A 27-foot boat with four people aboard that had lost power and was drifting in among swimmers at Horseneck Beach late Saturday afternoon, was pulled to safety by Westport's nearly new harbormaster boat without damage or injury.

Director of Marine Services Christopher Leonard said a beachgoer called Westport Police at around 5:30 pm to report that a good-sized boat seemed to be having difficulty and was approaching the swimming area. Mr. Leonard (who took this photo) went to the beach and called assistant harbormaster James Perry aboard the harbormaster boat. “He arrived quickly and was single-handedly able to get a line to the boat” which had dropped anchor but was continuing to drag in toward the beach.

Although conditions were decent — wind and waves were moderate — depth was “marginal” so Mr. Perry had to avoid grounding his boat and also avoiding the anchor line attached to the other boat.

After reaching deeper water, the tow back to the state ramp from which the 27-footer had launched went smoothly.

In a summer that has already seen two bad marine incidents nearby (boat crash at Cadman's Neck and a boater who went overboard and died off Dartmouth), “it was nice to have this one turn out well for all involved — (Perry) did a great job,” Mr. Leonard said. Shorelines has reached out to Massachusetts Environmental Police twice for updates on the investigation into the Cadman's Neck crash, which left several people hurt, two badly, but has not heard back.

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