West Channel

Possibly the strangest, and saddest, day aboard a cruise ship.

At 2.15am, the captain came on the tannoy directly into our cabins (most announcements don't), to say that there had been an accident in the local area not far from St Kitts, and the Britannia had been requested to attend the scene, and that we'd be there in about 30 minutes. We were told a vessel had gone over with 31 people on board and local vessels were all being tasked to help with the search.

When we arrived, the searchlight scanned the waves in on the starboard side, our side, as we watched from the balcony of our cabin. Other smaller ships patrolled too, along with a helicopter overhead, and the ships crew kept watch from the decks. At about 3.30am, what looked like an upturned hull was spotted by the search light and tracked to the position of one of the smaller ships (a coast guard vessel, we think).

After several hours on our balcony we returned to bed, woken around 6.30am with the captain announcing that the Britannia had been requested to stay at the scene until French fixed wing air support arrived, expected to be about 9am when he thought we'd be stood down. As Britannia was the lead vessel, we couldnt leave until released by the Maritime Rescue and Search Centre in Martinque. He also said that 15 people had been found.

Air support was clearly rather later arriving that expected, and we finally left our balcony for some food about 10am. As we sat overlooking the sea from a window seat at breakfast, a man overboard call was put over the tannoy. From where we sat, we could see a neon yellow speck in the middle distance, and it became apparent that both a lifeboat from us and the coast guard were going to investigate. We hadn't realised that right next to our ship, another person had been spotted, and ultimately the coastguard pulled what looked to be two bodies from the water.

Returning to our balcony, our ship continued its search grid along with the coast guard boat and a Seabourn cruise ship. We later spotted a life ring in the water, and could see through our binoculars it was attached to something. The coast guard intercepted that too, appearing to pull a third body from the water. It was a surreal and sad scene to watch unfold.

By the time the Britannia was stood down, the captain announced we would not make Antigua until at least 5pm. Therefore, instead were going to head to Antigua and hold just outside the port where we would collect critical spares and change some personal before sailing on to Ponta Delgada. Throughout the day, the captain's words were sensitive, measured and professional, and he and his crew must have been exhausted by the time we reached Antigua.

When we did arrive, we took a quick photo of the island from the balcony, before grabbing a drink in the Crow's Nest, and talking about the events of the day and then going for dinner.

The day brought into sharp relief the perils for those who spend their lives at sea. Rest in peace any who did not make it home.Read more