Coast Guard Opens Probe into Fatal Sinking off Cape Cod

BOSTON, MA — A man who survived eight days floating in a raft over 100 miles from land after his boat sank and his mother drowned returned safe to Boston Monday. Nathan Carman, 22, of Middletown, Conn., was transported to a Coast Guard base for interviews as authorities try to piece together exactly what happened.

Carman and his mother, Linda, left Rhode Island Sept. 18 aboard the "Chicken Pox," a 31-foot center console boat for a fishing trip. When they didn't return that day, the Coast Guard launched a massive search but called it off after six days.

On Sunday, crew aboard the Chinese freighter "Orient Lucky" spotted Carman floating in a raft about 100 miles south of Martha's Vineyard. He was hoisted aboard and transported to a Coast Guard boat as it approached Boston Tuesday morning.

Linda Carman is presumed dead.

"The likelihood of her being alive is minimal," Coast Guard officer Nicole Groll said during a news conference Monday.

Groll said officials are eager to speak to Carman to learn more about how the boat sank. He has not been accused of wrongdoing.

In recent years, Carman lived in Vernon, Vermont. Authorities searched his residence this week, according to WHDH.

He recounted the incident for Coast Guard officials during a phone call Monday.

"He said that the ship was taking on water," Groll said. "He got the life raft. He looked for his mom ... (but) couldn't find her and that was it."

The boat sank off the coast of New York, according to Groll.

Carman could be seen disembarking from a Coast Guard boat in Boston Tuesday (below).

Photo: Nathan Carman. (Credit: The Carman family)

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