A broken mast aboard the Maine schooner Grace Bailey that left one person dead and three others injured on Monday was an unusual, but not unheard of, maritime event, according to seasoned local sailors and official Coast Guard documents.
However, the ship has been involved in a handful of other reportable maritime incidents in recent years, including a collision last summer that damaged the part of the ship which supports the masts. Those incidents occurred when the Grace Bailey was under different ownership and a different captain.
According to Coast Guard documents, the Rockland-based windjammer ran into the schooner American Eagle in Rockland Harbor on July 8, 2022, while attempting to make a turn. No injuries were reported but total damage costs between both ships totaled around $100,000.
“The Grace Bailey’s jib boom broke and fell into the water as well as breaking a number of lines and rigging for the jib and flying jib,” the report said.
The jib boom is an extension of the bowsprit, at the front of the vessel. Ships’ bowsprits typically hold lines which support the main masts.
In 2005, the Pride of Baltimore II, a ship 25 feet longer than the Grace Bailey, lost both its masts while sailing through a storm off the coast of France. The failure came after the bowsprit on the front of the vessel failed, leaving both masts unsupported in heavy winds.
In 2016, a Coast Guard navigation and vessel inspection guidance circular cited 18 deaths on record due to failed rigging, spars or masts. The circular also states that, in most mast-failure cases, corroded or insufficient support rigging was to blame.
After the Grace Bailey’s collision last summer, the ship was repaired then recertified by the Coast Guard on July 27, 2022. The Grace Bailey’s most recent certificate of inspection expires on June 20, 2027. Certificates describe certain minimum manning and safety equipment requirements, as well as the total number of passengers a vessel may carry.
Four days before the collision with the American Eagle, on July 4, 2022, Bailey ran aground off of Scott’s Island near Stonington. It also ran aground three years prior, according to Coast Guard documents, on Cross Island Ledge, in Penobscot Bay, with 20 passengers onboard, on August 19, 2019.
Jim Sharp, a former Maine schooner captain with 40 years of experience, said he’d never seen a mast break like the one on the Bailey.
“I’m astounded,” Sharp, who now runs the Sail, Power and Steam Museum in Rockland, said.
As a Maine windjammer captain, Sharp said he’d dealt with emergencies, including a woman going into labor, a few twisted ankles and having to put tipsy passengers ashore for their own safety. But he had never encountered anything like what happened on Monday.
Sharp said the only reason for the wooden mast to break that he could think of, in such gentle weather, was rot, from water infiltration.
“There’s nothing else it could be,” he said. “I’m surprised nobody noticed it — but I’m not blaming anyone, of course.”
Sharp said, in his experience, inspections usually don’t include close-up looks at the mast.
“In all my years, I’ve never seen a Coast Guard man go aloft,” he said. “But I suspect that will change after this.”
Portland Harbor Master Kevin Battle said he had no guesses as to why the Bailey’s mast broke but he doesn’t worry too much about the growing numbers of tall ship charters in his waters.
“I’ve been on the water since 1980, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of something like that happening,” Battle said Tuesday.
As harbor master, Battle oversees a busy port with private sailboats, giant oil tankers, mega yachts, cruise ships, groundfishing vessels and lobster boats all sharing the same waterway. Also, the Portland Schooner Co. charters four historic wooden sailing vessels on the State Pier.
Battle, a former Coast Guardsman, said the only local sailing ships he’s ever seen have broken masts are ones trying to fit under bridges without enough clearance. He said the historic wooden charter and day sailing ships sailing out of his harbor are not high on his list of worries. Those boats, Battle said, are all Coast Guard inspected and run by professional, licensed captains.
“I’m more worried about ‘mister private sailboat owner’ trying to take a shortcut through the islands and getting hung up on a ledge,” Battle said.
While neither Sharp nor Battle remember any similar sailing tragedies, Battle reckons there are inherent risks involved with life on the water, where calamities are bound to occur.
“It’s a tragedy,” Battle said. “But I don’t care who you are, no matter what, sometimes, things just happen.”
This story was updated to include previous mishaps occurred under different ownership and a different captain.
