A boat crash that turned a whale-watching excursion into a chaotic day on the water outside Boston Harbor was probably caused by a navigational error, the Coast Guard said Monday.
Officials said the vessel strayed from the South Channel, a major passing lane, and struck rocks in a shallow trouble spot known as Devil's Back about two miles east of Deer Island.
"The [captain] made a judgment call; that's the direction the investigation seems to be going,'' Coast Guard Lieutenant Stephen West said. "I frankly don't know why he would have gone outside the channel.''
