Boat Collision in Boston Harbor

[elbows wychulis]

Huge catamaran hits two other boats

August 15, 2005


Boston Globe

BOSTON — Four boaters waiting out a thunderstorm on Boston Harbor Saturday night had seconds to plunge into the water before a 100-foot catamaran headed to the Hingham shipyard slammed into their vessels, the wife of one of those who dove to safety said Sunday.

"They're lucky to be alive," said Marilyn Gagne, whose husband, Dana, 36, escaped with his swimsuit and cuts and bruises, as his cellphone and wallet sank into the ocean.

Gagne said her husband and three friends, all of Quincy, had been traveling in a lobster boat and a motor boat when the lobster boat broke down.

The boaters told Coast Guard officials that they had anchored in a busy waterway, the West Gut Channel, off Quincy, when the high-speed catamaran, the Nora Vittoria out of Boston, crashed into them.

The Coast Guard is investigating whether the disabled boat's location, or the stormy weather, or both, had contributed to the accident, said Petty Officer Daniel Farina of the Coast Guard barracks at Point Allerton in Hull.

It is also unclear why the captain of the catamaran, John Parker, had not spotted the smaller vessels from the bridge or on radar.

No arrests were made, and no citations were issued, Farina said. Parker passed an alcohol test at the Quincy Police Department immediately after the collision, said Alison Nolan, general manager of Boston Harbor Cruises, which leases and operates the catamaran.

Quincy police would not confirm the information Sunday.

The crash sent three of the four boaters to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, said a hospital spokesman, Richard Pozniak. Jeffrey Crispo, 35, a tunnel worker of Quincy, suffered the most serious injuries and was admitted for treatment, Pozniak said. Crispo was listed in good condition Sunday, but his mother, Mary Lou Crispo, said he was experiencing numbness in his legs.

His brother, Steven Crispo, 42, also of Quincy, a bricklayer, suffered a broken nose, and was released, his mother said. Gagne, a landscaper, was treated and released.

Jeffrey Crispo's wife, Nicole, was also a passenger, but she was not treated at the hospital, Pozniak said. Sunday, she declined to comment.

Nolan said Boston Harbor Cruises had placed Parker on leave pending the outcome of the investigation. But she said the captain is experienced and drove that waterway frequently.

The Nora Vittoria had taken a group on a whale-watching cruise during the day, and had dropped off its passengers in Boston. The captain and four to five crew members were on their way home to the Hingham shipyard, Nolan said. She said that no members of the crew had been injured.

Mary Lou Crispo said the recreational boaters were coming back from a barbecue when the engine quit on Steven Crispo's lobster boat, then Jeffrey Crispo's boat pulled alongside to help. The group was trying to start the engine when Nicole Crispo looked up, spotted the catamaran, and shouted for everyone to flee.

Crispo said her sons are former fishermen who know the waterway well. They would not have stopped, she said, if they had not broken down. She wondered why the catamaran had not spotted the boats on the radar.

"They could have been killed," she said, adding that the boats, approximately 30 feet each, "weren't real, real small."

On Saturday night, Coast Guard officials were rushing to help at least three other disoriented boaters who had frantically called for help trying to figure out where they were going, Farina said.

Then, shortly after 9 p.m., the Nora Vittoria issued a distress call. The three-story catamaran, which fits 400 people, smashed into the lobster boat and sank it.

It left the fiberglass boat crumpled and partially submerged; the vessel was towed to Quincy.

"Those boats just got demolished," Farina said. "They were all in pieces by the time we got there."

A Coast Guard vessel arrived in minutes and plucked three of the boaters from the water. One boater was on the deck of the Nora Vittoria. All were covered in fuel and surrounded by debris, Farina said.

[Marianna Max]

Anyone know the names of the boats or where they are normally moored/slipped? Another report said this happened after 9pm so it would have been dark, is that true?

[Appleton68]

It was in the midst of a series of huge thunder & lightning storms which resulted in a "microburst" in at least one neigboring town.

[Neil Gordon]

I know the area of the accident well. It's a busy channel with high speed ferries plying it regularly. Broken down and/or anchored there, a broadcast on channel 16 and 13 would have been a good idea.

[NedsPoint]

the funny thing is, the Ferry operators said a lighting strike took out theirradar (although, one could agrue the capability of radar in a severe lighting storm anyway!), and both the boats anchored in the channel, said they were having engine issues.

Sounds like mutual CYA to me.

[NedsPoint]

(...thats lightning, not lighting....sorry)

[Jay Kanavos]

I too know the area well. I sail out of Boston Harbor and it is an extremely busy harbor with high speed ferries and large power boats that refuse to give way or even reduce their wake. Throw in the LNG tankers, Coast Guard, Harbor Police, and others and you have a congested area. While the harbor has great scenary, it demands your complete attention at times.

Jay

[Marianna Max]

Were the disabled boats showing lights? Radio and lights should have helped. I've sailed in the areas as well and the larger craft don't have a lot of leeway so us smaller craft do have to pay attention. Being disabled in a busy channel isn't where I'd want to be and I'd have every light on and talking up a blue streak to let people know I was there.