Witness describes panic to try to try to save doomed designer Martha Nolan on Montauk boat: ‘Do something’

The first bystander to reach the body of Manhattan fashion designer Martha Nolan-O’Slatarra at the Montauk Yacht Club said he and his mate were fast asleep when all hell broke loose.

The chaos unfolded around midnight Tuesday, when the two were awakened by screaming and saw the alleged owner of the boat where the tragedy unfolded dashing down the dock in a panic, the man said.

“We were sound asleep,” the eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, told The Post.

“We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up,” he said. “He was running up and down, naked, screaming, ‘Do something!’

When they reached The Ripple — the boat where Nolan-O’Slatarra lay dead or dying, he called 911.

Suffolk County police said the bystanders tried to resuscitate the popular designer before first responders arrived — but it was too late and the 33-year-old Irish-born beauty was pronounced dead.

The 911 caller and his pal, regulars at the yacht club, did not recognize Nolan-O’Slatarra.

Cops said there was no evidence of violence done to Nolan-O’Slatarra’s body, but have not ruled out foul play and have not released details of the department’s investigation.

According to sources, the owner of the boat owns a second one at the marina.

Nolan-O’Slatarra moved to Manhattan in 2018 from the small Irish town of Carlow, starting off as a bottle service girl in Soho before founding East x East, her swimwear fashion company.

Driven to succeed and gifted at marketing, she summered in the Hamptons in recent years, hosting pop-ups and wowing the upscale clientele drawn to Montauk and surrounding resort towns.

“Montauk, specifically, is so seasonal,” one connected local businessman said Thursday. “So, you have to be more confident in yourself, because you’ve got 90 days — if it doesn’t rain — to make money.

“It was very obvious to me that she was very driven and wanted to succeed,” the man said. “I got the impression that she is a young, ambitious, driven young woman who had a vision, and she thought that Montauk was a very good fit.”

However, while Nolan-O’Slatarra’s death has rattled some in the East End, others are taking it in stride.

“We’re just on vacation so it’s not something I’m not thinking about much,” one visitor who only identified herself as Ally told The Post.

Local resident Travis Fischer, 15, said news of the high-profile death has “dampened the mood. We’re still having fun and enjoying ourselves, but it’s definitely on the back of my mind every now and then.”