Sailors seen dangling from the Top Masts of the Mexican navy vessel that collided into the Brooklyn Bridge. It appears that several people were hanging and/or clutching on to objects several hundred feet in the air in an attempt to avoid falling.pic.twitter.com/Y3Bt145IxF
— Noteworthy News (@newsnoteworthy) May 18, 2025
May 18, 2025
Mexican tall ship hits Brooklyn Bridge.
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49 comments:
They could see the collision coming. I don't understand why the sailors stayed up on the yardarms.
@Old and slow. Your question motivated me to ask Grok: "About the recent Brooklyn Bridge ship collision, someone asked "They could see the collision coming. I don't understand why the sailors stayed up on the yardarms." Were they courageously holding their formation? Were they waiting for a command? Is there an "every man for himself" command in the navy? I would guess no such command would be forthcoming because the chaos would cause even more harm since they could not all scamper down and would overwhelm each other."
Answer here
Grok's summary: "The sailors on the Cuauhtémoc’s yardarms remained- likely remained in position due to a combination of naval discipline, limited situational awareness, safety harnesses, and the need to avoid chaotic descent. Their behavior reflects adherence to duty and protocol rather than a courageous stand. No “every man for himself” command exists in naval operations, as such an order would undermine the structured response needed in emergencies. The sudden mechanical failure left little time for coordinated action, and the sailors’ decision to hold position, while tragic in outcome, aligns with the training and ethos of a naval crew on a ceremonial mission"
Two dead. Apparently the ship lost power or steering ability. But the real issue is why the Captain didn’t know the ship wouldn’t fit under the bridge.
Were the two girls interviewed in the BBC report futilely trying to do an impression of the Australian twins who uncannily finished each others sentences?
My first reaction was that I didn't know Mexico had a navy. It just never occurred to me having never heard anything about their navy...ever.
My next reaction was that this was horrible. People died. So many injured. And another ship losing power runs into a bridge.
What's going on lately? Seems like nothing works anymore.
But the real issue is why the Captain didn’t know the ship wouldn’t fit under the bridge.
Maybe they didn't plan to pass under the bridge, but were carried under it by the current of the East River after they lost power.
stuck in reverse and helmsman not smart enough to reverse the rudder
The vessel went under the bridge backwards, quite quickly. It looked to me as if it was under power, in reverse - unless the currents are unusually strong. With so many people around, maybe they were leaving dock, but it sure looks like a failure of steerage or propulsion. Tragic. So many sailors aloft, too many to make it down in time.
There is a strong tidal current in the East River.
The wind was also working against them.
There was a tug boat but it was only pushing. It wasn't tied to the ship and couldn't tow the ship away from the bridge.
Here's an informative thread about what happened.
https://x.com/johnkonrad/status/1923947432947118436
Two dead. Well, that turned a funny meme into a tragedy. Don't know why men weren't call down to the deck before they went under the bridge. I assume there's part of the bridge that is high enough for the "Tall Ship" to go under and they missed it.
In order to understand why they didn't all go down before they hit, you'd have to know how long it takes to get safely down to the deck, and how many men can get down at one time. Obviously, its safer to remain in your harness than be scambling down when the ship hits the bridge.
I hope the Captain wasn't a Lesbian with ties to the Mexican President, and disobeyed the advice of her senior experienced mate because he was mansplaining.
The east river is not the ocean either. Discuss.
It's a salt water tidal estuary.
“The East River is not a river. Discuss…”
—— Linda Richman, “Coffee Talk”
RC Ocean, just saw your comment, lol.
That's so sad. Steering failures resulted in a much worse bridge disaster last year. Perhaps this warrants advanced investigation.
My first thoughts when I saw the first videos last night:
• That ship is going backwards! It is not under control.
• Must be frustrating to be that tug with no tow line to do anything effectual
• Is the tide carrying them upriver? When was low tide? (Just before 6 pm, this was two hours later so the tide is coming in strongly.
I'll also note that if there was a tug there to assist with the launch, I suspect that there was a harbor pilot also. So to the extent that any command decisions caused or contributed to the accident, I would think that the New York pilot who would be considered responsible rather than the Captain from the Mexican Navy.
This act deserves a “WHOOPS!” military strike on the Sinaloa cartel in response.
“stuck in reverse and helmsman not smart enough to reverse the rudder.”
Had to be a helmsWOMAN… amirite?
"No “every man for himself” command exists in naval operations ...
This simply is not true (Grok frequently makes elementary mistakes of this type).
"Abandon ship" is essentially an order equivalent to "every man for himself."
The East River is not a river
But it does have current.
“The Ah, excuse me
Oh, will you excuse me
I'm just trying to find the bridge
Has anybody seen the bridge?
Please
(Have you seen the bridge?)
I ain't seen the bridge
(Where's that confounded bridge?)”
"But it does have current."
I think the point is that it can go either way
The east river is AC not DC
It was backing out of the Manhattan dock. You can see a wake, so it had engines running but apparently stuck in reverse. It doesn't look like it then had room to bring the stern south without hitting the Brooklyn shoreline squarely, which would not have been good, either.
Next they’ll be telling us the Gulf of America is no longer a gulf but a Mexican estuary.
Introducing the tape measure to the third world aka Mexico - another chapter in the very big book called The White Man's Burden.
I didn't know the East River wasn't a river. It's not something I'd ever had reason to think about. So thanks for that education. But relative to this incident, my point was the current was moving toward the bridge at the time of the accident. There was no intention to sail the ship under the bridge. The ship was moored very near to the bridge. While leaving it's mooring, they apparently lost power or control and it was carried into the bridge by the current and wind before control could be regained. The accident didn't happen because the Captain didn't know his ship was too tall for the bridge.
"Remember the Alamo"
They were rollin on the river
In my conception, the East River has now been condemned to inhabit the same sad, demoted, twilight existence as Pluto.
In the NYT footage you can clearly see a wake in front of the ship, indicating it was under power backward. Ships drifting in a current don’t leave a wake. And it seems to remain under power even past the bridge, still sailing backward. I suspect the captain either forgot to check the rearview mirror or forgot that his ship had masts. Tequila may have been involved.
If I thought about it at all, I thought the East River went down the whole east side of Manhattan, but that's mostly the Harlem River. The East River flows between the Bronx and Long Island. Not much fresh water involved.
This sailor believes it was the electronic command module failing.
Tweet
“Two dead. Well, that turned a funny meme into a tragedy.”
Yes. And quite apart from the human tragedy, I felt bad for the service when I heard about this. “Mexican Navy” was inevitably going to lead to a lot of riffing, regardless of the number of dedicated professionals that it no doubt has. Given the plethora of fuckups our own navy has performed in recent years, we have no cause to be snide.
They're a reason why they're called "tall ships."
I've always said that sailing is the only sport in the world where you can be shit-snot terrified at 5mph.
The East (not a) River is a notoriously foul piece of water and has been known as such fo 500 years.
In this case add a low (for this ship) bridge.
I cannot understand why a tug was not standing by. Not necessarily tied on, ruining the show, but close enough to come to aid if needed.
John Henry
Bob Boyd,
The North or Hudson River on the other side of Manhattan is not a true river either
Geologicaly it is a fiord tfor 150 miles to above Albany. My source is John McPhee
Nor is the Harlem River, separating the island of Manhattan from the bronx a river.
John Henry
Was there a harbor pilot, or an East River pilot aboard?
John Henry
There was a tug actively working to help the ship and there was probably a pilot as well.
A fjord is an estuary- an estuary is not necessarily a fjord. North America has some of the longest estuaries in the world- and the Hudson River is one of them. 'Til just north of Albany. And as John Henry pointed out- the East River is a notoriously foul piece of water. Known around the world by seafarers, including those who've never been. I've been in a lot of hard dockings at South Ferry, Manhattan. On both the Staten Island and Governor's Island ferries.
Who's at fault? 100% the Captain- because that's the rules. Also- the navigator. Knowing ship's location, departure should have been when current was slack turning towards the south. All that information is available on mariner's charts and forecasts. And the navigator makes those recommendations to the Captain. Third- the Chief Engineer. As noted- it looks like the ship was stuck in reverse- a failure I've not seen before, but complete engine failure with a current running north, well, you get what happened. And- the wind was blowing north. The ship has an enormous wind exposure. And the wind was blowing towards the bridge looking at video. From the flags. likely 13-18 MPH. (Beaufort scale estimation.) That's a lot of force.
Should there have been a tug tied up close on the port side as soon as they left the pier? IMHO- yes, But there are multiple reasons why the Captain would choose not to. He chose wrongly for this day. 99.99% of the time- this wouldn't have mattered. But the attitude "It's never happened before so it won't happen again today." gets people in trouble all the time.
Why did everyone stay up on the masts? Well, how do accidents happen at sea? Answer- slowly, then quickly. By the time the realization hit that it was too late to avoid the collision, it was too late to bring them down in an orderly manner. Hanging on to the mast and rigging actually gave all of them their best chance of survival.
And contrary to FormerLawClerk- "Abandon ship" is NOT essentially an order equivalent to "every man for himself." Abandon ship drills are held on Naval vessels and most cruise ships. It means- don flotation devices, head to your abandon ship station- if possible, and follow procedures for lowering rafts and lifeboats as rapidly and safe as possible.
The John Konrad X thread someone linked explains that US port tugs don't usually use tow cables but European usually do. The bow sprint on the tall ship might have made a bow towline difficult. The tug was on the wrong side to help and just got out of the way before it hit the bridge.
A failure to communicate with the engine.
In the mud sized town where I live the city pays people to write the equivalent of tickets if your sidewalk or driveway has cracks, or if there are fallen tree branches on the lawn and all sorts of other stuff, but that in the mother of all urban bureaucracies, NYC, no agency whether local, state, or federal thought to check for this "tall ship's" bridge clearance beforehand? If it wasn't for all the injury and the deaths involved it'd be funny.
Gospace,
departure should have been when current was slack turning towards the south
Are you saying that all traffic departing that area routinely waits for slack / ebb tide? (Purely motor vessels do have loss of power / loss of steerage / loss of transmission control too.)
If so, I stand corrected but am still quite surprised.
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