Missing Nantucket boater presumed dead

(FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - The search for a missing Nantucket man has been suspended after his boat ran aground, and he is presumed to have drowned in Nantucket Sound.

The Coast Guard searched 700 square miles of ocean in the search for 36-year-old John Hemingway. He was sailing from Hyannis to Nantucket with his wife and two children on the night of St. Patrick’s Day. The wife and kids went to sleep, and when they woke up, the boat had run aground and John was nowhere to be found.

Hemingway’s wife initially didn’t report her husband as missing, thinking he may have gone on land to get help.

“We did an adequate search, covered the area multiple times. With the water as cold as it is, life expectancy is limited,” said Ronnie German of the US Coast Guard.

Police are now questioning some of the facts presented at the beginning of their investigation.

While they won’t specify what they believe was inaccurate, they do believe, according to GPS data, that Hemmingway’s boat began to operate erratically nine miles offshore, doing a series of circles before running aground. Investigators also said they don’t believe he made it to shore.