Metro

Ghost ship off Long Island: Connecticut sailor’s craft washes up without skipper

Its sails unfurled, booms secured, course plotted and marine radio turned on, a 34-foot sailboat drifted up to a Long Island dock at dawn today — its skipper nowhere to be found.

Some nine hours later, the body of 64-year-old Haddam, Conn., retiree and avid sailor Frank Closter was pulled from the waters off the Connecticut shoreline where he’d been heading with the “Jagular.”

Officials said it appeared Closter had fallen overboard — but the “Jagular,” carried by the winds in its sales and the current, floated on until it reached the ConocoPhillips docks in Riverhead at 5:30 a.m. today.

“There was no damage to the boat — it was in ship-shape. It’s a mystery,” said Coast Guard spokesman John Olsen, adding it was a “one-in-a-million coincidence” the boat docked without a pilot.

“It’s kind of strange.”

Olsen said Closter’s wife, Barbara — an associate pastor at a church in West Hartford, Conn. — told authorities her husband had taken the “Jagular” from a Haddam marina yesterday, where he keeps it during the winter, and headed to Clinton, where he launches the craft for the summer months.

When investigators went aboard the skipper-less boat this morning, they found the pilot’s glasses, wallet — and a “chart plotter” that indicated he’d reached Clinton at low tide, and was probably tacking back and forth awaiting high tide to complete his trip.

Investigators believe somewhere between Kelsey Point and Meigs Point, Closter fell overboard, and the “Jagular” began its strange journey to Long Island.

At 2:27 p.m. today, Closter’s body, which was not wearing a life vest, was pulled from the 60-degree waters off Clinton.

“I can’t imagine what happened,” said neighbor Neville Duffy.

“He’s an avid boater — been out for years.”

Olsen said Olsen said the search for the body had been hampered by heavy fog — but that his on-board “chart plotter” finally helped locate him.

The Connecticut state coroner was investigating the cause of death, but Olsen said no foul play was suspected.

Besides his wife, Closter is survived by two grown sons.

Records from 2002 indicate that at the time, Closter worked for the state Department of Social Services, in the Bureau of Rehabiliation Services, in Middletown, Conn.