Meant to publish this back on May 15th. Whoops:
"Bang, bang, bang." That's what woke me up. I looked at the clock it was 5 AM. I thought I was having a bad dream. I closed my eyes for a split second. "Bang, bang, bang." I knew I was not dreaming. Someone was banging on my hotel room door at 5:00 in the morning!!! Now, I'm not a morning person by any means. But I knew this had to be serious. By the time Scott and I arrived in Juneau, dropped off the equipment at the capital building, and check into our hotel it was nearly midnight. After unpacking I had gone to bed at 12:30. I was expecting to wake up about 8:00 and head up to the capital to start covering the last week of the session. With a messed up head of hair, and sleepy, groggy eyes I opened the door. Scott was fully dressed and ready to go. "You're not going to believe what happened," his adrenaline filled voice told me. "A cruise ship with hundreds of people has hit a rock close to Juneau and they're evacuating the boat. Staci's (our boss) redirecting us to cover this breaking news. Meet me up at the capital as soon as you can."
After throwing warm clothes on over my pajamas I called our morning anchor for clarification. She did not have much information other then giving me a Coast Guard information phone number, and telling me pretty much what Scott already had relaid. While I got ready, and spoke briefly with my assignment manager, Scott was busy putting his camera together as fast as he could. I arrived up at the capitol around 5:30 preparing my self mentally for the very long day ahead. This was apparently also going to be big national news, and our Seattle CBS sister station had already dispatched a crew to arrive in Juneau around 10 AM. All I had been knew at this point is this was Majestic America Line cruise ship. I had never heard of this company, so as soon as I arrived, while Scott finished assembling his gear, I became an instant student. I found out everything informationally possibly via Google about the ship, the cruise it was on, any information out there about the accident, and the parent company. Armed with that I felt a little more confident in proceeding with Scott to gather information. I learned this was a Seattle based cruise ship company, and that's why KIRO-TV was sending a crew up. So I started communicating directly with their assignment desk.
Scott and I got our first real information as we arrived back at my hotel. He spoke to the cab drivers outside, while I talked to the guy at the Baranof's front desk. Together we learned the story: the ferry style cruise ship Empress of the North had run aground after hitting a huge rock, the locals call haneous rock. The 281 people on board (206 passengers and 75 crew) had all abandoned ship and were headed on the State Ferry Columbia to dock at the Juneau area ferry dock, (which is actually west of Juneau, in Auke Bay, AK.) Scott and I took a cab out there, and then we got the idea to get some video of our own ship wreck video. At first we called a lot of charter boat companies to get us to the 21 miles southwest of Juneau to get the video. But neither Scott or I could reach anyone. Then we finally reached a local helicopter charter flight company. After the station officials OKed the charge, soon we were airborne to get that all important video.
It was amazing. Scott and I flew in a helicopter to see what happened. And even more amazingly this boat with a huge hole in it had come off the rock and was being driven on its own to the ferry dock. Then we flew out to see the rock where the ship had hit. I observed life boats. The State Ferry Columbia, which was aparently now transporting all the former cruise ship passengers. When we arrived back at the helicopter pad, we headed over to the ferry port to meet up with the passengers. They arrived at around 11AM, and were taken by charter bus to Juneau's convention and civiv center, called Sentenial Hall. 15 hours later, here is the story Scott and I filed:
(LIVE INTRO) HI EVERYONE.AFTER SPENDING MOST OF THE AFTERNOON HERE AT JUNEAU'S CONVENTION AND CIVIC CENTER...SENTENIAL HALL... MOST IF NOT ALL OF THE 206 PASSENGERS HAVE FLOWN BACK TO SEATTLE...THE HOME BASE OF THE CRUISE SHIP COMPANY. AND IT WOULD NOT BE CLICHE TO SAY THIS WILL BE A DAY NONE OF THESE FOLKS WILL EVER FORGET.
[Gearold Briggs from outside Madison, WI] "We were sleeping and there was a loud bang, and the boat sort of jumped like bam and then boo. boo. boo. boo. And then all the way down the side. It was really a loud scraping, grinding down the side. I jumped out of bed."
THAT JOLTING FEELING IS WHAT GEROLD BRIGGS AND THE NEARLY 300 OTHER FOLKS ABOARD THE EMPRESS OF THE NORTH FELT AS SHE STRUCK THE RIPPING HANEAOUS ROCK.
[Gearold Briggs from outside Madison, WI] "It was, it was a severe jolt."
[Jay Price, Senica, South Carolina] "...a lot of cocktail glasses broken all over. Stuff in the bathroom was around. But it was scary sounding..."
[Arthur Zuch, Kansas City, MO] "And they were talking about abandoning ship."
[LT. DON KUBLEY/ ALASKA COASTAL RANGER] "...the Titanic didn't think they were taking on water. So you always air on the side of caution."
AND JUST LIKE THAT PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE...EMERGENCY OFFICIALS DROPPED LIFE BOATS...ALTHOUGH NO PASSENGER USED ONE. INSTEAD A MIXTURE OF WATERCRAFT, FROM FOLKS IN FISHING BOATS TO COAST GUARD VESSLES GOT EVERYONE OFF THE SHIP.
[LT. DON KUBLEY/ ALASKA COASTAL RANGER] "For those of us that know those waters they're very dangerous. It's where three major bodies of water meet right in the middle of them. And so if this boat had gone down there it could have been a very bad situation."
BUT EVERYONE SEEMS TO AGREE...WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BAD TURNED OUT GOOD.
AS ALL THOSE STRANDED FROM FLORDIA, MISSOURI, SOUTH CAROLINA, CALIFORNIA, WISCONSIN, AND ALL OVER...BECAME NEW PASSENGERS ON THE STATE FERRY COLUMBIA.
[MOS] 36:49 "...and these people and the staff were fabulous."
[Jay Price, Senica South Carolina] "Crew was absolutely fantastic. They came in and put the singer and the piano. And had entertainement for a couple hour. And off we went."
MAYBE NOT OFF INTO THE SUNSET. BUT THIS IS JUNEAU. AND AFTER ALL THESE FOLKS WENT THROUGH THEY JUST SAY IN THE END THEY WERE HAPPY THEY MADE IT.
[Helen Zuch, Kansas City, MO] "I need to go home and hug my boy. I have a son I need to call."
(LIVE TAG) NOW MAJESTIC AMERICA LINE OFFICIALS...THOSE ARE THE FOLKS WHO OWN THIS CRUISE SHIP...SAY WHAT CAUSED THE SHIP TO GO AGROUND IS UNDER INVESTIGATION...ALTHOUGH THEY WILL NOT GET INTO ANY SORT OF SPECIFICS HOW THEIR INVESTIGATION GO...THEY INSTEAD ANSWERED TODAY IS ABOUT FOCUSING ON THE PASSENGERS. THEY HAVE SET UP THIS NUMBER 1-800-434-1232...THAT'S 1-800-434-1232 IF YOU NEED ANY INFORMATION ABOUT PASSENGERS OR THE CREW. WE ARE IN JUNEAU, MATTHEW SIMON, CBS 11 NEWS
