This morning I went on the Cunard website as I have done every morning since July of 2011. I take a screen shot of where the ship is located each day. This morning for the first time ever it said, "The ship is not on a cruise" even though the bridge webcam indicated that it was going through foggy conditions and I knew from previous mornings that it was on its way to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I went on the Cunard Facebook page and looked to see if anything was wrong. Nothing was reported. I thought it might be a weird mistake.
Late in the day a friend from Great Britain reported to me he’d heard news that a crew member had gone overboard on the QM2. I looked the story up and learned that Captain Kevin Oprey had turned the ship around and gone back to search for the man overboard. That must have been what was going on when the website reported that the ship was not on a cruise. It brought back vivid memories of that day in July when I was sailing back from Southampton to New York and a skiff was sighted bobbing up and down in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Worse, I was one of the first passengers or crew members aboard to see the skiff. It was right outside my window on deck 5. I even filmed it before I knew what it was for sure.
On Monday, July 6 when we too were headed for Nova Scotia, Captain Kevin Oprey ordered the ship to be turned around so they could investigate if anything living was aboard that skiff in cooperation with the Coast Guard. That was about lunch time. We sat on deck 7 in the King’s Court while the ship came to a stop in the water and started bobbing up and down as they completed their search. I was horrified then, and I am horrified today about the man overboard. In that July incident, no sign of life was reported and we continued our journey. Today’s incident sounds like suicide and sounds much more tragic, particularly under foggy conditions. It also reminds me of the lifeboat drill on the first day you board the ship where they tell you how to report a man overboard.
To be lost at sea is about the scariest thing you can imagine. The North Atlantic is impossibly vast. You go for days and don't see any other ships or signs of life at all except what's on your ship. That’s why the sight of birds is so comforting. You’re nearing land.