BRUNSWICK, Maine — A third day of searching Monday failed to yield any trace of a Bailey Island man who reportedly became light-headed and fell off a boat into the Androscoggin River on Friday night.
Stephen Wines, 27, was fishing in the river with his brother when he fell into the river and went missing.
The Maine Marine Patrol resumed searching at low tide Monday. By about 11:30 a.m. Monday, Maine Marine Patrol Officer Clint Thompson had been scouring the river between Bay Bridge Landing, where Wines was last seen, and Merrymeeting Bay for several hours.
After coordinating with Thompson, Brunswick Marine Resources Officer Dan Devereaux steered the police department’s boat in a grid pattern along a stretch of the river at times less than two feet deep. He peered through binoculars at anything that caught his eye along the shore.
Witnesses reported seeing Wines, 27, and his brother, William Wines, 30, of Bailey Island, in a small, recreational boat in the Androscoggin at about 8:40 p.m. Friday. Stephen Wines then reportedly fell out of the boat into the river near Bay Bridge Landing.
“They were supposed to be off the water by 8 [p.m.],” Tasha Cave of Bath, who is engaged to Stephen Wines and is mother to his 7-month-old daughter, said Monday. “Both of their baby mamas had told them. When I called them, they were on their way across from the island headed toward me. But those guys, they just want to hit that last fishing hole.”
Earlier on Friday, according to Cave, Stephen Wines, who worked as a contractor with his brother, became light-headed but didn’t give it another thought.
Later that night, as the two brothers headed back across the river, “Billy said [Stephen] stood up, passed out and fell off the boat,” Cave said.
William Wines told her he circled his brother twice, and finally jumped in the river to try to save him.
“He swam with him for a half-hour, but finally just let him go,” Cave said.
William Wines made his way to the shore and was treated and released from an area hospital.
The boat was recovered, along with life jackets. Officials do not believe either man was wearing a life jacket.
Lifeflight of Maine, the Maine Marine Patrol, and area police and fire searched by helicopter, plane and boat, throughout the weekend for a glimpse of Stephen Wines. Volunteers in boats assisted on Saturday.
The search was suspended at 3:30 p.m. Saturday as rain moved in.
Weather conditions prevented the use of planes on Monday, but area fishermen and clam harvesters tied up at the landing to search the river and walk the shores.
There had be no sign of Stephen Wines by 3 p.m. Monday. Jeff Nichols, spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, said that if the search continues on Tuesday and the weather improves, at least one more boat and a plan are likely to join the search.
Nichols declined to characterize the search as a “recovery” mission but said the water temperature Saturday was 54 degrees.
“That kind of temperature incapacitates someone pretty quickly,” he said.
Nichols said the Androscoggin River as it flows into Merrymeeting Bay “is a complex system, for sure, and there are a lot of factors including the level of water and the dynamic currents.”