The Ongoing Mystery of Hampden, Maine’s Famous Sunken Ship

This silly boat has been stuck in the mud for 11 years.

It's crazy. I remember the first time I drove by and saw the Roamer. I hadn't even moved back to the area yet. I was driving around Hampden on a little trip down Memory Lane, scoping the old neighborhood. I saw it and actually pulled over to check it out. You can imagine my shock when I moved back to the area a few years later, and saw the boat was still in the water.

Fast forward to now, and I drive by this wreck all the time. And it fills me full of mixed feelings. I understand the basic backstory. It sunk on an attempt to ascertain it's seaworthiness after already having previously sunk in Rockland, and somehow the state and the EPA have all said it's no big deal that it's there.

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Is it history or an eyesore?

In this video from Jeremy T. Grant on YouTube, he gushes about the history and the story that it tells having this sunken boat by our shore. But I argue that it's there because nobody really wants to deal with it. Attempts were made to raise it, but weren't successful. And now we're stuck with a dead boat.

It's not like you can really see it. Sure, you can catch a glimpse when you drive by it, but it's not like it can even really be much of a thing of raw beauty. It's practically invisible from the road. So instead it just chills in the Penobscot River, falling apart slowly. Again, the EPA has basically written it off, so I guess I should too?

Meh. I see it as garbage no one wants to pay to collect. I know that won't be the most popular opinion, and that's ok. I totally understand why someone else may feel differently. But I'm not sure as a regular citizen I'll ever be totally satisfied with the solution. What do you think?