The unfortunate ship accident on the Brooklyn Bridge this past Saturday marks just one of several incidents involving vessels striking this historic structure since its inauguration on May 24, 1883.
One notable incident back in February 1921 involved the schooner Edward J. Lawrence, which collided with the bridge while being towed beneath it.
During that event, six ships navigated the bridge’s central span, and their towering steel masts ended up scraping the roadway above.
Then, in October 1935, the Tirpitz, a cargo ship from Hamburg weighing in at 8,000 tons and transporting fuel from Germany, also passed through the bridge, heading to Green Point in Brooklyn.
The initial three out of four steel masts of the ship buckled back, much like what occurred with the Mexican ship The Cuauhtémoc on Saturday.
Captain Adolf Gutenks of the Tirpitz believed the vessel would clear the bridge without issue; the mast was about 120 feet high, while the average bridge clearance was around 135 feet at high tide.
He later suggested that an “extraordinarily high” tide must have contributed to the accident.
The most recent significant collision before the latest one happened in April 1986 when the 520-foot Korean ship Hai Soo struck the bridge.
The ship was en route to Bridgeport, Connecticut, and as it navigated around Governor’s Island, it ended up colliding with the bridge.
This is the latest on the Brooklyn Bridge crash, including the tall Mexican Navy ship
Witnesses reported hearing a sound as the ship moved underneath; one, Bill Epes, recounted to the New York Times, “I heard a rub and it looked like something had fallen on the deck.”
Post-incident, the ship emerged on the other side with a large rope net entangled in its radar mast.
Remarkably, despite the collision, the bridge remained intact, though some protective safety netting for workers was damaged.
Interestingly, one radar on the ship didn’t register a fee, but it was deemed safe to continue sailing, thanks to a backup unit, according to Coast Guard spokesman Dennis Urenhop.
