SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — The historic fishing vessel that sank off Maine's coast earlier this year has been destroyed due to pollution risk, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The Jacob Pike, a former sardine carrier, sank in the New Meadows River in Harpswell. The Coast Guard said it was leaking oil into the water.
"The vessel itself was a pollution hazard," Lt. Pamela Manns with the Coast Guard said. "It's the Coast Guard's responsibility to ensure the coastal zone is safe and free from pollution, and to address those risks when possible."
Lt. Manns said after a salvage operation to lift the ship out of the river, it was towed to South Portland. Despite efforts to clean the wreck there, its wooden boards, saturated with oil, continued seeping into the surrounding water.
"That was part of the reasons why it had to be destroyed and removed from the water permanently," Manns told NEWS CENTER Maine. "There was no way for us to fully clean it."
Although the Jacob Pike was dismantled, Manns said the coast guard saved artifacts from it that will be made available to the Jacob Pike Organization.
"We'd hoped that other outcomes had been possible," Sumner Rugh, president of the organization and great-grandson of who the vessel was originally built for, said. "We're pleased they're willing to work with us and salvage some components of the vessel."
Rugh said he had hoped to preserve the piece of family history, but the Coast Guard says it wasn't theirs to give away since it belonged to someone else.
"It means a lot to have those components, and that gives us something we can use on a reconstruction that will continue the legacy of the Jacob Pike," he added.
Rugh said he plans to launch a website soon for his organization to raise money for the reconstruction project.