Thank you for explaining this because the first video I saw of this didn't show people up there clearly, or that it seemed to be drifting in reverse. I do notice that after hitting the bridge, it appeared to be scraping along the side of the pier. Prayers for the deceased and injured.
Those poor sailors were facing the bow of the ship, which was travelling backwards. They could have seen the bridge and given a warning if they or the ship were facing the correct way.
At least they were wearing safety harnesses, but this meant they were stuck there.
They weren't stuck. Tall ship sailors are quick with caribeeners. They also always carry marlinespikes and knives to cut themselves out of line and sail for emergencies like this.
If they could see what was coming up. The ship was moving backwards and they were facing the bow. There is footage of them standing on the foot ropes, arms outstretched, oblivious to the bridge. When the masts started to snap they fell and some were hanging by their safety harnesses.
As a person who has sailed tallships and worked aloft this was just a terrible terrible tragedy. Also having been on a tallship that lost engine power while in the canal systems in New York and was fast heading for serious shit my heart breaks for all on board.
None of it makes sense.
No "naval training should be taking place any where
near the borough's bridges. And what a ridiculous looking shop to be "training" on to boot!
TL;DR: Yes, they measured. The Cuauhtémoc was supposed to sail under the bridge — as it had done before — but a power and steering failure caused it to drift backward, leading to the crash.
I cannot understand why they didn't have the measurements before going under the bridge, especially with sailors up in the mast. It's a sad situation. 🇲🇽
They were not intending to go up river under the bridge. They were supposed to go out to the harbor and out to sea. The ship is "in reverse" as this happened. Tide was coming in and there was wind, but it seems either mechanical or human error to not switch to "forward" once out of dock.
🇲🇽”Cuauhtémoc was built in Bilbao, Spain in 1981… She was later acquired by the Mexican Navy as a training vessel for officers, cadets, petty officers and sailors...
Cuauhtémoc has been the proud winner of the Tall Ships’ Races on two occasions.”
Watching it happen, how they’re strapped in…I’m amazed the casualties are 2. How in the world did so many survive that fall, or toppling into water strapped to the mast?
Nightmare to lose anyone, 2 lives lost is more than a tragedy. But I can’t comprehend how so many on the higher levels survived.
2 dead & 19 injured.
Wearing a harness & safety line doesn't help much, when smashing into the Brooklin bridge structure. It only prevented more casualties. Captain is to blame here, it's his responsability to get men down from masts when a maneuver goes awry.
Damn, that's awful. I wonder why the tug didn't warn them? Of, if they were trying, why didn't the ship listen? And why the captain sailed into the bridge???
Ship stuck driving in astern gear. All happened very quickly. Everyone knew the bridge was there.
Fairly routine manoeuvre with tug involved to turn the boat in a fairly confined space, went wrong because of technical failure.
I'm guessing he assumed he could handle the situation and didn't order them to come down, but ughh. They should have come down as soon as they lost power no matter what. It's all so sad.
someone will need to explain to me like a 5 yrs old how the capt lost control of that ship. was a tugboat nearby too, why they did nothing. whole thing is crazy
Those sailors should have descended the masts as soon as the ship became uncontrollable. They got up there. They should have immediately gotten down. Only the captain remains on a sinking ship, and everyone else abandons.
I hadn’t considered how the fatalities had happened.
This is a tragedy.
Tug Boat should have known the height of the ship and bridge. It’s like air traffic control.
Oh! Terrible event then. All around. Were the crew all up in the rigging as reports suggested, or were they scrambling down as soon as they realized the vessel was dangerously drifting…upstream (?) (upstream?) is that 🤔. That seems weird, no?
makes sense , easier to use your engine to push you out to sea when e.g. there is a bridge behind you that you won't fit under rather than have to set your sails which you could only do there when conditions and traffic is just right.
Also in the past some sail ships were ' becalmed ' sat at sea going nowhere because there is no wind , a rare thing but could be days sometimes - with an engine to move you just a few miles you can find a wind.
Any large scale sailboat like this will usually have an engine - some even have two; one serving as a directional motor of sorts (called a bow-thruster).
Wind isn't always available, and for manoeuvres within a marine 99.9% of the time a sailboat will be under engine power as it moors etc.
Must have been a really skilled job docking a sailing ship before they had motors and probably often involved multiple rowing boats towing it short distances.
I've been fortunate enough to have sailed quite a bit as a younger man - a lot of rope systems and smaller support boats yeah. Bear in mind a lot of boats will be moored on mooring buoys (think pre-set anchors where you can tie off).
A ship of this scale would have a *huge* engine. Tragic.
They do this coming in and going out of port. Its not a quick trip up or down they're clipped in and it’s precarious, anyway you look at it. It’s just tragic!
Bloody horrific. I didn’t see the people tethered to the masts from first posts of accident. Sending love to the families and friends of those who were killed or injured.
The current can be incredibly strong on the East River. I’ve seen it going by at incredible speeds. It must have pulled them into the bridge once the ship lost power. But why the tug didn’t try to stop them is beyond me.
From what I saw watching the river, the current flows northward. I’m not sure where the ship was moored. But it had to be south of the bridge (since it didn’t fit under) so the current would have pulled it under the bridge.
They were positioned across the yardarms. You couldn't even see them in the first videos I saw. It's just a sickening feeling when you realize how many were up there. 😩
I’m so confused by this. How was it not clear in advance that the ships masts were too tall to clear the bridge? How is that possible? Such a terrible and avoidable tragedy.
What an awful thing to happen… prayers for their families and loved ones.
And, for all the uppity keyboard warriors saying all the insensitive garbage because they might happen to be Mexican… there are planes from the U.S. crashing on the daily thanks to some Flight Controllers getting FIRED!!!
Thanks! I realized that when I read further down the comments. I thought I had seen 22 had died, but that was the number injured. Still though, I stand by the rest. 2 dead and 12 critically injured is horrifying. So sad.
How incredibly sad for all involved. My condolences to the family and friends of the lives that were lost and those injured. It was a beautiful display of craftsmanship and art.
This last line hit me, what a lovely thing to say to them. You’re absolutely right, it was a beautiful scene. Here or lost to us, each should be proud. I hope one of the crew reads these words.
Ok, so..*rubs forehead in exasperation*...did nobody think to measure the distance between ocean and bridge? And then think about how tall the ship was?...I mean..ugh, how does someone not?..you know what I mean?...
It's normal on tall ships to have crew on the masts managing the rigging. Not something you would know unless you like the history of sailing or read historical fiction.
Actually the vessel is still powered when it hits the bridge, you can see the wake as it's moving. Looks more like the transmission got stuck in reverse and the engines were powered up.
That may be but nothing about this video makes me believe she lost power. Her screws are turning right up until the impact. Either this is human error, gear/steering failure or both.
Yah, def more boat movement than the current, which was 2.6 kts towards the bridge at the time of impact, and which would have swept the entire boat sideways into the structure. Looks more like transmission issues than powereplant
It's moving relative to the surface water, ergo wake. To my view, it looks like it's maybe not under power, but perhaps being driven ahead of the current by the wind.
It's being blown by the wind. Look at the flag. A vessel that size with that many masts and spars (with people standing on them), will catch a lot of wind. Ergo, even going astern, without power there'll still be a small wake.
Under no circumstances was that vessel attempting to get under that bridge. I will bet all the money I have, and all the money you have, on this as a fact. 💖
The understanding and latest is the ship was moored at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport. It had been there for a few days.
The ship was never meant to sail under the Brooklyn Bridge. And. It wouldn't have had clearance under the Manhattan Bridge either.
It was due to leave NYC shortly
Updates. It seems the ship was leaving port and readying to sail out to sea. Hence the tugs to steer it back south.
Still unclear how/why it drifted/sailed backwards.
Pure speculation - but it seems like total loss of propulsion…and a rising tide (east river flows northeast in rising tide & southwest as the tide goes out)
Why were they even on the masts? In a harbor, with bridges and clearly not enough maintenance or pre-event testing of the ship itself? What was this event/exercise intended to demonstrate? Other than poor planning, unacceptable risk, and no emergency contingeny plan Such a preventable tragedy.
They were not intending to go up river under the bridge. They were supposed to go out to the harbor and out to sea. The ship is "in reverse" as this happened. Tide was coming in and there was wind, but it seems either mechanical or human error to not switch to "forward" once out of dock.
This. Harbor Master bears responsibility for guiding the ship (including into the correct channel for mast height). If there was mechanical failure they should have been told to anchor and get pulled back to a safe area for repair, rather than float into a disaster.
And they’re strapped into the rigging not easy to get out or away 😢 husb saying we do this too - our uss constitution which trains our navy bc I’m like why are they there, what are they doing &jfc I hope the you know who’s donf say & do what they normally do- accusing an invasion or some stupid sht
Damn 😬 I was wondering who the two fatalities were because it didn’t look like the drivers on the bridge were impacted. This is a thousand times more horrific!
This TikTok is the only video I’ve found showing it, but until less than a minute before the crash the tug was pushing the bow sidewise to turn the ship, presumably it wasn’t till about then that the ship found out it couldn’t stop powering astern.
You sound like a nice person - not! You don't have a clue what happened & yet you call these cadets "idiots" - some of whom actually lost their lives and are seriously hurt. Learn something yourself about what actually happened before calling others "idiots". Shame on you.
It sounds like someone did not bother to read news articles. The tall ship lost power and drifted under the Brooklyn Bridge. The nearby tug was too far away to catch up to the tall ship in time. It’s the tall ship’s captain’s responsibility to request and pay for tug assistance. Very tragic incident
Yes I am sure they will say he headed the wrong way did not throw anchors nor warn the crew to brace etc… Escuché que fue una falla del motor y que los barcos de la plataforma no pudieron detenerlos, no echaron el ancla a tiempo, etc.
A dropped anchor at that point wouldn’t have halted the tall ship’s drift with the tides. A bar pilot was on board, as required, to help guide it out of the harbor. It sounds like a tug should’ve assisted. I’ve been reading about the Revolutionary War, and the Royal fleet’s wind and wave challenges!
I saw that as a possibility this morning. I’m just getting back today. Was it verified then? I had wondered what happened. This makes it even more sad. I can imagine the crew trying to do something & being ‘trapped’ into the disaster.
Some of it is dependent on how close the ship was to the bridge when it lost power, but this is why you have the anchor detail at their station when getting underway or docking.
From that view I can’t tell. It seems like they would’ve seen themselves slowly approaching that bridge. Horrific. If they were strapped in and couldn’t get down there’s something very wrong with that ship/show/military or whatever that ship was.
They would have been fully aware of the dimensions, draught, height, beam, length of their vessel as well as their route and obstructions along the way. This is why the tugboat was so furiously trying to assist as the beautiful old tall ship that had lost power drifted into that bridge.
They're not Lexus drivers, backing into 2 or 3 other vehicles as they try to park in the mall parking lot...
They're very well trained and they know the dimensions of their vessel.
Backwards, is what I've read. Having lived on a cutter-rigged sloop for the better part of 9 years, I've been turned 180° unexpectedly twice. *** I'm curious: are you a Brit? Don't see the word draught (not draft) often when referring to distance below the waterline.
This so feels like a metaphor for the US right now, except Trump is the one navigating us head straight into a bridge and delusional enough to believe it will jump out of the way because we’re the fucking US of A.
I see harnesses on the men and I see fewer men when it sailed closer to the bridge.
The question was it under power or was the tug boat piloting the vessel. If the tug, then there goes the pilot license of the tug boat operator.
The tugboat did all it could to prevent that powerless tall ship from being destroyed. Kudos to the tugboat operator for preventing the antique from being lost.
I’ve seen several articles stating they are looking into a possible loss of power prior to the accident. They lost control of the ship with the loss of power. I haven’t heard that verified yet.
What a complete failure on the Tugboats and bridge operation. On Cape Cod it’s the Amy Corp of engineers. I could go on and on about how much negligence this took. It’s not currents. Currents r fine. It was enormous human error on every level. Reminds me of aircrafts just flying into each other.
Yes.
The crew had a traditional ceremony when entering & leaving ports. After arriving, they invited local dignitaries to tour their beautiful vessel. The ship appeared to be a ‘goodwill ambassador’ for Mexico, making the tragedy even more heartbreaking. I’ve posted a picture of their ceremony.
So sorry. The crew stood on the masts to enter & leave. I proofed it twice but somehow messed it up. I hate heights. I can’t imagine that as a job. When the ship lost power, there was no way to control it. Such a tragic accident.
There are guy wires under a great deal of tension helping to keep the masts upright. Once the masts started breaking, those wires would be whipping around dangerously.
So many questions:
Why was the ship moving backwards?
Was there a NYC pilot aboard?
If there was a pilot, why didn't that person ask how tall the masts were?
Why didn't the tugboat realize what was happening?
Why were all of the people in the rigging facing the wrong way?
I thought the same. I still cannot determine if they called on crew from the masts prior to the hit. I cannot believe they would have had them up there anyway while approaching a bridge.
They must've known they were in trouble but they didn't climb down? Floating backwards toward a bridge that you never sailed under would be a red flag.
Seeing as how they were going backwards when they hit it, I have the feeling that something went horribly wrong, not that a bad decision was made. See also, the tug that was no longer attached to the ship.
Comments
Too many people on here was horrible comments
Someone was slow to call an emergency, if they called one at all.
At least they were wearing safety harnesses, but this meant they were stuck there.
I wont repeat (but let's say it gave me stomach pains).
...How in earth can people be so callous, when lives are lost and people hurt?
I heard about that a boat had hit but had no idea any of the details until I just looked them up.
This is just awful.
Makes a lot more sense now.
No "naval training should be taking place any where
near the borough's bridges. And what a ridiculous looking shop to be "training" on to boot!
TL;DR: Yes, they measured. The Cuauhtémoc was supposed to sail under the bridge — as it had done before — but a power and steering failure caused it to drift backward, leading to the crash.
1. The ship lost engine power and steering shortly after leaving Pier 17.
2. It drifted backwards, not on its intended course.
3. It collided mast-first into the bridge — not sailing under it.
4. This wasn't a case of bad measuring — it was a power failure and wrong angle of approach.
They were wearing harnesses which most likely saved most of their lives.
The unfortunate death could have been (because I don't know) from a direct hit.
They stand on the mast in honor of someone or a celebration. Old tradition called "manning the yards".
Cuauhtémoc has been the proud winner of the Tall Ships’ Races on two occasions.”
Nightmare to lose anyone, 2 lives lost is more than a tragedy. But I can’t comprehend how so many on the higher levels survived.
Wearing a harness & safety line doesn't help much, when smashing into the Brooklin bridge structure. It only prevented more casualties. Captain is to blame here, it's his responsability to get men down from masts when a maneuver goes awry.
Fairly routine manoeuvre with tug involved to turn the boat in a fairly confined space, went wrong because of technical failure.
They think they can handle a critical situation & don't put pride / ego aside in order to ensure the safety of their crew.
A crucial redundancy was not in place for a power outage.
That was a decision somebody made.
Who didn't check the heights of bridges along the route? Damn
This is a tragedy.
Tug Boat should have known the height of the ship and bridge. It’s like air traffic control.
Tragic.
https://bsky.app/profile/davehaterofracism.bsky.social/post/3lphrx2oymk2f
yes drifting upstream - saw video from elsewhere of tide coming in upstream elsewhere its really powerful because of the narrowing of the channel
from wiki ' Installed power 1,125 hp (839 kW) Auxiliary engine '
Wind isn't always available, and for manoeuvres within a marine 99.9% of the time a sailboat will be under engine power as it moors etc.
A ship of this scale would have a *huge* engine. Tragic.
😞
If the ship was going backwards would that be their tug? Should at the stern, I believe.
Terriblely sad to see. 😔
When you're sailing straight to a bridge that is lower than your highest mast, they probably shouldn't have been up there
I also would assume with such a tall ship & with any bridges, that there was a whole method in place to ensure clearance that they just missed?
Who can forget this classic? "Pumping & Blowing" - and it's even naughtier than you're imagining.
Ah, the 80's. It was a different time, my friends.
it seems very choreographed-as if for a movie.
And, for all the uppity keyboard warriors saying all the insensitive garbage because they might happen to be Mexican… there are planes from the U.S. crashing on the daily thanks to some Flight Controllers getting FIRED!!!
I don't know boats at all - why is the ship moving backward, against the wind, and still have a wake?
Thank you for being you.
https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-bridge-collision-mexican-navy-ship-ca335dc85ebfbf981bc38516985461c8
Important. Looks like strong currents
Not the South Street Seaport. Pier 36.
https://gothamist.com/news/mexican-navy-sailors-prepared-high-flying-farewell-display-before-fatal-brooklyn-bridge-crash?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR79Xf3HibgWzxTScZn2xzhM0-S601QoEsH9ESs_W3M5isKxakZ4PDjcf5P9vw_aem_EBOcWFTsX6EHGdBC23ieBQ
If a ferry lost power on approach it would be equally catastrophic.
The ship was never meant to sail under the Brooklyn Bridge. And. It wouldn't have had clearance under the Manhattan Bridge either.
It was due to leave NYC shortly
Still unclear how/why it drifted/sailed backwards.
https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-bridge-collision-mexican-navy-ship-ca335dc85ebfbf981bc38516985461c8?taid&fbclid=IwY2xjawKW8CtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFidmNKTVlTRk5SVVhZWmZIAR4S6JxY8m2W38UpUWCDX1u1Y8NwRjAeGq0Gj1cG7_KNGP_gFEjzX4y387xjtg_aem_wzoBGTpqwYQdVD4kSQnYCQ
Ship captain a graduate of Trump University.
Those poor people.
WHAT THE F☠️CK WAS THAT TUG BOAT PILOT DOING?
WHY DIDN’T HE GET TO THE STERN OF THE SHIP AND PUSH IT AWAY FROM THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE?
Maybe i’m reading it wrong. Maybe the tugboat was trying to catch the ship but ran out of room…..and time.
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNdrpTkL2/
People died
you also clearly can't be bothered to read the details.
They were trying to go the way the pointed end was facing.
You can see they are secured to the mast, correct? And that it happened in seconds?
Undoubtedly no one realized the severity of the situation.
How the fuck did they not know the height of the masts and the bridge !!!
They're very well trained and they know the dimensions of their vessel.
Maple Leaf-brit, you know... From Canadia. English is spelled correctly here, too.
Cheers. 🍻
Not intentionally going towards the bridge.
The question was it under power or was the tug boat piloting the vessel. If the tug, then there goes the pilot license of the tug boat operator.
The crew had a traditional ceremony when entering & leaving ports. After arriving, they invited local dignitaries to tour their beautiful vessel. The ship appeared to be a ‘goodwill ambassador’ for Mexico, making the tragedy even more heartbreaking. I’ve posted a picture of their ceremony.
Why was the ship moving backwards?
Was there a NYC pilot aboard?
If there was a pilot, why didn't that person ask how tall the masts were?
Why didn't the tugboat realize what was happening?
Why were all of the people in the rigging facing the wrong way?
Jumping from that height? I think you'd have to be almost an Olympic diver to even miss the ship.
They lost power & a tugboat didn't help - they got caught in the current & went BACKWARD into the bridge
How are only 2 dead?!