Tisbury awaits report on sunken boat

Tisbury officials continue to wait for a report that will identify why the town’s harbor patrol boat sank at the Owen Park Dock on Oct. 3. Town administrator Jay Grande told The Times marine surveyor Bill Bennf of Marine Safety Consultants and adjuster Jacqueline Nolan of CNA Continental Casualty Co. are still in the midst of evaluations. When they provide answers, that information will go to harbormaster John Crocker.

“The harbormaster will be providing a report to the selectmen, which I anticipate will provide a more definitive answer to this question,” Grande wrote in an email. 

Crocker said when he learns what happened, he will not be able to disclose that information prior to informing the selectmen. He said it is possible he will be able to provide the board with answers at their Nov. 12 meeting. 

Tisbury commissioned the vessel in 2011 from Texas boatmaker Welded Boat Co. through a port security grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The total purchase price was $265,126.80. The price included $15,616 worth of electronics, and twin 250-horsepower Mercury outboard engines. The specific cost of these engines is unclear. Both the engines and the electronics have already been deemed a loss, according to Grande. 

A spokesman for FEMA, who declined to be identified, emailed The Times that follow-up is necessary with the agency following the destruction of an asset it has funded.

“Grantees are required to report when an asset is being considered for disposition … at which time FEMA provides disposition instructions,” the FEMA spokesman wrote. “That is not necessarily the case for repairs, as a grantee may choose to repair equipment without notifying FEMA.”

Grande wrote that FEMA has been notified.

“We also have learned from FEMA that there are requirements as to disposition of the vessel that must be met, which are being reviewed by finance,” he wrote.  

The Times asked FEMA if the agency is ever reimbursed when an asset it has funded becomes a loss and therefore subject to an insurance claim. The agency emailed, yes. 

“Grantees may retain funds if the equipment fair market value is less than $5,000,” the agency spokesman wrote. “If the value equals or exceeds $5,000, FEMA has a right to the proportional federal share (i.e. 75 percent). The regulation applies when an item is retained (but not used for the appropriate purposes anymore), sold, or otherwise disposed of. FEMA and the regulations also allow grantees to apply the value of insurance payments toward replacement equipment of similar capability if not returned … Returned funds are turned over to the Department of Treasury and not retained by FEMA.”

It’s unclear if progress reports, which are required by FEMA, were generated after the town received the grant.

Crocker, who has been with the harbor department since 2005, said he did not recall anything of the sort. He said he wrote the grant for the FEMA funding, but was emphatic that he had “zero” to do with the design of the boat. Tisbury officials, past and present, have alleged former harbormaster John (“Jay”) Wilbur dictated how the boat would be built. Much criticism has been heaped on the fire-suppression system of the vessel, which several officials described as dysfunctional and which the general manager of Welded Boat Co. suggested could be a cause for the sinking. Former assistant harbormaster Jim Pepper recently told The Times he would be “shocked” if that system weren’t a factor in why the vessel sank. 

According to Grande, Crocker, Fire Chief John Shilling, and Police Chief Mark Saloio are “seeking outside sources for replacement electronics, engines, and [an] interim patrol boat.”