Probable sinkings

Sad things can happen on the water. And often sad incidents pass with little notice. Such was the case last week when persons unknown, said to be vandals, cut the docklines of a half-dozen boats tied up at Augusta's short-term parking dock on the Savannah River.

Six boats were set adrift. One, an old houseboat, was found hung up in overhanging tree branches and returned to the dock. The other five are still missing. And, here's the sad part: One of the five is the Avocet, a 40-foot 1950s era Matthews cruiser.

Avocet wasn't pretty, but she had nice lines.She was made of teak and mahogany, probably with cypress ribs. Someone had been working on her, off and on, for a long time. She needed a lot of work.

Avocet was a classic vessel; a survivor of a golden age of recreational boating.

She and the other inhabitants of her dock occupied neglected space on the waterfront. This is where one would often find boats in arrears on their marina rents. And, despite a purported 48-hour parking limit, many had been squatters there for months.

The upstream lakes are at flood pools and the Corps of Engineers is releasing water into the river at nearly 30,000 cubic feet per second.

The Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam is about 15 miles downstream from here. Ominously, a safety cable buoyed with big floats and stretched across the dam's spillway, was found to be breached the morning after the six boats were set adrift.

If wooden-hulled Avocet went over the dam, it is very unlikely she is still in one piece.

That's sad.