Masts on commercial schooners must be tested every 10 years, longtime captain says
Wooden wind-powered ships that carry paying passengers — like the one in Rockland on which a passenger died this week after a mast broke and fell on her — must have their masts inspected every 10 years, according to a longtime Maine schooner captain.
Emily Mecklenburg, a Rockland resident who was a paid passenger on the schooner Grace Bailey, was killed Monday when the top part of one of the ship’s two masts broke off and fell to the deck. Three other people on board were injured.
Steve Pagels, who owns and operates commercial schooners in Bar Harbor but does not own the Grace Bailey, said that once a decade he has to remove the masts on his vessels and lay them on the ground for Coast Guard inspections.
The Bangor Daily News was unable to confirm with the Coast Guard if it requires mast inspections and, if so, when the Grace Bailey’s masts were last inspected. When asked about mast inspections, the Coast Guard provided information that said specifications about a ship’s masts must be submitted as part of an inspection but it was unclear what, if any, testing must be done on masts for the ship to pass.
Coast Guard records show the Grace Bailey passed inspection every five years dating back to 2002. The most recent inspection was in June, 2022.
A Coast Guard spokesman said this week that the agency has no information to release yet about its investigation of the accident, and no estimate for how long the investigation might take.
Suzanna Smith, one of Grace Bailey’s owners, declined this week to comment on the Rockland schooner’s history of inspections, mishaps and repairs. On different days in July 2022, the Grace Bailey collided with another boat and ran aground, according to Coast Guard documents. It also ran aground in August 2019. The ship was under different ownership and another captain when those incidents occurred.
Pagels said that, when his masts are inspected, they are removed and laid on the ground and then a licensed inspector goes the full length of the mast, tapping it with small hammers or mallets to see what sound it makes.
“You can tell,” Pagels said. “You go around and tap it and if it sounds dull, you investigate it further.”
A dull thump might indicate that the interior integrity of the mast is compromised, he said. More thorough testing can be done by drilling out a core sample to get a better look inside, he said.
If the mast fails inspection, it is either repaired and reinstalled or the ship gets a new mast before the ship is certified by the Coast Guard for commercial use, Pagels said.
Pagels said that years ago he considered buying the Grace Bailey when it was for sale, but he did not have any information about the condition of the mast on that ship.
“The whole thing is tragic,” he said. “Nobody wants to be a part of that. It’s sad.”
But even with Coast Guard inspections, equipment can fail, Pagels added. Smaller pieces of rigging on his boats have broken while customers were on board, he said.
“I worry all the time,” Pagels said. “You check everything I can. Everybody gets caught in bad weather. You have a lot of moving parts and a lot of forces at play, but the last thing you want is something falling down on somebody.”
Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport, where Mecklenburg worked as physician, plans to hold a private outdoor memorial service for her at 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 16, according to the Courier Gazette newspaper.