Under international maritime rules, a vessel is supposed to give way to another one on its starboard side, and the damage indicates<br />that the Crystal was to the Fitzgerald’s starboard, and therefore had the right of way.<br />The collision with the Philippines-registered cargo ship, the ACX Crystal, occurred about 60 miles off the coast<br />at 2:30 a.m. local time on Saturday, at a time when most of the crew of the Fitzgerald would have been asleep.<br />“When a big ship like that makes a drastic change in a high traffic area, that has to be explained.”<br />Sean P. Tortora, a veteran merchant marine captain<br />and consultant who said he had sailed through the area of the collision many times, said that evidence suggested the Fitzgerald was at fault.<br />Captain Tortora described the collision as a “T-bone” in which the bow of the Crystal hit the starboard side of the Fitzgerald.<br />Search crews had to work their way through the extensive damage to the Fitzgerald’s starboard side before they found the sailors, the Navy said.
