2 Mainers swim to safety after boat incident

Two Hancock County men swam safely to shore early Monday morning after a wooden fishing boat they were operating ran aground and splintered into pieces off Cape Cod, Mass.

Michael Darragh, 34, of Orland and his brother-in-law Ian Orchard, 32, of Penobscot were treated Monday at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., for hypothermia, Coast Guard spokesperson Kelly Turner said.

They were released later that day, according to a hospital official.

The Coast Guard received a distress signal at about 4:15 a.m. from the Josephine, a 39-foot scallop fishing boat owned by Orchard’s father, Bert Hall of Stonington.

The radio call warned that the vessel had run aground near Nauset Beach, Mass., and was taking on water, but then the communication abruptly ended, Turner said.

Several local police agencies responded, and the Coast Guard dispatched a 44-foot motorized lifeboat from Station Chatham (Mass.) and an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod to search for any passengers.

Rough early morning seas made the search difficult.

“During high tide, there were 3- [to] 6-foot waves. It was really hard for any of the rescuers to get to the boat,” Turner said.

Both men, along with Darragh’s small dog, reportedly jumped from the vessel into the 38-degree ocean water.

Darragh swam ashore with his dog, and Eastham, Mass., police found both, shivering. Orchard was not immediately found, prompting an extensive land and water search.

Police eventually found Orchard at about 8 a.m., nearly four hours after the distress call came in, huddled in an abandoned Coast Guard station.

Eastham police said the man had taken a hot shower and then fell asleep inside the building, wrapped in an old curtain for warmth.

The vessel reportedly left Maine between 9 and 10 a.m. Sunday, headed for Stage Harbor in Chatham, Mass. Orchard and Darragh were supposed to meet Orchard’s father, who owns the boat.

Orchard told police the boat ran aground on a sandbar, causing the engine to fail. High waves crashed against the Josephine, which had extensive damage. The National Sea Shore Park Service spent much of Monday removing pieces of the wrecked boat.

“The vessel is still in pieces. [Officials] are trying to recover as much of it as they can,” Turner said.

No pollution was reported, but the crash is being investigated by the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in Providence, R.I. Turner said such investigations are standard.

For Darragh, it was at least the second close call in about six years. The man was rescued in 1999 after a boat he was on crashed into rocks in Frenchman Bay near Bar Harbor.

Darragh also escaped serious injury in January when a fire ravaged his home in Orland. He was treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor for burns and smoke inhalation.

Eastham police said the dog, a pug, was treated by a local veterinarian.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.