# Cruise Victims.



## david (Oct 14, 2004)

Whilst listening to a radio interview of the ex-husband of the victim on P & O'
PACIFIC SKY several years ago and the subsequent inquest making its way thru the Coroners Court in Sydney with some horrific revelations by some of the 'persons-of-interest' associated with the case, - he made mention of a group of victims families and concerned others, that has been formed.
I have not seen any reference to it on SN, as it may be outside our scope of discussion panels and posts. I tracked it down via the site http://www.cruisejunkie.com which is also quite illuminating in its content. For those shipmates who may be interested go to- http://www.internationalcruisevictims.org it contains some very disturbing information.
David D. (Cloud)


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## Lanaud (Jun 14, 2004)

*Incredible stories....*

I'm shocked.... How incompetent can these people be?


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## nzmatt (Sep 3, 2005)

well they are big nes here in aussie,i think its opened a can of worms big time,and the master of the vessel well,were was he when all this happened.oh well p&o will pay for this and the guys who did it....


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

I think we need to get things into perspective here. I have read the links given by David, and see nothing that was not happening back in the 70s on both 'line voyages' and cruising. I also see nothing that is not happening every day on our streets on a much larger scale. That is everything from all types of crime, death natural or otherwise, and of course stomachs upsets. The latter is happening all the time shoreside. A recent report gives damming evidence from restaurants, pubs, cafe's and other eating places across the country. Every place visited by health inspectors found some form of bug whether bacteria or virus. Yet, I don't think it made national news. But if this had been a cruise ship, it would have done. My former department see such outbreaks every day, and of course another branch which I was directly invloved with for 20 years prior to retirement deals with deaths, again natural or otherwise.

Cruise companies are very tight at not letting people on board other than passengers, but not so good at protecting the passengers once on board perhaps?. But I wonder how often they would need people who specialised in homicide for example?. I will not comment about events aboard Pacific Sky because this case is still ongoing, and SN after all covers all countries so we have to be careful what we say when a case is ongoing. But crew would not be experienced in dealing with such matters. 

This was very much the case when we conducted autopsies at sea when we were supposed to know the result straight away. These were carried out by the ships Surgeon. His title was Surgeon, but was usually a doctor, not a surgeon. All those that I worked with were not experience at autopsies or indeed the coroners procedure. It was not until I left the sea to learn how to perform autopsies for a living including the legal aspect that I realized just how bad we were at sea. We were burying bodies thinking that the cause of death was correct which in most cases it most likely was, but cir***stances leading to death was not always straight forward. Just because a death is seen as natural, that does not always mean cir***stances leading to that death was natural. But this was never looked into. I can remember several cases where that happened. Again, it was not so much the fault of the doctor, captain or company, but inexperience of such matters. However, one case in particular was hushed up which would have been bad for the company and even worse nowadays. I may never tell this story other than to say that although our inexperience found the death to be natural, events leading to it most certainly were not. But such events are extremely rare, possibly never happened before or since. It was in the past, and should remain so which is why I said at the beginning that we should get things into perspective.

The fact is that crime aboard cruise ships are no different to shoreside, and happen far less often. In fact, very small in comparison. But crew are only human with human urges as are passengers. If you have young men and woman on the same ship there will be problems from time to time. These are the same problems that happen daily shoreside, so why should cruise ships be any different?. 

During my time at sea, we had a good security system. Well, good enough for our needs. We also had a Welfare Leading Hand who worked closely with the crew and with me. Both jobs are gone as are other ranks who we worked with. So yes, cruise ships should have a better security system. You can't keep cutting jobs and expecting nothing to go wrong. Also of course, cruising has seen a different kind of passenger. Younger people can afford it now, so you have new problems. Apart from those emigrating, our passengers were all elderly. Crew however were different, we had all types and getting into all things they would shorside.

The bottom line is that in general, cruising is one of the safest forms of holiday you can have. Don't be put off by the headlines that is frankly a drop in the ocean(pardon the pun) compared to shoreside. Yes, one crime is one too many, but you will never stop it completely. The same applies to everybody of all ages whether at sea or not. But at sea in particular, don't get involved with strangers, especially going on deck with them. Never go into crew quarters. Like I said earlier, crew are only human. Some have been at sea for months without a woman. Does anyone seriously believe that they will act correctly the entire time?. Most I suspect would, as would young male passengers, but when drunk or on drugs it is a different matter. I have performed hundreds of autopsies on people the victim of a person who was the nicest possible person you could wish for when sober. But when drunk or on drugs, that same person became a very nasty and dangerous person.

Finally, and this post is too long already, I will tell you quickly of a Cruise To Nowhere from Syney in 1972 on Canberra. I have the full story as given from the captain that was sent to all crew. But briefly, we had Australian rugby teams on board. They wrecked the ship, throwing chairs over the side, wrecked the Cricketers Tavern, and drank the ship dry. Their antics was due entirely to too much beer. Just outside my hospital was a lift. I personally caught a load of them giving themselves pleasure to woman passing by. Crime aboard cruise ships is nothing new, believe me?!. David


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