The burned hull of the Fiddler at low tide last Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The icebound boat that went up in flames in the Navesink River in February has been removed from the waterway off Red Bank’s Maple Cove.
Is an arson charge next?
The charred outline of the Fiddler lies surrounded by ice in the Navesink River off Maple Cove in Red Bank Tuesday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The owners of the icebound boat that went up in flames in the Navesink River last week say they are “devastated” by the blaze, which they attribute to arson.
“Not much of evidentiary value” remains of the icebound boat that burned on the Navesink off Red Bank early Wednesday, State Police spokeswoman Trooper Irina Spies said Thursday. “It burned to the water line.” Still, an investigation continues, and the agency’s marine unit will look into claims reported by redbankgreen that the Fiddler was the scene of a prior fire after the river froze in late January, she said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The Fiddler last month, above, and during Wednesday’s fire, below, as seen from Maple Cove. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Did one or more vandals walk several hundred yards out onto the frozen Navesink River in the dead of night – in bitter cold – to torch an icebound boat early Wednesday? Or did the fire start without human assistance?
In the aftermath the predawn blaze that destroyed a vessel dubbed the Fiddler off Red Bank, some redbankgreen readers don’t find the arson scenario such a stretch – because there was another fire on the vessel in the past two weeks, they claim.
The fire that destroyed the Fiddler, at anchor and enclosed in ice on the Navesink River, early Wednesday morning, as seen from Riverside Gardens Park, the Cooper Bridge and Marine Park in Red Bank. As of 9 a.m. the vessel was still smoldering. (Cheesy video by John T. Ward. )
The Fidder seen from the Cooper Bridge as it burned early Wednesday morning. Below, the icebound vessel on January 26. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Fiddler, a mysteriously anchored boat that drew curious skaters, iceboaters and walkers out onto the frozen Navesink River in recent weeks, seemed to defy nature.
How long, people wondered, could it avoid getting crushed in the grip of ice between Red Bank and Middletown?
Well, if the so-called ‘lobster boat’ was doomed, few might have foreseen that it would meet its demise this way.