This is the print edition, published and on stands Jan. 8, of this story.
As the Martha’s Vineyard community continues to mourn the deaths of Roy Scheffer, 77, and Patricia Bergeron, 69, bouquets of flowers, a pair of rubber boots, and scallop and oyster shells accumulate on an Edgartown Harbor Finger Pier in remembrance of the couple who lost their lives while hauling shellfish, an activity they enjoyed together.
The beloved Island couple died on New Year’s Day when their scalloping skiff capsized a half-mile off Cow Bay in Edgartown. They were caught in an intense weather change that struck the Island around 11 am that day, and brought a squall of heavy snow, winds around 20 knots, and waves between four and six feet, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and local officials.
The Edgartown Harbor Finger Pier, located between the Edgartown Yacht Club and the Ice Cream and Candy Bazaar, has colorful flowers adorning the boardwalk and every dock piling. At the end of the dock, a shrine that reads “Love” is surrounded by pink, purple, and yellow bouquets of lilies, chrysanthemums, and echinacea. A pair of black rubber boots stand beside the shrine with a single rose, a scallop shell, and an oyster shell resting on the foot, with a black-and-white photo of Scheffer taped to a piling above.
A celebration of life was held for Bergeron at the Portuguese-American Club Tuesday at 4 pm. Bergeron had been a longtime president of the local establishment. She was also honored at the Martha’s Vineyard varsity hockey game against Nantucket on Saturday with a moment of silence prior to puck drop.
At the P.A. Club in Oak Bluffs on Tuesday, more than 700 people attended Bergeron’s celebration of life. Cars were parked up and down Vineyard Avenue, and overflowed onto County Road. The local establishment, filled with people from all walks of life, highlighted Bergeron’s enormous impact in various Island communities. Locals from the hockey and cribbage circles, the P.A. Club, the hospital, and the broader Island community, and friends and family of both Bergeron and Scheffer, came together for the celebration. Posterboard collages with photographs of Bergeron and Scheffer stood at the front of the room, and speeches by close relatives and friends shared fond memories and lessons taught by Bergeron, as the community rejoiced in her memory and the positive impact she left behind. A celebration of life for both Scheffer and Bergeron will take place at a later date, according to family members.
Coast Guard officials reported that they received a call for help shortly after 11 am on New Year’s Day. Rescue teams were dispatched from Air Station Cape Cod and Station Woods Hole before recovering Scheffer and Bergeron from the water, unresponsive, near the overturned, flat red-hull skiff. The Coast Guard said the vessel is between 25 and 26 feet long. The couple was transported to Oak Bluffs Harbor via boat before being brought to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, where they were both pronounced dead after extensive resuscitation efforts.
An eyewitness who lived near the emergency response said they saw police officers and individuals wearing life preservers near their home on Eel Pond. The eyewitness said they saw low-flying helicopters and boats deep in the water off Cow Bay, but the emergency response was too far away to make out any further details.
Local officials confirmed that it was a family member of Scheffer’s who was the first to issue a call to 911 about the capsizing vessel, after receiving a distressing call from Scheffer himself as the boat was capsizing.
Recovery operations for the vessel started Saturday. The Edgartown harbormaster, Massachusetts Environmental Police, and local boats were on scene a half-mile off Cow Bay, attaching tow lines to the inverted vessel before hauling it to Edgartown Harbor. The boat was tied up to a piling next to the yacht club.
Photos of the inverted boat reveal a thick, new polypropylene line entangled in the boat’s propeller, supporting theories made by local fishermen, first responders, and investigators that amid rough weather conditions, the boat’s drag line, used to haul up bushels of bay scallops, tangled in the propeller. The entanglement would have likely killed the engine, and left the couple without power as the skiff, which has a low transom, started taking on water before it capsized.
On Tuesday morning, the boat was rerighted inside Edgartown Harbor, said Edgartown Harbormaster Gary Kovack. The process included a barge and crane owned and operated by Aquamarine Dockbuilders in Edgartown, assisted and overseen by the Edgartown harbormaster, State Police, Environmental Police, and family members of the deceased.
Kovack said after righting the boat, family members of Scheffer and Bergeron towed the skiff away, likely to be placed on a trailer.
As is standard practice, the incident is currently under investigation by Massachusetts State Police.
Scheffer and Bergeron’s names were not initially released by the Coast Guard or any responding officials, and concern and confusion within the Island’s tight-knit community began to swirl. Social media posts from family members that day identified the couple who lost their lives in the incident.
The Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office confirmed their identities and deaths on Friday morning, describing the incident as “a horrible accident,” with initial investigations ruling out foul play.
“The preliminary investigation does not suggest foul play, and it appears at this time that the weather played a role in this tragedy. The investigation is ongoing,” said Danielle Whitney, director of community programs and public relations at the district attorney’s office, in her initial email to The Times.
The couple’s death aboard the scalloping boat marked the first fatal incident for the Island fishing fleet since June 2016, when Luke Gurney of Oak Bluffs died while setting pots for conch off Nantucket.
“Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the families and loved ones during this difficult time,” said the district attorney’s office in a press release. “Martha’s Vineyard has lost two pillars of their community, which will be deeply felt.”