Yacht Sinks After Hitting Montauk Jetty

A 44-foot Meridian yacht sank after striking the west side of the Montauk jetty last Thursday night, the Coast Guard reported Friday. 

No one was injured when the boat hit the rocks and began taking on water at about 9:30 p.m. Members of the Coast Guard were on their station’s dock, about 500 yards away, when they heard the crash, according to Petty Officer Ryan O’Hare.

“They could see the running lights. Knowing the area, they knew it wasn’t right,” he said. The Coast Guard called East Hampton Town police and the town Marine Patrol. Coast Guard members took a van to the jetty because the area is too shallow for Coast Guard boats, he said. 

When the Marine Patrol boat arrived, patrol officers and Coast Guard members boarded the boat and rescued a husband and wife before it sank deeper into the water, Officer O’Hare said. 

He said the couple had come from Patchogue and missed the entrance to the harbor. He believes the captain “spun around, thinking he was going back in the entrance, and ended up hitting the jetty.” He was going about 15 knots, the officer said.

“It’s a rock jetty. It won’t take much at that point for a hole to get punctured in the hull,” he said.

Officials secured the boat, but it is the owner’s responsibility to have it removed, they said. The boat was still there around midday on Friday, but it did not pose much of a danger to other boaters.

“It’s not the entrance side — it’s on the opposite side of the channel,” Officer O’Hare said. “There’s hardly any traffic there.”

The boat was removed by crane on Sunday night.