Cruise Ship Becomes Rescue Vessel

Vacationers on Holland America Line's ms Statendam in Alaska got more adventure than they expected on Friday, when their cruise turned into a rescue operation for 103 tourists on a disabled sightseeing boat.

Statendam responded to a call for aid to assist the 79-foot sightseeing vessel Baranof Wind, which had lost power in the ice near John Hopkins Glacier after a mechanical problem.

The ship lowered two tenders and picked up 102 tourists and one Glacier Bay National Park ranger.

After dropping off the sightseers in Bartlett Cove, where the Baranof Wind's excursion originated, it sailed on to Seward, Alaska, where it arrived on schedule.