Troy

The Captain JP III, damaged in an ice jam in January that knocked the vessel from its Hudson River mooring, is back in operation after requiring costly repairs, its owner said Thursday.

After the 450-passenger ship was dislodged by a mass of ice, it slammed against the Congress Street Bridge before becoming lodged against the Livingston Avenue Bridge, which carries Amtrak trains across the Hudson, for hours in late January.

The incident left the ship with a damaged rudder, bent handrails and two ornamental smoke stacks that were knocked over.

The damage was superficial and repairs initially were estimated to cost between $75,000 and $125,000 — but after spending 45 days being repaired at the North River Shipyard in Nyack, the total repair costs came out to $400,000, owner Jim Pledger said.

"Shipyards aren't cheap," said Pledger, who added that the costliest repairs were below the water line. A new rudder for the dinner boat cost $20,000 alone, he said.

The ice jam that broke free and headed down the Hudson River on an early morning in late January knocked loose three tugboats at a marina near the 112th Street Bridge, carrying one of them over the dam adjacent to the federal lock at Bond Street in Troy.

The mass of ice and debris then struck the Captain JP III and several empty barges downstream, where they were eventually stopped by other tugs. One small barge was sunk just off Rensselaer.

No injuries were reported.

Pledger said the ship was tied down by 11 lines when it was knocked loose, as the flow of the river increased tenfold following a rapid thaw. The force of the ice mass meant the ship would have become dislodged no matter how the boat was moored, Pledger said.

He said he's been mooring his ships at the Troy dock for 15 years, and the only damage previously was to a rubber rub rail that protects the ship from the river wall. Repairing that was around a $300 expense.

But since returning from being repaired, the ship hosted a Mother's Day cruise, and will fulfill its normal summer schedule of weekend cruises.

Pledger said he's making new plans for storage of the boat this year, and expects to dock it over the winter in New York City.