Safety

GLOUCESTER, Mass.– December 19, 2012 — The Coast Guard resumed its search today for a missing fishing boat after a lifeboat and other equipment belonging to the vessel were found washed ashore in Massachusetts.

The Coast Guard began its search for the Foxy Lady II and its two-member crew on Monday after the captain's girlfriend reported that the boat had not been heard from since Saturday around noon, officials said. The 45-foot vessel left from its home port of Gloucester that morning and was scheduled to return that evening.

The fishermen on board have been identified as 26-year-old Wally Gray, the captain, and his 50-year-old crewman, Wayne Young, from Deer Isle, Maine, said Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association.

The last known location of the vessel was 15 miles north of Provincetown, where the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration picked up a signal from the boat's fishing monitoring system around noon Saturday, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robert Simpson. The National Weather Service had issued a small-craft advisory for coastal waters that day calling for seas of 3 to 5 feet, with sustained winds of 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 30 mph. Conditions were worse farther offshore.

But the Coast Guard didn't receive a distress call from the boat or signals from the boat's emergency satellite beacon, which is designed to transmit signals when it's in the water, he said.

 

Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times 

 

 

 

 

 

DEER ISLE, Maine — December 18, 2012 — The Coast Guard is continuing its search for two Deer Isle fishermen who went missing Saturday north of Provincetown, Mass.

Missing is the Foxy Lady II, a 45-foot scallop-fishing vessel with a home port in Gloucester, Mass., that is operated by a team of fishermen from Deer Isle. The boat is registered to Foxy Lady Inc., which holds a federal scallop fishing license for deep-sea dragging.

Several sources confirm that on the boat are Capt. Wallace “Chubby” Gray Jr., 25, and Wayne Young, 50, both of Deer Isle. When reached by phone at his home in Deer Isle on Tuesday, Wallace Gray Sr., who usually captains the vessel, declined comment.

Coast Guard Sector Boston received a call around 8 a.m. Monday from the captain’s girlfriend, who said the boat had not returned as planned Saturday night. The Foxy Lady II had departed Saturday morning.

The boat’s last known location was 15 miles north of Provincetown, Mass., on Cape Cod.

Coast Guard cutters searched Monday night and continued searching Tuesday morning, according to a news release. Over more than a 24-hour period, the search effort covered more than 360 square miles, the Coast Guard said at about noon.

 

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

 

December 19, 2012 — Candles remained lit by windows in homes from Gloucester to Deer Isle, Maine, Tuesday, a gesture of hope from family, friends, and even strangers that two missing fishermen would be found safe. But hope turned to sorrow by Tuesday evening, as items from their boat, missing since Saturday, washed up in waters of the Saugus River and on Nantasket Beach in Hull.

Fishing equipment belonging to the Foxy Lady II washed up in Nantasket Beach, while a survival capsule belonging to the vessel washed up in the Saugus River, said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Stanton. The empty capsule, which can hold up to four people, was found by members of the Saugus police and fire depart ments, he said.

The men, both from Deer Isle, set off from Gloucester on a daytime scalloping trip Saturday aboard a 45-foot boat.

The girlfriend of the 26-year-old boat captain, Wally “Chubby” Gray, reported the men missing Monday morning, setting off a Coast Guard search that covered more than 360 square miles from Gloucester to Provincetown, the last-known location of the boat, Stanton said.

Three Coast Guard cutters led the search Tuesday, but inclement weather grounded a helicopter that was ready to assist, Stanton said. Coast Guard officials hope the weather will improve enough Wednesday to allow it to widen the search by air. “Our emphasis will now be closer to shore,” said Coast Guard Commander Sean Carroll in Boston.

Gray set off Saturday with crew member Wayne Young aboard Foxy Lady II, a boat he saved to buy and named after his father’s boat, Foxy Lady I, said Gray’s cousin Jolena Rogers. They were supposed to return to Gloucester, where the boat is based, the same day.

“No one is thinking the worst right now, as hard as it is,” Rogers, of Gloucester, said Tuesday afternoon.

Young is a friend of the family and is married with three children, Rogers said. When reached by telephone, Young’s wife, Shirleen, said only, “We’re praying.”

Gray is the father of 3-year-old Wallace Gray III, whom he affectionately calls “mini me,” Rogers said.

Gray acquired his love of fishing from his father, Wallace, a lifelong fisherman who is well known in Deer Isle, said Steve Johnson, harbormaster in neighboring Stonington, Maine.

 

Read the full story in the Boston Globe 

 

 

 

 

December 17, 2012 — Capt. Dave Marciano, one of the stars of the Gloucester-based “Wicked Tuna” reality television show, saw his business reality take a wicked turn over the weekend.

Marciano found his fishing vessel, Hard Merchandise, submerged at the dock at the Gloucester Marine Railways in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Marciano, a lifelong fisherman, said in an interview at the dock Monday that he received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard around 1 a.m. Sunday saying that the agency had received a “ping” from the vessel’s Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB), which activates when a vessel hits the water.

At the time, Marciano said, he was at his Beverly home watching “Moonshiners,” another reality television show.

“I was on the couch starting to nod and was planning on going to bed when I got the call,” he said. “The Coast Guard said it wasn’t getting good positioning on the ping and wanted to know if the boat was out fishing and if there was an emergency.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

 

 

December 18, 2012 — Three U.S. Coast Guard cutters from Boston today continued to search in Massachusetts Bay for the 45-foot Gloucester-based scalloping boat Foxy Lady II, which did not return from a day fishing trip Saturday to Stellwagen Bank with a crew of two, and has not been heard from.

Coast Guard Sector Boston Search and Rescue officer Robert Scott said the agency is using the operative theory that the boat lost power and is being pushed by the wind and currents to shore.

The search efforts have covered more than 360 square miles and have continued for more than 24 hours

An air search will begin as soon as the weather allows, he said. Weather conditions on scene are 8 to 10 foot seas, 15 to 20 knot winds and less than one mile visibility. Searching today are the crews of the Coast Guard cutters Spencer, Sanibel and Bainbridge Island.

 

Read the full story in the Gloucester Times 

 

 

 

 

LUBEC, Maine — It has been more than three years since Trescott fisherman Joseph Jones, then 29, went down with his fishing vessel The Bottom Basher in a treacherous area of Cobscook Bay, but neither his body nor his boat has been located or recovered.

Last week, a dragger operating in Whiting Bay recovered Jones’ wallet.

“His is the only body we’ve never recovered,” Maine Marine Patrol Specialist Russell Wright said Tuesday morning in reference to the incident.

The bodies of two crewmen who also went down on Oct. 20, 2009, with The Bottom Basher while dragging for sea urchins were recovered. The body of Daryl Cline of Machiasport, 41, was recovered the day after the sinking. The body of Norman Johnson of Cutler, 57, was recovered in December 2009.

 

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

 

November 22, 2012 — Frottier, a lifelong fisherman known across Provincetown, is presumed dead after his vessel, the Twin Lights, capsized Sunday, 2.5 miles off the coast of Race Point. His body has not been recovered.

Frottier’s friends and fellow fishermen, many of whom have spent much of their lives at MacMillan Pier by his side, said they are devastated by the loss of a man who served as an emblem for so much of what is special about their lifestyle.

“If anybody could have gotten out of that boat,” said Vaughn Cabral, captain of the Cee-Jay fishing boat, “it would have been Jean Frottier.”

Coast Guard officials said they are still investigating the circumstances that led to the capsizing of Frottier’s craft. At the dock where his 42-foot scalloping boat was once moored, friends said they all knew the general timeline: On a clear Sunday morning, just off the northwest tip of Provincetown, Frottier’s scallop dredge got caught in a line of lobster traps. The weight of the stuck dredge tugged at the boat, causing it to capsize.

When a nearby fishing vessel raced to the scene, Frottier’s mate, the only other person on the vessel, was clinging to the boat’s hull. As the boat began to submerge, Frottier was nowhere to be seen.

Chief John Harker, the US Coast Guard officer in charge of the Provincetown station, said that in the dozen hours after the accident, Coast Guard and Massachusetts State Police rescue teams searched for miles around the spot of the capsizing without finding Frottier. Harker said officials are nearly certain the captain was trapped inside.

 

Read the full story at the Boston Globe

 

 

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — November 26, 2012 — Lobster boat captain Beau Gribbin watched from three-quarters of a mile away as the Twin Lights appeared to catch on something underwater as it dredged for scallops late Sunday morning.

The Glutton, piloted by Gribbin, and the 40-foot Twin Lights, piloted by Jean Frottier, both out of Provincetown, had fished alongside each other for 10 years. The two fishing crews were in their usual spot: an area of state waters two miles north of Provincetown that draws both lobster and scallop fishermen.

There were unusually high seas Sunday, because of recent storms, Gribbin said Tuesday. His vessel hauled eastward, which gave his crew a good view of the goings-on of the fiberglass-hulled Twin Lights.

Frottier turned the Twin Lights down wind for calmer seas, which is customary when there's entanglement, Gribbin said. Then the Twin Lights appeared to take on water and lean sideways, and Gribbin put his binoculars up.

"We saw him roll over," Gribbin said. "He just rolled right over."

The one crew member on the Twin Lights, Eric Rego, was rescued by the crew of the Glutton.

Frottier, 69, of Wellfleet is believed to have died aboard the Twin Lights, although there has been no official confirmation yet. An attempt to reach the Frottier family on Tuesday was unsuccessful.

On Tuesday, the Coast Guard made plans to use a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, to get a closer look at the Twin Lights, which sits on the ocean floor in 198 feet of water. The life raft from the Twin Lights washed up Tuesday on the shore of the Cape Cod National Seashore, along with fishing totes, baskets and line, Coast Guard Station Provincetown Chief John Harker said.

The Coast Guard has opened an investigation, Coast Guard spokesman Senior Chief Jamey Kinney said Tuesday. Investigations of this sort can take months, he said.

The ROV, which will likely be equipped with still and videocameras among other equipment, will allow state police divers and the Coast Guard to determine the status of the Twin Lights, its position in the water and if there is a body on board, Harker said. The schedule for the ROV is still being determined, and will depend on the weather, the agency loaning the ROV and other factors.

"It's in the planning stages," Harker said. "The current is some of the worst in the Northeast, and when you add 200 feet for diving, it's a very technical operation."

 

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

 

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — November 26, 2012 — The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a missing fisherman after a scallop boat sank off the coast of Cape Cod.

Officials say the 42-foot boat capsized Sunday morning near Provincetown with two fishermen aboard. The boat had become entangled in fishing gear.

Authorities say crew members from a nearby lobster boat were able to rescue one of the fishermen. 

Read the full article from AP at The Boston Globe

 

 

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — November 20, 2012 — Tony Avallone stood with a group of fellow fishermen Monday morning on MacMillan Pier and recalled that he once asked Jean Frottier why he didn't leave early in the morning to go scalloping like other fishermen.

"He said he had to drive his daughter to school," Avallone said. "They had a father-daughter relationship like no one else."

Frottier, 69, is believed to have died when his 42-foot fishing vessel, the Twin Lights, capsized and sank two miles off Race Point on Sunday afternoon.

"All he did was work his butt off for his wife and daughter," said Avallone, who crewed for many years on boats owned and captained by Frottier.

Although the Coast Guard has not yet given a reason for the sinking, Avallone and others said they had been told by fishermen at the scene that Frottier's scallop dredge became entangled in a line of lobster traps. When he brought the heavy 800-pound dredge to the surface and hoisted it 12 feet overhead to try and free the line, the combined weight of the dredge and the lobster gear made the boat top-heavy. The pressure from the lobster line also helped drag the stern down, and the Twin Lights began taking on water.

Kurt Schmidt, 72, a lobster diver who partnered with Frottier in various ventures over the years, said his friend could have cut the line and saved his vessel, but he believes Frottier was trying to save the traps for the lobsterman.

With the Twin Lights listing to one side, Frottier attempted to use the engine to pull the line off the dredge but, instead, the vessel suddenly flipped over.

Crewman Eric Rego was able to scramble off the stern and onto the overturned hull, but Frottier was apparently trapped in the wheelhouse as the vessel rolled and floated upside down with the bow pointing up out of the water.

A 47-foot rescue vessel from Coast Guard station Provincetown arrived on scene within 45 minutes of being notified at 11:30 a.m., said Chief John Harker, the officer in charge.

Harker commended the Provincetown fishing vessel Glutton, captained by Beau Gribbin, which was nearby when the Twin Lights capsized, and rescued Rego.

A Coast Guard helicopter and Falcon jet arrived soon after the capsizing. The 270-foot-long cutter Spencer and 110-foot Grand Isle soon joined in the search. Although the boat was floating upside down for a while, the wheelhouse was too deep for rescue swimmers to penetrate, Coast Guard spokesman Rob Simpson said. By the time state police divers arrived on scene, the vessel had already sunk too far down into the water, Simpson said. At some point, the Twin Lights sank to the bottom.

 

Read the full article at the Cape Cod Times