By Tom Dalton
SALEM — The body of a Pickering Wharf shop owner who often fished along the waterfront was found floating in the harbor early yesterday morning.
Michael Narinkiewicz, 57, of 26 Arbella St. was pronounced dead at the scene, only a short distance from The Cat N' The Fiddle, the 61 Wharf St. gift shop he operated with his wife.
"Right now, it's an accident," Detective Bill Jennings said.
Police received a phone call at 7:49 a.m. from a pedestrian who spotted a body floating in a protected dock area between Central Wharf and Capt.'s Waterfront Grill & Club.
The body was retrieved from the water by a police dive team and a Fire Department rescue boat.
Investigators say they don't know what happened but speculate Narinkiewicz might have been walking near the water and fallen in.
"He was seen walking every day around the area," Jennings said.
Narinkiewicz and his wife, Marie, who used to operate an antiques store on Hawthorne Boulevard, moved the business to Pickering Wharf about two years ago. In that short time, the outgoing shopkeeper became a friendly and familiar face on the wharf.
"He was kind of like the greeter down here," said Tom Moran, the dock master at Pickering Wharf.
"He was always down by the water," said Teri Kalgren of Artemesia Botanicals, a Pickering Wharf shop. "He used to take long walks every day."
Narinkiewicz arrived early for work, often walking the wharves and dock area before grabbing a coffee and heading to work.
"Mike used to come in around 8 a.m. and open the store," said Nancy Ripa of Living With Pets, another Pickering Wharf shop. "He'd catch a lot of business when nobody else was open."
The Cat N' The Fiddle was a gift shop selling collectibles and antiques, T-shirts, penny candy, and hats made by his wife.
Jennifer "Jeff" Bowie, the owner of the Picklepot, another Pickering Wharf shop, said Narinkiewicz kidded her when she arrived for work before him one day. "Mike stuck his head (in the door) and said, 'I've got to talk to you. You're ruining my reputation. I'm always the first one down here in the morning.'"
Often, he was among the last to leave at night — or he would go fishing after work.
"I can picture him with a bucket and a couple of rods" walking along Central Wharf, Moran said. "He'd be in his glory. ... That was peace to him."
Narinkiewicz knew a lot of the shop owners and often offered them fish or lobsters he had caught.
"He was always fishing at night, always catching something," Ripa said.
Narinkiewicz is currently featured in "Visit Salem," a travelogue video game on sale in several local stores. There is a 2009 Visit Salem Award in the window of The Cat N' The Fiddle.
Narinkiewicz used to work at the GE plant in Wilmington, friends said, and more recently worked part time on the maintenance and grounds crew at the Peabody Essex Museum.
He and his wife have four children, according to friends.
His body was taken to the state medical examiner's office in Boston. Until the autopsy results are official, the investigation remains open, police said.
Shopkeepers arrived for work yesterday to see police cars and firetrucks all over Pickering Wharf. It didn't take long to learn that one of their own, a store owner who often offered to get them a cup of coffee or a scratch ticket, was an apparent drowning victim.
"We're all in shock right now ..." Ripa said. "He was a very good soul."
