By: Anthony Gulizia, News Staff
There’s an old maritime tradition that says a captain should never abandon his ship – if the boat sinks, the captain goes down with it.
Nicholas Daniloff, an avid rower and journalism professor at Northeastern University, carried out this tradition beyond its extent. Rather than sinking with his ship, he saved it.
Daniloff was out on the Charles River for his morning row at approximately 8:50 a.m., Sept. 28, preparing for the Grand Master Veterans, a singles race for rowers 70-years or older in the Head of the Charles Regatta. As he passed under the Boston Arch of the Larz Anderson Bridge and set his course for the Weeks Bridge, an eight-person freshmen boat from Harvard University collided with him.
“I heard a shout from the Harvard coach and we immediately struck each other,” Daniloff said. “My boat rowed on top of the eight, between two Harvard oarsmen, and I recollect one Harvard oarsmen holding the ball on the end of bow and pushing me off [their boat]. I was shaken, but in no way injured. I asked [the Harvard coach] if I was in the right place, meaning was I in an incorrect place, and he never answered that question.”
Daniloff said that the boats disengaged, the Harvard coach asked if he was okay and he began to row back to the Riverside boathouse.
“I had no idea [there was a hole in the boat], nobody knew,” Daniloff said. “There was a six-inch gash in the bow, and as I went through the River Street Bridge, it was clear that the bow was going underwater and the boat became unrowable so I bailed out. What else could I do?”
The 76-year-old professor clung to the boat with his left hand and swam with his right towards the Riverside boathouse, which was slightly further than a quarter of a mile away. Finally, an individual in a single boat spotted Daniloff and offered help. Daniloff grabbed the stern of the helper’s boat with his right arm and hung on to the damaged shell with his left and was towed to safety.
“I was swimming for some time and was getting tired,” Daniloff said, who has been rowing since 1950. “I was glad to have a tow. [When the collision happened], I was never concerned something more drastic would happen. When you have an accident like that, you’re shaken and there are a lot of things you don’t think about. I wasn’t thinking about the Head of the Charles, but I was sad the boat was damaged.”
Daniloff is still waiting to hear from Harvard, which is yet to file a report of the incident. Looking back on the incident, he said he would have acted differently.
“I would have swum to the Weld boat house, which is right across the river – it would have been shorter. I should have gone to the nearest dock, the coach of the Harvard crew should have come with me should to assess the damage, and he should have brought the boat back to Riverside.”
The Grand Master Veterans race Daniloff is rowing in is scheduled for Oct. 23, and his shell is being repaired by boatbuilding extraordinaire, Graeme King.
King, who has been building racing shells since 1965, is working on the boat in his Putney, Vt., shop, King Boat Works.
“I’ve got to ponder about this one,” King said, who designed and built the boat for Daniloff six years ago. “There’s a crack that possibly runs six inches to four feet inside of the hull. Fixing the crack isn’t bad, but getting to it is the difficult problem.”
King said that he is certain that the Sitka spruce and African mahogany boat will be ready for the Regatta, but there is still a sense of urgency to repair the boat, as he wants to give Daniloff time to practice in it.
King said that the boat weighs 31 pounds, but he estimated that the water added an additional 150 pounds.
“I would say that’s a pretty good effort of someone his age to be doing that,” he said. “There’s not too many people his age that would be willing to do that, or be able to do that.”
In the meantime, Daniloff is training in a boat from Riverside and said the collision won’t encumber his preparation.
Daniloff said he plans to compete in a time trial for the race Oct. 15, and will take the week off before the Regatta to rest his muscles.
“I’ve essentially forgotten [the incident] once I get in the boat and start rowing,” Daniloff said. “But it’s not totally forgotten because it was a bad incident. I’m more aware that I have to pay more attention to the boats on the River because everybody is practicing for the Head of the Charles.”
