We had just arrived home after being gone all weekend. We got everything unpacked and put away, and Kyle had just gotten dinner started when there was a frantic pounding on our hull.

“There’s a boat on fire, call 911!”

There was a powerboat drifting around right behind our boat – our home! – with smoke billowing out and one man alternately trying to steer the boat and put out the fire.

Here are the details we got later: the boat came up to the middle of the dock and several people jumped off and immediately left the scene. Then they were spotted by Shawna from s/v Sirena, the boat directly in front of us. One guy fell in the water so she and other cruisers pulled him out, while the boat on fire drifted further downriver. Temps were in the low 30s that night, so it was not a good night for a swim.

When we arrived on the scene, the boat was still maneuverable so the “captain” pulled it up at the end of the dock, right next to Hobbes. We were VERY excited to have a boat on fire and sinking right next to our home. The last passenger hopped onto the dock and the “captain” was right behind him trying to abandon ship, but Kyle had grabbed all our fire extinguishers and handed them to the “captain,” while I dialed 911. By that time there was a crew of liveaboards helping out. The “captain” was able to douse the fire with the extinguishers, but the boat was taking on water and we weren’t sure how long we had before it sank.

As soon as the fire was out, the “captain,” who was definitely under the influence, got onto the dock, declared that the boat a total loss, and took off. Kyle offered him a bucket to bail water but he didn’t even try. Two of the passengers were still hanging around, and they weren’t telling a consistent story. The group at the dock tried to find someone with a dinghy who could tow the boat into the shallow water to prevent it from sinking, but no one had an engine hooked up.

I was still on the phone with 911, the operator let me know when police arrived and asked that someone show them where the action was, so I busted out my running shoes and ran half a mile to the marina entrance and escorted the policeman to the scene, then half a mile back to fetch the firemen.

At this point, no one was seriously injured, no one was in danger, but the boat was sinking and no one could take responsibility for it. It looked like they had hit a green channel marker at high speed, the bow was smashed up with green streaks and there was a gaping hole at the water line. The bilge pumps were almost keeping up with the incoming water, but the boat was slowly going down – if it lost power, or if it sank enough that water found another means of entry it could be gone in seconds.

One of the liveaboards tried to get BoatUS to come out, then SeaTow. Neither would come out until the owner was present to sign for the boat. By then the marina manager, James, had showed up. He hopped aboard and found the boat registration with the owner’s name and was able to find a phone number and call the guy. The owner wasn’t able (or willing) to come out right away, and he was surprised to hear that someone had taken his boat out that night!

There was a lot of speculation, and several versions of the story, but it sounds like the “captain” knew the owner and had captained the boat for charters on occasion, but did not have permission to take it out on his own. The police picked up the “captain” a mile or two from the marina – he had flagged down the police to ask for a ride. The rest of the group had made it to the port authority visitor’s center. The two guys who had stayed were on Sirena, giving official statements to the police.

By now about 2 hours had passed, the boat was still floating but lower in the water. A Coast Guard boat arrived (they were far more interested in which channel marker had been hit than the sinking vessel). The gist of it was that no one wanted to take responsibility for the sinking boat, and without the owner present, no one could tow it. The tide was slack, we only had an hour or two before the tide started to push the sinking boat toward our boat, so Kyle and I had to stay until the situation was resolved.

Around hour 3, the owner arrived, and his attitude was more of a “well, what can you do.” He clearly just wanted to go home and pay someone else to clean up the mess. Kyle was like “hi, no, this is my home and your boat is threatening it” and James was like “hi, no, this is a huge liability for the marina and you need to take care of it.”

Around hour 4, there was finally some resolution (it was about 32° outside so I was curled up on the couch trying to stay warm, just checking in periodically for updates). The Coast Guard provided a gas-powered dewatering pump, James used the pumpout boat to tow the sinking boat into the marina. The “captain” spent the night on the boat to keep the pump running. Then on Monday they would find a place to haul the boat out – when we got home from work today it was gone.

The boat was a new-looking 35 ft Sea Ray, worth at least $250,000. Now complete junk. The boat’s name? I swear I’m not making this up – it even had the exclamation points:

Boom!!!