On monday october 16, 2023, the north carolina wildlife resources commission received a call about a vessel in the white oak river that was found adrift at 1105 am, with a puppy on board as well as a wallet and cell phone.  We responded to the scene. When we arrived on scene the swansboro fire department was standing by with the operator's body.  We went to the location and identified the body. 

I photographed the body and then went to the location where his boat was found adrift and looked through his vessel and photographed it.  The vessel was a 21ft southern skimmer with a v6 150hp evinrude outboard motor.  

After interviewing his family, we know that operator launched the vessel around 9:35 that morning from his residence and traveled up the white oak river.  Then he turned around and came back down the river.  A person saw him go by the boat ramp near the stella bridge on plane around 10:30.   

Operator had a gps garmin alpha 100 onboard his vessel that had tracked his path.  I retraced his path later on in the week with my own vessel and determined that he had not struck anything. The gps showed that he was in open water and made a hard right turn and then his vessel went back to the left and started drifting slowly.  

The location was marked as the place where operator went overboard.  Operator's body was found downriver near the white oak river waterfowl impoundment.  His vessel had been pushed by the wind and was upriver.  

I believe operator was on plane running around 35-40 mph and made a hard right turn ejecting himself from the vessel.  Operator was not wearing a personal flotation device and it was a chilly morning.  

Operator's autopsy revealed his cause of death to be drowning.  He did not have any other injuries to his body indicating that he had hit himself on the vessel.  There was also no damage to the vessel and the contents of the vessel had not been shifted around which would indicate a collision with another object.


******nothing further.  End of report********

WHITE OAK RIVER
STELLA                        