As Juneau’s 2021 cruise season winds to a close in a blustery October, some remember a day more than four decades ago when a cruise ship with an engineering casualty turned into the Coast Guard’s biggest and most successful rescue.
On Oct. 4, 1980, the Prinsendam, a Holland America Line cruise ship, caught fire in the engine room, requiring the more than 500 passengers and crew to abandon ship.
The Prinsendam was due to cruise from Vancouver to Asia, said Stephen Corcoran in his book on the event, “None were Lost: The Prinsendam Fire and Rescue.” Corcoran was a lieutenant commander and operations officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Boutwell at the time of the event. The Prinsendam departed British Columbia on Tuesday, Sept. 30, calling in Ketchikan, and visiting Glacier Bay on Oct. 3, Boutwell said.