The owner of a sunken 80-foot-long fishing boat that’s sitting at the bottom of New Meadows River in Harpswell and leaking oil is now facing charges.
The boat, the sardine carrier Jacob Pike, sank in Harpswell during January’s twin storms and record-high tides.
The harbormaster hasn’t received a plan yet for raising and disposing of the sunken boat.
The town is summonsing the boat’s owner, Cyrus Cleary, for the crime of abandonment of a watercraft, according to the harbormaster.
Cleary could be fined the cost of removal plus 50 percent of that cost.
Cleary told the Bangor Daily News in February that he doesn’t think he’s responsible for all the costs of removing the boat and has disagreed with the U.S. Coast Guard on how to get it out.
Removing the boat from the water and towing it piece by piece could cost more than $100,000.
First built in 1949 by Newbert & Wallace in Thomaston, the Jacob Pike was a refrigerated vessel used to fish for and transport sardines. After the collapse of Maine’s sardine industry, the vessel was used to transport lobster, then pogies. The ship was retired from fishing in 2022 and passed through several owners before Cleary acquired it.