'Broke loose from the dock.' Steamship Authority vessel drifts at Woods Hole terminal

The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority vessel M/V Sankaty “broke loose” Thursday evening and drifted from the Woods Hole terminal in Falmouth before coming to rest at a dock just north of the terminal at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, according to a Steamship Authority press release.

There were no injuries or damage initially reported, according to the Steamship Authority. The M/V Sankaty had been tied up for the day and was not in service at the tim, the release stated.

The vessel, built in 1981, carries up to 300 people including passengers and crew and can hold up to 39 vehicles.

The U.S. Coast Guard cleared the vessel to sail, and the release stated it will “remain on its normal schedule on Friday.”

“The Coast Guard did say it was OK to continue operations due to there being no damage to the vessel whatsoever,” said Coast Guard public affairs specialist Diolanda Caballero on Friday. “They did some testing on everything, they did soundings and they looked at the mechanical structure. There were no injuries and no damage on anything at all”

Steamship Authority and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday morning.

Were any trips cancelled due to the boat coming loose?

No trips were canceled and no changes to the Steamship Authority’s day-to-day operations changed as a result of the incident.

The M/V Governor canceled trips for the evening, the press release stated, but that was due to bad weather. A power outage at the Oak Bluffs terminal, on Martha's Vineyard, caused trips to be diverted to the Vineyard Haven terminal.

The Steamship Authority is a ferry operating service that provides trips to and from the Cape to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard for passengers as well as vehicles — from cars to large freight-carrying trucks. The Authority has terminals in both Hyannis, which ferries passengers to Nantucket, and Woods Hole, which operates ferries to and from the Vineyard.

Walker Armstrong reports on all things transportation and the Joint Base Cape Cod military base. Contact him at WArmstrong@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jd__walker.

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This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: No reported injuries after Steamship Authority vessel strays from dock