the loud creaking of the pilings

[Michael Eisenstadt]

Frances Morey wrote:
> 
> The boat "careens" off the pilings? No?

No

Jon Ford wrote:

> Career is mainly used with horses-- maybe 
> "careen" would be better, as it is a nautical 
> term. 

to careen is to lay a boat on its side for cleaning of
a fouled bottom.

to career is "to move at full speed...turning this way 
and that" (shorter OED)

I wrote:

> the boat gently careers off the wooden pilings left 
> and right and fetches up to the landing with a barely 
> perceptable bump.

Jon Ford again:

> Anyway, the sentence has a macabre cast in the light 
> of the recent catastrophe on the Staten Island Ferry. 

???????

> Is it a quote from the Times?

No

I wrote:

> the boat gently careers off the wooden pilings left 
> and right and fetches up to the landing with a barely 
> perceptable bump.

amanuensis Mike