.
3. Of course everybody's calm. If you did your homework, you'd read that the ship took an incredibly long time to sink, and thus the passengers and crew had adequate time in which to conduct a calm, coordinated evacuation. You would also know that of a compliment of over 1600, only two people died.
4. Personally, I think an entire cruise ship sinking, ruining a thousand vacations and taking everybody's clothing, souvenirs, cameras, and other memories down with it qualifies as a "disaster".
Anything else? - digital, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I knew the actors in the movie Titanic were over dramatic!
- there, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 You equate Greece's large tourist industry and festive atmosphere with alcoholism but Greeks themselves are moderate consumers of alcohol (especially compared to most other European nations) Aside from the fact you shouldn't be making negative stereotypes like that... you really should consider investigating the actual facts
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/foo_alc_con-food-alcohol-consumption-current - rbowes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3YES, I spent a while trying to figure out what a geek cruise was.
- betterth, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Forgetting of course, that the wealthy elite don't drive profits for cruise companies, it's the joe shmoes who save up for months to afford it.
If you weren't retarded, you'd know the wealthy elite own yachts and would never do something as "plebian" as a cruise. =P - sirdaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If only I could understand that.
- SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3the woman in that story sounds like a whiney exxagerating bitch.
- reifeltower, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What were they like 20 yards from the shore?
Jump and swim and be done with it... - dojonz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This man speaks the truth!
- dbug, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5I would think that most of these losses are covered by some kind of insurance. But I could be wrong.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@ Akaji
dont you watch mythbusters
Myth BUSTED!!! - RoscoB, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Ok, now that I've seen the pics of Swedish vs. English girls I have some questions... 1). Why does any male from Sweden leave Sweden? 2). How much is a plane ticket to Sweden 3). .... PLEASE (for the sake of my bank account) tell me that some exclusive hot models only kinda club and that's not the average girl...
- rrasco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2anyone else feel it appropriate how some of the safety floating devices said POSIDON 18 on them? lol...
- Metaridley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And there go the "pics or it didn't happen" people.
- shafeeq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1they are just following guidelines.
No.1)Remain Calm
No.2)Don't Panic
No.3)If Everything Is Becoming Worser. Forget About No.1 And No.2. -
Show 51 - 99 of 99 discussions
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