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A week after a Tradewinds Casino boat ran aground on its maiden Savannah cruise, stranding nearly 100 passengers for 18 hours on a sandbar off Tybee Island, the company has issued an apology, insisting no laws were broken and exonerating the boat’s captain from any wrongdoing.
“First of all, we are sorry for any inconvenience that our passengers may have experienced and are grateful for the assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard,” Tradewinds vice president Roger Humphreys said in a statement released late Wednesday afternoon.
The casino boat Escapade left the Tradewinds dock on the Bull River shortly after 7 p.m. July 15 for what was scheduled to be a 5-hour cruise, but ran aground some time before midnight.
After several attempts to free the boat were unsuccessful, the Coast Guard began evacuating passengers and non-essential crew members the following afternoon. Some 24 hours after leaving the dock, passengers were safely home.
Still, questions remained, among them how the boat got so far off course before it hit the bar and whether the Escapade violated the law by allowing passengers to gamble after the boat was stranded less than two miles offshore, well inside the international waters required for legal gambling.
“We respect and abide by the law,” Humphreys said. “We only allowed gambling when we were at least three miles away from shore according to our navigational equipment.”
According to Humphreys, the boat continued to make headway after it left the dock until it came to rest at even keel on the sandbar.
“At that time, the radar still indicated that we were three miles out,” he said.
During that time frame, Humphreys said, the captain ordered the casino closed and notified the U.S. Coast Guard and towing company.
“To keep guests entertained, we gave out decks of playing cards,” he said, adding that passengers could sit at the gambling tables.
“But the tables were not stocked or operational, nor were the machines running as they would be if the casino had been open,” Humphreys said.
Tradewinds has completed its internal investigation regarding the captain’s actions and has determined there was no wrongdoing, he said.
“He has maintained his professionalism during this process, and we are fortunate to have him as our captain.”
As they have from the beginning, Humphreys said, Tradewinds continues to cooperate fully with the Coast Guard.
“We are diligently working to get back out to sea.”
Coast Guard Lt. Warren Fair of Station Tybee Island said Wednesday the Coast Guard’s investigation is still ongoing.
Passenger Michael Alcott, in an interview last week, said he found it hard to believe the ship’s captain didn’t know it was inside international waters when the gambing occurred.
“We were definitely still gambling when the boat hit the bar,” Alcott said “You could look out and see the Tybee Lighthouse.”
Passenger Randy Hill agreed.
“We were gambling when we grounded and we continued to gamble until midnight or after,” Hill said. “They closed the tables about 1 a.m., but people were still playing the slots at 4 a.m.”
Last week’s cruise was free for the passengers as it was Tradewind’s first in the area, Humphreys said.
“Customers on the cruise were from a list of individuals who had expressed an interest,” he said. “We have received a lot of phone calls from passengers on that cruise who want to sail with us again.
“We will continue to strive to be a positive member of the Savannah community by doing business locally, using local vendors and hiring from the Savannah area.”