World

Mourning The Missing, Cruise Ship Sails

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 25, 2000 / 8:13 PM EDT / CBS

As the MS Deutschland prepared to sail from New York on Thursday, the captain spoke of death and passengers wept for those who never checked in, having perished in the fiery crash of an Air France Concorde outside of Paris Tuesday.

"Everywhere, there are signs of people missing, seats and cabins empty," said Brigitte Schoeneberg, a teacher from Lunen, Germany, as she boarded the ship.

Schoeneberg and her husband, Willi, had crossed the Atlantic on another ship, while 100 other would-be passengers, mostly Germans, died en route in Tuesday's Concorde crash near Paris.

On Manhattan's Pier 88 Thursday, three American flags flew at half staff.

Docked opposite the carrier USS Intrepid, the snow white ship with red stripes was ready to sail, its own flags fluttering in the breeze.

Flight AF4590

Complete coverage from CBSnews.com:

Concorde Pilot Reported Engine Trouble

Eyewitness: Like 'A Tiny Atomic Bomb'

French Town: Grateful Toll Wasn't Worse

Germany 'Shaken' By Concorde Tragedy

Concorde Flies Again

Pilots Vouch For Concorde Safety

A Future Barrier For Concorde

Concorde Has Good Safety Record

'Microcracks' Ground A Concorde

On the first evening of the five-star cruise through the Panama Canal to Ecuador, there would be no ball as planned. Instead, a 4 p.m. memorial service was arranged in memory of those who perished in the flaming crash on their way to the Deutschland.

In New York, the cool, overcast July day matched what Schoeneberg described as the "depressed, quiet, sad" mood aboard.

When the captain gathered passengers to give them the bad news this week, "many people weren't able to speak, many cried," she said. "People are discussing again, and again, about the accident. It won't be like other cruises."

She and her husband had considered canceling, "but it's a very expensive voyage and this is our holiday."

The last passengers boarded minutes before the 1:30 p.m. deadline.

A young woman arrived with a bag of drugstore supplies, headng for an escalator that led to the pierway attached to the ship.

For two days since she heard about the plane crash, said Julia Spaete, she'd had "a bad feeling in the stomach, and it's always there. You can't get rid of it."

But with vacation in sight, said the young woman from Essen, Germany, "You try to be happy and enjoy the journey. We will try to forget."

There were no pierside good-byes. Police blocked off the way to the visitors' gallery that is usually the site of maritime farewells.

The MS Deutchland drew in its ropes on time, at exactly 2 p.m., its foghorn blasting three times. Two ducks bobbed along as the large ship pulled away into the Hudson River, releasing a plume of smoke.

A somberly dressed German woman shed tears as she stood by the pier. She reached into her purse, pulled out a white tissue and waved it high in the air as passengers along the top deck waved back with handkerchiefs.

"I feel very much for those who died," said Erna Borchert.

On lunch break from her job in midtown Manhattan, she came to bid bon voyage to the tragedy-touched vessel "that is a piece of my homeland," she said, her voice quivering.

"I'm glad they're going, going on, going forward!"