The casino cruise ship Escapade was having a great first sail from its Savannah berth Tuesday evening before trouble — in the shape of a huge sandbar — reared up and put an end to the festivities, passengers said Thursday.
“Everything was great when we set out,” said Randy Hill, a plumber who lives on Wilmington Island. “We were looking forward to a fun night on the water.”
Fast forward about 18 hours and Hill says he was seriously thinking of lowering himself down onto “the beach we were sitting on” and swimming for shore.
“It was that miserable,” he said. “I think I might have done it if other people hadn’t heard me talking about it and said ‘If you do it, Randy, we’ll go next.’
“Even though I was pretty sure the Coast Guard would have picked us up, I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else following me into the water,” he said.
Hill said the boat left the docks at 7:15 Tuesday evening and passengers were told they would be back by 12:30 a.m.
“The gambling opened up about 9:15 or so, and not long after that — maybe 30 minutes — we felt a sudden jolt,” he said. “We kept feeling the jolt every few minutes for about three hours. Then the boat started leaning, and it was hard to walk around.
“We weren’t told we were on a sandbar until after midnight, and it was around 2 a.m. before the captain came down to talk with us.”
Hill said passengers were then confined to an area inside the boat and asked to put on their life jackets.
“The captain said the Coast Guard was about to board the boat and we all needed to be wearing our life jackets.”
But the Coast Guard couldn’t get close enough to board until much later.
“By that time, people had taken off their life jackets and were using them as pillows, taking tablecloths from the tables to cover up and take cat naps,” Hill said.
“We were all getting pretty cranky and restless. The hot dogs were gone and the bottled water had run out,” he said. “Some people were making jokes about ‘One Call, That’s All.’
“Several of the boat’s employees went above and beyond to try to make us more comfortable, especially a young man named Antoine, who worked hard all night. One crew member kept apologizing, and I finally told her, ‘You didn’t put us on this sandbar, it’s not your fault.’ You could tell they cared.”
Hill said he’s undecided about going on a casino cruise again.
“A lot depends on the boat’s management,” he said. "Despite the lawyer jokes, I think most of us just want an apology, an explanation of how this happened and maybe some compensation for the fact that most of us missed at least a day of work.
“So far we’ve heard nothing.”
Michael “Redbone” Alcott, a Savannah native who spends most of his time touring as a standup comedian, agreed.
“This crew has been working hard for the last two months to get the boat ready,” he said. “I really feel for them because this has to set them back.”
Alcott said he spent most of his time onboard trying to provide a little levity in the midst of the chaos.
“Some people were pretty panicky,” he said. “I tried to keep everyone laughing, hoping to make it a little easier.”
Alcott, who said he was finally getting his land legs back Thursday, echoed Hill’s recollection that the boat became stuck on the sandbar long before midnight.
“It was about 9:45 p.m.,” he said. “We were gambling and felt a jerking sensation. It kept up off and on for several hours. When I walked outside, I could see that we were stuck in a hole on a sandbar that looked to be the size of two football fields. I could see a beacon close by and the Tybee Lighthouse.
“I could even make out the lights on the Talmadge Bridge.”
Alcott said what little water there was on the sandbar was very choppy.
“We were being hit by waves on both sides of the boat,” he said. “I think that’s what was causing the jolts and eventually made the boat list to one side.”
Alcott says he would definitely go out again but found it a little disappointing that Roger Humphreys, Tradewinds vice president for operations who was onboard the boat serving as pit boss, made himself scarce after the ship ran aground.
“It would have been reassuring to all those folks to have him there and visible,” Alcott said.
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
Shipping schedule
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT MSC NAVEGANTES Today
GCT JPO CAPRICORNUS Today
GCT ZIM BEIJING Today
GCT MAERSK DHAHRAN Today
GCT BOTSWANA Today
GCT NORTHERN DEDICATION Today
OT GRANDE GUINEA Today
GCT MSC MANU Saturday
GCT SEA LAND EAGLE Saturday
GCT CSCL VANCOUVER Saturday
GCT NYK METEOR Saturday
GCT PHILADELPHIA EXPRESS Saturday
GCT KRISTIN KNUTSEN Saturday
OT PACIFIC BLESS Saturday
GCT CONTI MADRID Sunday
GCT EVER LEADING Sunday
GCT BREMEN EXPRESS Sunday
GCT NYK FURANO Sunday
GCT ASIR Monday
GCT CAFER DEDE Monday
GCT MSC CHARLESTON Monday
GCT VALENCIA BRIDGE Monday
GCT HYUNDAI DYNASTY Monday
GCT CORNELIA MAERSK Monday
GCT MAERSK MEMPHIS Monday
OT TALISMAN Monday
OT ASIAN MAJESTY Monday
GCT YM MOBILITY Tuesday
GCT MOL EXCELLENCE Tuesday
GCT HANJIN ATLANTA Tuesday
GCT ZIM ONTARIO Tuesday
OT BASIC BRAVE Tuesday
GCT ZIM LUANDA Wednesday
GCT SHIPPAN ISLAND Wednesday
GCT CMA CGM L’ETOILE Wednesday
GCT TOKYO EXPRESS Wednesday
GCT CENTAURUS Wednesday
GCT NYK DELPHINUS Wednesday
GCT HELVETIA Wednesday
GCT BERLIN EXPRESS Wednesday
OT BAHRI JEDDAH Wednesday
GCT SUEZ CANAL BRIDGE Thursday
GCT CGM UTRILLO Thursday
GCT MSC SHAULA Thursday
GCT ZIM PIRAEUS Thursday
GCT MSC SHANGHAI Thursday
GCT STADT GERA Thursday
GCT MSC JULIA R. Thursday
GCT SEALAND ILLINOIS Thursday
OT TAMERLANE Thursday