Empress of the North, a small riverboat-style cruise ship carrying 208 passengers, ran aground on rocks shortly after midnight on May 14th off the coast of Alaska and began taking on water, forcing a predawn evacuation of passengers and crew.

All guests and 40 workers got off the 380-foot-ship safely, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Crewmembers were able to use pumps to control the flooding, and the ship -- with 33 crewmembers still aboard and listing at 8 degrees -- was reported en route with Coast Guard escort to Juneau.

The Coast Guard received a distress call at 12:35 a.m. Alaska time and passengers were taken off the ship by fishing vessels, a commercial tugboat and the Coast Guard cutter Liberty.

They were subsequently transferred to the Alaska state ferry Columbia for transfer to Juneau.

Empress of the North also ran aground in March 2006 in the Columbia River, 20 miles east of Portland, Oregon, with 260 passengers and crew aboard, according to the Coast Guard.