Solving The 'Mystery Of The Floating Mast' | The Falmouth Enterprise

In which the crew of the MBL's R/V Gemma collects a floating mast with rigging - and through sleuthing, returns it to its grateful owner.

When Rabbi Netanel Reed of Jersey City’s Congregation Mount Sinai set sail in the boat he had just bought in Scituate, the weather was good—until it was not. After an hours-long struggle, he lost his mast. He thought it was gone for good, until he received a mysterious phone call less than two weeks later.

When the caller addressed him as Rabbi Reed, he assumed it was one of his congregants, and so he was all the more surprised to hear his missing mast had been found.

“Baruch HaShem, thank God,” Rabbi Reed said. “It was a miracle no doubt that this mast was found.”

The Boat Hunters

William Mylett and David Bank of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole were out on MBL’s research vessel, the Gemma, doing a routine “squid run”—collecting the creatures for science experiments. On their way out they noticed something floating in the distance in Vineyard Sound. Mr. Bank, who was captaining the ship that day, steered the Gemma over to investigate.

“That’s an odd-looking log,” Mr. Mylett recalled thinking as the Gemma approached. Read rest of the story here.

Source: Solving The 'Mystery Of The Floating Mast' | The Falmouth Enterprise