Unmanned sailboat This sailboat was found under sail and adrift near Squirrel Island on Monday, Sept. 18 when a massive search was launched for Wilson "Bill" Boynton, 78, of Holyoke, Mass. The Coast Guard is shown here bringing the vessel into the Boothbay Harbor. (Photo Joe Orchulli II)

The United States Coast Guard Station at McKown Point received a call regarding an unmanned sailboat, under-sail and adrift on the south side of Squirrel Island on Monday, September 18, at 1:30 p.m.

The 18-foot white hull sailboat with maroon sails named Jeannie B, a familiar sight on the waters in the Boothbay region, captained by Wilson "Bill" Boynton, 78, from Holyoke, Massachusetts, was said to be last seen occupied by Boynton at 10:30 a.m. on Monday according to Neil Blake of Blake's Boat Yard.

"He sailed alone a lot and was a good sailor," Blake said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Hiatt said, "When we got the call, we immediately launched our twenty-five foot response boat to the scene shortly followed by a forty-seven foot motor life boat."

Three Coast Guard helicopters were also dispatched from Cape Cod helping to do a search over 230 square miles. At one point the search was halted due to a thick fog bank that covered the region stretching for thirty miles south.

A meeting was called at 7 p.m. on Monday at Atlantic Edge in Boothbay Harbor attended by Boothbay Fire Department, EMS, Lincoln County Sheriff's Department and more to send out search parties to cover the shoreline in the region.

Boothbay Fire Chief Dick Spofford helped to form eight teams of 32 volunteers and firemen who did an exhaustive on-foot shoreline search from Grimes Cove to Murray Hill in East Boothbay until 6 a.m., also covering Linekin Bay and the surrounding area.

The Coast Guard and teams in Southport searched the Southport shore. All of the surrounding islands were searched as well. Rangers at Georgetown searched the beaches with ATVs and the Bath Sheriffs Department searched their area as well.

Extensive helicopter searches resumed again first light on Tuesday morning until they were suspended at 10:36 a.m.

A command center was set up in Fishermen's Memorial Park by Lincoln County Mobile Command who brought in a special RV as a headquarters where the search parties could look at maps and keep a record of what areas were covered.

St. Andrews Hospital provided lunch for the search crews, delivering it to the command center.

"We used a unified command including the Coast Guard, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Southport Fire Departments, Lincoln County Sheriff's Department, E.M.S. and the Marine Patrol. There were also volunteers out in boats," Spofford said.

Local authorities submitted their shoreline search results at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

The water temperature was 59 degrees on Monday according to Coast Guard authorities.

Boynton and his wife, Jeanne, owned the Blue Ship Restaurant, now Andrews' Harborside, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In recent years he worked at Topside Inn and Rocktide Inn and has been a longtime summer resident in the Boothbay region.