Baltimore Water Taxi Capsizing Claims Second Life

March 9, 2004
A second person has died as a result of the weekend capsizing of a water taxi in Baltimore Harbor, and recovery crews spent another day trying to find the bodies of three people still missing.
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A second person has died as a result of the weekend capsizing of a water taxi in Baltimore Harbor, and recovery crews spent another day trying to find the bodies of three people still missing.

The 36-foot pontoon boat overturned Saturday near Fort McHenry when a sudden thunderstorm struck the harbor with wind gusts of up to 55 mph, throwing all 25 people on board into the chilly water.

Three people - a couple who planned to marry and a 6-year-old boy - disappeared.

The woman who died Monday evening was the daughter of another victim, JoAnn Pierce, 60, of Cumberland County, N.J., according to one of Pierce's bosses.

Lisa Pierce, 30, died Monday evening at Harbor Hospital, said Dr. Michael Rosenberg, a partner in the Vineland, N.J., medical facility where JoAnn Pierce worked as an office manager.

``(JoAnn) Pierce was a devoted mother and a devoted wife,'' Rosenberg said. ``The personal loss here has been incalculable - for many of our staff she was as much a mother figure as a boss.''

JoAnn Pierce's husband, Thomas, was on the tourist boat but survived.

Baltimore Fire Department Chief William Goodwin confirmed Tuesday that a woman died at Harbor Hospital, but he refused to identify her.

Officials retraced the water taxi's route through the harbor on Tuesday and may have found the boat's flat, canopy-type roof, Goodwin said. They discovered the vessel's ladder and part of its railing Monday, clues that may help find the missing victims.

``The more information we have, the better able we are to figure out what happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening in the future,'' said Lauren Peduzzi, a spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board.

Investigators have requested drawings from the vessel's manufacturers to study whether the ship's design had any effect on the accident, she said.

The missing were identified by relatives and in media reports as Corinne J. Schillings, 26, of Alexandria, Va.; Andrew Roccella, 26, of Virginia, and Daniel Bentrem, 6, of Harrisonburg, Va.

Slightly warmer water temperatures allowed divers to stay in the water longer Tuesday, and they had better visibility as they worked in shallower areas.

Referring to the search for bodies, Goodwin said, ``In my 28 years, we've never left anybody out there, but we've never had a debris field this big. So, we're becoming comfortable that we're narrowing in on the area.''

Two survivors of the accident and a naval reservist who was part of a group that rushed to their rescue came to the scene to help pinpoint where the vessel sank.

``We keep getting better information today from individuals involved about where the boat actually was when it made its attempt to turn,'' Goodwin said.

Searchers made maps of the area, marking off sections of the harbor that they had already covered and creating a grid of 100-square-yard sections.

Meanwhile, federal safety officials said they want to know if the crew told the passengers to put on life jackets after learning of the threatening weather. The boat was equipped with life jackets, but passengers are not required to wear them.

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