Death by Speed
July 18, 2008 was a sunny day in Buzzards Bay with a light 5 to 10 knot winds. It was a near-perfect day for boating and two men were sailing back to South Dartmouth in a 30’ sailboat when it was struck from behind by a 63’ diesel-powered express cruiser on plane. David Walsh, 64, former commodore of the New Bedford YC was in the cockpit of his sailboat. The collision knocked him overboard and killed him. The operator of the 63’ powerboat was Fred Bevins III. His trial started last Thursday, Nov. 5th in New Bedford, Mass. He is charged with boat homicide by negligent operation. Public court records state that that Bevins says he was readjusting his chartplottter/gps when he looked up and saw the sailboat too late to avoid a collision.
The danger of a helmsman in a fast-moving powerboat distracted by his chartplottter or radar and colliding with another vessel is all too real as this accident and trial proves.
 Reasons, at 63’ express cruiser owned by Fred Bevins III, was a crime scene last summer after a fatal accident. The boat struck and killed David Walsh of South Dartmouth, who was in a sailboat. |
Fred Bevins III faces a charge of boat homicide by negligent in New Bedford District Court. Prosecutors have said Bevins was skippering a 63-foot power boat that struck a 35-foot-sailboat on Buzzards Bay last July, killing David Walsh of Dartmouth. Walsh's sailing partner was hurt. Bevins has said he was resetting his global positioning system just before the crash. But investigators determined that Walsh's boat had the right of way under international navigation rules.
If convicted of the misdemeanor, Bevins faces up to 30 months in jail.
 David Walsh |
Fred M. Bevins III of Honeysuckle Road and his wife Ellen Bevins were traveling north in their Sea Ray cabin cruiser Reasons around 1:45 p.m. July 18, 2008 south of Padanaram Harbor in Dartmouth when the boat struck the stern of the Priority, throwing the sailboat's skipper into the water, said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney. The Priority was returning the South Dartmouth from a trip to the Elizabeth Islands on the east side of Buzzards Bay.
The Collision
According to court documents, Bevins was resetting his GPS system in the moments before his 63-foot powerboat, Reasons, struck the stern of Walsh's 35-foot sailboat, The Priority. In a written statement to the Coast Guard, Bevins said he was setting waypoint on his Global Positioning System device, looked up to see the sailboat in front of his boat and had no time to avoid the crash.
Investigators have concluded that Walsh's boat had the right of way under international navigation rules since it was fully under sail. Obviously, no vessel has the right of collision weather burdened or not.
Walsh was thrown into the water by the force of the collision.
The USCG Responds
The three-member crew of the power boat, the Reasons, reported the accident to Coast Guard Station Menemsha. Two nearby patrolling cutters, the Ridley and the Tybee, as well as the 25-foot rescue boat and a helicopter were dispatched.
Coast Guard officers boarded the Reasons after the collision, according to Miliotte. At the time of the accident, seas were less than one foot and winds were 5 to 10 knots, the Coast Guard said. A Coast Guard crew located Walsh just before 2:30 p.m. and took him to State Pier in New Bedford, where an ambulance was waiting, said Coast Guard spokesman Zach Zubricki. Walsh was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, a hospital spokeswoman said.
A second crew member on the Priority, 66-year-old Warren Hathaway of Dartmouth, was below deck during the collision and was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Moments Before Impact Walsh Saw It Coming
The Priority had sailed to the Elizabeth Islands on Friday morning and was returning north to Padanaram Harbor with Walsh at the wheel and Hathaway asleep below decks, according to an account by Hathaway in the New Bedford Standard-Times, when the Reasons approached the sailboat from behind.
In the interview, Hathaway said he was awakened by shouts of distress from Walsh in the cockpit and the sound of the Reasons engines approaching from behind, before being thrown across the cabin by the force of the collision.
About Fred Bevins III
Bevins, who was working at his auto repair shop when a New Bedford Times reporter spoke with him, declined to comment, referring the reporter to his lawyer who had instructed him not to speak.
On the car shop's waiting-room wall were a number of news articles that featured Bevins. Among them was one clip that described how he dove into the Neponset River when he was 17 to rescue a 7-year-old girl who was drowning.
He would like to talk, he said, "but these lawyers, you hire them and they tell you not to talk."
Investigators, however, had informed The Standard Times of New Bedford that the crash at least was not alcohol-related.
This will not be the first time that Bevins has appeared in court. According to The Standard Times, a court in Virginia had found him guilty of a misdemeanor offense of "improper control" of a vehicle.
Further investigation by the Times revealed a number of road violations in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the 1990s and '80s, including nine charges that include speeding and illegal operation and a license revocation for receiving three speeding citations in 30 days.
Walsh was Respected Yachtsman
Walsh, who lost his life in the accident after being thrown from the wheel, was a retired president of Teledyne Rodney Metals, a manufacturer of high-precision and exotic metal foils in New Bedford. An experienced sailor, he had also served as president of the Buzzards Bay Regatta and was a member of the New Bedford Yacht Club.