People in and around the Washington County town of Addison are coping with the third death this year of a local fisherman.
In mid-January, the father-and-son duo of Chester and Aaron Barrett were lost at sea when their boat, Sudden Impact, sank in heavy seas while they were en route from Edmunds in Cobscook Bay to their home port of South Addison.
Jaxson Marston, 26, of Addison died April 25 when a rope snapped on board 25 To Life, a Gouldsboro-based boat, when it was fishing off the coast of Massachusetts. The snapped rope struck Marston, whose neck was broken in the accident, Boston.com reported.
The Coast Guard responded to the boat’s distress call and brought Marston and another injured crew member, Jamie Bailey of Cherryfield, to shore. Both men were taken to Beverly Hospital, where Marston was declared deceased, the Portland Press Herald reported.
Marston and his girlfriend had a 1-year-old daughter and were expecting another child, according to social media posts and news reports.
In both accidents, the boats were rigged for the winter to fish scallops, though Sudden Impact was in transit and not actively fishing when it sank.
Another Addison fisherman, Dean Barrett, knew all three men well. Chester was his uncle, Aaron was his cousin and Marston worked on his lobster boat for six years as a stern man.
Barrett wrote on Facebook that the death of Marston has his “heart strings pulling hard.” He posted photos of him and Marston and others standing next to hoisted tuna that they had caught.
“Things won’t be the same here without you here,” Barrett posted. “[I] always will be thankful for you ol boy.”
In a separate text message, Barrett wrote that he and Marston were “great friends” outside work, and that he feels “sickened” over the loss.
“We learned together, we worked together, we loved together, man,” Barrett posted on social media. “I’ll never forget you.”
Joshua Stubbs, an elected Addison selectman and a friend of Marston, also went onto social media to express his grief.
“I have had trouble all day trying to find the right words to say,” Stubbs posted. “I have known you for a long time. I loved you like a brother.”
In addition to being a fisherman and family man, Marston was an avid hunter. The Bangor Daily News published a feature story last October about how Marston shot and killed a 500-pound black bear known as “One Eye.”
Stubbs, state Rep. Tiffany Strout of Harrington and others posted photos and video of dozens of local hunters gathering Monday evening along a dirt road in the blueberry barrens in Columbia to fire ceremonial shots into the sloping terrain in salute to Marston.
As of Thursday afternoon, online fundraisers for Marston’s and Bailey’s families had raised nearly $120,000 and $20,000, respectively.