Mexican navy tall sailing ship collides with Brooklyn Bridge

[putnam6]

I like, I dunno, thought like, the mast was like, shorter? or something? 
I got confused converting feet to metres. Like, we had like, some space, right? 

Hoping its really not as simple as that.

No, it was never supposed to go under the Brooklyn Bridge at all. That confused me, too.  I wasn't aware they were essentially backing out of the docking location, and lost control, or wasn't paying attention 

according to Beyond Knowledge
 

They came into dock on the same side of the bridge as the harbor opening. They docked bow in for display purposes. That is backwards from normal ship docking. They backed out of dock under diesel power and tug assisted to not turn too soon. They then turned down stream in the river to head out. The tide was coming in at 1.5 to 2 knots, the wind was also blowing upstram at around 10 knots. When the tug released from the stern, he ship turned quicker by the tide and wind forces.

It is speculated at that point ether the variable pitch prop failed to switch to forward by control failure or the pilot failed to work the controls. That part is under investigation.

It was shown in the videos that the ship was still under power when it hit the bridge, in reverse. The tug was trying to get behind it but was unable to do anything to help before the impact.

So it is ether mechanical control failure or pilot error.

[sahgwa]

Drunk helmsman

I don't always pilot a sailing ship from the Age of Sail in a foreign land, but when I Do..
It's 9 Dos Equis.

[BeyondKnowledge]

This video gives a good explainition of what is known. Why it stayed in reverse is still being investigated.