Fact Check

That's One Way to Launch a Boat!

Photographs show an expensive yacht capsizing during transport.

Published Jun 28, 2007

Claim:   Photographs show an expensive yacht capsizing during transport.


Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, June 2007]




65' Custom Built Motoryacht, staterooms, gps navigation, twin supercharged diesels, etc. = $ 2.5 million.

Crane and Rigging complete with faulty turnbuckle = $2,500 per hour.

Champagne and Strawberries, dockside, for the excited "soon to be owners" = $250.00.

Watching your dreamboat nose dive into the harbor, accompanied by two corporate representatives just prior to "inking" the final paperwork ... Priceless.












Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge



Origins:   According to the site cargolaw.com, the above-depicted yacht mishap occurred on 7 March 2007 at Port Jebel Ali (a man-made harbor in the Gulf of Arabia outside Dubai, UAE). When the pictured $1.5 million Carver 55' Marquis Motor Yacht was being lifted aboard a cargo ship by slings for transport to the U.S., it slipped out of the forward sling, plunged bow-first into the water, and capsized, with the friction from the rear sling tearing off the yacht's propellers, shafts, struts, and drive train.

A marketing representative with Carver Yachts confirmed that this explanation is basically correct:



We are aware of this accident. The sling broke while it was being
placed in the water. They are legitimate pictures that you have
forwarded on to us.

(The first photograph above is included to illustrate the loading procedure and did not necessarily originate with the same sequence.)

Last updated:   2 July 2007

 

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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