September 14, 2012 – “Loss of propulsion” due to a failure of an engine control on the bridge is what the U.S. Coast Guard has determined was the cause of a crash last month of a sightseeing boat into a dock near Michigan Avenue.

At about 5:30 p.m. on August 6, Wendella’s brand new Lila, an 85-foot-long passenger vessel, collided head on with a concrete dock on the north bank of the Chicago River west of the DuSable Bridge. Nine people were injured and so was the Lila, the metal of its starboard bow dented.

The report says that as the Lila was first approaching, another boat was still docked and so the Lila turned around to make a second approach. That is when the port engine, instead of going into reverse and slowing the boat, failed. The master tried the starboard engine but that did not work either.

According to the Coast Guard, the Lila “lost the z-controllers on the bridge which prevented the master to have control of the engines prior to mooring” at the dock.

144 passengers and six crewmembers were on board. Of the nine who were injured, two were taken by ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital – one passenger with bruised ribs and the other with an injured hip. The other seven had, says the report, “scrapes and bruises.”

The Coast Guard was notified of the collision at 5:44 p.m. and over the next hour, two broadcasts on a marine radio frequency were made to vessels, alerting them to the collision.

After tests were conducted, the Lila was tied alongside another Wendella boat and taken the next morning to Union Station Dock for repair. During that trip, the Lila could use one engine for propulsion but the other boat was there in case it failed.

After the Lila was repaired, the Coast Guard did a final inspection. The Coast Guard also determined that the Chicago River was not polluted in the mishap. The investigation was closed on August 12. Loop North News filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain a copy of the final report.

The Lila had been delivered to Wendella just five days before the mishap.