While the chances of dying aboard a cruise ship are extremely low, with 30 million people opting for a holiday at sea each year, accidents and incidents do happen.
The average number of deaths aboard major liners each year is said to be just 31. In May, an unnamed passenger reportedly jumped from the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Icon Of The Seas, when it was heading from Miami to Honduras.
The man was rescued by the US Coast Guard but sadly passed away. In the same month, father-of-three Shane Dixon, 50, plunged to his death from the P&C cruise ship Pacific Adventure as it approached Sydney Harbour. His family said he had lost thousands of dollars in the onboard casino the night before.
From murder and manslaughter to tragic accidents, the Mirror takes a look at some of the most notorious deaths and vanishings on the high seas…
Gay Gibson
Gay’s body was thrown out of a porthole by deck steward James Camb during a voyage on the Durban Castle to Southampton in 1947. Camb initially denied even seeing the actress on the cruise ship before claiming she had died from a medical episode while the couple were in bed.
The murderer, 30, had spotted the 21-year-old on the ship after it departed from South Africa, where Gay had been working for six months, before they ‘became intimate’. He claimed she had begun ‘frothing at the mouth’ and he committed the ‘beastly’ act of throwing her body out of the porthole in a panic.
The killer wasn’t believed – Camb was initially sentenced to hang but avoided capital punishment as a no-hanging bill was being discussed in parliament at the time. “The House of Commons has, by its vote, saved the life of the brutal lascivious murderer who thrust the poor girl he had raped and assaulted through a porthole of the ship to the sharks,” said Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Released in 1959, Gay’s killer was later convicted of further sexual offences and 20 years later, he died behind bars. The actress’s body was never found.
Amy Lynn Bradley
Amy, from Virginia, was on the balcony of her family cabin aboard the Rhapsody Of The Seas in the early hours of March 24, 1998. But when her father Ron checked on his daughter at 6am, she was nowhere to be seen.
Amy’s shoes were still on the balcony but her lighter and cigarettes had vanished with her. Ron searched the ship and when he couldn’t find his daughter, he woke up his wife Iva and their son Brad.
The family begged the crew to make an announcement and not let anybody off the ship at the port of Curacao until Amy had been found, in case of abduction. The announcement her family had begged for was made at 7.50 am, by which point the majority of Royal Caribbean passengers had disembarked and crew searched common areas but not passenger and staff rooms.
What happens to Amy remains a mystery today – did she go overboard? Mum Iva claimed Amy had received a lot of attention from crew members on the ship and her family pointed out that she was a strong swimmer and trained lifeguard. Amy was declared dead after 12 years but many people have come forward to claim sightings of her since then.
Rebecca Coriam
The 24-year-old was working on the Disney Wonder cruise ship when she disappeared on May 22, 2011. The vessel was sailing off the coast of Mexico when the youth activity worker from Chester was spotted on surveillance video talking on one of the ship’s internal phones.
Rebecca appeared very upset and was asked if she was ok by a fellow employee in the crew lounge, appearing to say yes before hanging up the phone and walking away. What happened next remains a mystery but a common theory is she was swept overboard by a rogue wave while at the crew pool.
Others alleged foul play and blamed the crew member’s upset on a turbulent relationship. Rebecca’s family made an out of court settlement with the entertainment giant in 2016.
Dianne Brimble
Dianne left Sydney, Australia on P&O’s Pacific Sky on September 23, 2002 with her daughter Tahlia, sister Alma Wood and niece Kari Ann. Later that evening, she headed to the ship’s nightclub and her daughter woke up the following morning with her mother nowhere to be seen.
Alma was later called to the ship’s medical centre where she was told her sister had died. Dianne’s naked body had been found on the floor of a cabin occupied by four unknown men. It transpired the group of men had put a date rape drug in the 42-year-old’s drink in the club.
The mother-of-three had died from a combination of alcohol and an overdose of GHB – three times the amount a recreational user would have consumed. Alma, Kari Ann and Tahlia were forced to endure two more days on the ship before they could disembark and fly home to Australia.
The cabin belonged to a group of four men who were part of a larger group of eight and would soon become infamously known as ‘The Adelaide Eight.’ Three of the men would later be convicted of crimes associated with Dianne’s death, which caused a public outcry for tighter security measures to be put in place on cruise ships to protect future potential victims.
Birdie Africa
Also known as Michael Moses Ward, Birdie had been the only child to survive the 1985 M.O.V.E. bombing. The tragedy, which killed 11 people including his mother, was the result of a firefight between Philadelphia Police and members of the Black liberation group.
Sadly, in 2013 Birdie, 41, perished aboard the Carnival Dream, which was sailing the Caribbean. He had been drinking heavily when he slid under the water in the ship’s hot tub and drowned while a crowd looked on. A police report said: “Two passengers saw the body but didn’t react initially, thinking it was a ‘painting’ and called their friends over to take a look.
“A doctor who refused to be identified also stated that he saw passengers and crew looking on and had to tell them to pull the body out.” The same doctor alleged a nurse who obtained a defibrillator was hesitant about using it, allegedly unsure if it was safe to use on a wet body.
Karen Waltz
The newly wed was on the last day of her honeymoon cruise to Mexico in February 1988 when her husband Scott Roston claimed she had been swept overboard by a hard gust of wind. The chiropractor said they had been jogging around the ship’s running track when tragedy struck close to San Diego but his story didn’t add up.
There were no wind gusts at the time Karen went overboard Sundancer Cruises’ Stardancer ship and an investigation found the doctor had been angry with his wife at dinner for eating sweets and not knowing which utensil to use. Roston, 36, soon changed his story to claim Israeli assassins had in fact slain his wife.
This tale was given short shrift and the callous honeymoon killer was sentenced to life in prison, later reduced to 33 years.
Merrian Carver
In August 2004, Merrian embarked on a solo holiday to Alaska with Celebrity Cruises. But just two days in to the week long holiday, her steward Domingo Monteiro noticed that her bed hadn’t been slept in although all of her belongings were still in her room.
The concerned member of staff reported the investment banker missing to his boss daily but was allegedly told ‘Just do your job and forget it’ – this manager was later fired. When the cruise ended and crew members realised Merrian’s belongings were still onboard, they packed them up and donated to charity.
Royal Caribbean officials had failed to secure the Massachusetts businesswoman’s room, collect evidence, search the boat or even contact authorities or notify her family. Her father reported Merrian, 40, missing when they realised she had disappeared weeks later but she has never been found.
Paul Rossington and Kristen Schroder
Newly engaged Paul and Kristen died on the Carnival Spirit cruise ship in May 2013. They had been seen arguing at dinner and were caught on security cameras quarrelling in the ship’s casino shortly before they took their argument to their cabin.
Security cameras showed estate agent Kristen, 27, climb over the fifth floor balcony railing of her cabin and cling to the outside of it before slipping. She struck level three of the ship and a lifeboat before tumbling into the ocean.
Paramedic Paul, 30, who was naked at the time was seen diving into the Tasman Sea, off the coast of New South Wales in Australia, in a desperate attempt to save his fiancée. The couple were never found.
Chloe Wiegand
Chloe, from Indiana, was just 18-months-old when she fell from her grandfather’s arms and through an open window on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas in June 2019. The vessel was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico and she was sent plummeting 11 stories, 150 feet to the pier below.
The toddler was in a children’s play area of the ship when Salvatore Anello held her up, saying he wanted her to bang on the glass as she enjoyed while watching her big brother’s hockey games. He later pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and was sentenced to three years of probation.
