Game wardens locate body of boater missing at Moosehead Lake

GREENVILLE — On Saturday, Aug. 4 at approximately 12:45 p.m. Maine Warden Service divers being pulled underwater with planing boards located the body of Robert Hammond, 66, of Hanson, Mass.

Hammond’s boat was located Thursday afternoon near the southern end of Moose Island on Moosehead Lake. Wardens were able to piece together a timeline of Hammond leaving Spencer Bay camps in the late morning with his boat on Aug. 2. Then travelling south into Greenville and docking at the public landing, Hammond purchased some gas from a local store and then was heading back north on Moosehead Lake when for some reason his watercraft made a 180-degree slow turn and stopped on the shore of Moose Island where wardens would eventually locate it.

On Aug. 4 game wardens deployed several resources to assist in locating Hammond, including the Maine Warden Service Dive Team members, K9 team members, Maine state police K9 team members, Maine Association of Search and Rescue personnel (MASAR) with teams from Maine Search and Rescue Dogs (MESARD) and Piscataquis County Search and Rescue team members. These resources executed land and water searches around the Hartford Point and Moose Island areas.

Hammond’s body has been taken to the state medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.

The Maine Warden Service would like to remind boaters to wear a life jacket when on a watercraft while recreating on the state’s Inland waterways.