Melvin M. Murphy was 49 when he was last known to be in Frenchman Bay, Maine, on March 25, 1971. His last known activity was a working clamming trip that began at Hancock Point and headed toward Stave Island.

The group of six people clammed through the tide and, while returning with twelve bushels of clams, the boat’s motor reportedly became fouled by rope from an old lobster trap. The disabled motor allowed the boat’s wake to come over the stern, the vessel filled and overturned, and everyone aboard was thrown into the ocean.

Does anyone have memories of that clamming trip, the area around Hancock Point and Stave Island in 1971, or information that could help clarify what happened that day?