Local volunteers continue search for missing fisherman

The search for the fisherman Logan Preston, who has been missing in Cobscook Bay since March 25, will continue as soon as the weather improves. "We need a good sunny day for the plane to be able to take images," says Maine Marine Patrol Officer Russell Wright. The plane, belonging to Down East Emergency Medicine Institute (DEEMI), is equipped with a "high resolution camera that can pick up minute information" in the water, reports Director Robert Bowie of DEEMI. The DEEMI team is based in Orono. "As soon as our pilots give us the green light, everything's ready to go," Bowie says of waiting for the good weather.

Preston, a 19-year-old fisherman from Roque Bluffs, and fellow fisherman Loren Lank, 54, of Lubec had taken the All American out for a day of urchin dragging in the Cobscook Bay area. The All American was owned by Preston's father, Roger Preston.

Mitch McConnell, captain of Perfect Choice, was also out dragging that day. In the late afternoon he and his crew came across a debris field by Red Island. They called the U.S. Coast Guard, but McConnell says it was the Marine Patrol who found Loren Lank's body. Wright confirms that Lank was found by the Marine Patrol near Comstock Point on Seward Neck, across from Shackford Head in Eastport.

The cause of the All American's sinking is still unknown, along with the location of the hull. According to McConnell the dragger had a "fiberglass hull; topside was wood."

"I have no idea what was the cause," says Wright. "There was a lot of debris," which he suggests would be unusual for a dragger that had its drag caught down on bottom and flipped. The debris is being found from Leighton Neck in Pembroke to Johnson's Bay, Lubec. Wright notes that searchers have found most of the boat except the hull. "We have found pieces, bulkhead stringers, that should have been 10, 12 feet long that were in small pieces, six by six," he says. "The winch in that vessel was inside the wheelhouse, up against the bulkhead. My first thoughts were that the boat probably blew up, but we found no burn marks."

After Lank was found, the search for Preston continued for a number of days by fishermen, community members, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies. The Coast Guard suspended its search efforts on the morning of March 27.

Extensive search defines area of interest

On Sunday, April 5, an extensive search was mounted by "about 25 people," says Wright. DEEMI, Dirigo Search and Rescue, Volunteer K-9 Scent Specific Search and Rescue (V K-9) and the Marine Patrol worked for a number of hours searching for Preston's body.

"We hope he's found," says Milton Chute, a Lubec fisherman who helped search the bay with Logan's father, Roger Preston. "Things happen, but thank God they only happen in a great while," he adds. "The father is going out in a skiff every day, and the grandfather is on land searching. They won't rest until he's found."

Officer-in-Charge James Malcolm of U.S. Coast Guard Station Eastport says, "We did not participate in Sunday's search; we weren't aware of any search efforts." Malcolm explains that if there are other search efforts "they might give us a call as a courtesy, but as of this time we have not heard from anyone involved."

Bowie reports that during the Sunday search the Marine Patrol took the specially trained dog team to many of the islands in Cobscook Bay. "That dog is so good," he remarks. "He cuts the search area way down." Quincy, a five-year-old yellow lab, is handled by Julie Jones. Jones is the New England coordinator for the V K-9 program located in Virginia and Maine and works all over the country with Quincy on scent-specific search and rescue operations.

Jones explains that the dog was working with scent in the tidal water. "If the body is close enough to shore, the tide will wash up the scent." Jones, Quincy and the other team members used the dog's reactions to put "a box around the area where the body was by indications of scent." The Marine Patrol, Jones notes, is "pushing and working really hard on" this search effort.

Jones is prepared to come back if the plane is successful with its search of the targeted area. "Diving is the most dangerous part of search and rescue," she says. "My job is to help narrow it down for the divers." She says of the Preston family's wait, "They need to know that we care, that they're not alone. He [Logan] needs to be brought back for his family."

DEEMI is expected to resume the search this time with its specialized plane as soon as they have that sunny day. The plane, Bowie explains, will fly at 500 feet and take 2,400 images. The camera is able to take high resolution color pictures to a depth of 15 feet in water; at greater depths the colors will be harder to pick up. They will be looking for the blue and white fiberglass hull and the orange-bibbed overalls that Preston was said to be wearing. The photographs are uploaded to a VIASAR, Volunteer Imagery Analysts for Search and Rescue, where they are scanned over a two-hour period for "areas of interest." Each photograph, Bowie says, is GPS coded. When these areas of interest are identified, "the strike team will be immediately notified," and the search areas pinpointed. Because of the V K-9 team work, Bowie says, "We're really interested from Red Island down Seward Neck."

"We knew Loren because he piloted on my daughter and son-in-law's boat," says Basil Woodward of Lubec. "We were neighbors," he says of the older fisherman. On learning of Sunday's intensive search efforts for Logan Preston, Woodward hoped that the young man's body would be found soon. "It needs to be done to make closure for them," he says of the Preston family.