What caused this sailboat to run aground?

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — This Samoa News photo taken yesterday morning shows a vessel, which ran aground behind the Paepaeulupo’o fautasi site in Aua. Witnesses told Samoa News that the incident happened late at night and government officials were at the scene helping people who were on the vessel.

This could have happened because American Samoa uses international buoy markings, which are opposite to the U.S. buoy markings. The red and green buoys are used to mark the path for vessels entering the harbor.

In the U.S. buoy system a vessel captain keeps the red buoy on the right or the ‘starboard’ side of the vessel when entering a harbor and cruising sailors have a little ‘ditty’ they recite — red right returning. 

While in the international buoy system, which American Samoa uses, you keep the green buoy on the right. The vessel’s captain probably assumed since American Samoa is a U.S. territory it would use the U.S. system. 

WRONG. An old sailor’s mantra is “Never enter an unknown port in the dark.”

According to a news report on KHJ, ASG officials say the vessel ran aground as it was drifting after it was refused permission to enter port the previous afternoon.