A huge, tall ship, a training ship for the Mexican Navy, was in New York City as part of a promotion for next year’s Sail4th tall ship event, which will celebrate America’s 250th birthday. 

But it had a big problem on Saturday as it appeared to sail right into the Brooklyn Bridge, taking out its masts in the process. 

Warning for graphic language: 

BREAKING: Mexican Navy training ship Cuauhtémoc crashes into the Brooklyn Bridge. pic.twitter.com/AwmMI9kTHi

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) May 18, 2025

Multiple people were injured when the tall ship’s masts crashed onto the deck. 

A search and rescue operation was underway to pull people out of the water after one of the towering 147-foot masts — which has a crew of 277, mostly cadets — collided with the bridge’s road deck just before 9 p.m., sources told The Post. 

“The boat was coming under the bridge, and there were sailors on top of the boat, the sails hit the bridge and then people were falling off of the boat sails,” witness Elijah West, a toursit from Texas said. “I believe they were trying to do like a little show. It’s the Mexican Navy. 
It was crazy, though, yeah. 
We were standing under the bridge and we all started running. Then I saw people hanging from the sails. Police boats came around fast – about five minutes later.”

They are looking into whether there was a loss of power on the ship. 

Another view of the Mexican tail ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge pic.twitter.com/XVmwRYxFaI

— Karli Bonne’ 🇺🇸 (@KarluskaP) May 18, 2025

Here’s a clip of the cadets who were on the ship on May 13. 

Mexican navy tall ship Cuauhtémoc gives New Yorkers a preview of Sail4th event celebrating America’s 250th birthday pic.twitter.com/rcQoMdJQza

— New York Post (@nypost) May 14, 2025

This is a developing story, so we will keep you updated.