A scallop boat that sank off New Jersey in March, killing six of the seven crew members aboard, might have been the victim of a fatal hit-and-run crash on the high seas, its owner’s lawyer said Monday.
Stevenson Weeks, lawyer for Lady Mary owner Royal Smith Sr., said extensive damage to the boat’s rudder, propeller and other equipment indicates that some other vessel hit it and kept going. Smith lost two sons in the tragedy.
Weeks said he based his suspicion on "the nature of the damage and the physics involved."
Weeks spoke during a break in a Coast Guard hearing investigating the March 24 sinking of the Lady Mary about 60 miles off the coast of Cape May. He said striking another vessel and leaving the scene can be a crime, just as it is in a motor vehicle.