1 dead, 3 injured after schooner's mast collapses onto boat deck

One person is dead and three people have been injured when a mast broke on a schooner in Rockland Harbor, Maine, and fell onto the deck of the vessel.

Thirty-three people were aboard the Grace Bailey, a 118-foot schooner that was approximately one mile east of Rockland Harbor in Maine, when the New England Command Center received a call for help around 10 a.m. Monday morning “requesting assistance after their mast reportedly broke and fell onto the deck causing head and back injuries to four people,” according to a statement from the United States Coast Guard.

Coast Guard watchstanders immediately dispatched a Coast Guard Station Rockland 47-foot motor lifeboat (MLB) to the scene of the accident.

“The MLB crew arrived on scene and transferred a woman from the Grace Bailey to Rockland Harbor where she was transferred to awaiting EMS and pronounced deceased,” the U.S. Coast Guard said. “The MLB crew returned to the Grace Bailey with two EMS personnel to retrieve the three remaining injured people. The three people were transferred to EMS at Rockland Harbor and taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport.”

The medical conditions of the three injured people are currently unknown.

“In this time of sorrow, we offer our deepest condolences to the grieving family, and our most heartfelt wishes for a swift recovery to those harmed,” said said Capt. Amy Florentino, the Coast Guard Sector Northern New England commander. “Our investigation aims to identify causative factors that led to this tragic incident.”

Commercial salvage personnel responded following the accident and towed the Grace Bailey to Rockport Harbor where officials will continue their investigation into the schooner’s demasting.