On Friday, July 28th at approximately 1439 hours I, Officer of the Maryland Natural Resources Police was underway on boat patrol in the area of the Ocean City Inlet along with Officer when I spotted what appeared to be a vessel bumping against the rocks on the North Side of the inlet. We made our way over to the vessel in distress with two persons on board. The vessel had a white top and blue bottom bearing NJ registration. There were several good samaritans standing on top of the rock wall of the north side of the parking lot inlet attempting to assist the disabled vessel by holding lines that were connected to the bow and stern of the vessel. 

I maneuvered our patrol vessel alongside the disabled vessel and announced myself to Subject and informed him that I was a Maryland Natural Resources Police Officer. Subject stated that his vessel had lost propulsion. At that moment I advised Officer that my intentions were to take the disabled vessel into stern tow and tow it into West Ocean City Commercial Harbor. 

I asked Officer if he felt comfortable handling the tow line in a rapidly changing environment inside the inlet as a result of the high winds, vessel traffic, tide and current. Office agreed to the plan. As I maneuvered closer to the disabled vessel to pass a tow line Officer communicated with the Department of Natural Resources Police Communications Center that we had a disabled vessel in the Ocean City Inlet. I advised the good Samaritans on land to throw the lines into the boat. 

I then notified subject of our intent to tow him to safety. Subject informed me that he had a tow line onboard and then threw it over to our patrol vessel. Officer grabbed the tow line with the boat hook and proceeded to put a working turn on our rear tow post on our vessel. Officer paid out slack while I turned our patrol vessel away from the rocks and put it in clutch ahead slowly gathering more speed. I instructed Officer to go ahead and make the bit. Officer made three figure eights on the tow post and stood tow watch making sure the tow line was holding from the towed vessels front cleat. 

I towed the vessel back to the West Ocean City Commercial Harbor Boat Ramp. We safely moored the vessel up to the pier. At the moment the United States Coast Guard Station Ocean City response boat arrived on scene. Once safely back on land I interviewed Subject and asked if he was ok. Officer and I then proceeded to conduct a recreational vessel safety inspection which resulted in no violations.

I asked him if he thought he knew how much damage his vessel had sustained, and he replied that he would have a better idea once the vessel was trailered. We exchanged information in case the damage met the threshold and met the requirements of a reportable boat accident investigation. Subject emailed me photos of the damage and I came to the conclusion that this event was a reportable boat accident. The pictures show extensive damage along the hall with several cracks going all the way through the fiberglass. In addition to damage to the fiberglass on the hull, there is damage to the lower unit and propeller. The damage is estimated to be around $3000 by the owner 

ALL EVENTS OCCURRED IN WORCESTER COUNTY MARYLAND.

Ocean City Inlet Proper
Ocean City                    