On Sept. 11, two Lopez men threw over five pieces of luggage into the Salish Sea after incorrectly assuming that the bags contained bombs.

“The guys who threw the bags overboard were probably acting out of the idea that they were protecting people on the boat,” said San Juan County Undersheriff Bruce Distler.

That morning a man from California flew to Seattle and caught a shuttle from the airport to the ferry terminal in Anacortes. He was traveling with five bags of luggage and his dog. He was on his way to Lopez to do electrical work for a client. On the shuttle he met another man from Lopez and asked him if there was a luggage cart at the terminal to help him carry his gear, weighing about 50 pounds each, on the boat.

According to the deputy, who later filed the official report, the man from Lopez was suspicious about the Californian, who had claimed to live on Lopez, but “seemed to know very little about the island.”

Despite these suspicions the Lopez man offered to help the California man. The Lopezian was meeting another Lopezian at the terminal who was driving a pick-up truck. The two Lopezians helped the California man load the bags in the vehicle. Then the property owner took his dog for a walk, but misjudged the timing of the ferry loading traffic.

As the pick-up rolled onto the boat, the California man ran to catch up and found himself on the boat not able to find the vehicle. Meanwhile the two Lopezians search the boat for the property owner.

“They were both looking for each other and missing one another,” said Distler. “And to make things more complicated it was 9/11.”

The significance of the day donned on one of the Lopezians as they realized that they had carried on bags to the ferry and were unaware of the contents.

“They probably started to panic,” said Distler.

Back at the pick-up they opened the bags and found electrical equipment including a black box with wires sticking out.

They proceeded to throw the luggage overboard near the northeast portion of Decatur Island.

The Californian later told a deputy that the bags contained “most of his earthly possessions” and that none of the items were for making bombs, but were used for electrical work.

The two men did later explain to ferry workers what had happened and they notified the Sheriff’s Office leading to a deputy meeting all three men at the Lopez landing.

The deputy reported that the two Lopezians’ actions would not be written up as a criminal act as they were not acting with “malicious intent, but rather genuine concern.”

The case is considered civil in nature and the men will be responsible for replacing the items or providing restitution to the property owner.

“It’s obvious they cared, but there are different ways to take care of it,” said Distler. “When in doubt call the ferry workers first.”