WALDOBORO (AP) – The owner of a Maine fishing boat that sank about 50 miles southeast of Nantucket with hardly a trace said the vessel was in good repair.

“I’m not going to feel guilty about how that boat left that dock,” Scott Knowlton said. “The boat was a good boat.”

But Knowlton, of Waldoboro, told the Portland Press Herald that he feels guilty he wasn’t there to try to save his friends and relatives before the Candy B II disappeared Friday night.

“He won’t tell you,” said his wife, Ursula Knowlton, but he doesn’t sleep or eat. “Survivor guilt? Yes he has that. He has a good dose of that.”

The 46-foot boat was reported missing after the boat’s emergency radio beacon was activated Friday night. There was no distress call from the ship’s four crew members, who are presumed drowned. The emergency beacon was the only trace of the boat found after a massive search.

Those missing include Howard “Cappy” Crudell, 38, of Warren; Brandon Feyler, 17, of Union; Adrian Randall, 25, of Rockland; and Ralph “Bubba” Boyington, 34, of Waldoboro.

Knowlton, who had taken the boat to Provincetown, Mass., to drag for scallops, said he wanted to respond to rumors that Candy B II was not seaworthy. His children have even been taunted at school, telling one of his three teenage sons that his father was going to jail.

“I’m tired of being the bad guy,” the 36-year-old Knowlton said.

Knowlton said Wednesday he had invested everything he had to buy and overhaul the 53-year-old boat, which he owns along with two out-of-state partners.

He said the Candy B II was seaworthy even though the insurance company dropped its coverage about a year ago, saying it would not insure wooden vessels.

A month after the purchase, Knowlton said, new restrictions aimed at speeding the recovery of groundfish cut the number of Candy B II’s fishing days from 88 to 24. More rules later limited the boat to eight days a year.

Knowlton said he had to file for bankruptcy because he couldn’t make the payments on the boat, his house and car. He also said he was forced to take the boat to Massachusetts and try to make a living dragging for scallops.

Knowlton said he couldn’t imagine what could have happened to the Candy B II to make it sink without any distress call from the crew and without leaving behind any of the wood and equipment that was on its deck.

He said fishery regulations force small-boat fishermen to take increased risks to make a living.

AP-ES-10-16-03 1241EDT