RIverboat, Based for Years in Ocean County, Stolen Under Peculiar Circumstances

State Marine Police responded early Wednesday evening to a report of a vessel stolen from a marina at Third Street and Bay Avenue in Ocean City.

The description: a 58-foot paddlewheel boat called the Crystal Queen.

The search didn't take long.

Marine Police found the boat traveling in circles in heavy seas near Great Egg Harbor Inlet.

But when police first boarded the Crystal Queen off the beach in Longport about 6:45 p.m., they found nobody at the helm, according to Sgt. Brian Polite, spokesman for the New Jersey State Police. They immediately alerted Coast Guard in case the suspect was in the water.

Police on board the Crystal Queen then noticed a hatch in a forward compartment tied from the inside. Police said they cut the line and entered the lower cabin, where they found an intoxicated John Sullivan, 32, of Ocean City.

Sullivan was charged with boating while intoxicated, resisting arrest and eluding, according to State Police. Sullivan was then turned over to the Ocean City Police Department, which charged him with second-degree theft after further investigation. 

Sullivan was taken to the Cape May County Jail, where he is being held on $50,000 full cash bail.

The incident may have started about 5:10 p.m. with an argument at the bayside marina where the Crystal Queen has been docked for the summer and fall, according to Ocean City Police Capt. Steven Ang.

Police responded to report that the 58-foot boat had been taken by the former employee, Ang said.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Ocean City Police Chief Chad Callahan and a few other officers were seen at the top of the Ocean City-Longport Bridge looking out over the railing.

At 7 p.m.,  the Crystal Queen was seen a short distance off the beach at 30th Street in Longport, with Marine Police vessels nearby.

The Crystal Queen in the dry town of Ocean City when it advertised dinner cruises, private cruises and sunset cruises with a full cash bar with alcohol. Because the boat served alcohol only while on the water, Ocean City's ban on alcohol sales did not apply.

Arthur Weiler, the owner of the and a retired caterer from Philadelphia, said at the time he was leasing the Crystal Queen from owner Tad Stern, who has operated the boat out of Long Beach Island and Atlantic City in recent years.

For many years, the boat was based in Beach Haven and called the Black Whale, and was heavily used by many organizations county-wide for trips to Atlantic City.

Weiler could not be reached for comment at the marina on Wednesday evening.