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Crew member Stuart McKelvey, from New York City said he thought he glimpsed floating debris that looked like the remains of a small boat submerged in the waves seconds after the bow broke.

At the time the 110-foot catamaran was sailing at 30 knots in dense fog and pre-dawn darkness. She was 110 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.

"There were only about five of us on deck. I was all the way aft on the starboard side and I saw something in the water for a moment before it was lost in the fog," McKelvey said. "It appeared to be a small overturned fiberglass powerboat, maybe a 15 to 20 footer, already broken up. It was floating just below the surface. It went by so quick. I saw a red boot stripe (waterline marking) on a white hull. That's what it looked like."

Skipper Cam Lewis said tonight that a survey of his stricken craft showed impact damage to the bow at the waterline. Lewis said the dagger board on the port side had also been damaged.

"I had just gone down to my bunk, under the helmsman on the
starboard side and I felt a bit of a bump followed by a noise," Lewis said. "Laurent Bourgnon was in the navigation station of the port hull watching the radar and he was thrown forward and almost hit his head."

No one was hurt among the 15-man crew and the boat was not in immediate danger. She was proceeding back to the North American mainland under her own power and was expected to take 24 to 36 hours to reach land.