Grim Find

GRANITE PIER ROCKPORT MASSACHUSETTS

APRIL 26, 2006

Published in AB Vol.48, No. 6 (Jun 06)

While searching for a lost mooring chain at the mouth of Granite Pier in Rockport, I came upon a submerged car. The Harbormasters, Rosemary Lesch and Scott Story were on site because the second part of my dive that day was to move rocks underwater to an area around three pipe piles.

Before starting the rock job, I saw that the car was a white four door Subaru Hatchback with Massachusetts License 7644PA . I also found that the car was completely locked up including the hatchback, with the windows up as well. Finding the car partially filled with sand and mud and locked up and upside down in the channel, I got a very uneasy feeling, but I could not see anyone in the car.

The Harbormasters ran the plate with the Police Department and found that the car belonged to a Newburyport woman who had been missing four to five weeks. The Newburyport Police, The Coast Guard, State Police, Rockport Police, CSI, and a number of Crime Lab technicians arrived on site within ten to forty minutes.

By this time, I had been in the water an hour and a half and it was 5:15 p.m. I started rigging the car to the Harbormaster’s boat to tow it closer to the wall. The car was approximately one hundred twenty feet from the wall and in about twenty feet at low-tide and the tow truck cable could not reach it. Once the car was close enough to the wall, I changed the rigging from the boat to the tow truck cable with one cable on the rear of the car and one on the front. The car was dragged up the wall then onto the pier where they pried it open.

They found the body of the missing woman inside. Speculation was that it was nighttime and her first time in Rockport and not knowing the roads had driven down to the pier and right off of the pier, with lighting being poor and the lobster pots normally blocking the way later in the month not there, leaving a clear shot into the water. It must have been very early in the morning, probably before 4:00AM when the fisherman start their day.

The next day I was interviewed by the Boston Globe, Gloucester Times, and Channel 7 Live Cam. One of the sons of the missing woman even came down and asked what I had seen, needing to make some sense out of the whole situation.

My total dive time was over two hours. I entered the water at 3:40 p.m. and got out at approximately 6:00 p.m. I had with me 3,600 psi in 100 cubic foot steel (42% Nitrox). My feet were cold but my core temperature stayed up on the rest of my body. I had 50 psi when I came out.

Jack Munro

	Grim Find
GRANITE PIER ROCKPORT MASSACHUSETTS APRIL 26, 2006 Published in AB Vol.48, No. 6 (Jun 06) While searching for a lost mooring chain at the mouth of Granite Pier in Rockport, I came upon a submerged car. The Harbormasters, Rosemary Lesch and Scott Story were on site because the second part of my dive that day was to move rocks underwater to an area around three pipe piles. Before starting the rock job, I saw that the car was a white four door Subaru Hatchback with Massachusetts License 7644PA . I also found that the car was completely locked up including the hatchback, with the windows up as well. Finding the car partially filled with sand and mud and locked up and upside down in the channel, I got a very uneasy feeling, but I could not see anyone in the car. The Harbormasters ran the plate with the Police Department and found that the car belonged to a Newburyport woman who had been missing four to five weeks. The Newburyport Police, The Coast Guard, State Police, Rockport Police, CSI, and a number of Crime Lab technicians arrived on site within ten to forty minutes. By this time, I had been in the water an hour and a half and it was 5:15 p.m. I started rigging the car to the Harbormaster’s boat to tow it closer to the wall. The car was approximately one hundred twenty feet from the wall and in about twenty feet at low-tide and the tow truck cable could not reach it. Once the car was close enough to the wall, I changed the rigging from the boat to the tow truck cable with one cable on the rear of the car and one on the front. The car was dragged up the wall then onto the pier where they pried it open. They found the body of the missing woman inside. Speculation was that it was nighttime and her first time in Rockport and not knowing the roads had driven down to the pier and right off of the pier, with lighting being poor and the lobster pots normally blocking the way later in the month not there, leaving a clear shot into the water. It must have been very early in the morning, probably before 4:00AM when the fisherman start their day. The next day I was interviewed by the Boston Globe, Gloucester Times, and Channel 7 Live Cam. One of the sons of the missing woman even came down and asked what I had seen, needing to make some sense out of the whole situation. My total dive time was over two hours. I entered the water at 3:40 p.m. and got out at approximately 6:00 p.m. I had with me 3,600 psi in 100 cubic foot steel (42% Nitrox). My feet were cold but my core temperature stayed up on the rest of my body. I had 50 psi when I came out. Jack Munro