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Fishing boat sinks, crew rescued
Banner Daily Update posted Sun. June 10
By Sue Harrison
Banner Staff
The fishing vessel Sea Princess sank off Race Point late Saturday afternoon but the Coast Guard was able to rescue both crewmembers without further incident.
The 40-foot clam boat Sea Princess fishes out of Green Harbor in Marshfield. On board were William Picken, 43, of North Chelmsford and Robert Wilson, 42, of Brant Point.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Paul Sullivan said the boat was reported to be on auto pilot when the captain noticed that its progress felt sluggish.
“He opened the hatch to the engine room and saw a lot of water coming in fast,” Sullivan said adding that the captain told them he had not hit anything. “The water stalled the engine. They put out a Mayday signal, put on their survival suits and jumped into the life raft. We were able to communicate with them through their cell phones.”
The Coast Guard dispatched a boat and picked up the men. Neither man sustained injuries. The boat sank in approximately 200 feet of water.
It is the owner’s responsibility to deal with any potential pollution issues such as oil leakage and Sullivan said that would be taken care of.
Regarding the cause, Sullivan said that since the boat had not struck anything, a mechanical failure in the engine’s cooling system could be to blame. Boat engines are cooled by pumping sea water around them. If one of those lines failed, the water could be pumped into the engine room, flooding the hold. However, at this point, the definitive cause is not known.
Sullivan also said that a second vessel was reported overturned outside the breakwater in Provincetown Harbor on Saturday. The Coast Guard searched the area and has determined that it was a false alarm.
In a separate story, a rental car with Florida plates crashed into the guardrail on Shore Road in North Truro early Sunday morning. The driver fled the scene and police attempted unsuccessfully to track him/her with a K9 tracker dog from Wellfleet. The accident remains under investigation.
Tim Caldwell of Cape Wide News contributed to this story.
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Jun 7th, 2007