Ghost Boat

There was no one aboard the pleasure craft that almost T-boned them. So father and son went fishing for answers.

- By Derek Burnett

IT WAS 11:30 a.m., and the fishing so far had been a bust. Still, floating on the water 40 miles off the North Carolina coast was a great way to spend a lazy July day. Calm seas, clear skies, hint of a breeze. Not another boat in sight. Until now. Andrew Sherman, a 50-year-old investment adviser from Roanoke, Virginia, spotted a speck on the horizon. As the speck approached, it started to look like a boat. “Jack,” he yelled to his son, a 21-year-old U.S. Naval Academy midshipman, “some yahoo's headed straight at us!

Unbelievable. Miles of open ocean, and this idiot was on course to T-bone them. Andrew steered their boat up a couple of lengths just as the interloper whizzed by their stern. The Shermans а stared incredulously. Four fishing lines out, music blaring—your average recreational fishing craft, except there wasn't a soul in sight. The idiot must have gone below, leaving his boat cruising along at 10 mph.

“Follow it, Jack,” Andrew said.