PORT LUDLOW – The drowning last week of a man who had taken his small boat to go fishing has been ruled accidental, said Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell, who also serves as the county coroner.
Jordan Miller, 54, had just purchased a new boat from a friend and was taking it out for the first time Friday, said his mother, Nanette Miller, from her home north of Port Ludlow.
He had taken the boat, an 8-foot Columbia fiberglass model, into Mats Mats Bay at about 8:30 p.m.
Shortly afterward, his mother walked out onto the deck, which is on the waterfront, to see where he was.
She heard him cry out but could not see him, so she called 9-1-1.
Rescue personnel rowed out in two boats, one owned by a neighbor, Howard Simonson.
Emergency responders from Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue and deputies from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office found Miller on his back in the water, unresponsive, a sheriff’s report said.
His boat was found upright with some water in the bottom. Fishing equipment and a flotation device were also discovered.
Miller was pulled into Simonson’s boat and brought ashore. Despite administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, Miller did not regain consciousness.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Miller, a 1974 graduate of West Seattle High School, was living with his parents, Nanette and Clarence Miller.
He also is survived by two children, Lindsay, 22, and Schuyler, 19, and a sister.
Services are pending through Kosec Funeral Home in Port Townsend.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.