Virginia ? A small cruise ship that was run aground to keep it from sinking earlier this week was refloated Saturday and escorted to a shipyard in nearby Norfolk, the Coast Guard said.

The captain of the 207-foot vessel ran the ship around in the Intracoastal Waterway on Thursday after suffering a foot-long gash in its hull and began to take on water. All 66 people on board were rescued safely and no injuries were reported.

The Coast Guard and a Virginia Beach Police Department boat were escorting the boat to the Colonna Shipyard in Norfolk for repairs, said Petty Officer Chris Evanson, a Coast Guard spokesman.