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Tour boat runs aground at entrance to Boston Harbor
By adamg on Sat, 07/03/2010 - 11:05am
Going down: Passengers being taken off the Massachusetts. More photos, video from the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard reports the Massachusetts "ran hard aground" around 10 a.m. at the President Roads South Channel off Deer Island - apparently on a rock known as Devil's Back.
The 168 passengers and six crew members were taken off the boat by another boat and brought to Pemberton Pier in Hull. The Coast Guard says one person suffered an unspecified back injury during the incident, which blocked one of the channels into the harbor.
Map showing Presidents Roads and the South Channel (larger version of this USGS map). Colors represent water depth; the closer to orange, the shallower the water. Via William Ricker:
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Comments
I love how ABC and
I love how ABC and "thebostonchannel.com" have been reporting that the schooner "Massachusetts" is taking on water with 168 passengers aboard. Close, but not quite.
Boston.com reported
at first that it was the "Spirit of Massachusetts", which is a schooner or some similar sort of vessel.
Yeah, so did I
Because that's what the Coast Guard initially reported.
Coast Guard report says "Spirit of Massachusetts"
at least it does now (maybe it didn't when you first linked to it)
Updated report
Calls it the Massachusetts.
Better Chart
A much better chart of the area can be found at http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/13270.shtml
And there's a buoy right there
Thanks for the link. Wow , that's a pretty bad screwup, there's a pair of buoys right at the rock marking the channel. I can imagine all the grief the captain is getting from all his buddies right now.... ;-)
Symbolic?
Massachusetts runs aground. This has real possibilities ... good thing it isn't closer to election time.
Mayday call
Listen to the Mayday call from the Massachusetts (requires Windows Media Player).
The Globe interviewed some of the passengers.
The news shows went NUTS over
The news shows went NUTS over this. Why?
Whit
170 or so people
That's a lot of folks to be stranded and imperiled.
Sound and Images
TV news is driven by pictures and sounds, not be importance or relevance. If you can give them an image (of a boat) and a soundtrack (of a distress call), they will cover it. The boat could be empty but for a cabin boy with a cell phone and it would have led every local newscast.
It's legitimate news
A large full ferryboat striking a rock and foundering in Boston Harbor is not an everyday occurrence. With a little less luck, it could have been a major disaster.
Amazing
This was all over the news and I mentioned it to 3-4 people - and not a single one knew what I was talking about.