Tag Archives: F/V No Limits
After Epic Fish Fight, Seabrook Woman Reels in a Massive Bluefin
If I want to be a bona fide badass like Michelle Bancewicz Cicale from Seabrook, I have some work to do. But hey, you gotta start somewhere! Michelle has been fishing most of her life. Like most things, if you implement the three P’s, practice, patience, and persistence you are bound to get better at it. In 2015 she started fishing mostly for tuna and in 2019 she bought her own boat. “No Limits” seems like an appropriate name for Michelle’s boat.
>click to read< 07:37
You don’t need five shirtless dudes to catch a big fish. One badass woman can get the job done.
If I want to be as badass as Michelle Bancewicz Cicale from Seabrook, I have some work to do. But hey, you gotta start somewhere! Michelle has been fishing most of her life. Like most things, if you implement the three P’s, practice, patience, and persistence you are bound to get better at it. In 2015 she started fishing mostly for tuna and in 2019 she bought her own boat. The FV No Limits. “No Limits” seems like an appropriate name for Michelle’s boat. ESPECIALLY after she reeled in this monster of a Blue Fin on her first solo venture! photo’s,>click to read< 07:43
Lobster Boat Skipper Sentenced for Manslaughter
United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Christopher A. Hutchinson, 30, of Cushing, Maine was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge D. Brock Hornby to four years in prison and three years of supervised release for Seaman’s Manslaughter for causing the death of two crewmen who were then 26 and 15 years old. Hutchinson pleaded guilty on September 25, 2018. According to court records, on November 1, 2014, after smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, Hutchinson took his lobster boat, the No Limits, out into a predicted storm with two crewmen aboard. After he had ingested oxycodone, the boat capsized. The two crewmen were not wearing personal floatation devices or survival suits. >click to read<11:44
Cushing fishing boat captain gets 4 years for causing deaths of 2 crewmen
Christopher A. Hutchinson, 30, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland by Judge D. Brock Hornby for two counts of seaman’s manslaughter. The bodies of 27-year-old Tom Hammond and 15-year-old Tyler Sawyer were never found. Hutchinson was the captain of the lobster boat No Limits, which sank near Matinicus Island in a storm on Nov. 1, 2014. He purchased 20, 30-milligram oxycodone pills from two separate drug dealers, smoked marijuana with Sawyer’s father, and drank a rum and coke at a Rockland restaurant on Halloween 2014, court documents say. He then departed for a fishing trip at 1 a.m. from Linda Bean’s dock in Tenants Harbor. Rain was beginning to fall, and the forecast called for a gale. >click to read<22:59
Cushing captain to admit guilt in deaths of crew members
Christopher A. Hutchinson, 30, is scheduled to enter guilty pleas to two counts of manslaughter at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 26. In exchange, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has agreed to recommend a sentence of 48 months in prison with credit for time he has served while awaiting trial. That prison sentence would be followed by three years of supervised release. The charges carried a potential sentence of 10 years in prison. He has been held since March 2017. Hutchinson is charged with two counts of seaman’s manslaughter for the deaths of Tom Hammond, 27, of Rockland, and 15-year-old Tyler Sawyer, who lived in St. George and Waldoboro. They were crew members aboard Hutchinson’s lobsterboat, No Limits, which sank Nov. 1, 2014. >click to read<18:28
Captain asks court to throw out blood test in fatal sinking case
The Cushing captain who is accused of causing the death of two crew members when his lobsterboat sank during a November 2014 gale has asked the court to throw out a blood test that showed he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is opposing the motion filed on behalf of 29-year-old Christopher A. Hutchinson. No ruling has yet been issued by the federal judge hearing the case in U.S. District Court in Portland. Hutchinson is charged with two counts of seaman’s manslaughter for the deaths of Tom Hammond, 27, of Rockland, and 15-year-old Tyler Sawyer, who lived in St. George and Waldoboro. They were crew members aboard Hutchinson’s lobsterboat, No Limits, which sank Nov. 1, 2014. click here to read the story 11:52
Maine lobsterman denied bail in federal manslaughter case
A lobsterman from Cushing will remain jailed until his manslaughter trial despite an impassioned plea to have him released to the custody and supervision of his parents. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich ruled Monday that Christopher Hutchinson, 28, should not be allowed bail since he already violated conditions when he used drugs and overdosed last month. His parents, who sat in the courtroom during the hearing in Portland, cried as the judge read his decision. Hutchinson is charged with seaman’s manslaughter in connection with the Nov. 1, 2014, deaths of Tom Hammond, 27, of Rockland and Tyler Sawyer, 15, of St. George. Investigators believe Hutchinson was under the influence of alcohol and opioids when he sailed his lobster boat, No Limits, into a storm, sinking it. ,, Hutchinson was arrested in December after a lengthy investigation and posted $10,000 bail three days later with conditions that he not use substances. He violated those conditions on March 14, when he overdosed on heroin and needed to be revived with the drug Narcan. Read the story here 20:08
Boat captain charged in crewmen’s deaths arrested after overdosing on heroin
A Cushing captain accused of causing the deaths of two crew members when his lobster boat sank in a storm is behind bars again after he reportedly overdosed on heroin. Christopher A. Hutchinson, 28, was arrested Thursday by the Maine Marine Patrol after U.S. District Court Judge Brock Hornby issued an arrest warrant for him on Wednesday.,,Hutchinson was arrested Dec. 19 on two counts of seaman’s manslaughter and released three days later on $10,000 unsecured bail. The court imposed conditions that Hutchinson not use or possess illegal narcotics. But on March 13, Waldoboro emergency medical services and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an unresponsive man at a residence in Friendship, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in U.S. District Court in Portland. Read the story here 14:13
A lobster boat captain said a freak storm killed his crew. Then doctors found drugs in his system.
Christopher Hutchinson said he had no idea the storm would grow so strong so fast. It was November 2014, and Hutchinson, 28, had set out in his 45-foot lobster boat, a fiberglass craft called No Limits. He wanted to check on 15 traps in Eleven Mile Ridge, a popular lobstering area off the coast of Maine. Two crewmen manned the boat with him — Tomas Hammond, 26, and Tyler Sawyer, 15. They arrived at dawn on a Saturday morning and began pulling up traps, but the weather worsened. “Prior to the No Limits departure, the National Weather Service was predicting and warning of adverse and dangerous marine weather and sea conditions in the area,” the indictment says. “Marine weather forecasts, watches and warnings [were] continuously broadcast on radio.” Prosecutors claim Hutchinson was also negligent in employing a 15-year-old boy, a complicated and sensitive issue among people who make their living catching lobsters. Read the story here 08:26
Captain/owner charged with manslaughter in deaths of 2 crew members
A Cushing man has been charged in federal court with seaman’s manslaughter in the deaths of two crew members when his lobster boat sank off the coast of Rockland during a storm in 2014. Christopher A. Hutchinson was arrested Monday, according to court documents, and charged by indictment in the deaths of Tomas Hammond, 26, of St. George, and Tyler Sawyer, 15, of Waldoboro, on Nov. 1, 2014. He is scheduled to make his first appearance Monday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The federal Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute, which dates back to the 1800s, criminalizes misconduct or negligence by anyone responsible for managing a vessel, including a captain, pilot or owner. Hutchinson was the sole survivor in the sinking of his boat, the No Limits. He is accused of taking oxycodone, using marijuana and drinking alcohol before taking the boat out in the early-morning hours. The boat was headed for a fishing area called Eleven Mile Ridge, despite National Weather Service warnings of dangerous weather and sea conditions. Read the story here 15:52
Settlement reached in fishing boat sinking that claimed two lives
Paperwork was filed Tuesday in Knox County Unified Court on behalf of the estate of 27-year-old Thomas Hammond of Rockland, who was one of two crewmembers lost when the fishing vessel No Limits sank off Matinicus Island on Nov. 1 during a storm. Also lost in the tragedy was 15-year-old Tyler Sawyer, who lived in St. George and Waldoboro. The boat was owned by captain Christopher Hutchinson, who survived the sinking. Read the rest here 19:51
F/V No Limits Captain Christopher Hutchinson recounts tragedy off Matinicus, “I never thought I would make it,”
Christopher Hutchinson said he and his two crew members were on their way back to the mainland Saturday afternoon after a day of hauling traps when the seas and winds quickly intensified, causing his 45-foot lobster boat to flip. “We got hit by one large wave, and that pushed us into another. The windows to the wheelhouse blew out, and we began taking on water quickly,” We mourn the loss of his crew, Tom Hammond, 27, of Rockland and 15-year-old Tyler Sawyer, Rest easy fishermen. Read the rest here 16:25
Coast Guard suspends search for missing fishermen near Matinicus Island, Maine
The Coast Guard suspended the search for two missing fishermen near Matinicus Island, Maine, Sunday pending further developments. Coast Guard air and sea assets from Station Rockland and Air Station Cape Cod, as well as the Maine Marine Patrol, searched for more than 17 hours covering an area of 130 nautical square miles. Read the rest, well, you know,, 15:01
Coast Guard continues search for two missing Maine fishermen despite snowstorm
Two people aboard a fishing boat (F/V No Limits) that sank on Saturday afternoon were still missing on Sunday morning, On Saturday, the water temperature was in the high 50s, but it likely dropped overnight because of the storm, he said. A helicopter that was supposed to launch Sunday morning to continue the search was not able to do so because of icing, he said. Read the rest here 14:22
Boat Goes Down Near Matinicus, One Fisherman Recovered, 2 missing, Search Continues
Coast Guard search and rescue crews saved one person and are looking for two others after a fishing boat sank near Matinicus Island, Maine, Saturday. Watchstanders at the 1st District Command Center in Boston, Massachusetts received an emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) distress signal from the 45-foot fishing vessel No Limits, home ported in Cushing, Maine. Read the rest here 18:58 Video Report here 20:49
