| Fire ravages InnerSea Discoveries’ Safari Spirit

INNERSEA Discoveries has suffered a rather
large blow after a fire ripped through its small
adventure ship Safari Spirit, whilst it was
docked at Fisherman’s Terminal in Salmon Bay,
Seattle.
The 12-guest 105-foot vessel was in the
midst of preparations for its first cruise of the
year from Juneau, which would have kicked off
its Alaskan summer season.
The Alaskan run would have been followed
by a series of Columbia and Snake River cruises
through the American Pacific Northwest,
towards the tail end of the year.
Unfortunately however, the fire has put an
end to Safari Spirits adventures with the
damage so extensive that the vessel has been
declared a “constructive loss”.
The fire started at around 1am last Friday,
and raged until around 5am, engulfing much of
the boat, with firefighers having to pour so
much water onto the vessel that it began to
list.
Fortunately the ship’s aluminum hull kept it
from sinking, and firemen were able to pump
water out so they could keep on dousing the
flames.
There was also no fuel spillage into the
water, with the Coast Guard able to put an
absorbent boom around Spirit to contain any
oil that may have escaped.
Only two people were on board when the
fire started, InnerSea Discoveries owner Dan
Blanchard and an engineer, both of whom
managed to escape without injury after waking
to the fire.
At present the cause of the fire is unknown,
and investigations are underway to discover its
origin.
Passengers due to set sail onboard Spirit are
being offered alternative cruises onboard other
fleet members, and for those that cannot
change the cruise company has said compensation
will be worked out on a “case by case basis”.