Body of Meredith man who fell from boat pulled from Paugus Bay

LACONIA — The body of a Meredith man was pulled from the waters of Paugus Bay Friday morning, 16½ hours after he fell off a boat and did not resurface Thursday afternoon.

The State Fish and Game Department identified the man as Stephen Brown, 48, of Meredith, according to Fish and Game Capt. Michael Eastman.

Brown’s body was located by side-scan sonar at 9:32 a.m. Fish and Game divers found the body four minutes later in 26 feet of water, about 100 yards off shore from the Margate Resort.

The body was brought to land on the Fish and Game dive boat a few minutes later to await the arrival of a medical examiner. Members of Brown’s family stood together on the Margate beach to watch as the dive boat, accompanied by two other craft involved in the search, came ashore a few hundred yards away from where they were standing.

The discovery of Brown culminated an extensive water search which began minutes after he went under water at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday.

“He was looking to set an anchor and tripped,” Eastman said, explaining what bystanders told investigators as what caused Brown to topple off the Sea Ray Sundeck boat.

State Rep. Mike Bordes, who was standing vigil with Brown’s family on Friday, said he and Brown were good friends. He said he had been with Brown earlier in the week. He declined to say more out of respect for the family’s privacy.

The Laconia Fire Department was notified of the accident at 4:50 p.m. Within minutes the Laconia and Gilford fire departments, as well as New Hampshire Marine Patrol, converged on the scene to conduct the search which continued into mid-evening.

The Laconia Fire Department’s water rescue boat slowly navigated up and down the shore while firefighters in the water wearing goggles and snorkels kept pace with the boat while scanning below the surface for any signs of Brown’s body. At about 7:15 p.m. Fish and Game divers arrived on the scene to join the search. The search was suspended at 8:30 p.m. when night fell.

At 6:30 a.m. Friday the search resumed when Fish and Game personnel conducted another grid search using a boat equipped with side scanning sonar which can detect and provide imagery of objects on the bottom of the lake.

Fish and Game divers joined the search at about 8:15 a.m.

Meanwhile, a State Police helicopter hovered over the search area for several minutes to assist in the recovery effort.