While the chances of dying aboard a cruise ship are extremely low, with 30 million people opting for a holiday at sea each year, accidents and incidents do happen. The average number of deaths aboard major liners each year is said to be just 31. In May, an unnamed passenger reportedly jumped from the world's largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Icon Of The Seas , when it was heading from Miami to Honduras.
The man was rescued by the US Coast Guard but sadly passed away. In the same month, father-of-three Shane Dixon, 50, plunged to his death from the P&C cruise ship Pacific Adventure as it approached Sydney Harbour. His family said he had lost thousands of dollars in the onboard casino the night before.
From murder and manslaughter to tragic accidents, the Mirror takes a look at some of the most notorious deaths and vanishings on the high seas...
Gay Gibson Gay's body was thrown out of a porthole by deck steward James Camb during a voyage on the Durban Castle to Southampton in 1947. Camb initially denied even seeing the actress on the cruise ship before claiming she had died from a medical episode while the couple were in bed. The murderer, 30, had spotted the 21-year-old on the ship after it departed from South Africa, where Gay had been working for six months, before they 'became intimate'.
He claimed she had begun 'frothing at the mouth' and he committed the 'beastly' act of throwing her body out of the porthole in a panic. The killer wasn't believed - Camb was initially.