GLOUCESTER, Mass. — The search for survivors on a commercial fishing vessel that sank off the coast of Massachusetts with seven aboard has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday.
The Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission early Friday after receiving an alert from the 72-foot Lily Jean about 25 miles off Cape Ann. Searchers found a debris field near where the alert was sent along with a body in the water and an empty life raft, the Coast Guard said.
The mission covered about 1,000 square miles using multiple aircraft, cutters and small boats over a 24-hour period. But after consultation between mission coordinators and on-scene commanders, the Coast Guard announced Saturday it had determined that all reasonable search efforts for the missing crew members had been exhausted.
Officials said there wasn’t a mayday call from Lily Jean as it navigated the frigid Atlantic Ocean on its way home to Gloucester, Mass., America’s oldest fishing port. The Coast Guard was notified by the boat’s beacon that alerts when it hits the water.
Another tragedy befalls fishing town
It is the latest maritime tragedy to befall Gloucester and its close-knit community of people in the fishing business. The city that inspired “The Perfect Storm” is tied to its fishing heritage in a way that has brought 400 years of history and, sometimes, tragedy. That book and movie were inspired by the FV Andrea Gail, which went missing at sea in 1991.
Vito Giacalone, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, described the fishing community as a brotherhood that was grieving and in shock.
“Everybody’s just heartbroken,” Giacalone told the Associated Press in a phone interview Saturday. “To have that many lives lost all at once, we haven’t seen that in a long time.”
Captain is a beloved fisherman
The Lily Jean, its captain, Gus Sanfilippo, and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show “Nor’Easter Men.” Sanfilippo is described as a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, fishing out of Gloucester in the Georges Bank. The crew is shown working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end, spending as many as 10 days at sea on one trip fishing for haddock, lobster and flounder.
“We loved each other,” Giacalone said about his relationship with Sanfilippo. “He treated me like a big brother and I treated him like my younger brother. To know the tragedy of this and to know the kind of character that Gus had, he’d be mortified to know that these lives were all lost.”
State Sen. Bruce Tarr grew emotional as he talked about Sanfilippo, who was a good friend.
“He’s a person that has a big smile, and he gives you a warm embrace when he sees you,” Tarr said Friday. “He is very, very skilled at what he does.”
Tarr said the “fact that vessel now rests at the bottom of the ocean is very hard to understand,” given the owner’s experience.
Conditions made search difficult
The Coast Guard’s Sector Boston Commander Jamie Frederick acknowledged frigid temperatures, stormy conditions and the vast ocean make finding survivors at night difficult, a task made more challenging with a nor’easter approaching the East Coast this weekend.
“That is the equivalent of searching for a coconut in the ocean,” Frederick said Friday.
At the time of the emergency alert, the National Weather Service said wind speeds out at sea were around 27 mph with waves around 4 feet high. It was 12 degrees with water temperatures about 39 degrees.
Dangers of commercial fishing
Deep-sea fishing off New England can always be hazardous, but it can be especially dangerous in the winter because of high waves, frigid temperatures and unpredictable weather. Commercial fishing is often cited as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.
Everett Sawyer, 55, a childhood friend of Sanfilippo, said he has known 25 people who were lost at sea. Cold winter conditions can complicate operations even for experienced sailors, Sawyer said.
“Things happen very quickly when you’re out on the ocean,” he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it was aware that there was a fishery observer aboard the vessel. Fishery observers are workers who collect data on board fishing boats for the government to use to inform regulations.
Casey, Ngowi and Whittle write for the Associated Press and reported from Boston, Gloucester and Portland, Maine, respectively. AP writer Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tenn., contributed to this report.
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