Spirit of Washington Does Major Damage to DC Fire & FBI boats

From STATter911.com: Security cameras from the Metropolitan Police Department's Harbor Patrol caught the moment when a dinner cruise ship smashed into fire and police boats at a city dock.

The video obtained by STATter911.com shows the 160-foot Spirit of Washington first hitting an FBI boat and DC police boat. It then crashed into the 72-foot John H. Glenn Jr. The Spirit of Washington was then pushed a second time into the boats.

The Glenn, the city's main fire boat, ended up with a 15-foot gash in its hull. The FBI boat was also seriously damaged, STATter911 reported.

More: Read the full story and previous coverage of the incident on STATter911.com.

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Location: washington, DC (Show Map)

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Comment by Kirk D. Baughman on February 3, 2009 at 7:54pm: what happen to the drive of the boat?? maybe a rookie?

Comment by Rick McKee on February 3, 2009 at 4:32pm: Crazy. I remember watching this boat go up and down the Potomac when I lived in D.C.

Comment by FFTug on February 3, 2009 at 11:56am: Captain error. The gust of wind may have blown him off of the berth he was going to, but he was going full astern when he hit the boats. Probably trying to bail out of the approach he made to his berth by backing away. But doesn't excuse him from running into the other boats hooked up. Ooops.

Comment by David M Ross on February 3, 2009 at 11:52am: Looks like the dinner cruise ship is comming into her berth to fast. Over compensated on the reversal of the engines. If the cruise ship had twin engines and screws, there should have been no trouble backing down. The strong winds may have been a problem. A seasoned Capt. would have taken the conditions into play and made the correct approach to the berth. Maybe there was a steering casualty, or just plane old human error. The old Cranial Rectal Inversion.

Comment by Nick Devries on February 3, 2009 at 8:47am: what was the cause of all this? i heard it was a gust of wind, but looking at the video, it almost looks like capt. error. i have zero boat experience though, so i could be wrong.

Comment by Jerod on February 3, 2009 at 8:42am: i've worked on boats before. ironically enough, he'll probably be given a raise and a brand new boat to capt.