Thursday, 4:30 PM
Newburyport fishing boat still missing
(Coast Guard photo)
Lady Luck disappeared early Thursday morning 12 miles off the coast of Maine, just south of Portland.
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
A Newburyport-based fishing boat with two crew members aboard is still missing this morning despite an intense all-night search by the Coast Guard of almost 5,400 square miles of ocean off Cape Elizabeth in Maine.
While a two Coast Guard cutters, a jet and a helicopter are still hunting for the 52-foot Lady Luck, weather conditions at sea are expected to begin deteriorating today for what is predicted to be a turbulent weekend with 15-foot waves. [To view an animated map of the Coast Guard’s 23 separate searches by plane and helicopter, click here.]
The Coast Guard received a distress call from the ship's emergency beacon at about 2 a.m. on Thursday from a location 12 miles off Cape Elizabeth, just south of Portland. Investigators found an oil slick and debris floating near where it received the distress call. It could not be determined if the wreckage belonged to the Lady Luck.
The boat had been heading to Gloucester and carrying its captain, Sean Cone, 24, from North Andover, and Dan Miller, 21, a crewman from North Hampton, N.H.
"Very little changed over night," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Luke Pinneo. "We are continuing to search this morning, but we haven’t had any sightings."
Pat Cone, Sean's father, said the Lady Luck left Portland at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in search of cod, haddock, and flounder. The pair was expected to return to Gloucester today. Sean Cone had recently spent more than $100,000 fixing up the boat since he bought it three years ago, his father said.
The weather when the boat went missing was not particularly hazardous, with winds blowing at about 10 knots and four-foot waves.
"For this time of year, that's fairly mild," Pinneo said.
Waves are predicted to increase today to six-feet. By Saturday, 40-knot winds are forecast to push waves up to 15-feet high, Pinneo said.
A New Bedford fishing vessel with a four-man crew sank last weekend.
The Lady of Grace, a 75-foot dragger, went down about 12 miles north of Nantucket.
The Coast Guard found that boat's emergency beacon lodged between the deck and the starboard bulwark. Coast Guard officials said they never received an emergency signal.
They identified the Lady of Grace crew as Rogerio Ventura, 54; Mario Farinhas, 62; John Da Silva, 50; and Antonio Barroqueiro, 50. Barroqueiro's body has been recovered.
