New 35' Carolina Classic goes down.....

[TheTinMan]

What a tragedy, they were taking the boat to Miami for the boat show.

SOUTH RIVER — Two bodies found near the mouth of South River in Carteret County have been identified as two Florida men hired to transport a new boat from North Carolina back to their home state.

The men left Edenton with the 35-foot Carolina Classic sportsfishing boat Sunday morning and were headed south along the Intracoastal Waterway to Cozy Cove Marina, a broker for Carolina Classic vessels in Dania Beach, Fla., said Carteret County Sheriff Ralph Thomas Jr.

James Surface, 55, and Sam Puleo, 78, never made it beyond Carteret County, and an investigation is under way to determine what caused the boat to sink.

Thomas said the initial evidence doesn’t suggest foul play, but investigators need to examine the boat before they can determine whether or not the sinking was an accident. The sheriff’s department and the U.S. Coast Guard are working together on the investigation, he said.

“No final determination will be made until the boat has been raised and examined,” Thomas said.

The vessel was located in Carteret County waters near the mouth of Adams Creek after an investigation began into Puleo’s death. His body was found in the water Thursday afternoon near the shore in the South River community.

Thomas said Puleo was wearing a life vest but there were no signs of a boat nearby or reports of a missing person, leaving investigators with little information.

Through an identification card with the victim’s address, investigators were able to piece together information about him and the trip to North Carolina. That was then that they learned there was a second man and a boat.

“The investigation revealed he was one member of a two-man team that had gone to (Edenton) to bring a boat back to Florida. The mystery then was ‘Where was the boat and where was the second man?’” Thomas said.

The body of the second man was located near where Puleo was found. With the help of an air search by the Coast Guard, investigators were able to see the boat sitting on the water bottom an estimated seven or eight miles away from where the men were found, Thomas said.

Thomas said the winds and water current apparently carried the men’s bodies away from the boat.

Surface and Puleo had rented a car for the drive to Edenton and then left together on the boat to transport it down to Florida.

It is believed that the boat sank on the day of their departure from Edenton.

The men reportedly left the manufacturer’s dock in Edenton at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, which would have put them in the area around midday Sunday, Thomas said.

Thomas said there were no obvious signs of trauma on the bodies of the two men, but autopsies were to be conducted to determine the cause of death.

The boat will remain underwater until the owner is able to hire a salvage company to raise the vessel. :(