Mack Sturgill, a 42-year-old White man also known by the nickname “Red,” was last known to be in Frenchman’s Bay, Maine, on March 25, 1971. Online case summaries tied to NamUs list him under case number MP39512 and describe him as about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing about 198 pounds, with red or auburn hair, blue eyes, balding hair, and multiple tattoos on both arms and fingers.
The case is associated with Frenchman’s Bay, a coastal body of water in Hancock County, Maine, stretching between Mount Desert Island and the mainland shoreline near the Schoodic Peninsula, an area shaped by islands, tides, working boats, and generations of maritime life.
The day Mack disappeared began as a clamming trip. According to online summaries of the case, a boat left Hancock Point at about 2:00 p.m. with six people aboard, heading for Stave Island to clam. The group reportedly worked the tide and began the return trip to Hancock Point carrying 12 bushels of clams. During that return, the boat’s motor apparently became tangled in a rope from an old lobster trap and stopped. With the motor disabled, the wake came over the stern, filled the boat, and caused it to overturn, throwing everyone aboard into the ocean.
The available online accounts do not provide a full personal history for Mack, but the details that remain create a clear and painful picture of an ordinary working trip that turned catastrophic in a matter of moments. The setting was not a distant voyage but familiar coastal Maine waters, and the purpose was practical: six people going out to clam, gathering a substantial catch, and returning home. The reported sequence suggests how quickly conditions on the water can change when a small vessel loses power, takes water over the stern, and capsizes before those aboard can regain control.
Mack’s case remains listed in NamUs as a missing person case, with the Maine Marine Patrol - Division II identified in the provided case information as the investigating agency. Maine State Police note that the Office of Chief Medical Examiner is the official state clearinghouse for missing people in Maine and that NamUs is used to help track and manage missing-person case files. In Mack Sturgill’s case, the known public record centers on a single maritime incident: he was 42, known as “Red,” last seen in Frenchman’s Bay on March 25, 1971, after a clamming boat returning from Stave Island became disabled, flooded, overturned, and cast all six occupants into the cold ocean. The overview of the case is one of sudden loss at sea, limited surviving detail, and an enduring missing-person record tied to a tragic boating accident off the Maine coast.Last Seen: Mar 25, 1971
