Sailboat frozen into the St. John River now sinking

Rob Thom didn't think he'd be saying "I told ya so" so soon. 

The Lower Greenwich resident was sure the sailboat frozen into the ice in front of his waterfront residence wouldn't survive the winter, but he figured it wouldn't sink for another couple of months, given the mild winter we've had. 

But photos and drone footage confirm the boat was sinking on Tuesday morning and by the afternoon, its deck was below water level. 

Thom said he's not surprised. 

"Not a bit, no. The only thing I'm surprised about is that I thought it might happen a little bit later."

Thom has been keeping an eye on the boat since it showed up moored in front of his residence last September. 

A few days ago, he took a picture that showed snow and ice was building up around the vessel's hull. 

"It didn't look like it was sinking or anything. It just looked like snow and stuff was building up around it."

Later on, he zoomed in on the photo and noticed the bilge pump outflow — the system designed to come on automatically to pump out any water collecting in the hull of a boat — was frozen solid. 

Thom's daughter first noticed that the boat didn't look quite right on Tuesday morning and on closer inspection, Thom realized it was sinking. 

Drone footage posted to a community page later in the day confirmed the sailboat's deck was under water. 

Local resident Cindy Richards has also been keeping an eye on the boat. She and many other residents voiced safety and environmental concerns about the boat's presence and its potential sinking. 

She worried about fuel leaking from the boat's diesel engine, its generator and the batteries necessary to operate the solar panels. 

Watching from shore on Tuesday, Richards said, "It's very sad, and it didn't have to be this way.