Mailboat Sophie C runs aground, no damage

By ROGER AMSDEN, LACONIA DAILY SUN

MEREDITH — The Sophie C, a 76-foot-long motor vessel, ran aground on a submerged rock near Loon Island off from Meredith Neck around noon on Friday.

The boat was not damaged in the incident and will return to its normal schedule Saturday, according to Capt. Jim Morash of the Winnipesaukee Flagship Company.

“It's not uncommon to have an incident like this when we have low water conditions, like we're currently experiencing,” said Morash.

The level of Lake Winnipesaukee is more than a foot below the full lake level of 504.32 feet above sea level, according to Sgt. David Ouellette of the New Hampshire Marine Patrol.

He said that the lake is low but "not drastically so." He said the channel the Sophie C was in is very narrow and that, coupled with lower lake levels, contributed to the incident.

A Marine Patrol report of the incident says that the grounding was reported at 12:16 p.m. and that the boat was being operated at a very slow speed in a normally traveled, navigable channel.

There were six people on board the Sophie C, which delivers mail to islands on Lake Winnipesaukee, and was being operated by Robert Reed, a commercially licensed operator. There were no injuries reported and it was determined that the vessel was resting on a submerged rock. The crew and the three passengers wee evacuated and returned to port.

The vessel was later removed with the assistance of its sister ship, the Doris E, and was operated under its own power back to the cruise ship line's repair facility in Center Harbor, where it was determined that the vessel had suffered no damage.

Ouellette went on to say that the Winnipesaukee and Lake Sunapee, where a grounding incident took place Thursday, both are lower than average, but "not drastically." In the southern part of the state, he said, the smaller lakes are very low and that the situation is the same for the upper Connecticut Lakes in the northern part of the state.

He said a limited snowmelt in the spring and a lack of rainfall this summer have produced lower than normal water levels, increasing the danger of submerged hazards.

The 76-foot-long Sophie C grounded on a submerged rock near Loon Island in Meredith Friday but was not damaged and will be back on its regular schedule Saturday. (Roger Amsden/for The Laconia Daily Sun)