BAY NEWS 9 -- A Madeira Beach commercial fishing crew came across a mystery at sea -- a capsized boat with a military connection.

Rob Simpson and the rest of the crew of the Johnny D found the boat.

"Got it all dried out and did some poking around and found some equipment, some electronic equipment, but no sign of missing clothes, billfolds or sunglasses or anything like that," Simpson said.

There was no sign of life, but one major clue: a stencil of the United States Air Force.

"We called the Coast Guard and they said to call the Air Force," Simpson said. "And the Air Force said to call the Coast Guard. A day later the Air Force called and said 'Oh, where are you at? We are on our way right now.' And somebody was here 10 minutes after that phone call."

The Air Force towed the mystery boat to MacDill Air Force base, but MacDill said it wasn't their boat.

The boat is from Eglin Air Force Base, near Destin and Fort Walton Beach. An Eglin spokesperson confirmed they lost a boat in May, meaning it took the boat almost four months to drift from the panhandle to the Tampa Bay area.

Eglin said there was no crew. It was a high-tech, remote-controlled boat being used as a target during a test. Bad weather rolled in and they lost the boat. It's now back at Eglin.

The commercial fishermen hope to get some financial reimbursement from the military for the time they took away from fishing to turn the boat back upright and tow it in.

Typically, fishermen have the right to salvage a wrecked boat if the owner doesn't claim it or doesn't want it. In this case, because it was military property, the fisherman turned it in.

Original Story Here