It was just after 9 p.m. Saturday when an experienced recreational and competition sailor was at the helm of his 20-foot Cobia powerboat, taking a group of friends and family back on North Carolina’s Cape Fear River after dinner at a restaurant in Southport.

The skipper was making room in the dark waters for an approaching barge when he ran at 25 mph into the concrete remains of a long-gone quarantine station, said Sgt. Ben Meyer of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which investigated the accident.

“If you saw the impact and what the boat looked like, I don't know how they all weren't killed,” Meyer told the Star News. “Talk about going 25-30 miles an hour to a dead stop.”

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