Sailors hang suspended in the air on Mexican navy vessel's mast after ship smashed into Brooklyn Bridge

Mexican sailors were seen dangling from a navy training vessel's main mast moments after the ship smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.

The sailors had been standing atop the Cuauhtémoc's 150-foot masts in the lead up to the ship striking the iconic structure on Saturday as part of a traditional greeting.

The massive Navy vessel, reportedly carrying nearly 300 passengers, hit the iconic New York City bridge, triggering a colossal rescue response and leaving two dead and dozens more severely injured.

In multiple eyewitness videos, the towering masts are seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crash into the bridge's deck. Sailors perched high above are thrown into chaos, with some seen clinging to the shattered beams high up in the air.

Bystanders Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told the Associated Press they were sitting outside watching the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge and one of its masts snap.

'We saw someone dangling, and I couldn't tell if it was just blurry or my eyes, and we were able to zoom in on our phone and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,' Katz said.

They reported seeing two people taken off the ship on stretchers and transferred to smaller boats.

The Navy personnel had been standing on the masts of the Mexican Navy ship as part of a ceremonial greeting and show of respect upon entering a port.

This tradition, known as 'manning the yards,' is a longstanding maritime custom practiced worldwide.

The sailors aboard the Cuauhtémoc appeared to have been engaged in this time-honored ritual during the harrowing crash.

some random thoughts—

Some possibly insightful info on a recent NYT article and reader comments:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/nyregion/nyc-ship-brooklyn-bridge-mexican-navy.html#commentsContainer

one says

“’ve got a pretty good idea of the cause of this, because the exact same scenario happened to me a few years ago in my 35 foot cruising sailboat. (I hit the dock with minimal damage and no injuries).
The ship backs out of its slip at low speed, in reverse. Then, when ready to make the turn to the desired course, the the order is given to shift the transmission to forward, and accelerate in forward gear.
But unbeknownst to the pilot, the engine is stuck in reverse through mechanical failure of the transmission. When the order is given to increase speed to stop backward movement, it only increases the speed in the wrong direction.”

I am wondering about the harbormaster (if i understand the term correctly). i imagine that permission to cast off is always cleared by the harbormaster for the pier of departure. the above comment outlines a potential failure mode. was this failure mode taken into consideration by the harbormaster? how about the lateness of departure increasing the chances of an accident and delayed emergency responses? was as someone else speculated the departure delayed into late in the evening by unspecified unforseen circumstances? beyond the harbormaster, should the pilot have delayed departure until the next morning and/or when the tide (as weak as it was) was flowing away from the bridge instead of towards the bridge?

ideally there would be a final safety check of all harbor port activity before departures and arrivals. it seems as if there was insufficient deference given to a final safety check if there was a final safety check at all. ideally (in my mind) the person performing the safety check would have some sort of combination institutional and geographic memory associated with the port which would enhance his or her safety awareness to the point that these types of accidents would not happen. is this the first time a tall ship hit the brooklyn bridge with its mast(s)? if so, perhaps there once was always in the past a person with such situational awareness at the port, but somehow that person and/or that situational awareness was lost, with the resulting accident we now know to be possible.

if there was a harbor pilot in charge of the ship for shoving off, then it seems to me likely that that person would be a US citizen (not a mexican citizen)— is that correct?

regardless, it seems that some criticism of putting crew members at risk by “manning the yards” is warranted... however, the responsibility seems as if it might be diffused across several commands...

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