Coast Guard ends search for man missing after Key Biscayne boat crash

David Goodhue
·2 min read
A center console boat with a large gash on its hull sits on a trailer Monday night, Jan. 4, 2021. The vessel was one of two involved in a collision off Key Biscayne that night.

The United States Coast Guard Thursday night called off its search for a Yorba Linda, California, man who has been missing since a boat on which he was a passenger collided with another vessel off Key Biscayne Monday.

The Coast Guard and other agencies, including the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the city of Miami Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, began looking for the man immediately after the crash happened around 7:30 p.m. Monday near Bear Cut Channel in Biscayne Bay.

The FWC, which is investigating the crash, identified him as Spencer McClain Sheridan, 33.

According to the initial incident report, released by the agency Thursday, the five other people on Sheridan’s 18-foot Robalo center console, which was driven by Ugo Heinen, 58, of Miami, were taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The man driving the other boat, William Glassford, 63, of Coral Gables, was also treated at Ryder with non-life-threatening injuries. He was driving a 22-foot Sea Fox center console, according to the FWC report.

Details of the crash have not been released. A photo released by the Coast Guard shows one of the boats with a large gash on its hull.

The Coast Guard said in a press release Thursday that the search covered 1,200 square miles, “roughly the size of Rhode Island.”

“Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends who lost their loved one,” Capt. Jo-Ann F. Burdian, commander of Coast Guard Sector Miami, said in a statement. “The Coast Guard and our partner agencies who participated in this search truly hoped for a different outcome in this tragic situation.”

Several Coast Guard cutters, patrol boats and a helicopter participated in the search.

Boat crashes in Florida are typically investigated by the FWC, but the Coast Guard is also investigating Monday’s crash because one of the people involved is a credentialed mariner, according to the press release.