BIG U Revisited II

During the off season on the North Atlantic the S.S. UNITED STATES would sail on cruises to the Caribbean and elsewhere. One such trip took her to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The harbor at Charlotte Amalie is a lovely crescent shape but not deep enough to allow our vessel to dock so she would anchor offshore and shuttle passengers to the landing via ship's tenders. While several hundred passengers and cruise staffers were ashore visiting the duty free shops, a storm kicked up causing choppy water in the anchorage. The Captain, not wanting the ship to touch bottom, hoisted anchor and moved further offshore. When the shoppers returned to the landing with their duty free merchandise there were no tenders in sight. So this group along with a few company staffers spent the night in a local gymnasium. Upon returning on board it was reported that some disgruntled passengers hanged the Captain in effigy. But he kept the ship casualty free and she remained that way for seventeen years and four hundred voyages transporting over one million passengers.
(Above excerpted from "The Eagle Blue Chronicles" February 13, 2006 EagleBlue No. 6)
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