CAMDEN — A month ago, just as prep work for the boating season was underway and divers were under water inspecting moorings, a 30-foot-sailboat was discovered on the floor of Camden Harbor, in Sherman’s Cove.

Harbor Master Steve Pixley contacted the boat’s owner, Ian Cushing, to figure out how to haul it up. The vessel had apparently sunk during the Dec. 23, 2022 storm, a weather system that ravaged the coastline with flooding from rain and ocean surge, said Pixley.

The boat was to have been hauled out of the water last winter, Pixley said. But that did not happen.

Instead, the sloop remained on the harbor bottom, 15 feet under water at low tide, becoming a new surface for seaweed and algae growth. It was also a hazard to navigation.

Late last week, Pixley secured help from his friend Richard Calligan, who is co-owner of Calligan Dive Service, and they proceeded to pull the boat out of Davey Jone’s Locker, in one piece. 

It was not an easy job.

The total cost of removing it from the harbor, Pixley estimates, is approximately $5,000. That includes engaging a trash hauler to place it in a dumpster and take it to a landfill.

Currently, the town is assessing how it will recoup the cost of recovering the vessel, and hold the boat owner accountable for those costs.

For now, it sits on the shore by Steamboat Landing. A hulk of a boat that once sailed the bay, with mast and rigging still attached.