A boat owner was frantically undertaking repairs to his historic sailboat yesterday after a Good Friday crime spree saw his treasure damaged by a hapless boat thief.

Hal White's 35-foot Selina King was the last of five vessels stolen as a Pembroke man made a strange and ultimately unsuccessful sprint for the sea early on the holiday morning.

Rather than seeking retribution yesterday, however, Mr. White told The Royal Gazette he felt sorry for the boat thief and wanted to see if he might be able to help him in some way. But first he has to complete the repairs to his boat before he goes into the hospital for a hernia operation on Thursday.

The accused man is expected to appear in Magistrates' Court this morning for the theft of the boats which have a total value of over $117,000.

According to Police, the 37-year-old first stole a six-foot motorboat from Riddell's Bay dock. He powered the boat, valued at $900, across the bay before capsizing it and moving on to a second vessel.

The seven-foot row boat Amazing was his next target and the man rowed this boat to RJ, a 35-foot sailboat, before abandoning it, The Royal Gazette was told. His attempts to steal RJ were unsuccessful and that boat was abandoned adrift before the man moved on to a 12-foot powerboat.

Mr. White said he saw RJ lumbering against the dock and that the thief had inadvertently disconnected everything on board in an attempt to get the boat started before abandoning it to drift ashore.

The man was then seen piloting the 12-foot powerboat to Mr. White's Selina King, which was moored off Rising Sun in Southampton. The thief got the 65-year-old sailboat to the mouth of Jew's Bay but ran aground on the rocks and was arrested by Marine Police on Spectacle Island shortly after.

Mr. White told said it is possible to handle Selina King single-handedly if one has a bit of experience.

“He didn't have a clue,” he said of the thief who sent his boat onto the rocks. “He was heading out to sea but he didn't have any navigational equipment or food on board.”

The man was reportedly carrying a Canadian passport however. All boats but the sunken punt were recovered but not before an estimated $5,300 in damages were sustained. Mr. White told said he was dismayed when he received a phone call early on Friday morning from a friend asking if he had given anyone permission to use his seagoing pride.

He called Marine Police as soon as he was told the unauthorised sailor was making off on his 65-year-old treasure.

“That boat is my life right now,” Mr. White said. Mr. White proceeded straight to Purcell's wharf where he encountered another man searching for his stolen craft. “He was looking for his boat,” Mr. White said. “I asked him to run me out to Selina King which had been run onto the rocks by now.”

Mr. White estimated the sailboat was bashing against the rocks for three hours before he managed to rescue her with the help of Marine Police and the other boat theft victim.

The group also secured the drifting RJ to a mooring to prevent further damage to that sailboat.

Selina King was specially built for English children's book author Arthur Ransome in 1937, Mr. White told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

He purchased the boat 41 years ago and for countless years used it to run charters to the Caribbean. Over the years the past luminaries such as President John F. Kennedy and explorer Jacques Cousteau have graced her deck, he said.

Between the slippage fees and the repairs Selina King will require, Mr. White estimates he will suffer a $1,200 loss. The boat had to be brought to land for repair as quickly as possible as it was taking on water.

But yesterday, Mr. White said he expected to have the repairs completed and Selina King back in the water before his operation on Thursday.