Steamship vessel became unmoored because of 'equipment, procedural, human factors'
Officials from the Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority said at a Tuesday board meeting the vessel, M/V Sankaty, became accidentally undocked and floated away July 27 as a result of “equipment, procedural (and) human factors.”
The Steamship Authority also provided video of the incident to the Times.
“The Sankaty … slipped free from its berth in Woods Hole when one of the bowlines slid off the bollard, the vessel ended up drifting until it struck and came to rest at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution dock,” said Steamship Authority General Manager Robert Davis during a board meeting on Tuesday.
Video released of the incident showed the M/V Sankaty becoming unmoored and slowly drifting northward until it ran into the dock. The vessel took roughly two minutes to drift from the Steamship Authority dock completely, as shoreside personnel rushed frantically toward the Sankaty in an attempt to get control of the situation.
Individuals jumped onto the Sankaty to try to redirect it, a video shows
After the vessel began to float away, a ship can be seen crossing paths with the uncontained Sankaty as it drifted toward the other dock.
At one point, the video showed individuals jumping onto the vessel in an attempt to redirect and bring it safely back to its berth.
“It had five lines on the vessel, one of the bowlines slipped and another one followed it shortly after, and with the conditions, it was a windy and kind of choppy evening on that particular day,” which is what led to the vessel becoming undocked, Davis said during the meeting.
The procedural changes the Steamship Authority has implemented as a result, Davis said, have been to consider attaching six — instead of five — bowlines to docked vessels, additional verification and inspection on how taut the lines are, as well as updating the procedures on how shoreside workers put the lines over the bollards when docking vessels.
The M/V Sankaty made contact with the Oceanographic Institution’s Dyers Dock, but the Facilities and Marine Operations teams “did not find any material damage to the dock,” Suzanne Pelisson, director of public relations for the institution, said.
Due to privacy and confidentiality reasons, the Authority did not comment on any disciplinary action that might have been issued as a result of potential human error.
“We’re very fortunate there was no loss of life, no injury, no serious damage to either the vessel or to the dock, or no environmental damage that occurred,” Davis said during the meeting.
Walker Armstrong covers transportation and the military. Contact him at warmstrong@capecodonline.com. Follow him on Twitter/X: @jd__walker.
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This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Watch as Steamship Authority's M/V Sankaty floats away, without crew
