Allision (Allided)

The title of the NTSB report on the Marseilles Dam accident is "Allision of the Dale A. Heller Tow with Marseilles Dam" (new URL). I looked up Allision in my regular dictionary and did not find it. So I got the bigger dictionary off the shelf. Still no joy. I know the NTSB avoids using terms like "accident" or "crash". I've seen "incident" as one of their favorite euphemisms. So I was wondering if "allision" is a new euphemism or if it really means "running barges into a dam". A web search quickly determined that it is a maritime law term that means a moving vessel violently running into a stationary vessel or an object. It is distinguished from "collision", which means two vessels running into each other. So a ship does not collide with a bridge, it allides with it. Furthermore, an allision is a violent contact. For example, a ship scraping a bridge pier fender as it passes under the bridge is not an allision.

Jeremy Lee Ellis commented on a post via Dennis DeBruler

Speaking of allisions, I came across a video of a ship entering the Panama Canal's Gatun Locks on an angle and smashing one of the mules.

Some of the allisions that I have documented.

• barges with the Marseilles Dam
• Lost/PTC(Rock Island)/P&PT 1900 Bridge over Illinois River at Pekin, IL
• A barge with Pensacola Bay Bridge in 1989
• There have been several allisions with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, but the one that destroyed its 1200' span was on May 9, 1980.
• A tow vs. the Pennsy bridge at Louisville
• Nine barges with the upper control structure of the McAlpine Dam at Louisville
• 3-barge tow vs CSX/L&N Bridge in Nashville
• a runaway barge with the Hoffman Bridge
• Barge sunk after towboat allided the Thebes Bridge  "Normally, the drivers aim for the far left pier of the bridge, and the current carries them through the middle safely. He said he believed the boat's captain may have been unfamiliar with the river or was caught off-guard by the strong current caused by heavy flooding." [semissourian]
• W. E. Fitzderald with Lake Street Bridge
• Barges with the Webbers Falls Dam
• The steamer Tioga with the Halsted Street Bridge
• The SS Marie Leonhardt with the Delair Bridge
• A barge with the Hoffman Bridge
• A steamboat with the first railroad bridge over the Mississippi River
• The towboat Zeus with the TZPR/P&PU Bridge
• The Pontokratis with the B&O Bridge over the Calumet River
• some barges with Emsworth Dam in 2018
• 9 barges with Emsworth Dam in 2024
• 1965 John T. Hutchinson and 1992 H. Lee White allisions with Grosse Ile Toll Bridge
• Ava Claire tow with a gate in the Leland Bowman Lock
• Algoma Compass with the southwest abutment of Bridge #21 on the Welland Canal
• Dali destroyed the Francis Scott Key Interstate Bridge, killed six workers and shut down shipping in the port
• Antonio Chavez with 1924 Spokane Street Bridge in Seattle, WA
• A ship allided with the C&WI bascule bridge on the Calumet River in July 1970
• A big oil barge with the Pelican Island Causeway at Galveston, TX
• A tow allided with a dolphin of the Santa Fe Bridge over the Mississippi forcing it open for 18 hours.
• The freighter Champlain with Fassett Street Bridge in Toledo, OH in 1957.  The bridge was not replaced.