Donald L. Smith was 40 years old when he was last known to have been in Frenchman’s Bay, Maine, on March 25, 1971. Public missing-person records identify him as a White/Caucasian male with black hair and brown eyes, standing about 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds. His case is listed in NamUs as MP39523, with the Maine Marine Patrol, Division II, identified as the investigating agency. The publicly available case information places the last contact in the waters of
Frenchman’s Bay, in the area associated with Hancock Point and Stave Island.
That Thursday afternoon began as a working trip. The boat reportedly left Hancock Point at about 2:00 p.m. with six people aboard, headed for Stave Island to go clamming. They worked the tide and collected 12 bushels of clams before starting back toward Hancock Point. The return trip turned disastrous when the motor apparently became tangled in a rope from an old lobster trap. With the motor stopped, the boat was left vulnerable in the water. Public case summaries state that the wake came over the stern, filling the boat and causing it to upset, throwing all six people into the ocean.
Donald was one of the people caught in that sudden emergency. The details available in public records are sparse, but what is known describes a fast-moving maritime accident in cold Maine coastal waters, where a routine clamming trip became a crisis before the group could reach shore. The records do not describe Donald as having left voluntarily or as having disappeared under unclear personal circumstances; instead, the available accounts center on the capsizing after the boat’s motor became fouled and the vessel took water over the stern.
The case has remained documented through public missing-person systems, including NamUs and Maine missing-person listings. The Maine State Police notes that Maine’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner serves as the official state clearinghouse for missing people in Maine and uses NamUs to help track and manage missing-person case files, which provides broader context for why Donald’s case remains publicly recorded in that system.
Donald L. Smith’s story is one of a man lost during a shared working trip on the water, in a place where livelihood, tide, weather, and machinery could all shape the outcome of a single afternoon. The known facts are limited but deeply human: six people left Hancock Point for Stave Island to clam, returned with a heavy load, encountered trouble when the motor became tangled, and were thrown into Frenchman’s Bay after the boat filled and overturned. Public records preserve Donald’s name, description, last known location, and the circumstances of the accident, leaving an overview of a case rooted in a sudden boating disaster off the Maine coast and the lasting uncertainty carried by those who cared about him.Last Seen: Mar 25, 1971
