The owner called the surprise storm a micro-burst blowing thru the harbor. He said a person on land warned the driver by radio, and he immediately headed for shore.
A witness on shore said it flipped in strong winds as it was trying to U-turn. This HAS to be DRIVER ERROR in the way he handled it.
During a high wind, those boats get very tippy, and should never be allowed to get broadside to that wind. The driver hopefully ordered life jackets on everyone when it became rough, and especially before he attemted the u-turn, but it doesn't seem like that happened.
A safer maneuver would have been to try to keep the bow pointed mostly into the wind no matter what, and angle it towards the nearest shore. But that's hard to do since the motor is the only rudder, and that motor is getting lifted out of the water during each deep swell.
And whenever the motor lifts from the water, it revs WAY up (and it could burn out). Then when the rear of the boat drops BACK into the water, if the rev'ed propeller hits the water hard under too much power, it can easily break its rubber 'sheer pin'. (I don't recall the more correct name for that molded rubber). Then the motor is only good for slow speed crawling back to shore.
So another possible maneuver could have been to drop anchor from the bow, and let out ALL the anchor rope/chain that he had, and ride out the storm (plus radio and wait for help)
Rescuers hailed for keeping toll down Officials say more deaths probable if not for action of U.S. Navy reservists
As the wind whipped out of the Inner Harbor toward Fort McHenry late yesterday afternoon, Petty Officer Edward Mendez looked from the U.S. Naval Reserve Training Center on Fort Avenue and couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"It looked like a small toy boat blown out of control," Mendez said last night, recalling the initial moments of Baltimore's catastrophic water taxi accident. "The wind was so strong. I'd never seen anything like it."
"As the boat tried to make it back to shore, they tried to turn it, and there was nothing they could do. The wind didn't really push it up. It just rolled it over," said Mendez, 41, of San Diego.
Mendez quickly called 911 to alert the Baltimore Fire Department's water rescue station next door. He and his fellow naval officers then scrambled into action.
"It felt like the wind was a gale force," said Master Chief Melvin Johnson, 58, of Baltimore, who also saw the boat capsize. "The water and wind were just too much.
"We heard the building give a loud shake. I looked out and saw the boat. The water was getting choppy, and it was eerie, it was like the wind and water were overtaking the vessel.
"It started to turn to port, to try to go to safety or to turn back, and then it tilted and flipped over," Johnson said.
'As fast as we could'
Johnson said that although the center's reserve officers -- who were at the base for weekend exercises -- aren't specifically trained for such a rescue, there was no hesitation.
"I didn't have to call anyone," said Johnson, the senior enlisted man at the center. "Everyone automatically starting going and getting the boat together to get out there as fast as we could."
More than 20 officers scrambled aboard the center's 72-foot-long naval troop deployment vessel, which includes a ramp off the rear for easy movement into and out of the water.
Meantime, the people thrown into the water from the capsized 36-foot Seaport Taxi scrambled for whatever refuge they could find from the choppy, freezing water.
"I saw two people get onto the bottom of the boat right away, and some other people then got up onto it a few minutes later," said Mendez, who remained at the center with Johnson as they prepared for survivors.
Boat kept drifting
By the time the rescuers reached the capsized craft -- a little more than 20 minutes after Mendez and Johnson saw the accident -- it had drifted a quarter-mile farther from Fort McHenry.
"The boat kept moving farther and farther away," Johnson said. "The wind was still blowing, and it started going out toward the Key Bridge."
The naval boat and the fire department craft reached the capsized vessel at about the same time.
"Ten of our guys went into the water right away and started pulling people up onto the boat," Mendez said. "They had life preservers, that was it. They were freezing because the water was so cold. It didn't matter. They went in to do the rescue."
Mendez said he believed that 17 survivors were pulled from the water by naval officers and brought back to land.
"People were conscious. A few were not," Mendez said.
With the fire department's station and the naval training center side by side adjacent to Fort McHenry, officers immediately began helping firefighters set up treatment.
"We were bringing out blankets and clothing, whatever we could find," Mendez said. "Anything to help people get warm."
Johnson said T-shirts also were distributed to the shivering, wet survivors.
"Everyone looked so cold," he said.
After the survivors were transported to area hospitals, the reservists were taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for treatment, Johnson said.
"They need to be taken care of," Johnson said. "They were all very cold, and they needed to be checked out. They also needed to talk to someone because they had just seen people die. That's a tough thing."
While briefing reporters last night, Baltimore Fire Chief William Goodwin Jr. acknowledged how fortunate it had been that the two naval officers had seen the boat flip over -- and that the accident had taken place directly in front of both the naval center and the fire rescue station.
"Had no one been looking, this tragedy would be worse than it already is," Goodwin said.
The naval center's commander said he was proud of the efforts of his officers.
"I think it's great that they did exactly what they needed to do, without hesitation," said Cmdr. Jim McGovern, 39, of Virginia Beach. Va. "They responded to the situation out there as best they could.
"Things surely would have been worse if they hadn't have responded so quickly."
By the time Mendez finished talking to reporters last night, he appeared to realize the value of what he and his fellow officers had done.
"If it wasn't for the Navy," Mendez said, "a lot more people wouldn't have made it."
I also know the nature of a micro-burst, or white squall, which sank the original reproduction Clipper ship. the Pride of Baltimore. Yesterday's micro-burst apparently went over the Inner Harbor at about 60 MPH, headed towards Fort McHenry.
All of the water taxis are manned by qualified captains. One of the captains apparently at the dock, radioed the captain of this one that was headed for Fort McHenry that this was coming up on him. He azpparently tried to head for the nearest shoreline as quickly as possible, but didn't make it.
I don't see this as operator error. Everyone did what they should have in the presented emergency. I view this as one small step short of being overtaken by a suddenly formed water spout. Credits to the rescue personnel who were at the scene picking up people in the water, within minutes.
And never mind the ignorance of the press in suggesting (darkly) that none of the passengers were required to be wearing the life jackets that are stored under the seats. Since the estalishment of the water taxis, they have logged millions of passenger miles without a sinking incident. Imagine if a freak airline accident let to the suggestion that all passengers would have to wear their life jackets from the time the plane left the gate to the time it landed at its destination. That's how dumb this implied suggestion for the taxis would amount to.
Congressman Billybob