Old boat washes ashore Tuesday morning

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

Water Club security officer Richard Sullo reported the boat’s arrival on shore at 2 a.m. The orange and blue boat named “Mialma” has an Enduro motor attached to the back, which was also covered in barnacles. The 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 police report states. ‘

The U.S. Coast Guard was called and responded to the scene soon after it's discovery was made.

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 a while,” according to the report. The Coast Guard confirmed the boat was registered in Portugal.

Longboat Key Marine Patrol is working to call a service department to have the boat removed from the beach by Wednesday.