for the first stop of an "ecotour'' to Antarctica, the 12 Canadians on board thought the worst of the trip was behind them.

On her trip from St. John's, the ship was hit by four terrible storms.

During the worst one, "our wind gauge went up to 85 knots and then it blew away,'' the ship's captain, Mr. Clarence Pomeroy, told The Royal Gazette .

But little did the captain, his crew, and most of all the paying passengers know that what would prove a nightmare voyage had just begun.

By Christmas, Mr. Sam Blyth, the president of the company which organised the trip, had been hanged in effigy by furious passengers, according to a report this week in Toronto's The Globe and Mail.

While the Northern Ranger was docked at Penno's Wharf on December 10 and her passengers were getting reacquainted with solid ground on a tour of Nonsuch Island, Mr. Blyth led a reporter and photographer on a ship tour and spoke glowingly of the itinerary he had planned.

The 234-foot ship -- on a positioning cruise for a series of crossings between Cape Horn and Antarctica -- had classrooms and on-board lecturers in place of swimming pools and gaming tables. The cruise appealed to intellectuals who were concerned about the environment, Mr. Blyth said.

Former Canadian prime minister Mr. Pierre Trudeau, Canadian naturalist and author Mr. David Suzuki, Canadian author Mr. Pierre Berton, and English naturalist and author Mr. Gerald Durrell would be among the 1,000 passengers to come aboard by the time the ship returned to the Island on her way home to Canada in April, Mr. Blyth said.

The return trip is still planned, but the itinerary is in tatters, and Mr.

Blyth has been accused of misleading his passengers, the newspaper reported.

With three fewer passengers and three fewer crew members -- who decided they were green enough and headed home for Canada -- the Northern Ranger left Bermuda bound for Freeport on December 12. And promptly hit another storm.

Already a week behind schedule, the Northern Ranger increased her speed, and passengers said Mr. Blyth promised she would be able to catch up time and make the stops advertised in the Blyth and Company Travel brochure.

Mr. Alfred Saunders of Vineland, Ontario, described that promise as "pure and unadulterated bull....,'' in an interview with The Globe and Mail.

Mr. Blyth denied the charge. "I was very, very careful in my choice of words,'' he said. "We were going to attempt to do each element of this programme and we were prepared to sail at full speed rather than our efficient cruising speed to try to make up the difference.'' The ship arrived in Cozumel, Yucatan, where passengers had no time to see the ruins at Chichen-Itza. She then sailed on to Limon, Costa Rica, where there was no time to visit the cloud forests. The Galapagos Islands were bypassed altogether.

Mr. Blyth offered passengers a three-day cruise in the Galapagos or a quarter of their fare as compensation for the missed stops, in return for signing waivers. All but about a dozen of the 36 passengers who completed the voyage accepted the offer, while others have filed claims for full refunds.

"We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to mitigate a bad situation,'' Mr. Blyth said.

And not everyone was unhappy. Ms Nancy Tillson of Vancouver said: "It wasn't the epic voyage that I expected but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.'' As for the return trip, another positioning cruise, Mr. Blyth said it is almost completely booked.

FROM BAD TO WORSE -- The Northern Ranger hit four storms on the Atlantic Ocean on her voyage to Bermuda from Newfoundland, but things got worse after she sailed away from Penno's Wharf on December 12. By Christmas, those who had paid for an "ecocruise'' aboard the ship had hanged in effigy the president of the travel company that organised the tour.