1 killed when mast breaks off Maine tourist schooner co-owned by actor Marc Evan Jackson

Don Jacobson
·2 min read
UPI
The schooner Grace Bailey, built in 1882 and restored as tourist ship, is shown in a 2007 photo. One woman was killed when a mast broke and onto the deck Monday as the ship was returning from a cruise. File Photo by Cinster/Wikimedia Commons
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Oct. 9 (UPI) -- One woman was killed and three others injured when a mast broke aboard a restored tourist schooner near Rockland Harbor, Maine, on Monday, Coast Guard officials said.

The accident happened aboard the Grace Bailey, a 118-foot schooner, which had 33 people aboard while sailing about a mile off the port in northern Maine, according to statement issued by the Coast Guard Sector Northern New England.

Sector commander Capt. Amy Florentino said witnesses reported the mast broke and fell onto the deck, causing head and back injuries to four people.

One of the injured, a female passenger, sustained a serious head wound and was transferred by motorized life boat to an emergency medical crew waiting on shore, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The lifeboat crew then returned to the Grace Bailey with two EMS personnel to retrieve the three remaining injured people, all of whom were taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport.

"In this time of sorrow, we offer our deepest condolences to the grieving family, and our most heartfelt wishes for a swift recovery to those harmed," Florentino said. "Our investigation aims to identify causative factors that led to this tragic incident."

The Grace Bailey, which is co-owned television actor Marc Evan Jackson, was towed to Rockport Harbor by commercial salvage personnel.

The schooner, built in 1882 as an American lumber-carrier and restored as a passenger vessel in the 1990s, offers cruises of up to six nights in length with no predetermined itineries, according to the ship's website.

The mast split and fell while the ship was returning from a sold-out, four-night foliage cruise, the Portland, Maine, Press-Herald reported.

Jackson, best known for his recurring roles in television series such as Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, has participated in several of the ship's cruises this year but was not scheduled to be on this one, the newspaper said.