YARMOUTH (AP) — The Maine Marine Patrol has seized a 39-foot cabin cruiser as part of a criminal probe into a fatal boat collision.

The seizure was based in part on statements from witnesses who said the boat appeared to speed up and change course just before the collision with a small aluminum skiff off Littlejohn Island in Yarmouth on Sept. 21.

The Portland Press Herald reported that according to court documents, a witness said it appeared the larger vessel tried to overtake the skiff.

The skiff's operator, 63-year-old Charles Whetham, died.

The larger boat was being operated by its owner, who has addresses in Scarborough and Foxborough, Mass.

The Marine Patrol filed a search warrant in Cumberland County Court indicating that it had seized the cabin cruiser and its contents.