Regarding the Mexican ship accident

[PJMcK]

26. Thanks for your reply, MM

To be clear, there was no way that ship was going to make it under the Brooklyn Bridge even at low tide. Its masts were simply too high for the bridge's clearance.

In fact, the vessel never intended to go north up the East River. They were setting sail for Iceland which means they would sail south in NY harbor under the Verrazano Bridge and into the Atlantic Ocean. The captain would have known he could never traverse the north-bound East River.

Another poster pointed out the there is video evidence that the ship's engine was stuck in reverse. If that's the case, the ship was doomed because there was no way to prevent the collision. Consider that the ship is 300 feet long and the distance from Pier 17 to the Bridge is less than 1700 feet. If they had an engine problem, there wasn't much they could do and there would not have been enough time for rescue tugs to get to the ship in time.

The captain and the chief engineer will have a lot of questions to answer, I am certain.

Incidentally, the tide range in NY harbor is roughly 6-7 feet and the difference between the bridge and the ship's mast was far greater!

Bluntly, it's a disastrous screw-up.


ETA: I hope you're well, MineralMan. I haven't seen a lot of your posts lately and I always read them with great interest. Stay safe and healthy, amigo.