Captain recounts boat capsizing near mouth of Merrimack River
By Mike Moses
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SALISBURY, Massachusetts (WMUR) — Dave Benedict, a Derry captain who survived a boat capsizing off Salisbury, Massachusetts, more than six weeks ago, says he lost his best friend, Joe Courteau, during what was supposed to be their final trip through the Merrimack River.
“I’ve been boating my whole life, especially down the Merrimack River. This was my last trip through the mouth, me and Joe and I got a beautiful slip down in Boston Harbor, where it’s calm,” Benedict said.
Benedict told News 9 that shortly after leaving the Merrimack River on Aug. 23, both of the boat’s engines failed. Within minutes, the current pushed their 50-foot vessel into 20-foot waves.
“I would say from the time my motors died, within 10 minutes, it was completely underwater,” he said.
Even after they made it inside the boat, waves crashed through the windows, flooding the cabin.
“Blew everything right out. Furniture, everything just went for a ride. So, once everything got up, and I was like, I look up and I go, and now Joe’s gone,” he said.
Benedict escaped to the water, where he described being tossed around by the waves like a “rag doll.”
“Now that I’m in the water, when it hit me it pushed me down at least 15, 20 feet and spun me like I was in a washing machine,” he said.
He stayed in the water for more than an hour until he was rescued by the Coast Guard.
“I had every thought that you could imagine going through my mind, and like I said, when that pole came out from that cutter, Coast Guard, and I grabbed onto that pole, it was like I was reborn again, almost. That’s how I felt,” he said.
Crews searched for Courteau, but his body has not been found.
Despite surviving, Benedict says the loss of his best friend still haunts him.
“I did everything with Joe, but now, you know, I don’t know what to do anymore,” he said.
Benedict thanked first responders who helped him and said he will never return to the open ocean.
“I’ll never go out there again. I’ve been boating my whole life — that’s it for me,” he said.
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