The Hunter 44 that was stuck on the Chain of Rocks in the Mississippi outside St. Louis for more than two weeks is…missing. And both the owner and local boating authorities think it probably sank.
The problem started back on Oct. 5, when Michael Weber, a retired businessman and former Marine, and his girlfriend missed the exit for the Chain of Rocks navigation channel about three miles above St. Louis and kept going down the river until they actually hit the rocks. The St. Louis Fire Department rescued both of them, but their boat, named White Widow, was stuck (see the video below).
Weber, who lives in Michigan, has been sailing in Lake Michigan for years. He and his girlfriend were heading down the Mississippi, intending to take a dream vacation sailing to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.
As time went by, various people tried to get the boat off the rocks, to no avail. Last week, a crew from Florida tried to move it, but they couldn’t get a tow line on it safely. Weber said the insurance companies were wasting time haggling about how to remove his boat.
Then on Monday, after heavy weekend storms, the boat was gone. Workers from Port Charles Harbor nearby searched for it, but they only found its dinghy floating downstream. News crews in helicopters could not find the boat either.
The best theory seemed to be that the rising waters from the storms raised the boat, and then it sank. For his part, Weber thinks it’s on the bottom of the river.
Meanwhile, he’s ready to embark on another adventure – on land. He wants to buy a Mercedes Sprinter outfitted as an RV and explore the west, particularly Yosemite and the Tetons. See the video here:
https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/boat-stuck-on-mississippis-chain-of-rocks-gone/
