Thursday, 4:30 PM
Boat found, crew missing off Nantucket
By Kathy Mccabe, Globe Staff
A dive team today located the Lady of Grace, a 75-foot fishing boat from New Bedford, but the search continued off Nantucket for its four-member crew, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
"We're very concerned for their safety," Petty Officer Zach Zubricki said. "It's a very serious situation. We have not located them yet. We don't know if they're inside the boat or not."
Antonio Barroqueiro, 50, of Fairhaven was captain of the vessel, which was reported missing on Saturday. Crew members included Joao Silva, his brother-in-law, and Mario Farinha and Rogerio Vendura, officials said.
Reached by telephone today, Barroqueiro's daughter, Maria, called her father "a hard worker . . . He loved his family very much."
She said the Barroqueiro and Silva families were together at the captain's Fairhaven home. "We're hoping for the best," she said.
Divers found the sunken vessel about 2:30 p.m., roughly 11 nautical miles north of Nantucket, the boat's last known position. It was lying portside, in 36 ft. of water. Its only life raft was still in its case, attached to the bottom, Zubricki said.
"That is not a good sign," he said. "We were hoping that they could find the life raft and get out."
The Coast Guard continued its search by air and sea. Since Saturday, the Coast Guard conducted 25 separate searches, covering more than 6,000 square miles. "We've covered a lot of area," Zubricki said. "We're still looking for the crew."
