When an 18-year-old fisherman’s johnboat was found capsized in the Susquehanna River early Thursday, friends, neighbors and fellow boaters in Havre de Grace immediately started to search for him.
Three days later, that search continues in full force.
The missing teenager, Mark Everett Coates III, had gone fishing in the evening Wednesday after a day of work, said Joshua Argentino, part owner of Havre De Grace Marine Center.
It’s not clear when Coates’ boat flipped, but Argentino said a friend of his found the boat sticking out of the water early the next morning.
“We jumped on the boat and immediately rolled out,” Argentino said.
The boat was found in the water near the Hatem Memorial Bridge, according to a post from Maryland Natural Resources Police. Coates was last seen wearing a chartreuse long-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans, the post said.
Argentino said he immediately called the Harford County Sheriff’s Office and the Coast Guard, who confirmed the boat belonged to Coates. Argentino and others on the water in the Havre De Grace community took off to search the shorelines alongside the law enforcement officers who were dispatched to the river.
Then Argentino got a call from a neighbor of his, one of Coates’ parents, who came out on the boat with him to search Thursday morning.
“We spent the next five hours looking for him up and down the river,” said Argentino, adding that Coates’ parents have not left the water or its shoreline since that morning.
Coates is a welder, Argentino said, and he bought the boat over the summer because he often goes fishing when he gets off work. The morning Coates was reported missing, Argentino said, there were large logs floating in the water likely released by the Conowingo Dam. He worried that Coates may have not been able to see the debris at night.
“The Conowingo Dam releases a lot of trash and logs around the water,” he said. “It’s just part of life around here. Most of the time you can see them, but at night that’s no guarantee.”
Residents were searching for Coates on Saturday and Sunday, though Maryland Natural Resources Police warned high winds were making conditions unsafe on the water. Police have asked that boaters stay clear of the search area between the Tydings Memorial Bridge and the Amtrak bridge.
Search efforts resumed at 9 a.m. Sunday. Maryland Natural Resources Police vessels are conducting surface searches. Maryland State Police, Baltimore Police Department and Baltimore City Fire Department dive teams are conducting boat-mounted sonar searches.
Still, the tight-knit community has come together to support the family. It’s been a somber weekend, Argentino said.
“People are reflecting and thinking how to prevent something like this in the future,” he said. The marina owner and his friends who work on the water made a pact that their children will always have life jackets on the boats or near the water.
He added that a kill switch, a lanyard you can wear to stop a boat’s motor if you fall into the water, could also be helpful.
“The water is unforgiving,” he said. “It’s not something that should be taken lightly.”
Banner reporter Shayla Colon contributed to this article.
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