This is what HySeas posed on the regular board:
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The Statendam limped into Vancouver yesterday morning with a gash in her starboard rear quarter just above the water line. The outer skin was punctured.
I watched as the preliminary investigation took place by the ships company and dock personnel. The accident must have happened a day or two earlier due to rust setting in on the exposed metal. As the day wore on, insurance personnel along with local marine repair personnel assessed the task at hand. I don't believe the ship was seaworthy at this stage. Around noon a 40 foot by 12 foot sheet of steel was trucked in and the work began. They had to strip the paint off the surrounding metal so they could weld the new steel to cover the hole. By 6 P.M. all the PAX's were going through the lifeboat drill( how appropiate) and watching the progress of the welding. I'm sure this was just a makeshift repair because on the other side of the dent there must have been some internal damage. I left at 6:30 and by 9 I noticed the Statendam had left. What a scare! The hole was low enough to have been caused by a barge or pier. Poor Holland America this year. First the Ryandam now the Statendam.
