On 6/15/2023 at approx 21:50 hrs, a vessel struck a bridge causing injury and damage to both the vessel and the bridge.

The vessel was heading north through the croatan sound as part of a multiday trip from florida to new jersey.  The vessel had fueled up prior to departing wrightsville beach that morning and was under a half a tank when the vessel encountered rough waters.

The vessel then began experiencing issues with the fuel system that displayed as a fault on the digital display for the power system and resulted in the generator shutting off numerous times and power loss to the starboard engine.  The captain changed the fuel filter and noticed an improvement in the system's performance.

After travelling under the virginia dare bridge, the vessel again experienced power issues causing the starboard engine to lose power and the port engine to only reach idle speed.  The wind and current was pushing the vessel northeast out of the channel and towards the unlit william b umstead bridge.  The captain attempted to deploy the anchor but the remote system did not function.

The vessel struck the bridge pushing back the flying bridge and pinning the passenger behind the console.  The captain stated they were sitting side by side prior to the impact, but the passenger was unable to get out from behind the console before the collision.

The captain restarted the engines and maneuvered the vessel away from the bridge and manually deploye the anchor.  Ems personnel stabilized the passenger onboard the vessel and then transported her to the outer banks hospital where she was treated and released for minor injuries.

The concrete guardrail on the bridge was pushed in approximately 2 inches and the vessel sustained serious damage to the flying bridge.

The probable cause of this incident was mechanical failure of the fuel system and improper lookout.  The diesel fuel tank likely had water introduced into it at some point that led to the proliferation of microbes in the fuel.  The rough waters dislodged the build up of microbes clogging the fuel filter.  Had the captain taken early action to manually deploy the anchor prior to approaching the bridge, the collision may have been avoided.

***please note:  this report was manually entered into bard due to continued transmission issues between report beam and bard***

****bard, please do  not delete this report***


****end of report****
CROATAN SOUND
MANTEO                        