Germany’s Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation has released a preliminary report suggesting that a mast repair on the ketch Amicita may have been the cause of a fatal accident in which three male passengers were struck and killed by falling rigging on August 21th.

The ketch Amicita was built in 1889 and worked as a sailing cargo carrier. In the 90s, she was converted for passenger service. A German family of twelve had chartered the ketch with the captain and his wife, for a family vacation on the Wadden sea.  On a Sunday in the early afternoon, on the last day of their vacation, the main mast broke. The falling mast and rigging killed three men aged 19, 43 and 48.

At the time, press reports described the tragedy as a “freak accident.”  The preliminary investigation now suggests that it may have been caused by a faulty repair to the main mast.

As reported by Maritime Executive: “Underneath a stainless steel wear sleeve screwed to the mast, they found repairs executed by placement of wooden wedges into mast sections which were previously rotten or worn. Water could gather under the stainless sleeve, entering into the wood at the point of the repair and leading to rot. 

Investigators found moisture penetrating all the way to the core of the mast at the point of the break, and they estimated that only about 25 percent of the mast’s wood was still present for strength. 

The German authorities noted that their results are preliminary while a Dutch investigation continues. However, they warned German operators that the same type of incident could happen on any similarly equipped vessel with wooden masts, and urged them to carefully inspect their rigging and repair work – especially on working passenger vessels.“