Note that the tall ship had been visiting South Street Seaport from which it departed. This is extremely close to the Brooklyn Bridge, roughly 1/8th of a mile. The East River has some strong currents, even at 5 knots that's something like only 2.5 minutes to drift into the bridge if they lost power when they left port.
This was part of a preparation for a big US 250th anniversary tall ship event next year in NYC, in which there will be far more ships next summer. Hopefully they re-evaluate port operations in time for that. From the video it looks like a tug ship was close enough to try and help, but not close enough to be of any use. Given the above math, it seems like a more proactive escort for tall ships may be in order..
edit: TikTok of the Brooklyn side showing how close it came to running aground https://www.tiktok.com/@vladmad9/video/7505576469876296991
The tide was also coming in. If it were ebb tide and mechanical failure it might have drifted away from the bridge (albeit risking collision with something else)
It reminded me of something from childhood. It’s no comment on this story - just a personal anecdote.
We were on a family road trip, and I was wearing a new pair of cheap sunglasses, feeling way too cool for a kid. As we turned a corner, the setting sun blinded my father. But through my tinted lenses, I saw the wall coming. He didn’t. We crashed hard. My sunglasses flew off, and in that moment, all I cared about was catching them. For a few seconds, I thought that was the only emergency.
That moment left a mark. Now, whenever I start to feel too cool or overconfident, I get a quick flash, like a reflex, to check myself. How stupid will this look if things suddenly go wrong, especially if I could have seen it coming?
It’s made me quietly grateful for all the small, tedious safety rules. Not because they prevent every disaster - but because they sometimes do.
https://reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1kp9sxn/ship...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yard_(sailing)#Manning_the_yar...
At least this bridge fall like a house of cards, I guess because the masts broke first.
For example, from 2001 to 2017 there were 1020 medium/high severity recorded "allision" incidents by just towing vessels/barges. That's over 5 times a month. [1]
10%+ of recreational watercraft accidents are with fixed objects. [2][3]
There were 18 bridge collapses (in the US) due to vessel collisions over 53 years (1960 to 2013), so averaging roughly one bridge collapse every 3 years. [4]
[1] https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/DCO%20Documents/5p/CG-5PC... [page 9, chart 9]
[2] https://www.tuscaloosa.com/__aws/media/6553702_bridge-strike...
[3] https://www.uscgboating.org/library/accident-statistics/Recr... [page 7]
[4] https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/eesc/bridge/WBES/2013/Session9/9C_3...
[5] https://www.scribd.com/document/550271478/SHIP-AND-BARGE-COL...
In 1921, the steel mainmast on the six-masted schooner Edward J. Lawrence was bent as the vessel was being towed under the bridge at high tide. [2]
In 1935, the first three of four steel masts were bent as the Hamburg-American freighter Tirpitz passed northward under the bridge during an "abnormally high tide." [3]
In 1986, a radar was knocked out of commission when the South Korean freighter Hai Soo scraped the bridge while heading south. [4]
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/nyregion/brooklyn-bridge-...
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/1921/02/04/archives/ship-bends-mast-...
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1935/10/03/archives/masts-of-freight...
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/11/nyregion/new-york-day-by-...
The boat in Baltimore weighed at least two orders of magnitude more, and directly struck a column.
This boat hit a span with a basically negligible piece of wood. I'd be shocked if that shut the bridge for more than an hour.
"Restart your computer to finish installing important updates".
At 8:30 PM, even if it had gone well, they'd have been motoring against a 3 knot current that they could have had going their way instead.
I fear the reason they left then was so they could have their light show with the cadets on the yardarms just after sunset for greatest effect and audience... but then they should have picked another day.
A tugboat would have provided redundancy, waiting for a mild current in the opposite direction would have eliminated the risk.
Life is not a Super Hero action movie.
But the tallest mast is 158 feet and that’s a big jump.
Source: was on a tall ship for a week, and done some cliff jumping
You then get a bit of horizontal momentum and jump away from the centre of the ship, giving you a few seconds to fall away and hopefully hit the water.
If only 2 died then you'd need a pretty high survival rate from jumping for it to be advantageous over sitting still.
If you make it!
They'd call you some silly nickname forever too
I wonder why those experienced sailors didn't think of that!
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-detail-of-main-mast-of-tal...
Some kind of hybrid ship?
Operating a large, wind-powered vessel in a harbor or near shore is very tricky and dangerous (what if the wind suddenly doesn't provide enough propulsion to counteract some water current? what if it suddenly changes direction? breaking is also very tricky) which is why it's not done, and some auxiliary engine provides propulsion.
Also, having your ship stuck in port for days waiting for wind and tide to be suitable for leaving would have been commonplace before engines, as would bring becalmed for weeks on end and being unable to evade dangerous storms. None are probably high on the list of things these ships really want to be doing today.
The trouble I'm having is if they were leaving under engine power alone, with such fast current, why was the ground tackle not ready to be deployed?
We ran a much (much) smaller vessel with an unreliable engine and often pre-prepared our anchor before getting into port
Looks like it. It’s a sail training ship, but it has an engine looking at the infobox, presumably so it’s not relying on the sails for tours such as this, and maybe because the ship itself is for training and they need a failsafe? To be honest, I’m not gathering what the purpose of such a ship is to a modern Navy other than maintaining cultural continuity and a tradition in wind sailing.
EDIT: I'm still inside the edit window but there have been several good answers below. Rather than responding to each one individually let me just say y'all have provided some great answers. Thanks!
Germany puts all aspiring naval officers through a tour on the Gorch Fock.
It‘s kot just culture, although those ships also serve as excellent ambassadors to far-flung countries.
But it's really curious how it seems those collisions have been becoming more frequent (or only our awareness of it?)
Another alternative is "the sort" working better than ever which means that maritime employment in some places does not attract the best professionals
And that's on top of scheduling practices that are fundamentally negligent and dysfunctional to start with, like watch standers (whose job is to watch for and react to dangers to the ship) trying to perform duty shifts on 4 hours of sleep a night for months at a time.
Greed and AI will replace all workers. /s
It also raises a question as to whether the fault lies with the ship crew or with a local pilot who had local control of the ship.
Sal Mercogliano — a maritime historian at Campbell University - saw indications that the ship's engine may have been stuck in reverse.
See video edited from his livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2p9bYfFhHE
My bad for getting the full details .. I came to this story via a chain of bridge clearance fail stories and jumped to the assumption this was another intended passage clearance mistake.
There are some knuckle chewing engineering videos of planned water transits of "big loads" timed happen for a still water king low tide .. fast work with tiny clearances and major downsides on failure.
Big sailing ships don't work like that, you can't furl a sail without intense physical cooperation and teamwork.
And the USCG operates USCGC Eagle as a training vessel for future officers attending their Academy.
the one in new york is bad because it's cadets, on a world tour, they are the best, representing there country, and flag generaly these national training ships meet up somewhere each year and do a sail past, be interesting to see if Mexico pulls it together and can step new masts and be sea worthy in time