Dead whale found on bow of cruise ship in Alaska



ANCHORAGE (AP) — A cruise ship arrived at an Alaska port carrying a dead whale on its bow.

The Zaandam, a Holland America Line cruise ship, was preparing to dock in Seward just after 5 a.m. Sunday when the juvenile fin whale was spotted on top of the ship's bulbous bow, the part of the bow under the water line.

Company spokeswoman Sally Andrews says in an email that the whale wasn't there a half-hour earlier.  She says an officer had been preparing the ship for arrival just after 4:30 a.m. and didn't see a whale.

National Marine Fisheries Service spokeswoman Julie Speegle says the whale was towed to a beach and a necropsy is underway.