Majestic America is a Seattle-based company and the Empress of the North sailed out of Seattle before hitting a rock and drifting near Juneau--We just can't be satisfied with "it hit something during a turn." Last week while Seattlest was bitching about the lack of information on the grounding of the Empress a commenter suggested we check the gCaptain blog.

According to gCaptain the grounding took place during a Third Mate's watch, Third Mate being the least experienced officer on a vessel to take a watch. In this case it was the Third Mate's first job out of Maritime Academy, his second day on the job, and likely his first watch. The Third Mate usually stands the 8pm-12am watch so that the Captain is awake and able to help out when it hits the fan, but this incident didn't occur within those hours. According to the National Transportation Safety Board the Third Mate and the helmsman were the only people on the bridge when the Empress missed its turn.

In light of this gCaptain asks:

Why had the captain of the "Empress of the North" put the new mate on 8-12 watch? Why had he not woken up for the turn? With such important cargo aboard why did the company not hire someone with more experience? My bet is the salary offered was not enough to attract a more experienced mate.

The Empress of the North stopped in Juneau for some repair work and is now headed for Ketchikan for more before making the trip back down the Inside Passage. The May, 19, May, 26, and June, 2, sailings have been canceled and Majestic America Line has job postings up for a Captain and a Third Mate.

Empress of the North muster station photo courtesy of Flickr user dixieinaz--Check out the whole photo set.