Tourists abandon ship

last updated 8 January 2015

Charleston, S.C.

The ocean liner Norwegian Dawn was slammed by a 70-foot wave off the Southeast coast this week. The “freak wave” hit without warning as the ship was returning from the Bahamas to New York in high seas, the cruise line said. “We were going back and forth, up and down,” said passenger Robert Clark. “And then ‘boom!’” Furniture and glass went flying, 62 cabins were flooded, and four passengers suffered cuts and bruises. Panicked passengers scrambled into life jackets, and 300 of the 2,500 on board fled when the ship briefly docked in Charleston. James Fraley, a passenger, rented a car and drove home to New Jersey. “No more time on the Titanic for me,” he said.