While July 4th weekend revelers were enjoying barbecues, the beach and other holiday fun on Saturday, Capt. Jack Moran and his crew were working to stop a boat from sinking in Cape May Harbor.
The 40-foot boat, wistfully named “Jersey Tomatoes” has been moored in the harbor and was slowly dropping into a watery grave.
“We got calls, it was an hour from sinking,” said Moran, the owner of Sea Tow Cape May, a marine company that is like AAA for boaters.
Cape May police and the U.S. Coast Guard had received calls from recreational boaters, parasailers and professional mariners, all reporting the vessel was in danger of sinking, Moran said.
“When we got the call from the city yesterday (July 6) we went out with the Coast Guard and the boat was an hour from being completely under water, sinking and releasing hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel and oil into the harbor and becoming a hazard to navigation,” he said.
When Sea Tow responded with two vessels and a crew of four the boat was “very close to sinking,” he said.
“The water was already coming up on the scuppers, the little holes on the desk to let out rain or other water from the deck, the water was above that,” Moran said.
Crews brought pumps on board to remove water and lighten the vessel so it would stay afloat, he said. After pumping the water out, they towed the boat to the beach at high tide, he said. Diesel fuel and oil will be removed tomorrow.
Boats are more expensive to maintain and fix than exotic cars, Moran explained. Boaters have a joking expression about that, saying that the word boat stands for “Break Out Another Thousand” dollars.
“The person who owned the boat no longer had a home for the boat, for whatever reason, there was no marina that would have it, so they had it on a mooring anchored in the harbor,” Moran said. “It had been there for several months.”
The beginning of the end for the Jersey Tomatoes came when the anchor broke and the vessel drifted on to the rocks in front of the U.S. Coast Guard station a few weeks ago, he said.
“We assume there was some damage to the bottom of the boat because it was slowly taking on water,” he said.
The boat was re-moored in the harbor and blew off its anchor again, this time landing against a marina bulkhead. “The marina (staff) was nice enough to help anchor it back out on a mooring, where it had been sitting for the last two weeks and getting lower and lower in the water because it was slowly taking on water,” Moran said.
After the fuel and oil are drained, the fate of the boat is up to the city.
It’s considered abandoned in the fact that the owner hasn’t been on the boat to keep it safe and afloat, he said.
This isn’t the first time Capt. Moran and Sea Tow Cape May have been called to handle an abandoned craft - the last time was in December, but this vessel was on land near a set of century-old railroad tracks on the beach in Cape May known as the “ghost tracks.” The rusting tracks occasionally become visible due to shifting tides and following Nor’easters.
That sailboat, named Panache, was “gifted by an older gentlemen to two men who decided to sail it around Cape May point on wind power, since the boat’s motor didn’t work. Instead, the boat landed on the beach and sat for a month.”
From the Hudson River to Cape May, New Jersey’s 130 miles of coastlines, in addition to bays, rivers and creeks are littered with abandoned boats.
Unlike towing away an abandoned car, removing an abandoned boat is a costly and environmentally risky process for towns and few funding sources exists for them recoup those costs.
Technically, a boat owner who is identified and charged with abandoning a boat and any resulting pollution of tidal waters, can face penalties made possible under the Abandoned Vessel Disposition Law passed in 2011.
If an owner can be found, they may have filed for bankruptcy or can’t afford to pay to remove the vessel, local officials said.
A bill proposed by State Senator Michael Testa that would create a $25 million fund to remove abandoned vessels progress was reintroduced in 2024, released by the law and public safety committee in May and has been referred to the Senate’s appropriations committee.
In the case of the Jersey Tomatoes, the city of Cape May paid Sea Tow to de-water the boat and tow it to safety. It would need significant work to sail again, Moran said.
“It’s a sad story. It was a nice boat,” Moran said. “It could be saved with the right owner.”
Two crews from Sea Tow Cape May pump water from "Jersey Tomatoes," a boat apparently abandoned in Cape May Harbor. SL
Stories by Larry Higgs
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @CommutingLarry