Old boat washes ashore overnight

A 17-foot boat registered in Portugal covered with barnacles and flooded with sand and saltwater washed ashore behind The Water Club in the 1200 block of Gulf of Mexico Drive over night.

Water Club security officer Richard Sullo reported the boat’s arrival at 2 a.m. this morning. The orange and blue boat named “Mialma” has an Enduro motor attached to the back , which was also covered in barnacles. Inside of the boat contained two old red life jackets, a 5-foot chain and an anchor with five hooks, according to a police report written by officer Joel Ascensio.

“The boat was generally in rough shape and it had ropes holding the propeller of the motor out of the water,” the report states. ‘

The U.S. Coast Guard was called and responded to the scene last night.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Charles Richter informed police that the barnacles and interior flooding “indicated the boat broke free from a larger vessel a long time ago and had been adrift for quite awhile,” according to the report. The Coast Guard also confirmed the boat was registered from Portugal.

Longboat Key Marine Patrol is working to call a service department to have the boat removed from the beach today or tomorrow at the latest.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].