On August 13, a small cruise ship allided over three other boats.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the Regency was full with passengers when it experienced an engine problem that prevented the ship from slowing.
“It looked like the captain had no control,” said Rick Natale, a T-shirt vendor who witnessed the crash.
Natale told WCVB the Regency hit the Codzilla speedboat, then wedge between a whale-watching boat and a water taxi.
He said the Regency was loaded with passengers.
“Once it started hitting the boats, that’s when they started screaming. They saw there was a problem,” he said.
Other witnesses described thick, black smoke pouring from the Regency as the captain apparently tried to reverse engines.
“Once he backed out, he tried moving back in again, repeatedly. I mean, this occurred about three times,” witness Myron Yatskiv said.
He said passengers on board the Regency appeared stunned as they waited for firefighters to rescue them.
“We got everybody off the boat. And there were no injuries reported,” district fire Chief Paul Burke said.
Investigators spoke with the crew.
Boston Harbor Cruises, which operates the Regency, issued a statement saying its engineers “have determined that an air control actuator in one of the vessel’s four engines malfunctioned.”
The statement went on to say, “This failure prevented the captain from disengaging forward propulsion on the outboard starboard engine during his approach to Long Wharf.”
Two windows on the lower deck of the Regency were smashed and part of the Codzilla’s stern was visibly damaged.
The Coast Guard said the Regency and Codzilla would require repairs but the other two boats were deemed seaworthy.
Tourist Mike Cunningham said he and his family had been on the whale-watching boat when it was hit.
They were told that they had to get off and wait for a later cruise.
“We’re going to go out at five o’clock if there’s one available,” Cunningham said.
When asked if he was discouraged by the incident, Cunningham replied, “No, we came all the way from Texas to watch these whales.”
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Source: WCVB
