Made Hundreds of Times, a Pilot's Routine Trip Goes Horribly Wrong (NYC Ferry)

NEW YORK (AP) - Just before 3 p.m., the Andrew J. Barberi docked at a terminal at the tip of Manhattan to drop off its passengers, while Assistant Capt. Richard Smith took up his position in the ship's pilot house. As he had done hundreds of times before, Smith readied the 300-foot, bright-orange ferry for its return trip across New York Harbor to Staten Island.

Less than 25 minutes later - with Smith, by one account, slumped over the helm - the ferry slammed into a maintenance pier on the Staten Island side, killing 10 passengers and injuring more than 60.

In the chaos that followed, Smith, 55, fled the scene and drove home, where he shot himself with a pellet gun and slashed his wrists, police said.

Exactly what happened at the end of the trip across New York Harbor is now the subject of a federal investigation.

On Wednesday, Smith had reported for work at 1:30 p.m., and along with Capt. Mike Gansas, he made three trips across the harbor - a picturesque if routine journey for the 15-year veteran of the Staten Island Ferry service. The five-mile, 25-minute trip affords passengers postcard views of the Statue of Liberty and the skyscrapers at the tip of Manhattan.

The weather Wednesday afternoon was unusually windy, with gusts of up to 45 mph, but ferry pilots are used to operating in far worse weather. About 1,500 people had boarded the 22-year-old ship, many leaving work early to catch the Yankees-Red Sox game on television.

The 3 o'clock ferry was at about one-third capacity, and the passengers included office workers trying to make it home before rush hour and construction workers who start their work days early. On the top deck, tourists from Texas to Australia huddled in the chilly wind, taking in the sights.

By usual ferry practice, Smith would have been joined in the pilot house during the crossing by Gansas and a deckhand. Under city procedures, a ferry's captain and assistant captain are typically in the pilot house as the vessel enters port, although that is not a Coast Guard rule. And exactly what happened on Wednesday is not yet clear.

As the ferry approached the St. George Terminal on Staten Island, passengers lined up at the front of the ship to get a head start while disembarking. But the boat did not slow as it approached the terminal.

"When we were a few hundred yards away, some guy starts yelling, 'We're going to hit it!'" said Thomas Berg, 11.

Some passengers ran to the back of the ship or to one of the two upper decks as the vessel approached. Others grabbed life preservers. Still others held on to anything solid they could find or clung to whoever was next to them.

"It never slowed down," said Jim Resnowski, 27, a tourist from Dallas. "It was going full speed until it hit."

Investigators said Gansas told them he found Smith slumped over the controls. He said he tried to take control of the 3,335-ton vessel but could not steer clear of a concrete maintenance pier several hundred yards from the passenger pier.

As the vessel hit, pilings sliced into the side of the steel ship, creating a horrific grinding sound as it tore through the hull at the first-floor window line.

Many passengers on the upper deck simply lost their footing, but those below deck were thrown about. The vessel continued on for several seconds, tearing a 250-foot-long gash that extended eight feet into the boat.

"We hit and people started screaming," said Bob Carroll, a 52-year-old lawyer. "I looked to my right and the whole side of the boat starts to disappear."

Passengers described seeing decapitated bodies, torn limbs, people piled atop one another and under debris. Some feared the boat would sink, but the damage was above the water line, and the ferry did not take on water.

"There was a lady without legs, right in the middle of the boat," said Frank Corchado, a 29-year-old elevator mechanic. "She was screaming. You ever see anything like that?"

The crew eventually steered the boat into the passenger dock, and firefighters and police officers arrived quickly.

Meanwhile, Smith slipped out amidst the chaos and went home. Police said that he attempted suicide and was taken to a hospital, where he was in critical condition.

Now where all those folks from last night who were adamant that the media just went into a feeding frenzy in reporting that the pilot had gone home and tried to kill himself?

"This was a terrible accident"

Carnage, just carnage. There will be an awful lot of well deserved law suits. It shows you that anything can happen at any time. You can't do ANYTHING to ensure that something down right freakish and awful won't happen to you. There was one guy quoted in the NY Post, a foreigner, who said words to the effect of 'I understand how these things happen in my country, were all the equipment is all old & broken down, but how can such a thing happen here?" I guess he didn't realize it had nothing to do with the equipment at all, just the error prone humans operating it.

re: There will be an awful lot of well deserved law suits. )))

Only the deep of pocket deserve to be sued, and only in a court system that welcomes the plaintiff.

19,000 people died in Europe this summer because of poor nat'l management of hospitals and nursing homes during a long heat wave. Lawsuits are deserved, but I doubt there'll be much courtroom activity...

IOW--deserved, schmeserved. Irrelevant.

actually, "we" did have something to do with the accident (maybe not you and I, but a majority of the other voters). we elected the power structure in the city, that allows munipcal unions to exist without oversight, and that union is likely the reason why a captain with a medical condition that should not have been piloting a ferry, was piloting it.

he shot himself with a pellet gun

Staten Island, where this guy lives, is part of New York City.

I seem to remember that any kind of pellet or BB gun is illegal in NYC.

was reported 1500 passengers on board, how many law suits will be filed?

Just a guess, but I think 1500

This was a little stretch of the imagination on the incident of a bus accident with 4 people riding, when the cops got there 15 were on the bus.

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