Bridge destroyed by a containership

[John Arton]

https://marineengineeringonline.com/...-on-ships/amp/
Here are the requirements for emergency generators on board.
Irrespective of the emergency generator appearing to start twice, it still doesn't answer the question as to why the vessel lost propulsion.
The vessel is, as far as I aware, is propelled by a conventional diesel main engine so if it suffered a main engine failure that seems, to me, to be a fuel supply problem.
The ship left the berth at 00:30 with the assistance of tugs, cleared the berth headed up stream past the USS Savannah then turned to head down river. Tugs released after the swing. At 01:35 suffered blackout and lost propulsion, at 01:38 hit the bridge whilst doing almost 7 knots. Latest is that wind and tidal current caused it to veer off course. Before striking the bridge it appears that it's port anchor was let go, perhaps in an attempt to halt any starboard swing or to slow down her motion.
Examination of the voyage data recorder will give the inquiry a full picture of the events leading up to the event.
A port state inspection some years previously had noted a deficiency in gauges and temperature displays but a later US coastguard inspection had given a clean bill of inspection.
Rgds
J.A

[Stan Carter]

#12, John, Reports here from both canadian and US news sources state the six who are lost were maintenance workers repairing pot holes. The pilot gave out a mayday to his base and requested the bridge be closed down of traffic, which, no doubt saved a lot of lives...Also the pilot had an apprentice pilot with him, quite something to tell his classmates over drinks.

[John Cassels]

Unfortunatly outlets such Face Book etc are full of speculation , most of them stupid and posted by so called armchair sailors.

For myself there are a couple of things that spring to mind. Surely it would be common sense to release the tugs after the bridge transit instead of before and;
If the helmsman had the wheel a bit to starboard at the time of blackout would that explain the fact that she kept swinging to starboard ? . Trying not to get
into the bad habit of making assumptions based on scant information ( as the collregs used to say).

[j.sabourn]

As notice by the various claims made by the media as to the cause of the accident , as they always do in any misadventure the nearest to the truth will be at the enquiry by people more aware of the shipping industry and only hope those appointed to do this job ignore all the Press releases as so much shooting their mouths off as will only muddy the waters. There is one thing outstanding if the reports are true that the ship took the final action to try and prevent and that was dropping his anchor which will and should be acknowledgement that those on board did their utmost to prevent. Let’s hope all the true facts are revealed at a later date. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Stan.
Got the same report on our news service, six riggers where killed and the SOS getting the traffic gates closed. There must have been very light traffic to have no one on the bridge, or else drivers saw the ship coming and stopped. No good speculating it will all come out.
Cheers Des

[Stan Carter]

Hi Des, Yes it's early yet for the facts to come out regarding what happened aboard the ship. We have enough masters and engineers on site to give much better insight as to the possible reasons she went astray, leave all the speculations to the armchair master mariners and super chief engineers. Cheers, Stan...

[happy daze john in oz]

Stan #22, latest is that two bodies recovered but sea too bad for further searching.

Problem is now that various media outlets are putting their own version of what happened, may take some time to find the truth.

Age of bridge from 70 to 25 depending on the reporter.
Some say built in 1970's making it about 50 plus, one said built in 90's.
So you takes your chance, maybe one is correct.

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S

[corrientes]

Repeat, all Indian.

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Master and Pilot being hailed as heroes locally for the prompt Mayday which enabled the closure of toll booths and sounding of ship's horn.

[J Gowers]

The bridge was there in the late 70s here is a photo I took from the Euroliner or Eurofreighter, can't remember which, just about to go under the bridge. BBC say it was built in 1977.

img617.jpg

[Johnny Kieran]

Going under the Verrazzano bridge can look a bit scary at times if you're on a big boat like a cruise ship. I often wonder about those super liners, if they can get under it? OK at low tide I suppose.