Published Tuesday, January 05, 2010 12:54 PM

Texas fisherman dies, boat hits sunken steamboat

Associated Press

VICTORIA, Texas -- A service is scheduled Thursday for a fisherman who died after his boat hit a mostly submerged Confederate steamboat in the Navidad River.

Justice of the Peace Dwayne Taylor says the death of 62-year-old David Martin of Victoria has been ruled an accidental drowning.

Martin never returned from a fishing trip Friday near Lolita when a relative reported him missing. A passing boater noticed his wrecked vessel.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office says Martin's body was recovered Sunday from the water.

Rex Mayes with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says other boaters have struck the Mary Summers and attempts to mark it have been unsuccessful. Mayes says a low tide Friday exposed about a foot of the steamboat.

Historian Frank Condron says the ironclad was a blockade runner during the Civil War.

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