Boater’s Dead Body Found At Shelly Bay Beach
[Updated] A massive police presence headed to Shelly Bay at approximately 8am this morning [Dec 11], after a lifeless body washed up on the beach following a boating disaster.
In addition to multiple police cars and officers, the Marine Police are also on the scene and crime scene tape is visible stretched across the beach.
Police Media Manager Dwayne Caines said, “At 12.30am this morning the police received calls from Bermuda Radio of a man in a vessel in distress off the waters of Blackwatch Pass on North Shore.
“Police responded and identified a debris field, however the Florida national and his cats were missing. At 7.50am, the man’s lifeless body was found on the shoreline of Shelly Bay Beach, and the two cats have yet to be found.
“Police have started an active investigation into to the death, and no information will be given until the next of kin is notified,” said Mr Caines.
Update: The Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre confirmed that the boat in question was a 65 foot motor yacht which was registered in Tampa, Florida. They also said that one person onboard has been in Bermuda for the last few months.
Update: The police released an official statement, it follows in full below.
Around 12am on Wednesday, December 11th police and Bermuda Radio received a report of a man in a marine vessel in distress in the waters off of North Shore and Black Watch Pass.
A maritime search for the vessel ensued and a debris field was established. Around 7:50am a man’s lifeless body was found, believed to be the missing sailor, who was apparently traveling with his two cats.
Forensic officers are currently processing the scene. No further information will be given until the next of kin has been notified.
Update: Premier Craig Cannonier started off his press conference this morning by extending condolences to the family of the man.
Update: The boater is said to have been an experienced boater, and was planning to head across the Atlantic, planning to travel to Europe.
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- Police Service Release Dead Boater’s Name | Bernews.com | December 12, 2013
- “Silent Thunder” Boat Raised After Fatal Disaster | Bernews.com | December 14, 2013
awwwwwww man ..i pray that his family can heal from hearing the bad news
Whatttt!!!!!!! Oh No!!!!!
I wonder if that was a flare I saw last night around 11:30pm in that area.
very sad.. hope his wife was not on board
http://www.allatsea.net/cummings-brings-army-t-boat-back-to-life/
Is there a search party for the felines?
@ cat lover. I hope so. So sad.
Serious??
no expense was used to save Hershey so why would an expense be issued to save two nameless cats?
‘Cause the cats were legit and Hershey wasn’t, that’s why…
But the cats were expats… Hershey was Bermudian.
On a serious note though, condolences to the friends & family of the deceased.
LOL…..
GET OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Cats are people too. I hope they are safe.
Poor Kitties. :’(
I know if my mother finds those cats she will treat them like they are royalty and add them to the 15 cats she already has.
Way to go putting your mother’s business all over Bernews, Duane (LOL)…
Boat must of sank fast, he had an inflatable on his swim platform and a 20′ skiff on deck.. must not of had time to cut one loose
If this is the large dark blue boat that has been off Whites Island for some time, I spoke with this gentleman after taking on fuel (Monday) at Dockyard. When he pulled away from the wharf, I mentioned to the skipper that his stern was very low in the water, he said this was okay for this boat to be two inches lower than the waterline.
The last thing he said too me was “have a great Christmas”. I replied, “you to, be safe and take care of your Cat. I only saw the one, a large grey Cat.
thats the boat
Very very sad. Funny how people can come into your life for a fleeting moment and diss appear, I knew this gentleman for all of five minutes but I will never forget him!
Keep your love ones close Bermuda because in a blink of an eye, they too cod be gone.
That is just awful! Poor man didn’t even know he was doomed. Life is so cruel sometimes.
I hope he did not get pass one getting the issue looked at because of the prices here. Bermuda realy needs a floating dry dock. im going to bring in asap hofuly costoms does not burn me for every dam penny. because i am bring a service that could bring other oprtunties to Bermuda
My condolences to the family. I hope that the next of kin had been contacted prior to this police report. If the next of kin have not been notified, why give any details of the man and the boat?
Generally, if a person is dead he is not referred to as a person. The term “body” always and only refers to dead people. We never use the term live body do we? A live body is referred to as a person. A dead person is referred to as a body.
Thoughts and prayers to this family particularly so close to the holidays and prayers to Thise in Bermuda who have to get through the holidays without lived ones whether deceased or off island. May we have compassion for one another. Each of us have a journey and the journey is tough at times and for others more times than not. Find the blessing in blessing one person today. Even if it’s just a phone call showing love compassion and concern. It’s free.
‘Those’ and ‘loved’ ones above…apologies for misspelled words
Hold up but the real question is why did this happen? A distress call came in at 12:30am in which the vessel was reported to be just off of blackwatch pass. Are you serious???? I would like to hear the reason in which why they was unable to prevent the issue. My condolences to the family on your loss it is a true tragedy to lose 3 family members especially at this time of year.
Why would anyone take their cats fishing?
I like a silly comment on occasion but your comment is really, SILLY
Real big boat he had. The cats probably had so much free space to roam on the high seas
On a 65 foot boat, the cats probably had more space to frolick than in an average bermuda apartment/condo
With all the condolences and snide remarks made by some here what all should be asking is why was he off Blackwatch Pass/North shore at this time of night.
Shalom.
Given the size of the boat he was no doubt in the proper shipping channel (blackwatch pass being used as a point bearing). There was no reason he couldn’t have left late last night – he doesn’t require a Pilot to navigate through the channel. Maybe he wanted to be in St G to check out at the Pilot Station/Immigration on Ordinance Island at first light this morning.
If I crash my bike: a police car, an ambulance and a fire truck the size of a bus all race to attend – sirens blaring!!
If I crash my boat and fire a flare someone turns up 8 hours later to scoop up my lifeless body! Where is the Marine Police? Where is Sea Assist? I hope this is being investigated – a maritime nation deserves better
You must have not read the story. It says they responded but found nothing but a debris field and that the man and his cats were no where to be found!
Condolances to his family
More details would help, did they ramp up the search on finding the debris field, how many boats initially responded and did more craft (where’s that regiment marine section) respond to expand the search, and when and why was the search called off? Questions we probably will never get an answer to.
I also wonder what time marine police actually dispatched in boats to start the search.
This truly needs to be investigated. They should be on call and within 5 mins of the dock.
This guy drowned within site of Bermuda?????
Worrying.
Yeah, I want this to be the new way vistors come to Bermuda for vacation. we got no cost gaurd and Bermuda waters are not easy to navigate if your not local
At this time of year there is very little need for the BPS marine section to be active, even on standby, at that time of night. If anything they would be helping with increased landbound needs.
The marine section is no longer centrally located at Barrs Bay. They have to go all the way to Dockyard to get a boat. Why is that? How much sense does that make?
what sort of boat was it?
Large motor-sailer. Looked like a North Sea style with a high bow.
Army T-boat 1950s
the police are to blame. If some one is in distress on the water no matter how serious they should not be taking their time. How long does it take to get to black watch pass from town on a police boat that has 2, 300hp engines on the back. Sad everything on this island is always half a**!!
How do we know that there were two cats on board the vessel? how do we know that the sailor was on his way to Europe?
King, they offices and vessels are now docked in Dockyard.
I doubt that any of them live in Dockyard nor is it manned after 10pm.
Shalom.
So sad. The man sails around the world, has survived all kinds of adversities that such a trip would bring, then sinks within a mile or so from shore on a fair weather night. Why?
That is an unusual time to be out there but maybe he wanted to be in St Georges for an early departure? Poor navigation? Mistook marks onshore & hit a reef? Fell asleep at the wheel? Some medical reason & passed out? So many things can go wrong on the water.
i knew this man, he came into my shop everyday he was in st geo. His wife would call him daily at my shop. He sailed in here a month or two ago. He was heading over the atlantic east alone on this boat to meet his wife. I did visit his boat i only saw one cat.The boat wasnt in the best of shape, in fact he had already left bermudan out like 300 miles and turned back cause he had problem.He might not had been a perfect person, but neither am i. But he was a desent man and should be respected, yes he was a experience sailor, what happen i dont know. But he was a visiting sailor and we should treat him as so
It appears the salvage effort of Silent Thunder has ended. The two barges from Crisson and Correira Construction are leaving the site where Silent Thunder met her demise. From what I could see from shore, Silent Thunder was at the front of the leading Crisson barge. Next stop will be Morgans Point or R.N. Dockyard.