NEW YORK — A 120-foot tall schooner ran aground Saturday and got stuck in shallow waters near the Statue of Liberty, officials said. No injuries were reported and the 121 tourists on board were ferried in small boats to a Lower Manhattan marina.
The Clipper City — a 158-foot-long steel-hulled boat that has six sails, two topsails and two steel masts — “hit something soft, like mud or a shoal” and ran aground off Liberty Island, said Thomas Berton, owner of Manhattan by Sail, which operates the tourist ship.
The ship was anchored in the harbor near the Statue of Liberty and was to be taken back to port by a tugboat after high tide, Berton said. He said the vessel was not damaged.
The Clipper City didn’t take on any water and there were no reports of pollution, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Frank Iannazzo-Simmons.
The passengers were taken to the North Cove Marina via nine small rescue boats from the Coast Guard, fire and police departments.