Coast Guard investigating cruise ship crash in Boston Harbor

The large-capacity speedboat Codzilla was one of several boats involved in an accident Saturday.

On Saturday, a Boston Harbor Cruises ship hit three boats while pulling into a dock.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the cruise ship Regency suffered a mechanical failure that prevented the ship from slowing as it pulled into the harbor.

"It looked like the captain had no control," Rick Natale, a T-shirt vendor who witnessed the crash, told WCVB. According to Natale, the Regency hit the Codzilla, a speedboat, then became wedged between a whale-watching boat and a water taxi. All of the vessels belong to Boston Harbor Cruises.

The Regency was carrying dozens of passengers at the time of incident Saturday morning.

"Once it started hitting the boats, that's when they started screaming. They saw there was a problem," said Natale.

Firefighters were called to the scene to escort passengers off the ship. District fire Chief Paul Burke confirned that everyone onboard was able to disembark safely and there no injuries reported.

Though other witnesses described black, thick smoke billowing up from the Regency as the captain apparently tried to reverse, only minor damage was reported and the Coast Guard said there was no water pollution as a result of the crash.

Boston Harbor Cruises issued a statement saying its engineers "have determined that an air control actuator in one of the vessel's four engines malfunctioned. This failure prevented the captain from disengaging forward propulsion on the outboard starboard engine during his approach to Long Wharf."

The whale watching boat and water taxi sufferend only superficial scratches but the Coast Guard said the Regency and Codzilla would require repairs and will continue to investigate the cause of Regency’s engine malfunction.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.