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I just heard on the Syracuse news that survivors say that they felt a suddent shift of the boat to one side and that their benches were not anchored to the floor and everything slid to one side.

I had thought early on in this thread that a sudden load shift might have had something to do with this accident.

It brought to my mind the capsizing of the Eastland, the "crank ship of the Lakes" back in the teens. It was a poorly designed excursion ship, topheavy and too narrow, and when the passengers all moved to one side to watch a passing vessel, it capsized at the pier on the Chicago River. IIRC, almost 1,000 people drowned, mostly employees on a company picnic. It was a terrible tragedy, like the burning of the General Slocum off Brother Island, but nobody remembers it now.

There seems to be confusion about the seats on the boat. One passenger said they slid on the seat, not that the seat itself slid. There were other reports that there may have also been some chairs. I'm sure that part will be ironed out during the investigation.

In a way, I wish FOX TV would go home instead of beating the story to death and bringing in Napolitano to discuss all the litigation that will evolve from this sad event. The boat was inspected in May and it doesn't sound like any laws were broken or regulations bypassed. The owners have operated here for years and outside of occasional boating accidents occurring because of irresponsible behavior on the lake, we never have anything happen like this. I've never been on the smaller cruise boats, but I've enjoyed rides on the Minnehaha, the Mohican, dinner on the Lac du St. Sacrement, and took my first ride on the Ticonderoga (out of service now) when I was 5. The cruises are all very slow and quiet and turns are very wide and safe.

We live in a truly beautiful place, hosting national events like the Motorcade, the Adirondack Balloon Festival, LARAC. We have The Great Escape/Six Flags in the area, as well as many terrific ski areas in the winter. Someone mentioned on this thread that we are a service area. We are that and we do it well, as tourists who have flocked here for over a century will attest.

John Gibson kept asking if there should be an extra crew member on the boat, and while that option could be considered, it is a very small boat.

My prayers are up for those who died and their loved ones, but they are also up for the Captain, who is a complete wreck, and for the owners, who have always run a clean, responsible business.

They managed to get the boat partly up and closer to shore and I believe will wait until tomorrow to haul it up on the trailer. I'm hoping FOX will haul "something" as well.

We already have too many downstaters living here for 2 months of the year and trying to tell us what is best for us. We don't need a national news crew adding to that :)