During the early hours of 24th August 1999 in a position 17 miles North east of Margate the Cruise liner, 'Norwegian Dream', collided with the container ship, 'Ever Decent'.

The Bahamian registered 'Norwegian Dream', carrying 1700 passengers and 600 crew, sustained damage to the bow which was littered with containers fallen from the container ship. Further damage along the starboard side included a smashed lifeboat. Amazingly there were few injuries with approximately 20 persons being treated by the ship's doctor.

The 'Ever Decent' registered in Taiwan and owned by the Evergreen Marine Corporation was holed and lost containers. The collision caused a fire to break out in some of the containers. The nature of the cargo meant that this was produced a cloud of noxious fumes. Tugs equipped with firefighting equipment were deployed to control the blaze.

Dover Lifeboat was sent to the scene along with Ramsgate and Margate lifeboats but fortunately were not required other than to stand by the vessels.

The 'Norwegian Dream' made its way to Dover where the damage was assessed.

The photographs below were taken by Dover lifeboat crew whilst at the scene and on the arrival of the cruise liner in Dover.