Lost At Sea: Ship Passengers
The deep blue sea can be a source of mystery for families of passengers who leave on cruises, and never return.
CBS News Correspondent Melinda Murphy
on The Early Show Friday that statistics for passengers going overboard are hard to come by, because no government agency requires them. But, over the past five years, at least 13 people are known to have wound up in the water. Two were rescued, two confirmed dead, and nine are still missing."It's a real priority to keep things moving. I don't want to say at any cost, but it's a big priority," says author Kristoffer Garin.
He wrote "Devils in the Deep Blue Sea," a behind-the-scenes chronicle of a competitive cruising industry, in which ship security staffers can often be at odds with other crew members.
"Security officers have complained of wanting to freeze the room, to isolate the crime scene, and they are basically pushed out of the way by officers with a mandate of the captain, who brings the cleaning staff in," Garin asserts.
Murphy notes that Friday marks a month since George Smith vanished from his honeymoon cruise through the Mediterranean.As United States authorities continue to investigate the case, which they've called suspicious, Murphy looked into another unsolved cruise ship disappearance, and discovered a family still searching for closure.
Jean Scavone's son Jimmy vanished from a Carnival cruise liner in 1999, shortly after he graduated from college.
"It doesn't seem possible that people would just fall over," says the Meriden, Conn. resident. "The last thing I ever said to him was, 'Jimmy, be careful.' …That wasn't a premonition or anything. That's just what moms say. That's just what I say when someone leaves the house. I just didn't know I'd never see him again."
Jimmy's disappearance on July 5, 1999, was six years to the day before Smith was reported missing while on a cruise with his new bride, Jennifer Hagel.
"There just seems to be a lot of people vanishing off ships, and I just don't understand why," says Scavone.
While Jimmy left behind only memories, Smith may have left evidence, Murphy points out.
"The (Smith) case is a little different (than Jimmy's)," observes maritime attorney John Kimball.
He teaches maritime law at New York University, and acknowledges that forensic evidence, such as blood reportedly found in the Smith cabin, will make for an easier investigation, unlike the Scavone case, in which no evidence was reported.
"It's always a question of timing," says Kimball. "If there's an immediate discovery of a lost passenger, it may be possible for the captain to maneuver back and pick up that passenger. If it's 24 hours later, it's going to be near impossible."
Jean Scavone isn't expecting the case of her son's disappearance to be reopened, but she continues to search for answers.
"I want to know that anybody who goes on cruise ships is totally safe," she says, "and that nobody else is going to vanish off ships. There has to be an explanation for that."