SQUARE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Maine — Searchers from the Maine Warden Service early Friday recovered the body of one of the four men whose boat capsized in 4-5 foot swells during a fishing expedition on Square Lake last week.
The body of Eric Sherwood, 43, was found at about 3 a.m. in about 50 feet of water about a mile from shore on the southern part of the lake, according to Cpl. John MacDonald of the warden service.
He said the dive team does not need daylight to use side scan sonar and that personnel took advantage of optimal weather conditions to begin searching at 2:30 a.m. Friday. The body was spotted at about 3 a.m. and recovered by divers at about 8 a.m., MacDonald said.
Later Friday morning, however, windy weather and anticipated rain and lightning caused wardens to suspend their search for one of the boaters who remains missing and is presumed dead.
“The weather has been terrible. The lake has a reputation of being really, really rough during poor weather. I guess the reputation is accurate,” MacDonald said. He said the search would resume Saturday afternoon if the weather improves.
Sherwood, Mark Chambers, 51, his brother Martin Chambers, 56, and Charles Guimond, 23, were tossed into Square Lake when their 12-foot motorboat capsized as high winds picked up shortly after they left the Chambers’ camp at about 3:30 p.m. on June 13. The men had been heading out to fish the thoroughfare between Square Lake and Eagle Lake when the accident happened.
Sherwood’s girlfriend notified the Maine Warden Service at about 2 a.m. on June 14 after the four men failed to return to the camp.
All four men clung to the boat until dark, according to wardens, but Guimond, who was the only one wearing a lifejacket, was able to hang on until it drifted to shore where he was spotted by a warden plane at about 5 a.m. Wednesday.
After Guimond helped wardens determine a search area, the body of Martin Chambers was recovered later that afternoon in shallow waters on the lake’s southeastern shore.
Square Lake is part of the Fish River chain of lakes and is located between Eagle and Cross lakes.
To date, wardens have searched 1,000 acres of the lake bottom with side scan sonar, according to MacDonald. Lake depths within the search area fluctuate between 20 and 90 feet deep, he said.
Stephanie Kelley, Guimond’s mother, said June 15, that her son would not be alive today if not for Sherwood’s efforts.
Kelley said her son told her his foot became entangled in the anchor rope as the boat was taking on water and that Sherwood unraveled it, freeing Guimond just as the boat flipped over. She added that Sherwood also offered life-saving advice to Guimond as the men were clinging to the boat in the cold and choppy water.
“He told him, ‘Buddy, whatever you do, don’t let go of the boat.'”
“We are very thankful for the long hours and hard work of the Maine Warden Service to bring Eric home so he could be laid to rest,” Tanya Nichols, Sherwood’s ex-wife and the mother of one of his three daughters, said Friday. “We are also very appreciative for the love, prayers and support that our friends, family and the local communities have given Eric’s daughters during this tragic time.”
Nichols recalled Sherwood as a man who enjoyed spending time outdoors and who had a talent for repurposing wood and old hardware. She said she was not surprised to learn that Eric had helped save Guimond.
“Eric would always put friends and family before himself in situations like this,” she said.
The loss of Eric Sherwood will be most difficult for his children, Nichols said.
“But he lived life as it came at him and the girls are his beautiful legacy who have the opportunity to forever cherish their father with a heroic tale to tell their children one day.”
This computer image shows the area of Square Lake that members of the Maine Warden Service have been searching since last week. The body of Eric Sherwood was located Friday, June 23, in the empty search box furthest to the left. (Courtesy of Maine Warden Service)
