This is not the first time this vessel has been involved in a crash.

Coast Guard records indicate that the same Seastreak ferry in 2009 slammed into a New Jersey dock and tore a 2- to 3-foot gash in the starboard bow of the vessel.

A year later, a collision with a dock pile punctured a hole in the port side of the same boat.

Wednesday's crash also drew comparisons to an unrelated 2010 incident when a ferry with mechanical problems crashed into the Staten Island Ferry terminal, injuring 36 people.

That ferry was the same vessel involved in an October 2003 crash that killed 11 people and injured 42, considered one of the worst ferry accidents in New York's recent history.