KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — The snow is a bit deeper
and the temperatures a bit colder, but in other ways Maine winters are
much like winters on Cape Cod.
Tourists are
fewer and farther between. Locals reclaim the snowy streets and their
favorite bar stools. Friendly conversation is easier and the nonstop
hubbub of the summer is over.
In the Kennebunkport village of Cape Porpoise,
the low talk at the start of a new year includes questions and
speculation about what happened to two out-of-staters — including one
from Cape Cod — who are believed dead after mysteriously disappearing
last month from the quaint coastal community.
Prescott
Wright, 23, of Barnstable and Zachary Wells, 21, of Burlington, Vt.,
were "boat school" students who attended The Landing School in nearby
Arundel, Maine. They were known in passing by many locals and better by
some others.
The men were last seen in the
early morning of Dec. 20 during a small pre-holiday gathering at a home
on Mills Road, a stone's throw from the center of Cape Porpoise. Life
jackets, jeans, a jacket, a sweatshirt and footwear were found Dec. 24
on nearby Savin Bush Island, a ledge of rocks that barely stays above
water at high tide just northwest of its larger, more prominent
neighbor, Goat Island. Police say at least one of the items found on the
island has been connected to one of the men. No other sign or clue
related to their disappearance has been uncovered despite an extensive
search on land and at sea.
"I couldn't say for
sure," lobster fisherman John Daggett said Thursday during a chilly
interview on the Cape Porpoise pier about what he thought happened to
the two young sailors. Decked out in red flannel, a worn baseball cap
and gloves, Daggett stretched the word sure into "shah" in the way some
Mainers do.
The fisherman, who was among many
who searched for the missing men in the surrounding waters, said nobody
could fault the Maine Marine Patrol for lack of trying.
"They
don't give up," he said as the agency's plane buzzed overhead with
pilot Steve Ingram scanning the water below for any sign of Wright or
Wells.
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