A 477-foot oil tanker hit three unmanned sailboats near the mouth of the Piscataqua River on Wednesday afternoon.
Neither injuries nor a fuel spill were reported in connection with the incident, which occurred near Kittery, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the Coast Guard said in a news release.
The Coast Guard was notified about 4 p.m. of the crash, which involved the tanker Chem Venus and the three sailboats, which were unoccupied and moored at the time. The sailboats were damaged but remained afloat.
The Coast Guard launched two 47-foot motor lifeboats from Station Portsmouth Harbor and an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Air Station Cape Cod to provide an aerial pollution assessment.
The Coast Guard was working Wednesday to determine if there was any damage to the Chem Venus and to contact the owners of the sailboats.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.