The Spirit of Norfolk now rests beneath the waves off the coast of Florida, transformed into an artificial reef nearly three years after a fire ended its time on the Elizabeth River.
The cruise vessel had been sitting at Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk since June 2022, when it caught fire during a lunch cruise with 108 passengers and crew on board. All were safely evacuated. The fire, which started in an operating port generator, took several days to extinguish and caused an estimated $5 million in damage, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB determined that the blaze likely began when combustible materials stored near the generator’s exhaust pipe ignited. The vessel, built before 1996, was not required to have modern engine-room fire detection or suppression systems…