Ten marker buoys belonging to a Harvard resident and two hazard buoys placed by the harbormaster are thought to have been stolen from Bare Hill Pond on the weekend of Sept. 21. Bob Donaldson of Willow Road reported the missing buoys to Harbormaster Bob O’Shea and on the town’s social media site, Nextdoor Harvard. O’Shea reported the incident to Harvard Police and the Massachusetts Environmental Police.
Donaldson told the Press he lost the rudder of his 1959 Super Sprite sailboat about a month ago in 19 feet of water off Blueberry Island. The water was too deep to find the rudder with snorkels, so Donaldson planned a dive. On Sept. 21 he used a sonar fish finder to zero in on two locations that looked promising, and he marked the spots with four boat fender buoys. He also used a 24-inch international danger orange fender buoy because the spots were near boat traffic flow. He organized the dive for Sunday, Sept. 22 at 8:30 a.m., but when he arrived, all the buoys were gone.
In addition, two temporary hazard buoys marking the rocks off Blueberry Island for the Bromfield crew team were also gone. Donaldson said he notified O’Shea, and he checked with crew team members to make sure they hadn’t removed any of the buoys. They had not. Meanwhile, Donaldson re-marked the dive spots with five more buoys and left the pond for about an hour-and-a-half to coordinate with the diver. When he returned, all of those buoys were also gone. He said the total value of the missing equipment is about $300.
In Donaldson’s Nextdoor post, he asked for the return of the buoys, or for anyone with a personal grievance against him to contact him, the harbormaster, or the police to settle the matter. To avoid legal action, O’Shea offered an responsible party an opportunity to either return the equipment or provide financial restitution, both with no questions asked, by the end of the day, Sept. 28. No one came forward, and O’Shea reported the missing buoys to the Harvard Police Oct. 7 and provided them with some leads. He told the Press the Bare Hill Rowing Association asked him to install the two temporary buoys as part of their permitted use of the pond, and he is very concerned that someone could be hurt as a result of their removal. He also said he believes taking the hazard buoys is against state and federal law.
Police said the incident is under investigation, and anyone with information should contact them.
