Coast Guard Looking for Boater in Mt. Hope Bay

Editor's Note: Publishing this story here, since I know there are just a lot of boaters in the area who are always interested in this sort of story.

The Coast Guard is seeking public assistance after receiving a report of an unmanned and adrift boat in Mount Hope Bay near Portsmouth on Friday.

The boat was described as:
- 8 feet in length
- Skiff design
- White
- Fiberglass hull

Aboard the boat were:
- Live bait (green crab used for blackfish)
- A fishing pole
- University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Soccer windbreaker jacket with the #23 on it

The boat was located by a Good Samaritan who reported it in position 41-39.77N 071-13.7W.  

Currently, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management is in possession of the vessel.

Coast Guard Station Castle Hill, Rhode Island Marine Strike Force, local harbormasters, and a MH-60T Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod are conducting searches in the area for a possible person in the water.

Anyone with any information about the boat, its mooring, or its owner are asked to contact Sector Southeastern New England Command Center in Woods Hole, MA, at 508-457-3211.