Rescue efforts under way as American Heritage takes on water; governor confirms incident in Mississippi River Tanker collides with cruise ship on Mississippi River in New Orleans Martin J Davies, a maritime expert at Tulane University, told local news outlet Fox 8 that he suspected the incident was caused by either steerage failure or engine failure. “This ship is headed upriver and for it to have lost the ability to avoid the moored vessel, there must have been some fairly substantial failure, with the steering gear or the propulsion of the ship to prevent them from avoiding the vessel on shore,” Davies said. Continue reading...