# The Mexican Navy rams the Brooklyn Bridge {Tall Ship that lost power} **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 18, 2025, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494 "2025-05-18T05:16:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/41 "2025-05-18T20:04:06Z")
Huh, interesting. From the video it looks like people went in. I must have mistaken bits of yards for people. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/42 "2025-05-18T20:23:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > plus, never rule out spell-check/AI deciding it knows best. In an age of on-demand research material a reporter should be able to knock out a couple of paragraphs with accuracy. Repeating what someone says does not negate the process. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/43 "2025-05-18T20:30:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Repeating what someone says does not negate the process. If you’re putting it in quote marks, you don’t change the wording. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/44 "2025-05-18T20:57:22Z")
Was there some tall ship regatta this weekend? It’s a terrible tragedy, so awful, and wth went wrong? @What_Exit so little info available from authorities should this have a breaking news tag? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/45 "2025-05-18T21:06:21Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > If you’re putting it in quote marks, you don’t change the wording. If it’s wrong then report what actually happened which is what a reporter is paid to do. Anybody can put something in quotes. A reporter’s job is to present information accurately. What if the quote was “flying monkeys attacked the crew and disabled the ship”. “Eye witness caught the video of it on their phone but flying monkeys stole the phone”. It should have been reported as a ship lost power and was swept into the deck of a bridge by the current. The masts were damaged by the deck of the bridge and 2 people were killed. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/46 "2025-05-18T21:11:46Z")
> [@chela](#): > > @What_Exit so little info available from authorities should this have a breaking news tag? I don’t think so. There won’t be anything but small updates over the next few weeks. So a wide ranging discussion on it is good I think. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/47 "2025-05-18T21:15:48Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Was there some tall ship regatta this weekend? It’s Fleet Week. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/48 "2025-05-18T21:32:39Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I never sailed on a square-rigger. (few these days have). But to the best of my knowledge, to unfurl the sails, you have to send sailors aloft on the yards to do so. I have. We did have to climb into the rigging to unfurl the sails, but in the video I saw, the _Cuauhtemoc_’s sails were unfurled, but not set, when she hit the bridge. Setting the sails is done from the deck after they’re unfurled. My first thought was that the injuries and fatalaties were from the crew doing the ceremonial manning the yards, but it’s also possible they were back on deck and got hurt by the masts, sails, and rigging coming down on top of them. One question I’d ask is how much warning did they have between when the engine quit and the ship hit the bridge. Ironically, my ship was berthed at the South Street Seaport for a while. She then went to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, to be converted to a sailing ship. Whether they have the facilities to repair the _Cuauhtemoc_ I can’t say. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/49 "2025-05-18T22:05:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > My first thought was that the injuries and fatalaties were from the crew doing the ceremonial manning the yards, but it’s also possible they were back on deck There are photos of men all over the yards before the strike, and clinging to the bent remains immediately afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/50 "2025-05-18T22:08:24Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are photos of men There were women sailors pictured being medically transported after the incident, so not all the uniformed sailors were men. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/51 "2025-05-18T22:23:05Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > There are photos of men all over the yards before the strike, and clinging to the bent remains immediately afterwards. I saw some, but not as many as if they were all manning the yards. I couldn’t see if anyone was up high enough to be on the part of the masts that broke and fell. There may have been enough warning to get everyone below the bridge height, but not all the way to the deck. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/52 "2025-05-18T22:41:10Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I saw some, but not as many as if they were all manning the yards. Were they manning all 9 yards? ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2025, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/53 "2025-05-18T23:15:45Z")
To unfurl or take in the sails it is necessary for the sailors to go out onto the yardarms. Here is a wikipedia article about the ship with a photo showing the sailors out on the yards: > **[ARM Cuauhtémoc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cuauht%C3%A9moc)** > > ARM Cuauhtémoc is a sail training vessel of the Mexican Navy, named for the last Mexica Hueyi Tlatoani, Cuauhtémoc, who was captured and executed by the Spanish conquerors in 1525. > Cuauhtémoc is the last of four sister ships built by the naval shipyards of Bilbao, Spain, in 1982, all built to a design similar to the 1930 designs of the German firm Blohm & Voss, like Gorch Fock, USCGC Eagle and NRP Sagres. Built at the Celaya Shipyards in Bilbao, she was designed by naval engineer Juan José Alo... ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/54 "2025-05-19T00:09:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@chela](#): > > > > Was there some tall ship regatta this weekend? > > It’s Fleet Week. Close but no. Fleet week starts on the 21st. This ship was leaving yesterday before the start of fleet week. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > My first thought was that the injuries and fatalaties were from the crew doing the ceremonial manning the yards, but it’s also possible they were back on deck and got hurt by the masts, sails, and rigging coming down on top of them. There is a park on the Brooklyn side and a lot of people were taking video of the ship. There are a ton of different videos out there. There was one angle that showed at least two bodies falling from the top of the masts to the deck. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/55 "2025-05-19T02:37:53Z")
South Street Seaport is really close to the Brooklyn Bridge. Some years ago I spent a leisurely afternoon sitting with friends at one of the outdoor Seaport restaurants looking at the bridge. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > The East river is a strait or tidal estuary. > I believe Spuyten Duyvil Creek also gets involved. An old Dutch name corrupted by the English. I used to work not far from Spuyten Duyvil. "Dutch in origin, Spuyten Duyvil can be translated in two ways, depending on the pronunciation. One translation is “Devil’s whirlpool,” and indeed, sections of the creek were sometimes turbulent during high tide. The second interpretation is “to spite the Devil.” This translation was popularized by Washington Irving’s story in which a Dutch trumpeter vowed to swim across the turbulent creek during the British attack on New Amsterdam “en spijt den Duyvil (in spite of the Devil).” [https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/inwood-hill-park/highlights/8272](https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/inwood-hill-park/highlights/8272) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/56 "2025-05-19T04:23:06Z")
My nephew works in the ESPN studio at Pier 17. The ship was docked their all week. They moved it back there temporarily. He wasn’t at work when it happened so he didn’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/57 "2025-05-19T07:39:40Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Were they manning all 9 yards? In 50 years, when someone is doing a literature search to find the true source of that expression… ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/58 "2025-05-19T07:48:07Z")
Generic pictures show them all wearing safety harnesses. 1. That would have slowed them while trying to get down. 2. But it would have saved life in the collision. My immediate thought was that falling off the yards onto the deck or into the ocean was a common cause of death during the age of sail, so of course people were hurt and died in this collision. I see now that modern practice takes that into a account. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/59 "2025-05-19T08:54:10Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Sounds like they were trying to get the sails up, to regain control. Except all the sails were furled at the time. There was no way they’d be deployed in enough time to do any good. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2025, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494/60 "2025-05-19T09:09:21Z")
> [@](#): > > result of the mass striking the bridge, That has since been corrected in the linked article. But (at the time of writing) it still refers to the “sailboat”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mexican-navy-rams-the-brooklyn-bridge-tall-ship-that-lost-power/1018494.md?page=4)