Besides being the first cruise ship ever built specifically to ply the frigid waters of the Antarctic Ocean, the "Explorer" became the first ever to sink there when it struck an unidentified submerged object, possibly ice, on November 23, 2007, which caused a 10-by-4 inch (25 × 10 cm) gash in the hull. Everyone escaped from "Explorer" in the early hours of November 23, 2007, after taking on water near the South Shetland Islands in the Southern Ocean, which is usually stormy, but was calm at the time. The "Explorer" was confirmed by the Chilean Navy to have sunk at approximately position: 62 degrees 24 minute South and 57 degrees 16 minutes west, between South Shetlands and Grahams Land, in the Bransfield Strait, where the depth is roughly 2,000 feet (600 m).