It was Oct. 19, when, around 9:30 p.m., the guard saw the running man. He called 911. Officers found the aluminum boat with its small motor.

The Harbor Unit, using an identification number on the boat’s hull, traced its owner: Ken’s Marine Service in Bayonne, N.J. The company told the police that the boat was on loan to the Bayonne Golf Club, a prestigious, invitation-only private club on the waterfront that Sports Illustrated once called “the most audacious golf course in the world.” The club includes a private marina, where a private ferry transports golfers to and from Manhattan.

Someone had entered the marina that night and had stolen the small boat, which the club used for maintenance and collecting debris along the shoreline, said Rinaldo M. D’Argenio, a lawyer for the club. The boat’s motor started with a simple pull of a cord.

More difficult than stealing the boat was the actual journey.

New Jersey and Staten Island are separated by the Kill Van Kull, a tidal strait heavily used by shipping vessels on the way to and from the busy cargo terminals in Newark and Elizabeth, N.J. The thief in his little skiff would have cut across those shipping lanes in the dark without lights, eventually crossing the state line and entering the routes of the Staten Island Ferry as he approached the terminal.

Image Surveillance video captured images of a man who docked a small boat at the ferry terminal, climbed up pilings to enter the terminal, and then walked away. Credit... New York Police Department

The journey, which is about a mile and would have taken 10 or 15 minutes, is fraught at best. “There’s heavy marine traffic, large vessels, tugboats, barges,” said Vincent Alessi, a managing member of Duraport Marine and Rail Terminal in Bayonne. “A 10-minute ride could have wreaked havoc in the channel. It’s like a young kid runs out on the highway with a bicycle. You’re on the New Jersey Turnpike, you don’t expect a guy on a bike.”