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

There’ll be an inquiry. We’ll see how much “showing us respect” will weigh in the balance of two lost lives.

“We’ll see how much “showing us respect” will weigh in the balance of two lost lives.”

What is your point?

They’re going backwards at speed?

"So the sailors on the masts at bridge level are the most idiotic"

Sad too, the seaman on the second mast tried to grab the bridge but failed. The Captain is the idiot.

Thanks for the info.

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...

Cuauhtemoc Voyage: South Street to the Brooklyn Bridge | Did the Controllable Pitch Propeller Fail?

What’s Going on With Shipping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaCol5aijgw

Boy, they sure got rid of THIS story fast.