Captain Greybeard

A gang caught trying to smuggle £1.75 million of cocaine into Britain on a cruise ship was jailed today for a total of 48 years. The three women and a man strapped packages of drugs to their bodies with shrink-wrap and tape and tried to hide it under baggy clothing as the ship returned to Southampton from a three-week cruise to the Caribbean. They had picked up the 20kg of drugs – the biggest haul ever from a British cruise ship – when Arcadia called at the island of St Lucia. Calvin Hilton, 41, from Manchester; Natalie Quinn, 26, from [...]

Five years ago today, Queen Mary 2 set off from Southampton on her maiden voyage. Now, 750,000 miles later, the Cunard flagship is celebrating her birthday in the Caribbean. Since the retirement of the QE2, she is the fastest passenger ship afloat, and has made 104 Atlantic crossings, and called at 115 ports in 45 countries. Belated birthday celebrations will be held later this year when QM2 makes a lap of honour around Britain. Leaving Southampton on October 10, the eight-day voyage will call at Rosyth, Greenock, Liverpool, Cork and Cherbourg. Fares start at £987 for an inside cabin. The [...]

All 153 passengers were safely evacuated from a Norwegian Coastal Voyages ship which ran aground just 25 feet from its berth in Trondheim yesterday. Richard With, one of the Hurtigruten ships which runs a weekly ferry service between Bergen and Kirkenes, was caught by a gust of wind as it was docking. The ship's propellor hit rocks and the vessel started taking water. Rescue services laid ladders from the shore to the ship and the passengers and crew were able to crawl to safety. No-one was injured. Dramatic pictures of the incident were taken by local amateur photographer Arve Johnsen. [...]