A Mexican navy sailing ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday during a promotional tour in New York City, the top of its mast brushing the iconic span as it sailed through the East River.
New York City mayor Eric Adams said two people were killed in the incident – another 19 people were injured, including two critically. There were 277 people aboard the ship – the Cuauhtémoc – when it lost power and struck the bridge, Adams said.
In a scene captured in multiple eyewitness videos, three masts of the ship could be seen snapping and partially collapsing as they crashed into the deck of the bridge. Videos showed heavy traffic on the span at the time of the collision. The vessel, which was flying a giant green, white and red Mexican flag, then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
Well you'd be 100% incorrect. If you watch the video, you can see the ship is going backwards, it wasn't intended to pass under the bridge at all, because it obviously couldn't.
I'd still think a Captain of a vessel like this should be capable of metric to imperial conversion as a prerequisite of holding the position, for all that you may be right. While Americans definitely should grow up and adopt a proper sensible modern system of measurement, it really shouldn't be beyond a person captaining a ship to employ a calculator.