The deaths of eight Norway crew members from the boiler explosion of May 25 2003 was just the first great loss. Now the ship has been beached, and the cutters do their work.

There are those who cannot look, and there are those who must:

link to Peter Knego's midshipcentury.com for latest Alang photos
(In late March 2008, we have a brief exquisite interlude, where the accretions of Norway are being cut away first, and we get thrilling glimpses of France.)

Gone are the hopes that began with a long tow of Norway to Bremerhaven, the misfortunes of her owner NCL, the decision that the old ss France would not return to North American waters.

Great yawing tides of emotion have plied amongst those who know and love these ships: sorrow giving way to cruel hope and anger, welled up by deepening despair for her survival.

The boiler room tragedy that doomed Norway reminds us that the crew, so often unseen and unheard, should be remembered and their stories told, even if the great ship soon will be no more, and those lucky few who walked on or toiled beneath those decks will be left only the memories.

In heartfelt sympathy and respect these pages are dedicated to the dead of May 25, 2003: