RedactedNarrative: On Wednesday July 1, 2020 I responded to a distress call for a vessel taking on water in the Chesapeake Bay.
  The vessel was a 54 foot Sabre motor yacht, documented name “Delfina” with a blue hull and white cabin area. I arrived on scene in the shipping channel directly out from the Chesapeake Beach area of Calvert County. There were two United States Coast Guard vessels and one Tow Boat U.S. vessel already on scene attempting to pump out the Delfina. The vessel owner/operator OPERATOR 1 was able to launch his dingy (MD 8876 CG) and was nearby at the time of my arrival. On scene he stated that he was traveling southbound from Annapolis and that he had felt an impact somewhere in the area of the Bay outside of the mouth of the Choptank River (see attached statement). OPERATOR 1 had not seen anything on the surface of the water and did not notice taking on any water until a little while after the impact with what he believed was a submerged object of some kind.
  The USCG and Tow Boat personnel were unable to pump out the vessel and it continued to sink until only a portion of the bow was visible above water. The Tow Boat vessel (Toe Jam) waited until it seemed that the vessel was no longer taking on water then towed the Delfina into shallower water off of the Chesapeake Beach shoreline. While this process was underway I took OPERATOR 1 on board nrp874 and tied off his dingy to the patrol vessel. I brought both OPERATOR 1 and his dingy in to Breezy Point Marina where we were met by the Sergeant who was going to be taking OPERATOR 1 home. The dingy was secured next to our patrol vessel at Breezy Point Marina.
  On the morning of 7/2/2020 I met with OPERATOR 1 who informed me that the Delfina had been raised by Tow Boat US and taken to Herrington Harbor North to be hauled out and placed in dry dock storage. I was able to take pictures of the Delfina at Herrington Harbor which show a missing port side propeller and prop shaft, as well as, fresh scratches along the hull of the vessel (see attached pictures).
  The evidence provided supports that OPERATOR 1 did strike a submerged object which possibly removed the shaft and propeller allowing water to flood into the vessel through the shaft hole.
  All events occurred in Calvert County, MD.
  