THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140107
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WANCHESE LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
A flounder fisherman who launched his boat from beneath the Washington Baum Bridge about 3 p.m. Sunday was still missing at 6 p.m. Monday despite a daylong search.
Coast Guard officials did not release the name of the waterman because his son was still at sea aboard a tuna boat and could not be officially notified of the incident until he returns to shore this afternoon.
The missing waterman has lived in Wanchese with his son and grandson for about a year, other commercial fishermen said. He moved here from Florida - and planned to bring his wife to the Outer Banks later this month.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Joe Strozeski of the Group Cape Hatteras office said the missing fisherman is between 55 and 60 years old.
``A friend of his found the 17-foot vessel aground in the marsh at about daybreak this morning,'' Strozeski said. ``The boat (motor) was still in gear and the key was in it. But there was no one around. Apparently, the person who was operating it either fell or jumped off.''
A small Coast Guard boat searched all of Roanoke Sound for the fisherman on Monday. A helicopter from the Elizabeth City Coast Guard Station searched a five-mile radius around the Washington Baum Bridge, using infra-red lights that track heat sources. Boats from the Nags Head Ocean Rescue Service, Coast Guard Auxiliary and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission also combed the sounds and shores around the area.
But the Coast Guard called its search off about dark - without finding any sign of the missing fisherman, Strozeski said.
Other watermen who knew the fisherman said he set his gill nets near Colington Island - about two miles from where his boat was found. The boat was right-side-up in John's Ditch near Wanchese Monday morning. The fisherman's gloves and hat were still inside. A pile of nets was stacked in the center of the boat with an anchor on top. About 150 pounds of freshly caught flounder were stored in the fish boxes on the back of the boat.
The fisherman was the only person in his vessel when he left from the ramp across from Pirate's Cove Marina on Sunday. No one knows if he was wearing a life jacket. None was found aboard the abandoned boat.
On Monday afternoon, the waterman's truck and boat trailer were still parked in the lot near the launch ramp.
``There was a small crack in that boat in the stern and the middle. And the gas tank was standing straight up inside,'' said Tommy Danchise, a Manteo flounder fisherman who found the missing waterman's vessel Monday morning. ``He must've hit something pretty hard to stand the gas tank up like that. And he had to have finished what he was doing and been coming back home - because the boat was full of fish.''
Watermen in Wanchese fish houses spent Monday afternoon musing over the fate of their missing friend. Most seemed to think that the fisherman started back for shore after dark. If he didn't leave until 3 p.m., they said, it would have had to be dark by the time he fished enough nets to fill those fish boxes.
Some said he might have hit a channel marker, bridge piling or underwater obstruction.
Coast Guardsmen said they searched the bottom of the Baum Bridge but did not see any signs of impact around its base.
The fishing boat did not have any lights on it, watermen said. And some of the channel markers are not illuminated at night. Most navigation aids do, however, have reflective tape around them.
``It was slick calm last night. And there was a real strong tide,'' Danchise said Monday afternoon. ``Nobody but him was out there working on Sunday.''
Strozeski said it usually takes bodies between two and three days to surface after a drowning. The colder the water, he said, the longer it takes for a drowning victim to float. Monday morning, the water temperature in Roanoke Sound was 52 degrees.
KEYWORDS: MISSING PERSON by CNB