Updated
A Steamship Authority (SSA) dockworker was sent to the hospital after being hit in the jaw by a winch handle.
According to a witness account and the Steamship, the injury took place Saturday as the ferry Nantucket was preparing to make its 11:05 am departure from Woods Hole to Oak Bluffs.
Sean Driscoll, the SSA communications director, said in a statement that the tide caused the vessel to move, which led to the injury.
“At approximately 11:05 am Saturday, July 6, a dockworker at the Woods Hole Terminal was injured as the MV Nantucket was preparing to depart the dock,” the statement reads. “The tide moved the vessel, causing the docking winch to spin as the dockworker was releasing the vessel from the dock. The dock winch handle hit the worker in the jaw. Terminal personnel and a Massachusetts State Police trooper assisted the dockworker and called the Falmouth Fire Department, who transported the worker to Falmouth Hospital for further treatment.”
The name of the dockworker was not released by the Steamship Authority. Driscoll said these kinds of incidents are infrequent. He did not provide much further information about the incident.
The winch was located on the transfer bridge near the gallows, and the worker was not aboard the vessel.
A witness told The Times that it looked like a cable to hold the boat in the slip had snapped.
