I doubt that much smoke would come from a backup generator start. Usually you get a puff of white smoke from totally unburnt fuel till it fires, then the governor kicks in and throttles back to match the load so not much black smoke. OTOH if you suddenly throttle up a big diesel running at low speed under load to emergency full throttle, you will get *LOTS* of black smoke, especially if the engine isn't fully warmed up yet. Whether that was with the engine initially making RPM for 8.5 knots, or was immediately after an engine restart; and whether it was a desperate attempt to get flow over the rudder, or going full astern to take way off, will no doubt come out in the NTSB report.
Meanwhile here's some preliminary analysis from a
shipping industry expert:
For the landlubbers: starboard is right side, the ship hit the left pylon.
Not from the ship's point of view. The ship was proceeding to seaward, but the video is looking landward, so left side pylon in the video is right (starboard) side as seen from of the ship. They'd only match if the video was from astern of the ship.
Note that COLREGs rule 9 (part) "as near to the outer limit of the channel or fairway which lies on her starboard side as is safe and practicable." may not actually be to starboard of the channel centerline if no other vessel is approaching in the opposite direction. Depending on tidal/current and wind conditions, and the ship's manoeuvring characteristics, keeping port of the centerline to allow additional room to starboard may be prudent.