Our thoughts are with the crew of Cuauhtémoc, a Mexican training tall ship on a cultural diplomacy tour that struck the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend. Two people, a sailor and a cadet, have died and 22 more have been reported as injured.
Cuauhtémoc had been docked at the South Street Seaport Museum for several days, and planned to continue on to Iceland. They were scheduled to visit 22 ports in 15 countries on their eight-month tour.
Prior to Saturday’s incident, the ship was meant to fuel up at the Bay Ridge Dock south of Manhattan before heading out. Instead, the ship was swept up the East River and into the bridge. With the tallest of three masts being 147 feet, they didn’t have the air draft to clear the bridge, snapping all three masts and continuing to drift under the bridge, ultimately crashing on the Brooklyn side of the river. As part of the ship’s departure parade, cadets were standing aloft on all of the yards, harnessed in for safety.
A statement from the NYPD reported that a mechanical failure was responsible, but details are still to come about the specifics. The bridge has not suffered significant structural damage and was reopened shortly after the incident.
Those of us who’ve transited the East River are familiar with how challenging the currents can be even on a smaller, more maneuverable boat that hasn’t suffered any significant failures. Our hearts go out to the victims and their loved ones.
