An online campaign for a Mount Desert Island lobsterman whose boat sank off the coast of Bass Harbor on Saturday has raised more than $32,000.
Daniel Closson, whose fishing boat “Never Enough” sank off Gott’s Island while he was hauling traps around midday on Saturday, escaped the incident after being rescued by fellow lobstermen who received his mayday call, according to the Bar Harbor Story, which first reported the story.
The sinking was the second major boating incident to occur in Bass Harbor, a small fishing village in the town of Tremont on the southern end of MDI, in under two months. On July 3, a late night fire destroyed Nathaniel Snow’s lobster boat that was moored at the harbor. Since then, more than $36,000 has been raised to replace the lobster boat, “More Miss Chif,” according to a GoFundMe organized on Snow’s behalf.
Like the July fire, Saturday’s sinking ended with a crowd of locals who rallied behind Closson, hauling his boat to shore, draining the vessel and raising more than $30,000 for future repairs, Closson told the Bangor Daily News on Monday.
Five fishermen, including one whom Closson had never met before, volunteered their Sunday afternoon to salvage the lobsterman’s boat.
“I bet at one time there were over 30 people just hanging around trying to do what they could,” Closson said. “I was in awe. I just couldn’t believe it.”
In the two days since the sinking, a GoFundMe for Closson, his wife and two kids has raised more than $32,000 from 234 donors.
“For a lobsterman, this is more than equipment lost at sea,” the fundraiser says. “It is the loss of a livelihood, and it happened at the worst possible time of year.”
Closson, who fishes alone year-round, said he was overwhelmed by the support he received after the incident.
“People I went to high school with at Mount Desert Island High School that I hadn’t seen in 20 years — they donated money,” Closson said. “I was getting teary eyed just trying to read all these names that I hadn’t heard of in years.”
Upon discovering his boat’s bow was flooding with water, the lobsterman had just enough time to slip into his survival suit, a full body waterproof suit intended to protect from cold water temperatures, before the vessel slipped underwater.
“A wave hit my port side, and I had two trays of herring at 150 pounds each slide from port to starboard,” Closson said. “Then another wave hit the port side, and my boat rolled over.”
He spent between 15 and 20 minutes floating by his boat before two fishermen rescued Closson from the water, according to Tyler Damon, the local harbormaster who oversees the harbor’s 411 registered vessels and was on scene after the mayday call.
It was not immediately clear what caused the boat’s sinking.
Closson, who has been lobstering since 2005, lost about 500 pounds of lobsters that he had caught that day and a new motor he had ordered over the winter, he said.
“That was a tough day. There was a lot of emotion you could see on Danny’s face,” said Jayson Clough, a Tremont resident who witnessed Closson’s boat being hauled to shore. “He was just in a state of shock.”
But Closson, who escaped the tragedy uninjured, was most relieved that his 10-year-old son, who often joins him on fishing trips, wasn’t onboard.
“Our support team here in our community is massive — to say it lightly — in any kind of emergency scenario,” Damon said. “I can’t speak highly enough of the multitude of people that were involved and the multiple agencies, also.”
An official with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection also responded to the incident, providing Closson with oil rags and a tool to absorb oil spilled into the water.
Since the sinking, locals have offered Closson their fishing boats for daytrips so he can recover some of his losses. Similar support was given to the Snows after the July fire, Damon said.
Several local businesses have announced fundraising events that will support the Closson family. On Wednesday, Maine State Sea Kayak in Southwest Harbor and Acadia Fat Tire E-Bike in Bar Harbor will offer half-off on e-bike rentals and sea kayak tours, the proceeds of which will go toward the Clossons.
The proceeds from a kickball game for kids in Tremont on Sunday will also be donated to the family, according to a social media post from Clough, the event’s organizer.
“The community of Tremont is just so supportive, especially the fishing industry,” Clough said. “If one of those people has a problem, you get the whole fleet of fishermen there to help. When something like this happens, it just tears the heart out of the whole community. We all know each other, we all know each other’s families.”