There were life preservers on board, but the operator (who also died) told passengers they didn’t need to wear them, according to a survivor. All of those killed seemed to take his advice, because none were found to be wearing one. Fourteen people survived, including one member of the family that lost nine people.
A World War II relic on our streets and waterways
Vehicles known as “duck boats” are pretty impressive. You can drive one down the street, load a large cargo or a number of people, then drive straight into a body of water. With the power now going to a propeller, you can float away. But there are several severe limitations to these vehicles, which were developed for amphibious landings during World War II, making them too dangerous for their most common, current use - sightseeing trips for tourists.
The vehicle was originally needed to help troops come ashore in Europe and in the Pacific during World War II. It was originally labelled a DUKW. The “D” was because it was produced in 1942, U for amphibious utility truck, K for front-wheel-drive and W for dual rear-driving axles, according to the Washington Post. They could carry as much as 5,000 pounds of cargo or up to 25 troops. G.I.s dropped the “W” when referring to them and they became “duck boats.”
A demonstration for the military was planned for Cape Cod in Massachusetts in 1942. A sudden storm blew in the day before, mashing a Coast Guard Vessel against a sandbar. It was too dangerous for other ships to approach. One of the DUKW designers drove across the beach and into the water, saving seven Coast Guardsmen as their ship broke up. Eight months later, a thousand duck boats were used during the invasion of Sicily.
Their shortcomings quickly became apparent. They were unseaworthy in heavy seas when fully loaded, with many of them sinking during the D-Day landings. They became stuck in mud and were difficult to unload. Their wide frames caused traffic jams on narrow roads. But the U.S. was at war and desperate to win. Despite its limitations, the DUKW played an important role in the war effort.
Nostalgia, curiosity and fun seeking get people onboard a potentially deadly vehicle
Thankfully, the war is over and it’s no longer the 1940s. Now tour operators across the U.S. and in other countries use these vehicles, with their history being a selling point to tourists. But these hastily designed boats, meant to help us in a war effort, are unsafe to use as transportation today. Features added on to accommodate tour operators have made them more dangerous.
The sinking in Missouri is just one of a long list of accidents and deaths related to duck boats. A former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Jim Hall, states that they should be banned, according to an article in USA Today. He pointed out the similarities between the Branson accident and one in 1999 in Arkansas that killed 13.
Hall calls the vehicles "unregulated amusement park rides" because duck boats are neither a boat nor a bus, so they escape serious regulation. The vehicles were never designed for extended use, and some operators have made significant changes to them to carry more passengers and extend their operating seasons. Federal officials have warned for nearly 20 years about the dangers posed by duck boats.
An NTSB investigation of the 1999 Arkansas accident found that the Coast Guard failed to adequately oversee the private operation of these vehicles. The owner didn’t properly maintain a seal, which allowed water to leak into the vehicle and caused it to sink. A flaw in the duck boat design is that there’s not enough reserve buoyancy (the ability to float) that can allow the vehicle to float even if it’s flooded with water. Contributing to the deaths in 1999 was a canopy roof that trapped passengers in the vehicle as it sank. The duck boat that sank outside Branson had both a canopy roof and plastic windows added on.
A video of the Branson duck boat before it capsized appears to show that the windows might have been closed (possibly due to the rain), which may also have trapped passengers as the duck boat sank. There are no images of passengers jumping clear.
Duck boats travel on land and on water, so they’re supposedly regulated by the NTSB and the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard requires life jackets on boats, but it’s up to the vessel's master to tell passengers when to wear them during hazardous situations.
The NTSB has made non-binding recommendations that passengers not wear life jackets on boats with canopies, because if one sinks, the life jackets make the passengers float upward, where they’re trapped under the canopy. The NTSB has also suggested that canopies be removed from duck boats.
A history of fatalities on and off the water
Two people drowned in a duck boat accident in the Delaware River in Philadelphia in 2010. The vehicle, which lacked power because of an engine fire, was struck by a barge. It capsized and two passengers drowned, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Other fatalities and injuries have happened when the vehicles were being driven on the streets, reports USA Today.
- A pedestrian was struck and killed by a duck boat in Philadelphia in 2015. The operator, because of the vehicle’s design, was sitting too far back to see the person cross the road.
- A motorcyclist was run over by a duck boat in 2011 in Seattle. Four years later, a duck boat collided with a bus, killing five and injuring 69 in the city.
- In Boston in 2016, two people were killed in different accidents involving duck boats. Blind spots for the operators, caused by the vehicle’s design, contributed to the accidents.
There are tour companies making profits from these aging vehicles while they endanger the lives of their operators, passengers and others on the road and water. The federal government doesn’t seem interested in banning these rolling, floating, historic oddities as they continue to injure and kill. If you’re in an area where duck boat tours are available, do yourself and your family a favor. Stay away. Whatever fun you may miss isn’t worth the risk.
