THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 16, 1997 TAG: 9702160065
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: 46 lines
The body of a 49-year-old Connecticut man washed ashore early Saturday 10 miles north of where his battered sailboat had gone aground Friday morning.
Richard C. Meo II of Wolcott, Conn., was found dead in the surf by a beach stroller at about 7 a.m. on an isolated strip of sand near Penny's Hill, by the Seagull subdivision, about 3 miles from where the N.C 12 pavement ends. He was wearing neither a life jacket nor a survival suit, officials said.
The Currituck County Sheriff's office was called to the scene, and the Corolla Rescue Squad transported the body to Twiford's Funeral Home in Elizabeth City. The coroner ruled the cause of death as accidental drowning.
Relatives said Meo had recently left Baltimore, Md., where he was living on his boat while helping a friend. Rescuers mistakenly reported Friday that Meo was from Baltimore.
Meo was alone and was headed for the Virgin Islands, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Stephen Baker. Meo's 28-foot sloop, The Daisy, had been boarded by the Coast Guard Feb. 1 in Chesapeake Bay, Baker said. The sailor told the officers he planned to dock in Norfolk, then sail to the tropics.
Baker said Meo left Norfolk on Wednesday. His boat was spotted about 9:30 a.m. Friday bobbing about 20 feet from the beach near Pine Island, an upscale subdivision in the northern Outer Banks, about 12 miles from the Virginia-North Carolina border.
Although conditions were calm early Friday, squalls and thunderstorms had raged across the Outer Banks the night before.
The ocean water was 43 degrees. Baker said normally a person can survive no more than four hours in such temperatures.
Debris littered a quarter-mile stretch of shoreline near the boat, which had been driven on the sand within an hour after its discovery. The sloop's remains painted a grim picture: The mast was broken off, its lines twisted around remnants of supplies and equipment; the deck's hatches were gone; three orange flotation devices remained fastened to the stern; and a dinghy was still tied to the boat.
Meo's sister Faith Meo of Wolcott, said her brother had sailed on and off for about 20 years. He had owned a restaurant in Baltimore for several years, she said. She said she understood her brother was on his way to the Virgin Islands to pick up passengers.
Meo is survived by two sisters and three nieces.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT BOAT DROWNING FATATLITY