Inflatable lift bags and chains helped the U.S. Coast Guard pull a famous 83-foot fishing boat from the bottom of the New Meadows River in Harpswell last month.
Since it sank in a storm in January, the 75-year-old sardine boat Jacob Pike had been leaking fuel there.
Now that the Pike is gone, Maine’s Bureau of Submerged Lands has found five more abandoned or broken-down boats in four different places that it wants to be cleaned up next.
This is why the department has started the process of applying for a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for $685,000. This will pay for the work to be done.
Bureau Director John Noll said that Maine’s coast is littered with other abandoned ships and boats, but the five ships on his NOAA grant wish list are the ones that would cost the most to remove.
Noll said, “I really hope it pays for all four sites.”
Some of the ships, like the Jacob Pike, have recently sunk or been left behind. Some people have been a problem for many years. Whether they are new or old, boats that have been abandoned cost a lot of money and cause more problems for Maine harbormasters.
“Vessels that have been abandoned or are broken down usually hurt the environment and the public trust rights of fishing, fowling, and navigation,” Noll said. “There’s a lot of trash there that shouldn’t be.”
The Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Removal Grant Program at NOAA got a letter of intent from Noll in August. This program is in charge of giving $7.5 million in government funds to coastal and marine areas of the United States.
If the federal government agrees with Maine’s preliminary grant request, Noll will be asked to submit a full grant application by December.
By mid-September, Noll said he should know if Maine has been chosen to move forward with the process. Grants should be given out sometime next year.
In his letter of intent, he named these ships.
FV Roamer, Hampden
The 57-foot Roamer got stuck in the Penobscot River in July 2011. This happened only six months after it sank at a Rockland pier and was saved. Since then, it’s been in the Penobscot, sitting in the mud and getting wet every time the tide comes in.
The owner of the Roamer, Josh Mizrachi, was trying to moor the boat when a line got stuck in the propeller and stopped it from moving. The Roamer was left behind in 2013 and put up for repair, but no one stepped up to take care of it.
The 1940s-era wooden sardine carrier can be seen from Route 1A and has since become a wonder, with photographers and YouTubers lining up to take pictures of its easy-to-reach body.
FV Columbia, Louds Island
This professional fishing boat, which is 97 feet long, was built in 1985. It was probably the last wooden scallop dragger to be launched in New England. The Columbia’s mooring chain broke in November 2016, and it came to rest in Muscongus Bay on the northeast shore of the island.
The Columbia had been in the area for a long time.
The Lincoln County News says it was left behind in Pemaquid Harbor for the first time in early 2014. The Columbia was then bought by Doug Wood in November 2015 and put in Bremen’s Greenland Cove.
But the town officials there wouldn’t give Wood a harbor docking permit. Wood then moved the huge boat to a dock off of Louds Island that wasn’t as safe. A year later, the boat broke free there.
Today, satellite pictures make it easy to see what’s left of Columbia.
Sans Peur, Wiscasset
During the winter of 2018, this 66-foot wooden minesweeper sank in the Sheepscot River, not far from the town dock. It was built in England during WWII. Today, the boat is still there in 30 feet of water. Its name, in French, means “Without Fear.”
The vessel was owned by Chris Morrison of Wiscasset, according to the Wiscasset Newspaper. When it sank, it had 30 to 40 gallons of diesel fuel on board.
The Hesper and the Luther Little, two of Maine’s most famous abandoned ships, used to lie in peace for most of the 20th century, not far from where the Sans Peur now sits.
Car ferry and lobster boat, Roque Bluffs
A huge, unknown 95-foot ex-car ferry and a 38-foot lobster boat are both abandoned in Pond Cove. They can’t be seen from any road, but they can be seen clearly on satellite images.
There’s been a rusty steel boat there for at least 20 years.
Roque Bluffs Harbor Master Prentiss Harmon, 35, said, “I don’t know much about that, but I’ve heard that it was used to bring logging gear to an island.” “I can remember it being there for a long time.” It was left in the mud by someone, and she is sitting there.
The lobster boat and skiff that were broken down were left in the bay next to the ferry by Avery Kelly, who came before Harmon. Harmon said that Kelly towed the boat to the shore when he had to stop fishing because of health problems. Kelly has died since then.
Harmon said the boats aren’t in the way of travel, but it would still be good to get rid of them and the other trash in the water that comes with them properly.
Harmon said, “That’s what I hope for.”