Shortly after 4 p.m., Boston and Cambridge firefighters and Boston and State police began rushing to the Mass. Ave. Bridge on a report of a sailboat tipping over in the wind and dumping somebody in the water. Just as firefighters were about to begin their "tech rescue," however, the person managed to get back in the boat and make his way to shore on the Cambridge side - where he was met by troopers and Cambridge firefighters. He declined medical attention.

The windsurfer now realizes you were right and apologizes for cursing you out.

Leslee captured an MIT alumnus crossing the Mass. Ave. Bridge yesterday.

Posted under this Creative Commons license and in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters were dispatched to the Mass. Ave. Bridge around 11:35 p.m. when somebody noticed a person on the ice on the Charles.

Mission accomplished:

Person is tethered with a rope and is now walking off of the frozen river to shore. ... Unknown why person was on the ice. Police to investigate.

UPDATE: The DA's office reports the victim was a 33-year-old Brighton man and that his death was declared "a non-homicide" after an autopsy and investigation.

State Police report recovering a man's body from the Charles River, between the Hatch Shell and the Harvard Bridge this morning.

Kenmore Square, 1928.

Complaints about traffic in Boston are nothing new. Even in the 1920s, news photographer Leslie Jones was capturing local traffic jams - and the accidents that often caused them. Here are some from the Boston Public Library's Leslie Jones collection (click on photos to see larger versions).

In 1924, the SS Leviathan moored at a South Boston pier. People flocked to see it; Jones reported "an angry crowd" of jammed motorists:

With no identifying documents to go on, authorities have released some information about the woman whose body was pulled out of the Charles River this morning after witnesses watched her jump off the Harvard Bridge, in the hopes somebody recognizes her. According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office:

On April 30, 1908, Harry Houdini walked from a nearby hotel to the Harvard Bridge, where he had himself chained up before he jumped into the still frigid Charles River. From The Amazing Harry Houdini:

"But aren't you even afraid, Mr. Houdini?" one of the reporters shouted to him. "Afraid?" Houdini asked with a loud laugh. "What do I have to fear? I am the King of Handcuffs. Nothing can hold me!"

And, of course, he eventually surfaced - after the assembled throng of some 10,000 began to fear he had drowned. That night, he appeared as scheduled at Keith's Theatre on Washington Street.

Photo from the Library of Congress.