MA Officer Rescues 5 People from Capsized Boat

An Ipswich (MA) Harbor Patrol officer rescued five people, including a baby and a pregnant woman, after an aluminum boat capsized in a mooring field during rough seas Saturday.

While on patrol at 3:15 p.m. on the water near the Clark Beach mooring area, Officer Matthew Bodwell, an experienced mariner whose role on the Ipswich Police Department includes the highly-specialized assistant harbormaster duties, was hailed over the marine radio on Channel 16 for a mayday message indicating a vessel had capsized in the mooring field and that people were in the water in distress.

As Officer Bodwell piloted the Harbor Patrol boat into the mooring field, he immediately observed an adult male in the water waving an arm for help. Officer Bodwell secured the area and went to work, Ipswitch Public Safety reports. 

He was first able to pull a pregnant woman from the water, followed quickly by a second woman, then a 14-month-old girl, followed by two men.

Paramedics evaluated all five people, and after they were medically cleared.