We are still producing offspring at a satisfactory rate, but the inevitable has happened - the death rate among the original crew and passengers threatens to overtake the birth rate.

It was not clear what the passenger threatened, an airport spokesman said.

"Harry did tell me," Nancy put in, "that his passenger had threatened harm to his family unless he forgot all about what he had seen."

While P&O Cruises made offers of compensation, some passengers branded these offers "derisory" and threatened legal action against the company.

Some passengers threatened to sue Cunard for missing the ports and said they would refuse to leave their cabins when they docked at their next port, Rio de Janeiro.

On Christmas Eve, a flight from Kennedy International Airport was diverted to Miami after a passenger threatened the crew and passengers and said they would die in a fireball.

The crew and passengers then threatened Lieutenant Fairfax, and the armed party in the two cutters beside the Trent responded to the threats by climbing aboard to protect him.

Michael Charles, a Long Island Rail Road spokesman, said today that the railroad had three incidents in which a passenger threatened an employee or other passengers since the shooting.

The fight began after the passenger, whom the police identified only as a 33-year-old man, made advances toward a woman and threatened her with a razor, the police said.

After this, an unidentified senior citizen on board attempted to intervene, as did the operator, the operator was also attacked and the passenger threatened.