All-night search for missing boater

From the Boston Herald:
All-night search for missing boater
A desperate search continues this morning for a 21-year-old East Falmouth man missing since yesterday, when his boat was found going in circles two miles southeast of Popponesset Beach.

The man left the Little River Boat Yard in Mashpee about 9 a.m. yesterday, telling co-workers he was taking the boat to a dock on Popponesset Bay in New Seabury, according to published reports.

The boat was found about 12:30 p.m. in Nantucket Sound, going in circles with no one on board, the Coast Guard said.

The 87-foot Coast Guard Cutter Hammerhead from Woods Hole searched though the night with police, firefighters and harbormasters in Mashpee, Falmouth and Barnstable, as well as the Massachusetts Marine Environmental Police.

A crew aboard a Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod also is searching nearly 50 square miles from overhead.
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For Christ's sake, if alone on a boat, wear a PFD if you past the inner harbor. I've moved plenty of boats by myself and used to drive a dinghy to work. With a lifejacket on. Uncomfortable at times, but better than going for that last swim.
Odds are, his fly will be down (fell over taking a pee).

Search ends for missing boater
By Heather Wysocki
hwysocki@capecodonline.com
June 23, 2011

MASHPEE — Douglas Andrade had tears in his eyes Wednesday morning as he explained that the nearly 24-hour search for his son, Daniel, would be called off at noon.

"I want to tell them to keep on looking," he said as friends hugged him while he and other family members gathered at the Little River Boat Yard in Mashpee. "Because we'll be right here until they find him."

The Coast Guard suspended its search for Andrade, 21, of East Falmouth, at 12:09 p.m. Wednesday after beginning its search for him early Tuesday afternoon.

But the Mashpee police were out on the water looking for Andrade with two boats Wednesday night.

The police boats had checked from Waquoit Bay all the way to Osterville, Mashpee Police Chief Rodney Collins said during a telephone interview from on board.

As of 6:30 Wednesday night there was still no sign of the young man.
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I've taken some good-natured ribbing and some down right derision over the years I've spent on the water for my belief in using a PFD. One of my jobs as a Captain was Disaster Relief with the Red Cross. I'd go to flood areas and pilot a boat with local cops/sheriffs/EMTs/etc after floods. I've seen drowning victims from floods. They had no options. I've lost 2 friends to boating accidents. They did have a choice.
On deck alone or close to the dark hours? Wear a PFD. Even if I die, I'll be found before I get real ugly.

Missing Mashpee boater's sneakers located

By K.C. MYERS
kcmyers@capecodonline.com
June 24, 2011

MASHPEE — A citizen on Sampsons Island in Cotuit found the sneakers owned by missing boater Daniel Andrade on Thursday evening.

Family and co-workers confirmed they were the shoes worn by Andrade when the 21-year-old went missing Tuesday, said Mashpee Police Chief Rodney Collins.

The find comes a day after the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search for Andrade, a seven-year employee of the Little River Boat Yard in Mashpee, who has been missing since he left the boatyard in Waquoit Bay at about 9 a.m. Tuesday morning in an 18-foot Boston Whaler.

He was taking the boat to the owner at the docks in Popponesset Bay in New Seabury but never arrived.

Missing boater's body located

Authorities said the body of 21-year-old East Falmouth boater Daniel Andrade was recovered Tuesday evening in Popponesset Bay, between one and two miles off the coast of Cotuit.

Mashpee Police Chief Rodney Collins said officers preliminarily confirmed it was Andrade's body when several recognized a tattoo on the forearm.

A fisherman discovered the body and informed the Coast Guard shortly before 6 p.m., Collins said.

Petty Officer Connie Terrell said the Coast Guard sent a 41-foot boat to retrieve the body and bring it to Woods Hole. Collins said the body was turned over to the medical examiner's office there.

The Coast Guard employed the aid of the Massachusetts Environmental Police and the Mashpee Fire Department in retrieving the body.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe said early Tuesday night he could not confirm the identification of the body. He said the state police were en route to meet with the Coast Guard.

Andrade disappeared June 21 while operating a Boston Whaler in Nantucket Sound. After leaving Little River Boat Yard in Mashpee around 9 a.m. that day, Andrade did not show up to his reported destination — a dock on Popponesset Bay in New Seabury.

The Coast Guard suspended its nearly daylong search by air, land and sea in the early afternoon on June 22, but family members and the Mashpee police and firefighters continued the search.

Rachel Andrade, Andrade's sister, said Monday she was aware a body had been recovered but had not yet identified it.

"No words can express the pain and hurt we feel with the news of Danny being found this evening," George Regan, a spokesman for the Little River Boat Yard, said in a statement. "We would like to thank the tireless efforts of the Mashpee police, fire department, and Coast Guard who never gave up hope and worked countless hours searching for him. This has been a horrible turn of events. The fact that Danny has been found and will be brought home brings some amount of closure to us all."

The Coast Guard employed the aid of the Massachusetts Environmental Police and the Mashpee Fire Department in retrieving the body.

Environmental Police spokesman Reginald Zimmerman said his department is aiding the Coast Guard's investigation.