NORFOLK, Va. — U.S. Coast Guard officials are trying to answer questions about an abandoned boat found adrift in Willoughby Bay in Norfolk.
Monday, the official Coast Guard Mid-Atlantic sector’s verified Facebook page put out a public call for help in trying to find and identify the owner of a large blue and white sailboat they discovered this week.
According to Lt. Luke Pinneo of the Public Affairs Office for United States Coast Guard Atlantic Area District 5, this is not a situation involving an “overdue” boater or a mariner in distress.
Lt. Pinneo said that based on the boat’s most recent registration information, the most recent owner of the vessel the Coast Guard could track down was not the person in possession of the boat.
Currently, the boat is tied to another derelict boat in the area, per Lt. Pinneo, and it could “pose a potential hazard to navigation."
Legal ramifications of a derelict boat
Based on the conditions in which the boat was allowed to sail adrift in Willoughby Bay, someone could be held responsible and face consequences according to Thomas Berkley, a maritime attorney at Pender & Coward's Virginia Beach location.
"This would be under federal law, and federal courts for the most part," Berkley told 13News Now.
“[Owner] might suffer some fines and penalties from the Coast Guard, maybe the cost of getting it because they salvaged it."
When asked whether the boat being set adrift by accident would make a difference in possible punishment, Berkley said the duty of the boat's upkeep still falls upon the owner's responsibility, regardless of the circumstances or intent surrounding how it happened.
"[Excuses] are probably not going to work for the Coast Guard, since they're fact specific. A lot of times you have marine insurance on vessels, so if that happens you can call your insurance company to pay for someone to go out there and get the vessel. There are also emergency salvage businesses around here, for a fee they'll collect your vessel and bring it back. You have the responsibility to call those people, either through insurance or Yellow Pages and find a salvage company.
"If your vessel is out there and you’re letting it careen and align with bridges, or anchored vessels, or have a collision with vessels navigating, that’s your problem."