Men's Crew Shell Hits 2-Man Boat on River

A Harvard men's crew shell collided with a two-person boat in the Charles River at 5 p.m. Monday, injuring one of the rowers of the recreational craft.

The injured rower, 50-year-old Newbury resident John Condon, yesterday blamed the student boat for the incident, but a Harvard crew coach said both crafts were at fault.

The two boats were rowing through the middle of the river in opposite directions when the accident occurred. The bow of the Harvard shell crashed into the recreational boat, causing it to overturn.

"They were both in the center no man's area,' moving in opposite directions," said Charles Butt, the varsity lightweight coach. Rules for rowing traffic dictate that boats going upstream must row on one side of the river and boats going downstream on the other.

Condon blamed Harvard's coxswain for not spotting his boat's approach.

"The coxswain from Harvard said he never saw us at all. The coxswain is supposed to look out for other boats because we don't have one [coxswain]," Condon said.

The bow of Harvard's boat scraped Condon's back as he fell into the water. Crew member John Hammond '94 jumped into the river to help him. "It happened quickly," Hammond said. "We tried to stop rowing but it was too late."

Hammond said he jumped in because he thought Condon's foot was "stuck in the bow of the boat."

"I was beginning to lose feelings in my legs and one of the Harvard fellows jumped in and helped me hang on to his boat," Condon said. "The coach's boat came over and helped me out of the water."

The injured man suffered "severe lacerations to the back and cuts to the left hand and right leg," according to the police report. He was brought by ambulance to Brigham and Women's Hospital and released the same day.