5 rescued from water after boat sinks in Buzzards Bay

WAREHAM, Mass. — Five people had to be rescued after their boat hit some rocks and sank in the water between Marion and Wareham Sunday morning.

An early call for duty for Marion Harbormaster Isaac Perry and his crew when a distress call from a group of four men and one woman who had planned to go fishing, but didn’t make it very far. Just northeast of Little Bird Island between the Tempest Knob ramp and Cleveland Ledge Light, the boaters, unfamiliar with the area, ran aground of some rocks after 6 a.m.

“This whole stretch of shoreline is relatively shallow, but it’s strewn with a lot of big rock piles, so even though it looks like you’re out in the middle of nowhere, there’s a lot of rocks, a lot of shallow spots,” said Perry.

Before long, their boat had capsized. By the time rescuers made it to their location through the fog, it had been 40 minutes. The group could be seen waving, standing on the rails of the sunken 23-footer, all standing in about a foot of water.

“They were tired, cold. The air temperature wasn’t that bad, but after being in the water, which is mid-60s, and standing on the deck of their sunk vessel for approximately 30 or 40 minutes, they were ready to get off,” said Perry.

Not long after, they were ashore safely, but not the case for their vessel.

“We’ll get some lift bags on it to kind of stabilize it, you can’t tow it as is, it will just start veering all over the place, digging into the bottom,” said Perry.

The harbormaster says since that boat capsized, there has been debris like fishing poles, chairs, even a cooler washing up on shore around where that boat went under.

In the end the only injuries were to the boat, but authorities say this group was lucky it didn’t fully sink before they were found and also lucky to have the resources to save them so close by.

The harbormaster says the big takeaway here is you should always know where you’re going and always have some flares on board.

Cox Media Group