Maryland TikTok waterman Luke McFadden said his new boat was vandalized Thursday, sparking support from his social media followers while police investigate the incident.
The Pasadena native said he’d saved money to buy his “dream boat” Wednesday night and returned Thursday morning to find it destructed, he shared in a TikTok video. The boat was docked at Kent Narrows, and he’d been planning to bring it home before finding it destroyed, McFadden said in a video.
The vandalism happened early in the morning of July 25 between 12:30 a.m. and 1:10 a.m., McFadden said. He’d owned the 40-foot boat for about 10 hours before thieves took the electronics, cut hydraulic lines, broke the windows, ripped out wires and smashed gauges, among other things. They left all the tools and baskets behind.
“If they couldn’t steal it, they just destroyed it,” McFadden said in the video.
Maryland Natural Resources Police said they responded to the wharf at approximately 11:15 a.m. Thursday. Officers confirmed that there was damage to two windows and several electronics in the cabin, as well as severed hydraulic lines. A Garmin chart plotter and a portable battery charger were reported stolen.
There is a video of two men parking a pickup truck, coming down to the boat and staying on it for about 30 minutes before driving away eastbound, McFadden said in another TikTok video. He thanked law enforcement and local residents for their help, saying there’s “basically a manhunt” on the Eastern Shore.
“The amount of support I’ve gotten is literally overwhelming,” McFadden said in one of his posts.
McFadden followed his childhood dream of becoming a crabber, setting out on his own boat with a few hundred crab pots loaned from a friend when he was 18. He leveraged social media to grow his business, something older generations of crabbers have not done, amassing 1.7 million followers on TikTok and over 590,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun
Waterman Luke McFadden pilots the FV Southern Girl out of Bodkin Creek at sunrise July 1, 2022. McFadden has gained more than a million followers on TikTok for his videos showing life working on the Chesapeake Bay.
People have reached out to show support and offer help, whether it’s starting fundraisers on GoFundMe or providing parts, McFadden said. At the time of the video, he wasn’t aware of any GoFundMe started by someone he knows. Instead, he encouraged people to buy crabs Sunday from his crab stand in Glen Burnie or order crabs or merchandise online.
“But the reality of the situation is right now that I still have a business to run, and I still have employees that need to go to work and get paid,” McFadden said in a video.
McFadden did not immediately respond to The Baltimore Sun’s request for comment.
Anyone with information can contact Maryland Natural Resources Police at 410-260-8888. The department and the Queen Anne’s County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident.
Originally Published: July 29, 2024 at 2:30 p.m.