Residents in St. George?s watched in horror yesterday morning as the cruise ship knocked into three yachts moored in Powder Hall anchorage and almost sucked one yacht under ? as its passengers screamed for help on the radio.

An eyewitness and dock master at the St. George?s Dinghy Club, Gary Brangman said he just arrived at work at about 9 a.m. when he heard some people say the cruise ship was coming into St. George?s. ?We couldn?t believe it because the wind was so strong, so we all went outside to watch,? he said.

Mr. Brangman said the winds were gusting up to 33 knots at times as the made her way through the Town Cut.

?There was a yacht moored on the south side of the channel, almost inside the channel, and it looked like the yachts? anchor chain got tangled in the cruise ship?s propeller,? he said.

Mr. Brangman said it all happened so quickly that he still can?t believe it, but the yacht, appeared to lurch at a 45 degree angle and it looked as if she would be sucked under the cruise ship and smashed to pieces.

?We could hear on the radio the people on the shouting for help. It was terrible,? he said. He said miraculously the seemed to bounce back up to the surface and float away, but the cruise ship?s propeller seemed to have been damaged as it swung sharply to one side and apparently couldn?t turn ? knocking into two other yachts moored in Power Hall Anchorage.

?It looked like the lines on these two yachts snapped loose and they broke away,? he said. He said besides some obvious damage to its rigging, the and the other two yachts appeared to have escaped serious damage.

?It was quite a show and we were very concerned about the people on the , it could have been disastrous... fatal if they had been sucked under the cruise ship,? he said.

The incident is being investigated by the Marine Police and Pilot Warden, Edward Welch said late yesterday afternoon that he was still waited for the report from the pilot.