Latest news with #tugboat
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
A cargo ship that ran aground in Norway, narrowly missing a house, is being towed to a nearby harbor
A cargo ship that ran aground in a Norwegian fjord and narrowly missed a house, was pulled back into open water and was being towed to a nearby harbor on Tuesday — five days after the spectacular accident. A tugboat hauled and refloated the NCL Salten off the shore of the Trondheim fjord in the morning hours. The vessel was being taken to the nearby harbor of Orkanger. Norwegian broadcaster NRK quoted Ole T. Bjørnevik, the general manager of the tugboat company tasked with the refloating operation, as saying that it 'went better than expected.' Containers had been unloaded from the ship ahead of the refloating. The ship ran aground early last Thursday. No oil spills were reported, and none of the 16 people aboard was injured. The on-duty navigator, the ship's second officer, has been charged with negligent navigation after he allegedly fell asleep on duty.
Washington Post
5 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
A cargo ship that ran aground in Norway, narrowly missing a house, is being towed to a nearby harbor
OSLO, Norway — A cargo ship that ran aground in a Norwegian fjord and narrowly missed a house , was pulled back into open water and was being towed to a nearby harbor on Tuesday — five days after the spectacular accident. A tugboat hauled and refloated the NCL Salten off the shore of the Trondheim fjord in the morning hours. The vessel was being taken to the nearby harbor of Orkanger.
The Independent
19-05-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Four ‘worst-case scenarios' led Mexican ship to hit Brooklyn Bridge, expert reveals
A marine expert has revealed the four 'worst-case scenarios' which caused a Mexican naval ship to crash into Brooklyn Bridge, killing two people and injuring and 19. Sal Mercogliano, a former merchant mariner, said the ship's height, a powerful current, strong winds and the lack of a more controlled tugboat escort all resulted in the crash on Saturday (17 May). 'The prudent thing would've been to leave two hours earlier, when the tide was going out," Mercogliano told AP. 'But I don't think they ever envisioned that their engine would've propelled them into the bridge.' However, Mercogliano claimed the tragedy 'could have been a lot worse' had the ship's steel rigging not been in place, which stopped the masts from falling into the water.
CTV News
18-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Turbulent waters may have contributed to Mexican tall ship's crash into Brooklyn Bridge
Sailors work on the yard arms of the Cuauhtémoc, Sunday, May 18, 2025 in New York. The masted Mexican Navy training ship collided with the Brooklyn Bridge the night before. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) NEW YORK — When a Mexican navy tall ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, it was maneuvering in turbulent waters. The tide had just turned, and a fast current was heading up the East River as a 10 mph wind set in. While such hazards are easily handled by an experienced captain, mistakes can be costly in the heavily transited New York harbor, where narrow, curvy channels, winds howling off the jagged Manhattan skyline and whirlpool-like eddies can combine to make for difficult passage. In the case of the 300-foot (90-meter) Cuauhtemoc, two sailors were killed and 19 were injured Saturday when the ship struck the iconic bridge, toppling the vessel's three masts like dominoes as it drifted toward a crowded pier. It's unknown what caused the collision, and an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is likely to take months. But footage of the collision shot by horrified onlookers show the ship hurtling into the bridge in reverse at full speed, suggesting the captain lost control of the engine. There are also questions about whether a tugboat escort peeled away too soon and should have been rigged to the ship or stayed with it until it headed out to sea. Similar tugboat concerns emerged when a large cargo vessel crashed into a bridge in Baltimore last year. Sal Mercogliano, a former merchant mariner who has powered multiple ships through the New York harbor, said all those 'worst-case scenarios' — the ship's height, a strong current, heavy wind and the absence of a more controlled tugboat escort — all contributed to the tragedy. 'The prudent thing would've been to leave two hours earlier, when the tide was going out. That would've been the ideal time,' said Mercogliano, who writes a widely followed shipping blog. 'But I don't think they ever envisioned that their engine would've propelled them into the bridge.' Still, he said an even deadlier catastrophe was avoided by the ship's steel rigging, which prevented the masts from falling into the water, as well as the fact that the crew stayed harnessed in position rather than taking the risk that some members could tumble from a 12-story height as they scrambled down the rat lines. 'You could have had guys strapped in drowning in the river,' he said. 'This could have been a lot worse.' The Cuauhtemoc visited New York as part of a 15-nation global goodwill tour and was departing for Iceland when it struck the bridge at around 8:20 p.m., briefly halting traffic atop the span. Mayor Eric Adams said the 142-year-old bridge escaped major damage, but at least 19 of the 277 sailors aboard the ship needed medical treatment. Two of the four people who suffered serious injuries later died. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum lamented the loss. 'Our solidarity and support go out to their families,' Sheinbaum said on X. The Cuauhtemoc sailed for the first time in 1982. It is almost 300 feet long and its main mast has a height of 160 feet (50 meters), about 30 feet (9 meters) higher than the span of the Brooklyn Bridge. The vessel, which arrived in New York on May 13, backed out from the tourist-heavy South Street Seaport, where it had been docked for several days welcoming visitors. It's unknown if the Mexican captain requested a dock pilot to assist with the unmooring, but a harbor pilot was on board to sail it through the harbor, as required. Tracking data from Marine Traffic and eyewitness videos show that an 1,800-horsepower tugboat, the Charles D. McAllister, gently nudged the vessel as it backed astern into the channel but dropped off before the vessel turned. Seconds later, as the ship continued drifting in the wrong direction, the tugboat tried to overtake the vessel but arrived too late to wedge itself between the fast-moving ship and the Brooklyn riverbank. McAllister Towing, the company that would have operated the tug and been responsible for any docking pilot aboard, declined to comment. Following last year's crash in Baltimore, Mercogliano said, port authorities there tightened rules to require a tug escort and slower speeds for vessels sailing through the harbor entrance past the partially collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge. The ship in that crash, the MV Dali, was a 95,000-ton container ship about 50 times heavier than the Cuauhtemoc. Incidents in New York harbor are rare because large cargo ships and modern warships generally avoid the area due to the low height of the bridges. But in July 2026, the harbor is expected to play host to the largest-ever flotilla of tall ships from around the world to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Mercogliano said investigators will evaluate whether the Mexican crew performed the recommended safety checks prior to their departure. Typically that involves testing the engine's propellers, rudder and propulsion six to 12 hours in advance to make sure everything is working properly and nothing is left to chance. 'It's not like your car where you're just throwing your shifter,' he said. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat and the Senate minority leader, said any investigation should look into whether the Trump administration's federal hiring freeze affected the U.S. Coast Guard's staffing levels, safety procedures and accident-response readiness. 'After being fully briefed on last night's Brooklyn Bridge accident, one thing is predominantly clear: There are more questions than answers as it relates to exactly how this accident occurred,' Schumer said. Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge. 'We saw someone dangling, and I couldn't tell if it was just blurry or my eyes. And we were able to zoom in on our phone, and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,' Katz said. Just before the collision, Nick Corso took his phone out to capture the backdrop of the ship and the bridge against a sunset, Instead, he heard what sounded like the loud snapping of a 'big twig.' Several more snaps followed. People in his vicinity began running, and 'pandemonium' erupted aboard the ship, he said. He later saw a handful of people dangling from a mast. 'I didn't know what to think. I was like, is this a movie?' he said. Goodman reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Ruth Brown, Kyle Marian Viterbo, Michael R. Sisak and Jennifer Peltz in New York, Sejal Govindarao in Phoenix, Arizona, and Gene Johnson in Seattle, Washington, contributed to this report. Joshua Goodman And Susan Haigh, The Associated Press
CBS News
16-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Fisherman discovers historic shipwreck in the fog in Lake Michigan: "It sat there for over 100 years"
A Wisconsin angler fishing in the fog this week discovered the wreck of an abandoned tugboat submerged in the waters of Lake Michigan for more than a century, state officials announced Friday. Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Archaeologist Tamara Thomsen said that the society confirmed that Christopher Thuss found the wreck of the J.C. Ames. Thuss was fishing in Lake Michigan off the city of Manitowoc in foggy conditions on Tuesday when he noticed the wreckage in nine feet of water off a breakwater, she said in a message to The Associated Press. The society said that according to the book "Green Bay Workhorses: The Nau Tug Line," the Rand and Burger shipbuilding company in Manitowoc built the J.C. Ames in 1881 to help move lumber. The tug was one of the largest and most powerful on the Great Lakes, with a 670-horsepower engine. In this Thursday, May 15, 2025 photo provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Tim Pranke, a volunteer diver for the Wisconsin Historical Society, approaches the wreckage of the J.C. Ames tugboat which was scuttled in 1923 and was rediscovered on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, just off the Lake Michigan shoreline in Manitowoc, Wis. Tamara Thomsen / AP The tug served multiple purposes beyond moving lumber, including transporting railway cars. It eventually fell into disrepair and was scuttled in 1923, as was the practice then when ships outlived their usefulness, Thomsen said. The ship had been buried in the sand at the bottom of the lake for decades before storms this winter apparently revealed it, Thomsen said. A lack of quagga mussels attached to the ship indicates it was only recently exposed, she said. Historians are racing to locate shipwrecks and downed planes in the Great Lakes before quagga mussels destroy them. Quagga have become the dominant invasive species in the lower lakes over the last 30 years, attaching themselves to wooden shipwrecks and sunken aircraft in layers so thick they eventually crush the wreckage. "These kinds of discoveries are always so exciting because it allows a piece of lost history to resurface. It sat there for over a hundred years and then came back on our radar completely by chance," Thomsen said in a statement. "We are grateful that Chris Thuss noticed the wreck and reported it so we can share this story with the Wisconsin communities that this history belongs to." In September, maritime historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck announced they had discovered the wreck of the John Evenson, a towing tug was lost in June 1895 while assisting a freighter as it was entering the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal in Lake Michigan. The two historians also found the schooner Margaret A. Muir in June 2024. In March 2024, the wreck of the steamship Milwaukee, which sank after colliding with another vessel in 1886, was found 360 feet below the water's surface in Lake Michigan. That discovery came just a few months after a man and his daughter found the remains of a ship that sank in Lake Michigan 15 years before the Milwaukee, in 1871. Experts estimate more than 6,000 ships have gone down in the Great Lakes since the late 1600s.
