The pilot of the ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse did what he could to slow the vessel after it lost power as it neared the Francis Scott Key Bridge, the head of a trade association for maritime pilots tells the AP. Clay Diamond of the American Pilots' Association shared what he learned in conversations with officials from the Association of Maryland Pilots: Diamond said that after power was lost, the pilot immediately ordered a hard rudder to port—meaning as far left as it can go, per CNN—to prevent the ship from turning right; he also called for the port anchor to be dropped, which it was. More:
- About the anchor: Morgan McManus, an instructor at SUNY Maritime College in New York, tells NBC News that while a ship can drop anchor in a bid to prevent a collision, the Dali's size (984 feet in length) and speed (9.2mph) were working against it. "At 8 knots you need a couple thousand yards to do it," McManus said.
- Pilots and their expertise. The Dali is a Singaporean cargo ship, and every foreign-flagged vessel entering US waters must have a state-licensed pilot on board. They "hop on ships approaching ports and hop off after they leave the harbors," as NBC News puts it, giving orders that determine the ship's speed and direction. "These are among the most highly trained mariners in the world," Diamond said.
- Was it the fuel? One early theory regarding what could have caused the ship to lose power is contaminated fuel. NBC News spoke with Henry Lipian, a retired Coast Guard lieutenant and founder of the Introtech accident reconstruction firm. He posed these questions: "While in port, did they take on a load of fuel?" (The accident happened after the Dali departed the Port of Baltimore.) "Was it the proper grade of fuel? Was it contaminated?" The Wall Street Journal heard something similar from Fotis Pagoulatos, a naval architect in Athens, who noted contaminated fuel can cause issues with the ship's main power generators.
(Six people believed to have fallen in the water in the collapse
are presumed dead.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
