Nathan Carman trial: ‘the boat sank suddenly’ and Carman says he swam to life raft but could not find his mother

Aug. 22--About a month after his boat sank off Long Island on Sept. 18, 2016 and his mother was likely lost with it, Nathan Carman wrote a one-page description of what had happened to his insurance company that said "the boat sank suddenly" and he found himself in the water "holding a bag filled with safety gear."

Carman's description was introduced as evidence Wednesday in a federal civil trial in U.S. District Court in Providence. The companies that insured his boat, the Chicken Pox, are suing Carman over his $85,000 insurance claim for the boat.

Carman also wrote he located two other containers of safety gear and swam to his life raft and then started calling out for his mother Linda Carman, who had been on the boat with him.

"I looked around and called out for her while I was in the water and after getting on board the life raft," Carman wrote. "I continued to try and locate my mom looking for her and calling out and listening for a reply until dark, then I made myself rest."

Carman was rescued eight days later by a freighter floating off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. His mother was never found.

Carman was expected to take the stand Wednesday afternoon, but after the cross examination of the insurance company employee who denied Carman's original claim dragged on, Judge John J. McConnell decided to end court early and have Carman take the stand first thing Thursday.

In his cross examination attorney David Anderson focused on an October 31 draft document that revealed the company was about to send Carman a total loss package -- a sign that they were going to pay his claim. However the documents were never sent and the next day he was sent an e-mail indicating it was still being reviewed.

The company then asked him to take a deposition under oath with their attorney David Farrell which e did. They then sent Carman a formal letter in early January indicating they were denying the claim. The current lawsuit then ensued.

Lawyers for the insurance company have indicated Carman may be their last witness. On Wednesday McConnell announced that he would not allow an expert on hypothermia to testify that based on photos he saw of Carman after his rescue he couldn't have been adrift for eight days.

Carman's statement to the Boat Owners Association of the United States and National Liability & Fire Insurance was admitted as evidence on Wednesday morning. The company initially indicated it was going to approve paying the $85,000 claim but then rescinded it and eventually filed the federal lawsuit.

The insurance companies are arguing that Carman either deliberately sank the boat as part of a scheme to inherit million of dollars from his family or because he foolishly and recklessly made repairs to the boat that caused it to sink.

The Chicken Pox left Ram Point Marina in Wakefield, R.I., sometime before midnight on Sept. 17 and sank the next day while tuna fishing in the Block Canyon area off Long Island. While Linda Carman was lost at sea, Nathan Carman made it onto a life raft and was rescued by a passing freighter after floating for eight days off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, according to a statement Carman gave U.S. Coast Guard officials after his rescue.

There's been intense interest in the insurance trial because Carman's three aunts have accused him of murdering his grandfather John Chakalos in Windsor in 2013, and then sinking the boat to kill his mother to inherit a $7 million estate.

Police in Connecticut still consider Carman a person of interest in the murder of his grandfather, but he has not been charged. He also has not been charged in connection with the boat's sinking.

McConnell has barred any testimony about the Chakalos murder from the trial and attorney David Farrell will not be allowed to ask him any questions about that when he takes the stand.

Farrell instead will likely focus on repairs that Carman made to the boat the day before the ill-fated trip and also to try and pin him down on where exactly the boat went after leaving the marina and where it sank and how.

Farrell has set up several nautical maps in the courtroom in anticipation of questioning Carman that show Block Canyon as well as where he was picked up by the Orient Lucky. Part of Farrell's argument has been that Carman's version of the sinking doesn't match up with tide charts and a lobsterman who was fishing in the area he claims the boat sank.

Farrell has several witnesses that are raising questions about Carman's story including a lobsterman who testified last week that he was trawling for lobsters for more than 10 hours on the day Carman claims his boat sank and never saw the Chicken Pox or a life raft.

Naval Architect Eric Greene also cast doubt on Carman's story that the Chicken Pox sank so fast he barely had a chance to grab emergency gear let alone find his mother.

After his rescue, Nathan Carman told the Coast Guard he realized the boat was quickly filling with water so he told his mother to take in the fishing lines while he grabbed emergency gear and swam to a life raft.

But Greene testified last week that it would take very unusual circumstances for the Chicken Pox to sink quickly.

"I don't see any way this boat could rapidly sink short of striking a huge object in the ocean or a rogue wave going over the top of it," Greene told the judge.

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