
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994                   TAG: 9401260395
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Short

RUMORS WERE FALSE; CRUISE BOAT IS FINE

The captain of the Pioneer Maid said Tuesday that the Claytor Lake cruise ship was never in danger of sinking from the water it took on over the weekend.

``The only thing that happened was that we had some water pipes freeze, and it filled up one of our compartments,'' Howard Barrett said.

``She was in no danger of sinking, contrary to what we heard. She has eight watertight compartments and it would have taken about three of them full to sink her,'' he said.

Members of the Newbern and Pulaski Fire Departments pumped 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water from the boat, after being called Sunday to the dock at Claytor Lake State Park.

Newbern Fire Chief Miller Farris said he thought at first that ice on the lake had caved in the sides of the boat, but that was not the case.

``Ice doesn't damage boats that size,'' Barrett said of the 140-passenger craft. ``The shape of the boat protects it. Ships don't get crushed in ice like we see in the dramatic movies,'' he said.

``The severe cold temperatures ... are what caused the problem, but it's all taken care of and everything's back to normal with no damage,'' Barrett said.

by CNB