Why a Ship's Distress Beacon Turned Up in a Maine Cedar Tree

Why a Ship's Distress Beacon Turned Up in a Maine Cedar Tree

A Class B emergency beacon registered to a 42-foot sloop sent a 40-second distress alert with no clean position data, yet the boat and owner were 217 miles away and accounted for; eleven hours later a storm hit and the same device was found lodged in a cedar tree on a Maine lighthouse reservation - how did it get there? What sequence of events could carry a secured transponder from a locked locker in Massachusetts to a tree on the northeastern Maine coast?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from the automated alert logged at 04:47 on September 14, 2019 to the discovery of the beacon in the tideline six days earlier and its role in a later rescue, asking what is known and what remains officially undetermined.

Person: Sarah Zeller Date: September 14, 2019 Location: Whitmore Lighthouse reservation, northeastern Maine coast Event: 40-second automated distress alert from a registered Class B emergency beacon Vessel: 42-foot sloop Maren Elise (moored in Coverton, Massachusetts, 217 miles away)

- The distress alert was logged at 04:47 on September 14, 2019 and lasted less than 40 seconds. - The beacon’s signal returned no clean position data when received by Coast Guard Sector Northern New England. - The beacon was registered to the Maren Elise, a 42-foot sloop moored in Coverton, Massachusetts, 217 miles from where the device was later found. - Sarah Zeller found the orange device in the tideline six days before the storm, logged it in her tide notebook, and left it inactive on her kitchen table. - Eleven hours after the automated alert, a storm arrived and the device later played a role in saving two lives on the peninsula.

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