Sailboat sinks at mooring Hamburg Cove, Lyme, Ct

[TomY]

Owner may have been older and taken sick or died recently. A widow may not have known enough or had been too distracted to get the boat out of the water for winterization. Maybe there was nobody close enough to the owner to take care of the boat or even think about it. Some folks have relatively lonely lives. I have to admit/agree, the drone video is suspicious.

I see them too often, boats in distress. Maybe you know somebody casually, to say hi, but not well enough to know why the routine of their boat, suddenly changes.

Left on a mooring way longer than normal, or gets hauled elsewhere, shows up in another harbor. Sure enough health problem or too often, death of the owner.

I've learned of a few deaths of people, through what happened to their boats. Not many people think of their boats in a health crisis.

Here's a new one: A real basic family boat spent last winter on a mooring. I along with a few other concerned people don't know the family well enough to inquire.

Why was the boat suddenly unatteneded? The dad was swept up in the heroin epidemic sweeping our state, and country.

 

[rgranger]

I see them too often, boats in distress.

That boat looked very well kept... up to the point of sinking ...that is

 

[TomY]

That boat looked very well kept... up to the point of sinking ...that is

I gave a poor description. What I meant is when owners are in distress, their boats often, are as well.

 

[Rick486]

I see them too often, boats in distress. Maybe you know somebody casually, to say hi, but not well enough to know why the routine of their boat, suddenly changes.

Left on a mooring way longer than normal, or gets hauled elsewhere, shows up in another harbor. Sure enough health problem or too often, death of the owner.

I've learned of a few deaths of people, through what happened to their boats. Not many people think of their boats in a health crisis.

Here's a new one: A real basic family boat spent last winter on a mooring. I along with a few other concerned people don't know the family well enough to inquire.

Why was the boat suddenly unatteneded? The dad was swept up in the heroin epidemic sweeping our state, and country.

Tom, doesn't the harbormaster or town law enforcement get involved? Here in our little town I am confident the harbormaster would be responsive to an abandoned boat on a mooring in December. Last winter someone abandoned a little wooden dinghy on my mooring and as soon as I called the harbormaster he responded and took it away. With all the government they have in Connecticut I can't imagine someone would have responded. Dreaded, environmental impact don't you know....Maybe not so much in Maine....

 

[shemandr]

I gave a poor description. What I meant is when owners are in distress, their boats often, are as well.

That's fair enough. But that boat is worth the same as a nice New England home. It's not the kind of asset that gets ignored. Being on a mooring in Hamburg Cove in January may have been a misguided winter storage plan. I don't think most insurance companies would consider that a Winter Layup and hence the insurance coverage is a bit iffy.

 

[shemandr]

Tom, doesn't the harbormaster or town law enforcement get involved?

In our town boats overwinter on moorings from time to time. Some end up on the beach. Most of the boats have no real value. Property owners have been understanding but the town has had to take a few away and others have been cut up by various parties. - sometimes without authorization. Usually the town tries to find the owner but about half the time they can't. Then the taxpayers pay the bill.
That Little Harbor is whole different situation. It has value but the re-float and storage may even exceed that and never mind the restoration. A mess.

 

[sailndays]

Why wouldn't insurance cover the damage, Will?

Insurance has certain definitions controlling exclusions and insurability. Was the house empty? Abandoned? Vacant? Unoccupied? In those circumstances coverage may be reduced, or even excluded. Coverage can also be denied for misrepresentation. Did the owner/Insured take reasonable steps to safeguard the property? Sounds like the answers to those questions are pretty negative.

 

[jon hansen]

it looks like the actions of a disgruntled wife in the throws of a divorce.
i could be wrong
i know of a case where the wife threw handfulls of pennies into the bilges of an aluminum hulled PJ sailboat in saltwater to get revenge.

 

[shemandr]

[QUOTE="jon hansen, post: 1512365, member: 137251
i know of a case where the wife threw handfulls of pennies into the bilges of an aluminum hulled PJ sailboat in saltwater to get revenge. [/QUOTE]
Don't mess with a women who knows her chemistry. In fact, just don't mess with women.

 

[Chenega]

Wow... it’s amazing the direction this forum goes sometimes...
Fact
- the boat was left in Hamburg Cove on a mooring
- Hamburg Cove is more fresh water than salt as the 8mile River flows into it and has been running at very high levels all winter.
- we’ve Had some extremely cold weather and thaws
- with the amount of ice in the Cove, the boat couldn’t be accessed - then a thaw
- the drone pilot is not the owner
- Many local land owners were concerned prior to sinking ... so I’ve now heard
- boats do not spend the winter on moorings here

 

[Will Gilmore]

Jon, I'd almost "like" that comment except it's too horrible to think about. Domestic violence is the worst of human nature. It's a form of self loathing and to take it out on an innocent and beautiful boat. OMG!

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[jon hansen]

chenega, yes we are being silly, yes we are making up stuff, yes we are do not have any facts. you can say we are rude, BUT,...................................................
i have driven vessels through all thicknesses of ice for thousands of miles. i have been stopped in ice while the engine is running full speed ahead. i have been stopped by ice to then back up a mile or two to ram it again. i have been ice bound for weeks till help came. i have been rescued by ice breakers. i have spent many watches in the bow of the vessel in front of the collision bulkhead watching for damage. i have spun ships in harbors covered with 1,2,and 3 ft of ice then backed into graving docks.

that vessel in the video was not ice bound by that skim ice. if one did not want to risk scratching the yacht finish, any steel workboat or tug could of easily, yes easily gotten the vessel out. that boat was clearly neglected. it was not ice bound for sure.

 

[Sanfelice]

Mild hijack. FYI, not all insurers cover damage due to freezing. Boat U.S. has a rider for $20. You must bubble the slip. Almost found out the hard way when I asked my old agent and he told me it would be covered. When I asked for that in writing, he called the insurer and it was not covered.

 

[Will Gilmore]

Read your actual contract. Agents sometimes think they know, but don't.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[FDL S2]

Damn, that's a shame!! What a beautiful boat

 

[nightowle]

I bet it's possible to "photoshop" a video.

 

[TomY]

Tom, doesn't the harbormaster or town law enforcement get involved? Here in our little town I am confident the harbormaster would be responsive to an abandoned boat on a mooring in December. Last winter someone abandoned a little wooden dinghy on my mooring and as soon as I called the harbormaster he responded and took it away. With all the government they have in Connecticut I can't imagine someone would have responded. Dreaded, environmental impact don't you know....Maybe not so much in Maine....

In fact our selectboard and harbor committee are addressing that concern right now. A 28' sailboat sunk on it's mooring. Our harbormaster has no authority, local state or Fed. to do anything about it. As long as it's not a navigational or environmental hazard (leaking fuel), it can stay on the bottom.

A couple to four sailboats have wintered over in the last few years. Our harbormaster has been asking the owner of a Hans Christian 42-3(I think), would he please haul it. He hasn't yet and doesn't have to by law.

And of course we just lost the lobsterboat last week,...

In some ways, it's still the wild west up here, especially on the water.

I doubt any of these boats are insured. You'd have to get special coverage beyond Nov. 1 according to my insurance.

 

[Will Gilmore]

In some ways, it's still the wild west up here, especially on the water.

I can appreciate that. However, townships do have the authority to regulate, if they want to take it.

There is always salvage rights.
A Hans Christian would be a decent salvage. All you need to do is show imminent danger to "save" the boat. It doesn't have to sink, just be sinking.

-Will (Dragonfly)

 

[TomY]

I can appreciate that. However, townships do have the authority to regulate, if they want to take it.

There is always salvage rights.
A Hans Christian would be a decent salvage. All you need to do is show imminent danger to "save" the boat. It doesn't have to sink, just be sinking.

-Will (Dragonfly)

I surmise one of the reasons 'regulation' is hard in Maine, especially on the water, is that the working waterfront still rules. Sure we have McMansions lining the harbors paying a huge portion of our property tax bill, but they can't vote(most are out of state owners)!

We don't really have a building code that is enforced much less any architectural standards. Not that these regulations aren't proposed, but once somebody suggests you should have to check with a committee before you paint your house an out of place color, voters flock to defeat the idea.

And so it goes on the water. Our harbor committee is talking about a haul out date for boats right now. I doubt it will go anywhere.

Here's a fisherman and his stern man pushing a dinghy back from their boat. They had to change batteries so the boat doesn't sink, once the ice melts.

This guy is a daredevil, no dinghy.

The above ice never lasts for long, and I've only seen it strong enough to walk on, once. The last big freeze was in 1915. The bay froze solid enough to drive vehicles out as far out as Vinal Haven island.

We're still a working harbor although not as industrial as the above 1904 photo. A narrow gauge railroad ran lime to the schooners here at Marine Park, which in now a public waterfront. There is still one steam engine on display.

 

[Pirate Dave]

I would call the water brackish.

It is. I have a friend that is an enforcement officer for the DEP. He couldn't shed any light on the boat, but I learned that they have recorded salt water fish like shad circling around Hamburg Cove and the town of Essex across the river. They think that because of the water, they are trying to get acclimated to the fresh water