One by one, the passengers shuffled toward the exits — bags in hand, music in their ears — gathering in a neat crowd to step off their New Jersey commuter ferry and into the frosty Lower Manhattan morning.

The boat approached its dock just before 8:45 a.m. on Wednesday, churning toward Pier 11, at South Street and Gouverneur Lane. Right on time. Or perhaps a hair too early.

Suddenly, the vessel appeared to hit a wall.

Steve Mann, 39, an animator from Rumson, N.J., had been dozing on the second level, when the boat seemed to go from “60 to zero.” He collected himself, groggily, about 10 feet from where he had been sitting.

Sheila Carson, of Monmouth Beach, N.J., was perched on the lower level. In a flash, she careered into a table, injuring her neck and shoulder, as blood and broken glass began to speck the aisles. She had difficulty breathing.