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Cape lightning victim was a veteran shellfisherman

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 2, 2009 02:28 PM

By Matt Collette, Globe Correspondent

The man who was killed Wednesday afternoon when lightning struck his boat in Pleasant Bay in Orleans has been identified as a 41-year-old shellfisherman from Eastham.

A spokeswoman for Cape and the Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said the man was Christopher West, 41, of Eastham. West's father, Richard, said his son shellfished all along the Cape Cod coast. With the red tide lifted recently, West's work had just begun to pick up for the summer.

"He loved the water, he loved the sea, he loved the Cape," said Richard West. Christopher West grew up in Framingham and Ashland and had worked on the water for nearly two decades.

West fished whenever the tide was right, working all hours of the day, his father said.

"He’d have to go with the tides. Sometimes it’d be really early going out, sometimes it’d be really late going out," Richard West said. Christopher West was also survived by his mother, Kathryn, and brother, Richard Jr.

Harbormaster Dawson Farber said authorities received a 911 call reporting a boat had been struck by lightning between 5 and 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, and crews responded to the shallow-water spot, where the man had been shellfishing, in about 15 minutes.

Farber, who also heads Orleans' shellfishing commission, said West's death will have a significant impact on the tight-knit community that works along the shore.

"I think it’ll have a pretty significant impact on our local harvesters," Farber said. "They have to endure so many things, and the weather always plays a role.”

He said West was respected by his peers as a knowledgeable and personable harvester who worked nearly every day.

Boaters should be conscious of ever-changing weather by checking forecasts and being aware of conditions, Farber said.

“They really need to pay close attention to the forecasts and keep an eye to the skies,” he said. “If they see impending weather, they should seek shore. If they’re away from shore, they really need to get below deck or as low as possible."