The Sand Dollar at Slip Seven: How a Lobster Boat Vanished Time

The Sand Dollar at Slip Seven: How a Lobster Boat Vanished Time

A perfect four-inch sand dollar was found balanced upright on a three-eighths-inch stainless steel cable at slip seven in eleven-knot wind - and the lobster boat it belonged to logged a return that should have taken 120 minutes in just 43. The GPS showed two deliberate fourteen-minute gaps, the fuel burn only nine gallons, and a harbormaster's inspection recorded thirty-one gallons left - so how did the Edna Pearl cross twenty-two nautical miles in forty-three minutes?

In this episode, we follow the recorded timeline, witness statements, and physical evidence left on the dock to lay out the mismatch between instruments and observed motion, asking whether human error, mechanical failure, or something else explains the impossible passage.

Person: Amy Carter
Vessel: Edna Pearl
Location: Pellen's Cove, Maine
Distance: 22 nautical miles
Fuel remaining: 31 gallons

- The sand dollar was bone-white, roughly four inches across, balanced upright on a three-eighths-inch stainless steel cable in eleven-knot wind.
- The Edna Pearl's cruise speed was eleven knots and the usual round trip to Dunnock Ledge is forty-four nautical miles (one-way 22 nm).
- Harbormaster Doug Sewell logged the Edna Pearl leaving slip seven at 4:20 AM on July 13, 2009.
- The fuel log shows Amy fueled to forty gallons on the evening of July 13 and found thirty-one gallons on inspection the afternoon of July 14 (nine gallons burned).
- The chartplotter track showed the boat stationary at Dunnock Ledge, then jumped to three miles from the harbor, with the unit powered off twice: once at 9:08 AM and powered on at 9:22 AM, and again powered off and back on at 9:51 AM.

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