Two dogs and their three owners lived on a 21-meter boat, called Marlowe, which cruised all year round along the Atlantic coast according to the tides.
It was an ordinary day, when Arthur and Diane Watson, Jarod Tabus and their two dogs headed for the rice field at Wentworth Marina. But at 4 p.m., passengers noticed smoke on the deck of the ship.
“According to the crew, within minutes the boat was full of dense smoke,” said a US Coast Guard spokesman who rushed to the smoky boat.
But soon the smoke turned into flame and it was impossible to extinguish it or else turn the ship towards the coast because it drifted, heading towards the Maine border.
A Rice Field Coastguard spokesman said all their efforts to save the boat failed because it was being swept away by the ebb and flow of the tide.
All five passengers on the boat had to jump into the water.
Fortunately, men and dogs knew how to swim. The Good Samaritans came to the rescue of the injured, rushing to the scene of the incident and saving the dogs.
They took them to Marina’s veterinary clinic.
The men and the woman were also taken to the hospital, because they had inhaled a lot of smoke.
After a while everyone was fine and the family reunited. They had lost their boat with all their belongings, but luckily they were safe and sound.