Captain, owner charged in ferry accident

[kach22i]

Is there another similar story about a ferry going down in the St. Lawerence seaway last year? I'm confused.

Captain, owner charged in ferry accident
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070205/...huBHNlYwNtdHM-

By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. - The captain of a boat that capsized in 2005 in upstate New York, killing 20 elderly tourists, and the cruise line owner were indicted Monday on criminal misdemeanor charges.

A grand jury charged both Shoreline Cruises and Capt. Richard Paris with failing to have enough crew members aboard the Ethan Allen tour boat when it flipped over in Lake George, sending its passengers into the chilly water. Paris was the only crew member aboard; state navigation law required at least two for the 47 passengers on board that day.

The grand jury also made several legislative recommendations, Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said at a morning news conference. Details won't be released until a county court judge accepts the report, she said.

"They were greatly moved by this case," Hogan said of the grand jury members.

A statement from the panel said: "This accident was a great tragedy. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and friends."

There was no immediate response to calls seeking comment from Shoreline, Paris and their lawyers.

Anna May Hawley of Trenton, Mich., was on the boat with her husband, Earl, who died in the capsizing.

"I think I still am a bit angry," Hawley said Monday. "It's been a long time, but it's never going to go away. ... Whatever they do is not going to bring back the people who died."

Hawley wouldn't discuss whether she was involved in lawsuits against the boat operator, tour organizers or others, but said she believed more than the captain and cruise line owner were responsible.

"Somebody had to know that something was wrong."

Nine lawsuits have been filed in federal court by survivors and victims' families.

The day was clear and sunny, but investigators from the
National Transportation Safety Board believe the 40-foot boat was rocked by a wake from a passing boat, or multiple boats.

The federal board concluded last summer that the boat was dangerously unstable and should have carried only a quarter of the passengers even though the Ethan Allen was certified to carry 48 passengers plus two crew. Weight limits have since been modified.

Passenger capacity for the boat was calculated when it was manufactured in 1966, but modifications over the years made it less stable and capacity should have been slashed to 14 people, the NTSB reported.

___

Associated Press Writer Jeff Karoub in Detroit contributed to this report.

[Stephen Ditmore]

For answers concerning the Ethan Allen, please refer to these threads: Ethan Allen capsize: Lake George
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sho...610#post129610

Stephen

[safewalrus]

Yeah we 'slaughtered' that one last year! bit of disgrace as they were all apparantly 'oldies' (what older than me?)

[charmc]

George,

I don't recall any incident on the St Lawrence involving a ferry last year.

Too bad the captain is being charged. The news media will, as it did in the story you cited, focus on that relatively minor violation (not sure what another crew member would have done, except add to the load and make the boat more unstable!), and skim over the reduction in stability, which they don't understand.

The addition of a canopy structure obviously added "high" weight, which always reduces stability. I remember reading in Sebastian Junger's "The Perfect Storm" how the owner modified the vessel by adding to the superstructure, then decided not to conduct new stability tests. No one will ever know if the modification was a proximate cause of the boat's sinking in a massive storm, but it is known that crew reported her significantly slower to recover from a roll after the mods.

Cheers,

Charlie