I've heard those telephone poles have a coating on them that keeps them from rotting away even when they are floating in the water....

The worst I've seen was out off the coast of Jersey fishing the Canyon w/ my uncle (approx 50 miles offshore). We saw something big floating about 1-2 feet out of the water and when we pulled closer we realized it was a 40' steel shipping container! Talk about ruining your day if you hit that!
We notified the Coast guard of its position and they just said that it happens all the time and would send somebody to sink it.

Cruising at about 45-50 just before sundown at the end of this past summer hit a small log (found this out later). Didn't feel it at all but the port side drive lost propulsion and boat took an immediate, 90 degree, left hand turn! Thankfully was wearing the lanyards…. I thought I blew a drive or threw a prop. Stopped, got into the water and checked it out. All being good, fired it back up and the port side temp went through the roof. Shut it back down and had to idle with one engine for an hour and a half back in the dark. Turned out that the drive water pickup sheared of a large, long piece of wood and it went WAY up into the line. So far that the engine had to be pulled to access it from the inside. Must have pulled a handfull of wood out of the thing. Burned up the water pump as well. What a way to end the summer….

I also saw a container while trolling just west of hudson canyon. When I was about 12 years old I was lucky enough to make the trip down the interacoastal to FLA with my dad and some friends on a 52 sportfish, hit a telephone pole rite around Virginia. Put a three foot hole in the boat. Long story short, we had to go overboard with the life raft, everyone was ok. Not the boat!!!

We had a customer cut a channel marker at a good 60mph heading into Alameda Estuary. It was high tide and he ran over the submerged sea wall and tore the bottom out of his Warlock. His passenger broke her arm but that was it. The boat is a total write off. He said he didn't know what side of the lights he should be on and figured the markers are for "big ships" so he would be ok. He thought wrong.

I was in a BAJA 405 cruising up near Cleveland one day when I saw this in the distance. At first it looked like a couple guys in a canoe, but as I got closer I realized it was a couple seagulls log rolling! I pulled up beside it and it was as long as the boat to give you an idea of how big this thing was! Imagine hitting that at 60 mph+.

I must've been about 12, riding in my Dad's 24' Reinell hardtop down the Maumee river headed for Erie. About 12:00 noon.
THUD!!!
Boat stopped in the water, turn around and look behind us, nothing. A second later, a RAILROAD TIE shoots out of the water about 10' into the air, comes back down, and can't see it under the water anymore.
It must have been water-logged enough to just be below the surface, when we hit it, shoved the thing down, and it still had enough buoyancy to shoot back up into the air.
Didn't do any damage.
As far as running at night, I learned my lesson 10 yrs ago when I side swiped an unlit bouy.

Lots of reasons not to boat at night.

My brother inlaw hot a submerged tree with a 222 stingray running about 60 mph, the people following him watched the drive fly over their head. My inlaws boat hook sharp left, (without any drive) people following him pulled him to a near buy marina and the boat never sank.

Stacked, all stacked up.