Hunter Bennett Jr.'s 40-foot yacht burns and smokes on the Potomac River. Bennett and five members of his family had to jump into the river after two explosions sank the boat.
Hunter Bennett Jr. says he'd only owned the boat for about two years and still isn't sure what caused it to explode and then sink.
"I do not know what the source of the fuel was," Bennett said. "We never smelled gas. We smelled wood burning."
Bennett, his daughter Phoebe, her husband Clive Davies and the couple's three small children had just set off from Cobb Island, Md. around 2 p.m. on June 29.
Cobb Island is located in the Potomac near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay.
After about 20 minutes, the port side engine of the boat -- a 1976 wooden Post fisher-cruiser with Chrysler 440 cubic-inch engines -- started making a knocking noise.
That was the same noise the engine made when his daughter's family took the boat out for a cruise a couple weeks before, Bennett said. The problem then was pinpointed to a sparkplug that had disintegrated.
"I never saw that before," Bennett said.
On the day of the last voyage of "Our Dream II," the port engine's temperature quickly rose from 160 degrees to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, Bennett said. Clive shut the engine off and cruised on the starboard engine for a couple of minutes.
That's when the black smoke started rising out of the engine compartment. Clive shut the starboard engine off and opened the engine compartment.
An explosion knocked Clive into the compartment. He quickly was able to scramble out, but had first-degree burns on his legs, Bennett said.
There was a fire in the rear of the compartment and another explosion caused the inside of the boat to fill up with smoke. Bennett said no one could get to the fire extinguisher.
The children already had their life jackets on, Bennett said. The adults quickly put theirs on and all six jumped into the Potomac.
Meanwhile, emergency crews from Newburg, Cobb Island and Charles County responded and tried to fight the raging fire. But the boat sank to the bottom of the Potomac.
Bennett said a jet-skier saw the family floating in the river and notified another private vessel, which rescued them. They'd been in the water for about 40 minutes, Bennett said.
An 82-year-old Weston lawyer and five members of his family had to jump into the Potomac River after two explosions rocked his 40-foot yacht.
Hunter Bennett Jr. says he'd only owned the boat for about two years and still isn't sure what caused it to explode and then sink.
"I do not know what the source of the fuel was," Bennett said. "We never smelled gas. We smelled wood burning."
Bennett, his daughter Phoebe, her husband Clive Davies and the couple's three small children had just set off from Cobb Island, Md. around 2 p.m. on June 29.
Cobb Island is located in the Potomac near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay.
After about 20 minutes, the port side engine of the boat -- a 1976 wooden Post fisher-cruiser with Chrysler 440 cubic-inch engines -- started making a knocking noise.
That was the same noise the engine made when his daughter's family took the boat out for a cruise a couple weeks before, Bennett said. The problem then was pinpointed to a sparkplug that had disintegrated.
"I never saw that before," Bennett said.
On the day of the last voyage of "Our Dream II," the port engine's temperature quickly rose from 160 degrees to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, Bennett said. Clive shut the engine off and cruised on the starboard engine for a couple of minutes.
That's when the black smoke started rising out of the engine compartment. Clive shut the starboard engine off and opened the engine compartment.
An explosion knocked Clive into the compartment. He quickly was able to scramble out, but had first-degree burns on his legs, Bennett said.
There was a fire in the rear of the compartment and another explosion caused the inside of the boat to fill up with smoke. Bennett said no one could get to the fire extinguisher.
The children already had their life jackets on, Bennett said. The adults quickly put theirs on and all six jumped into the Potomac.
Meanwhile, emergency crews from Newburg, Cobb Island and Charles County responded and tried to fight the raging fire. But the boat sank to the bottom of the Potomac.
Bennett said a jet-skier saw the family floating in the river and notified another private vessel, which rescued them. They'd been in the water for about 40 minutes, Bennett said.
All six of them refused medical treatment.
Bennett said he later had to hire a salvage company to get the burned wreckage of the boat out of the water. He said the company then promptly disposed of it.
"It would have been instructive to examine the wreckage to see what the deal was, but they hauled it away," Bennett said.
The boat had a history of port engine problems. But Bennett said he thought the problems were fixed by replacing the exhaust riser -- a part that keeps water out of the engine.
Bennett said he first got into boating when he was about 13 years old. He said his father kept a little boat in Miami where the family spent their summers.
"I drove it around and had a really good time with it," Bennett said. Biscayne Bay "was very attractive at that time."
The 40-foot Post yacht was the biggest boat Bennett had ever owned, he said. He kept it docked at Cobb Island and his daughter and her husband looked after it. The couple lives in Arlington, Va., about 60 miles northwest.
Bennett said he's got a smaller boat docked at Stonewall Jackson Lake, but he'd been devoting all his boating time to the yacht.
Ever since news got around about the fire, Bennett said he's gotten a flurry of calls from concerned citizens. Some of them say they've got a boat for sale, he said.
But with the sinking of the yacht, his boating days might be over, he said.
That's more a certainty for his daughter.
"She says she'll never get on a boat again," Bennett said.
His grandchildren -- ages 4 years to 9 years -- are a different story, however.
"They considered it sort of an adventure," Bennett said.
