Staff reports
GLOUCESTER — As the Coast Guard probes the tragic loss of a Gloucester-based fishing boat and her crew, one potential cause is eerily similar to an accident that claimed a Newburyport vessel and her crew 12 years ago.
Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard said they have interviewed six crew members who were aboard a tug and barge believed to have been in the vicinity of the Patriot's last known position at the time of the Gloucester-based trawler's sinking last Saturday morning — an accident that left two local fishermen dead.
Coast Guard casualty investigators traveled to Maryland to inspect the tug and barge and have taken the tow line into custody for further analysis.
The circumstances the Coast Guard are probing are similar to a 1996 accident that capsized the Newburyport-based Heather Lynne II. Three members of her crew — John Michael Lowther, 26, of Newburyport; Jeffrey Hutchins, 30, of Byfield; and Kevin Foster, 38, of Pembroke, N.H. — drowned in that accident.
The Coast Guard probe of the Heather Lynne II accident revealed it struck a tow cable connecting a 270-foot barge and its towboat, which flipped the Heather Lynne. Rescuers could hear crewmen, who were trapped below deck, desperately banging on the capsized hull. They died before they could be rescued.
The Coast Guard investigation found the Heather Lynne II and the tugboat operator shared blame for the accident. The tugboat pilot's license was suspended for four months, and the victims' families were awarded $1 million in damages from the tugboat company. The Coast Guard itself was criticized for a rescue effort some contended was botched by delays and a lack of communication.
Yesterday afternoon, Coast Guard officials, Gloucester and state officials and representatives of Gloucester's fishing community hosted a press conference at Gloucester City Hall to discuss the latest discoveries in the Patriot's sinking. At the conference, Capt. Gail Kulisch, commander of Coast Guard Sector Boston, joined Mayor Carolyn Kirk, local state lawmakers Bruce Tarr and Ann-Margaret Ferrante, Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association President Angela Sanfilippo and City Councilor Sefatia Romeo and pledged cooperative efforts to not only find the cause of the Patriot's sinking, but also to look into protocols and other issues that delayed the Coast Guard's response time before sending a boat and helicopter to the scene.
The Coast Guard has also placed a "safety zone" late Thursday night around the site where the fishing vessel Patriot sunk, with Matteo Russo and his father-in-law, John Orlando, aboard.
"We have established a safety zone to preserve the integrity of the scene and vessel while investigators continue working on this case," said Kulisch, who spent the afternoon in Gloucester meeting with members of the Russo and Orlando families. "Furthermore, the area presents a potential hazard to other fishing vessels operating in the area with fishing gear extended."
Any boats that enter the safety zone will be instructed to leave the area immediately unless they have prior permission from the captain of the Port of Boston. Anyone violating the safety zone is subject to a civil penalty up to $32,500 and a criminal penalty up to five years in prison, Kulisch noted.
"We continue to interview people in the Gloucester area about the Patriot casualty," Kulisch said.
