Turbulent waters may have contributed to Mexican tall ship's crash into
Brooklyn Bridge
[May 19, 2025]
By JOSHUA GOODMAN and SUSAN HAIGH
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 evening when the training 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.”
Mexican authorities told the family of América Yamilet Sánchez that the
20-year-old sailor died after falling from one of the Cuauhtemoc’s
masts, her aunt María del Rosario Hernández Jacome said Sunday at the
family’s home in Xalapa in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
Earlier in the day Saturday, Sánchez, who was studying engineering at
the Mexican naval academy, had spoken with her mother and excitedly told
her that the ship’s next stop would be Iceland. Her parents traveled to
Mexico City on Sunday to arrange for the return of their daughter’s
body, Hernández said.
Relatives and friends arrived at the family’s home carrying flowers. A
small altar was set up on the patio with a photograph of Sánchez and
candles.
Ship was on a goodwill tour
The Cuauhtemoc visited New York as part of a 15-nation global goodwill
tour and was departing 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.
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.
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United States Coast Guardsmen arrive at Pier 35, Sunday, May 18,
2025 in New York, where the Cuauhtémoc, a masted Mexican Navy
training ship that collided with the Brooklyn Bridge the night
before, sits docked. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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.
Some vessels avoid harbor because of low bridges
Accidents 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.
On Sunday, the damaged ship was moored at Pier 35 in lower
Manhattan. A stream of people, including those who appeared to be
investigators and crew, could be seeing getting on and off the
vessel.
The Coast Guard said damage to the Cuauhtémoc was being assessed.
The Coast Guard established a 50-yard (46-meter) safety zone around
the ship as the investigation by both the U.S. and Mexican
governments got underway.
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.
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Associated Press Writer Alba Alemán in Xalapa, Mexico, contributed
to this report.
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