p[ cheers and applause ] p this is "nightline." p>> tonight, cruise ship chaos. pthe luxury liner battered on the phigh seas as it barreled pheadfirst into a powerful storm. p>> oh my god. p>> the ship braving 30-foot pwaves, hurricane-force winds. p6,000 on board, some reporting pinjuries. p>> we thought we were going to pdie. p>> questions over the captain's pcontroversial decision to set psail. p plus the unabomber, the phome-grown terrorist who evaded pthe fbi for 18 years until psomeone in his inner circle

pfor the first time on camera we phear from that woman. p>> the phrase i used all the ptime is, we've got to start the pkilling. p>> mommy. p>> the family feud fumble that phas moms, dads and others plaughing on the internet. hysical the "nightline 5." p>> we stop arthritis pain so you pdon't have to stop. pbecause you believe in go. ponward. ptoday's the day. pcarpe diem. ptylenol eight-hour arthritis ain has two layers of pain prelief. pthe first is fast. pthe second lasts all day. pwe give you your day back, what pyou do with it is up to you. ptylenol.

p good evening. pthanks for joining us. pa dream vacation quickly turns pinto a nightmare for thousands pof passengers on one of the pworld's largest cruise ships. pthe luxury line over its way to owerful storm. pmonster waves and phurricane-force winds battering pthe ship causing injuries and pfrayed nerves. pjust hours ago it docked safely pback at home. pnow questions over why they set psail in the first place. phere's abc's linsey davis. p>> reporter: after four pharrowing days at sea, the p"anthem of the seas" finally pmade it back to shore. p>> whoo-hoo! p>> reporter: families waiting, pcheering, welcoming their loved pones home. pthe 4,500 now sea-weary assengers -- p>> glasses breaking everywhere. p>> reporter: -- ready to be on pdry land. p>> worst experience. ponly the movies.

pturned into a nightmare when the p1,100-foot boat battled 30-foot pwaves and hurricane-force winds pgusting up to 120 miles per phour. pceilings came apart. pvases destroyed. pdeck chairs tossed in a pile. anicked passengers crowded the pstairs trying to get back to ptheir rooms. ponce inside filming what was phappening in their cabins. pit was all captured in these pdramatic videos recorded by assengers. p>> oh my god. p>> reporter: jacob eyebred pwatched as waved crashed against phis window. p>> we thought we were going to pdie. pwe all thought this was going to pbe it. p>> reporter: he prepared for the pworst. p>> this felt like it was a pdisaster movie. pone of those, i don't know, ptowering infernos. pthis was even crazier. pi was living in this hollywood pmovie. p>> it's probably the biggest pscare that i've had so far in my plife. p>> reporter: we talked to shara pstrand via skype. pshe was so afraid she called her pmother in case she didn't psurvive.

ploved her. p>> reporter: the harrowing pordeal played out on social pmedia. psome passengers reporting the pship listing at 45 degrees. p>> trapped in our rooms. pwe can't leave. p>> reporter: but now a lot of pthat fear is turning to anger. eter alupa says he's furious pthey even set sail with the pstorm just off the coast. p>> he was actually playing pchicken with our lives, in pretrospect. pwe didn't have any idea the pmagnitude of this storm. p>> reporter: he says the boat pwag listing so much his pthird-deck cabin was under pwater. p>> our portal was like a washing pmachine literally. pwe were under water on the third pdeck. p>> reporter: but the "anthem of pthe seas" captain said he didn't prealize the magnitude of the pstorm ahead of time and he's now pdefending his decision to set psail with a storm brewing in the patlantic. p>> the whole thing was no bigger pthan this. pit was up here. pand it just exploded. p>> reporter: in a video pbroadcast internally to all p4,500 passengers' staterooms pmonday, captain clause andersen, pwho ordered everyone on board to

pnever experienced anything like pit. p>> honestly have not seen a low ressure that was not pforecasted, anything near what pwe actually experienced. p>> reporter: tonight the company papologized to its passengers. proyal caribbean releasing a pstatement saying, our ship and pour crew performed very well to pkeep everyone safe during severe pweather. pdespite that fact the event, pexceptional as it was, pidentified gaps in our planning psystem we are addressing. pwhat happened this week showed pthat we need to do better. pthe terrifying ordeal aboard p"the anthem of the seas" comes pjust ten months after the ship's pmaiden voyage. plaunched with much fanfare, the p"anthem of the seas" is a state pstate-of-the-art ship, the third plargest in the world. pwith all the attractions like pskydiving. pthe floating resort set sail plast saturday from new jersey, pheaded for the bahamas.

pthe coast of south carolina next pday. pthe storm was not a surprise, we psaw it coming days in advance. peven the national weather pservice put out a hurricane pforce wind warning 24 hours in padvance. p>> reporter: the storm suddenly pgained strength. p>> a lot of our maritime pdisasters throughout history phave taken place during the pwinter. pwe get these massive, really pintense cyclones that develop pover the ocean in the winter pmonths, nothing to be trifled pwith. p>> reporter: the ship was forced pto turn around and made its way pslowly back to new york. proyal caribbean says "anthem of pthe seas" didn't sustain any pmajor damage in the storm. paccording to the cruise line, at pleast four people suffered minor pinjuries and the ntsb says it's pcurrently considering an pinvestigation. pweather can be deadly on the phigh seas. pthe "el faro" said sail during phurricane joaquin. pthe storm battered the ship till pit sank, killing all 33 people pon board. pthis is the ntsb video of its pfinal resting place three miles

pthe owner of the "el faro" said pthey fully supported the search pand the investigation. pit's not the only massive ship pto be undone by weather. p30-foot rogue waves hit this pcruise ship near spain in 2010, psmashing through windows. pa direct hit on unsuspecting pdiners. pthe terrifying wave killed two pand injured 14 others. pthe company said the incident pwas unforeseen because the pweather was not really that bad. pand look at what happened on pthis ship during a bad storm off pnew zealand in 2008. peverything that wasn't nailed pdown slid around out of control. p42 people were hurt, many with pbroken bones. pthe company said it was a rare poccurrence that was fully pinvestigated. pthen there was this cruise liner p"oceanos" sinking off the coast pof south africa in 1991 after prough weather and flooding left pthe ship adrift. pall the passengers were pevacuated by south african prescue helicopters before the

pnow back at port "anthem of the pseas" passengers will get a full prefund and 50% off of a future pbooking. pit may not be enough for some. p>> doesn't give you a lot of pcomfort when you're idling in pthe ocean for 12 or 15 hours pwith the wind and the waves. p>> reporter: charlotte lipman's pfather asher treated her to the pcruise for her 10th birthday. pnot the caribbean vacation they phad in mind but one she'll be ptelling her friends about for a plong time. p>> the waves were almost pcrashing onto our terrace and we pwere on the eighth floor. pthe room basically tilted that pway. peven if you weren't moving you pautomatically -- like your body plike fell. p>> reporter: "anthem of the pseas" has a sold-out eight-day pcruise departing for bahamas on psaturday. proyal caribbean tells us they're lanning to set sail this pweekend as scheduled. pfor "nightline" i'm linsey davis pin the new jersey.

pcountry for 18 years, evading pcapture by fbi and local pauthorities. pyou won't believe who finally pturned in the unabomber. p plus that family feud moment pthe internet can't stop laughing pabout. [thunder rumbling] [chattering]

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p he was a feared and pmysterious killer known simply pas the unabomber. phis bombing campaign killed pthree and injured more than 20 eople. phis calling card a manifesto prailing against technology in pthe modern world. pit would be those words that led pto his capture. ptonight for the first time on ptelevision, we hear from the

pshe sat down with me for "20/20 pdiscovery id presents homicide. p>> the computer went off this pmoney at yale's computer science pcenter -- p>> reporter: the most wanted in pamerica, the unabomber, a ghost ptargeting universities and pairliners. pthus the name. pthe unabomber. p>> there's been almost as much pmoney spent on the unabomber pinvestigation as all serial pmurderers put together. phe's that important. p>> reporter: but in the end his pcapture would also come down to pthis woman. pspeaking out tonight in her pfirst television interview. p>> the longest fbi investigation pin the history of our country. pbut how was it that you, a pcollege professor, was the first pto suspect ted kaczynski could pbe the unabomber? p>> the main reason is the fbi pbegan to release information. p>> reporter: more on her in a pmoment. pnearly 30 yes, there is ago

pfor the fbi to go on. pthat is until 1987 when computer pstore owner gary wright became pthe victim of the unabomber's p12th bomb. p>> as i drove into the rear arking lot i noticed there was pa piece of wood. pi went over to pick it up. pi bent down. pand i put my hand on the very pend of it. pand immediately something phappened. pthere was a big blast of ressure. pand i was knocked about 20 feet pbackwards into the parking lot. p>> what happened? p>> when it went off there was pabout 200 pieces of shrapnel pthat went through my body at pvarious points. p>> reporter: just before wright parrived -- p>> i found out my secretary had pbeen looking out this window pright here. pand she saw somebody kneeling pdown, pulled something out of a pbag, and set it on the ground. pand they were looking pface-to-face about four feet papart from one another. p>> reporter: now investigators

olice sketches of the elusive pkiller, a miscellaneous oustached man. p>> a white male with high school peducation, might appear to be a pnice guy with no apparent redisposition to violence -- p>> reporter: three bombs later pit's the unabomber himself who pgives the fbi more to work with pby contacting the media and pdemands two newspapers print a plong manuscript he's written or pthe killings will continue. p>> as we know, in inn so many pgot pgoeth before the fall. pand "washington post" published pthe manifesto. p>> it is blackmail pure and p"post" acceded. pwere they justified in doing so? p>> reporter: history might say pyes. pcollege professor linda patrick preads the information the fbi preleases and thinks she precognizes familiar-sounding pideas from letters her husband pdavid kaczynski and his family

p>> that must have been awful to phave these suspicions that you pwere going to share with this pman, who you love -- p>> yes. pbut it was really important to ptalk with dave about it. p>> when she said, i think maybe pyour brother's the unabomber. pi thought, well -- this is not panything to worry about, ted's pnever been violent, i've never pseen him violent. p>> reporter: linda's suspicions pkept growing. p>> they had posted the first few ages of the manifesto on the pscreen. pcomputer. pin the lobby of the library. pso dave went with me. pand then as dave read the first age, i was sitting at his side pand his jaw dropped. p>> i thought i was going to read pthe first page of this, turn to plinda and say, "i told you so." pon an emotional level it just psounded like my brother's voice. p>> reporldr: david's older pbrother ted had once had a

phe'd gone to harvard at 16, pearned a ph.d. in math at puniversity of michigan. pbut it's when ted kaczynski as pmath proper soar at uc berkeley phe gives up on pain stream psociety. phe build himself a cabin in pmontana and retreats from the pworld. p>> he began to write very phostile, angry, resentful pletters to our parents. pi had a hard time understanding pwhere the resentment came from. p>> reporter: david and the pfamily had long suspected ted psuffered from some kind of pmental illness. pbut until now, david says, they phad been in denial. p>> how long do you think he was pchallenged with mental illness? p>> it's pretty clear that by the ptime he was a graduate student pat the university of michigan, phe was suffering from some retty serious delusions. p>> reporter: the family makes pthe wrenching decision to pcontact the fbi. p>> thought about the families pthat were bombed. pthere was one in which the

phome and his little 2-year-old pdaughter was there. pshe was almost in the room when phe opened the package. pluckily she left and his wife pleft. pand then he died. pand there were others. pso i spent those days thinking pabout those people. p>> reporter: on april 3rd, 1996, pa nine-man s.w.a.t. team papprehended ted kaczynski at his pcabin in lincoln, montana. pthey find containers with bomb pmaterials, notebooks containing palmost 40,000 pages of writings. pthe typewriter on which he typed phis manifesto. p>> the fbi has arrested a man in plincoln, montana -- p>> are you the unabomber? p>> the three of us were sitting ptogether, linda and myself and pmy mother, watching the arrest pof my brother on tv. pi've never seen a street person pthat looked worse off than ted plooked at that moment. phis clothes were tattered.

pweeks or months. pi still am haunted by the look pon his face. p>> reporter: kaczynski goes on ptrial in sacramento, california. pjanuary 1998. pit's clear the key issue in the ptrial would not be ted pkaczynski's guilt but his sanity pand whether he would be spared pthe death penalty. p>> my major argument against the pdeath penalty for my brother is pthe fact that he's diagnosed pwith a serious mental illness. aranoid schedules izophrenia. p>> i would like to say our preaction to today's plea pagreement is one of deep relief. pmost important, my mother and i pwish to reiterate to the psurviving victims our deep psorrow and regret. pto express our wish to reach out pto you in whatever way ossible -- p>> reporter: one of those david preaches out to is victim number p12, gary wright. p>> i picked up the phone and i pdialed the number. pand i hear a voice on the other

pwright house at the wrong time. pi wasn't prepared for that. pi was like -- i mumbled, i'm pdavid kaczynski, i think maybe pyou know who i am. pi'd love to talk if you're open pto it, i'll try calling back in pa couple of days. p>> first he just said, i want to pcall and apologize on behalf of pmy family. pthat was the first thing. pi said, well, david, i have to ptell you something. pthat everybody has people in ptheir family they probably want pto apologize for and it may not pbe at the same level. pi know people want to apologize pfor me and you really don't need pto carry this. pthat's not your responsibility. p>> what a gift. p>> yeah. pit was like a gift. p>> reporter: and in ensuing pyears david and the man his pbrother tried to murder are pcrisscrossing the country pspeaking out against the death enalty, advocating instead for preconciliation, mercy, grace. p>> i think on some level, pwhether we recognize it or not pin ourselves, there is this

pword. p>> i don't know if linda punderstands how grateful i am to pher. plinda saved lives. pshe saved our family's honor and pself-respect. pand ultimately perhaps pcontributed to saving ted's life ptoo. p>> the series "20/20 homicide" pon discovery id. p steve harvey had his flub pduring miss universe -- p>> i have to apologize. p>> reporter: but tonight he's pthe one doing the laughing. [screaming] r the bold nissan rogue,

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p finally tonight, steve pharvey isn't in the best osition to be throwing shade pabout performance flubs, just psaying. pon his game show one family's panswers were so outrageous he pcouldn't help but laugh. pand neither could the internet. p>> tell me another way people psay mother. p>> mommy. p>> mommy. p>> reporter: it's the "family pfeud" fumble gone viral. p>> you got two strikes. p>> reporter: ma, mommy, mama palready taken. psheila comes up with this. p>> what about -- mom-mee. p>> you want mom-mee, not mommy? p>> reporter: steve harvey might phave had fun with the answer but pit only got the patterson family pa big red "x." psheila explains on "good morning pamerica."

pthe best of my trying to come up pwith something else. p>> reporter: the pattersons' pfull "family feud" episode airs pfebruary 23rd. p>> y'all crazy. p>> reporter: here's hoping they phad better luck with the other pquestion. pit was albert einstein who said, panyone who has never made a pmistake has never tried anything pnew. pthank you for watching abc news. p"world news now" is coming up psoon with overnight breaking pnews. ptune into "good morning america" ptomorrow. pas always we're online on pabcnews.com. pgood night, america. p pshelley: now at 11:00, psurveillance video catches a pman' s attempted escape from olice custody. pin the short time he was on the