Man dies in Rockport when dinghy capsizes

ROCKPORT – A Massachusetts man drowned when the dinghy he was in capsized Friday afternoon in Rockport Harbor.

Dr. Erwin Hirsch, 72, of Marblehead, Mass., and another man were rowing a dinghy to Hirsch’s sailboat moored in the harbor when the rowboat took on water and capsized, said Chief Warrant Officer Curtis Barthel of the U.S. Coast Guard station in Rockland.

The other man in the dinghy, whose name was not released, swam to a boat moored in the harbor, and someone from a local marina helped him, Barthel said.

“We recovered the other gentleman,” he said of Hirsch, who was taken to Penobscot Bay Medical Center where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Barthel said the survivor was doing fine, although he did suffer from hypothermia.

The call came in at 3:10 p.m., Barthel said.