ROCKLAND, Maine — A Thomaston contracting company and its owners are suing a private Rockland ferry firm, claiming that it was negligent on a December crossing of Penobscot Bay that heavily damaged equipment and placed the contractors in fear for their lives.
Sawyer Brothers Inc. of Thomaston, Ross Sawyer of Thomaston and his brother Ryan Sawyer of Warren filed the lawsuit on Aug. 20 in U.S. District Court in Portland against the motor vessel Island Transporter, and its owner, Island Transporter LLC.
The Sawyers claim that the weather was so rough on Dec. 11, 2014, that the concrete company’s primary vehicle — a 27-ton 1987 Mack boom truck — rolled on its side. A lot of valuable equipment fell off the truck and was lost in the ocean, according to the lawsuit. The truck and other equipment also were damaged beyond repair, the suit asserts.
A cement truck not owned by the Sawyers also slid onto its side aboard the 95-foot-long ferry during the roughly 12-mile crossing from Rockland to North Haven.
Ryan Sawyer said he was in the company boom truck when it rolled onto its side, forcing him to get out of the vehicle through the passenger door. Ryan Sawyer said he feared for his life because it appeared the truck was going to roll into the sea while he was trapped in it for several minutes.
Ross Sawyer said he was “delirious” with fright when he saw the boom truck and pickup truck sliding across the deck of the ferry, according to the lawsuit. He said he vomited because of seasickness and fright.
The Sawyers claim the Island Transporter was negligent because the National Weather Service had forecast south winds of 20 knots with gusts to 30 knots and seas of seven feet. No ferry crew members informed the Sawyers about where the life jackets were located until after the trucks had tipped on their side, according to the lawsuit.
The ferry began rocking violently about one mile east of the Rockland breakwater, according to the lawsuit. Later, after the trucks tipped on their sides, the ferry continued on for the remaining five nautical miles of the trip, according to the lawsuit.
The ferry made it across Penobscot Bay to North Haven with no injuries, according to the U.S. Coast Guard at the time of the incident. The voyage lasted approximately one-and-a-half hours and required the assistance of both a Coast Guard vessel, which positioned itself to the windward side of the ferry to protect the stricken vessel from the worst of the waves, and the North Haven ferry, which positioned itself to leeward side, according to the lawsuit.
Efforts Tuesday to obtain comment about the incident from the Coast Guard were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for the loss and damage to the Sawyer Brothers Inc. vehicles and equipment, and the loss of considerable profits from not being able to do the project they went out to do on North Haven as well as lost work until they got replacement equipment.
Each Sawyer is seeking no less than $50,000 in damages for emotional distress for the harrowing trip as well as the damage to the vehicles and lost profits. The brothers maintain that the ferry company was negligent for not having better secured the vehicles, for having gone out in that weather, and for not providing the Sawyers with life jackets or informing them where they were located at the start of the trip.
Capt. David Whitney, who piloted the ferry that day but is not being sued, said Tuesday he had no comment on the lawsuit. Whitney is manager of Island Transporter LLC. The company’s annual report filed this year with the Maine Secretary of State listed Francis O’Hara Jr., Perry Holmes and Maynard Prock as the principals of the company.
The Sawyers are represented by attorneys Leonard Langer and Twain Braden of Portland.