Vessel #1 was moored at slip in Farley State Marina in Atlantic City, Atlantic County. Vessel #1 was last seen afloat at 4 PM on Sunday April 24, 2023. Vessel #1 was discovered almost fully submerged in its slip the following morning by marina staff. Due to a sheen on the water's surface, Farley State  Marina notified the State Police. The vessel, a 32' Carver cabin motorboat with New Jersey registration was observed by the undersigned almost fully submerged up to the flying bridge. In addition, both shore power cords had been disconnected and deenergized prior to my arrival.

A small sheen was observed and the vessel was determined to be actively leaking a petroleum substance.
Atlantic City Fire Department was summoned to the scene and deployed floating boom to help mitigate the active leaking from the vessel. In addition, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was notified, but they did not respond to the scene. DEP case number was generated.
See Operations Report for further details.

Arrangements were made to have Sea Tow raise the vessel the following day (Tuesday). Once raised, Sea Tow employees preliminarily determined that water had ingressed via an open drain valve located on the vessel's hot water heater tank. Same was likely left unsecured when the vessel was winterized, and when city water was put to the vessel, the bilges of the vessel flooded with fresh water, causing the vessel to progressively sink to the point where seawater entered through the vessel's thru hull fittings.
Same resulted in a loss of buoyancy.

The cause of this accident is due to an ingress of water through the vessel's hot water heater. Once the vessel was raised by Sea Tow, the hot water heater's drain valve was discovered to be in the open position in the lower, aft machinery space. The valve was likely left in the open position during the winterizing process. It is probable that a shore water connection was opened, and water gradually filled the engine space, resulting in the vessel's sinking. The vessel sustained catastrophic flood damage throughout all spaces. At the time of this report, the vessel remains moored in its slip until arrangements are made by the insurance company to have the vessel pulled from the water.

Information for this report was provided by witness' statements and damage observed to the vessel
and/or property.
CLAM CREEK
ATLANTIC CITY                 