Locals tied to boating fatality

A 63-foot powerboat that collided with a sailboat in Buzzard's Bay on Friday afternoon, killing a 64-year-old Dartmouth man, was owned and captained by a Riverview resident who operates a Maplewood Avenue car repair shop, according to officials.

Fred M. Bevins III of Honeysuckle Road and his wife Ellen Bevins were traveling north in their Sea Ray cabin cruiser Reasons around 1:45 p.m. Friday south of Padanaram Harbor in Dartmouth when the boat struck the stern of the Priority, throwing the sailboat's skipper into the water, said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter.

An investigation into the crash is ongoing, Miliote said yesterday. So far, no one has been charged in connection with the incident. Miliote would not say who was driving the Reasons at the time of the collision, or why the powerboat did not avoid the Priority, which was under sail.

Three Coast Guard vessels and a helicopter responded to the collision scene after receiving a mayday call from the Reasons and located the skipper of the Priority, retired businessman David Walsh, in the water around 2:30 p.m.

Walsh was transported by the Coast Guard to the state pier in New Bedford and by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, where he was pronounced dead.

A second crew member on the Priority, 66-year-old Warren Hathaway of Dartmouth, was below deck during the collision and was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

An online Coast Guard boat directory lists Reasons as a fiberglass recreational vessel, owned by Bevins and built in 1993 with a length of 62.5 feet and width of 15.8 feet.

The Reasons and the Priority were towed to the state pier in New Bedford, where they were examined by investigators.

Attempts to reach Fred Bevins yesterday at his home and the Car Shop, his Maplewood Avenue auto repair shop, were unsuccessful. Ellen Bevins yesterday said she didn't know anything about an accident in Buzzard's Bay over the weekend.

A juvenile boy, who was not identified, was also on board the Reasons at the time of the accident, Miliote said.

Walsh, the retired president of Teledyne Rodney Metals, was an experienced sailor who had served as president of the Buzzards Bay Regatta and was a member of the New Bedford Yacht Club.

Hathaway is publisher emeritus of Hathaway Newspapers, which publishes five weekly newspapers as part of the SouthCoast Media Group.

The Priority had sailed to the Elizabeth Islands on Friday morning and was returning north to Padanaram Harbor with Walsh at the wheel and Hathaway asleep below decks, according to an account by Hathaway in the New Bedford Standard-Times, when the Reasons approached the sailboat from behind.

In the interview, Hathaway said he was awakened by shouts of distress from Walsh in the cockpit and the sound of the Reasons engines approaching from behind, before being thrown across the cabin by the force of the collision.

Photos

Mike Valeri/New Bedford Standard-Times The boat Reasons, which is owned by Gloucester resident Fred Bevins, was involved in a fatal crash in Dartmouth over the weekend. The boat struck and killed David Walsh of South Dartmouth, who was in a sailboat.