As search continues, hope fades

NEW BEDFORD -- As the Coast Guard scoured the frigid waters off Nantucket last night for five fishermen feared dead more than 24 hours after their scallop boat sank, the lone survivor described his struggle for survival in a raging sea after watching the vessel's only life boat slip from the grasp of crewmates.

Coast Guard officials vowed not to give up the search, but New Bedford's fishing community, bred on a legacy of men lost at sea, braced for a Christmas season of funerals, rather than festivity. Still, some clung to hope that the missing crewmen of the Northern Edge were alive.

If those hopes prove futile, the human toll of Monday's accident 45 miles southeast of Nantucket would be the worst in New England since the Andrea Gail of Gloucester sank in 1991 with its entire crew of six, a tragedy captured in the book and movie ''A Perfect Storm."

Among those feared dead yesterday were captain Carlos Lopes of New Bedford, whose friends mourned over brandy and beer at New Bedford's Portuguese American Club. Ray Richards, the 38-year-old cook of the Northern Edge, known for his voracious appetite, is also believed to have died.

Family members identified another crewman as Glen Crowley, described by his brother-in-law as ''a good-hearted guy taken too soon."

The Coast Guard identified two other crewmembers last night as Juan Flores and Eric Guillen.

The lone survivor, Pedro Furtado, 22, speaking by satellite phone from the fishing boat that rescued him, recalled how he jumped into 11-foot waves to retrieve the 75-foot vessel's rubber lifeboat, which had fallen overboard before the crew could inflate it.

Furtado said the icy water quickly filled his boots and started to pull him down. Frantically, he pulled them off and bobbed to the surface near the lifeboat, where he was able to push the button that inflated it. He hoisted himself into the boat and shouted to his five crewmates to join him.

''The wind was so strong, and I called to them and called," Furtado said from aboard the Diane Marie, near the site of the sinking. ''I tried to get them. There were three, four waves, and the boat went under. Four of them were still on it."

For 35 minutes, Furtado held on to the lifeboat, half-naked and freezing as choppy waves tossed the tiny craft, several times flipping it on top of him, until the crew of the Diane Marie, which had been fishing nearby when it heard the SOS, pulled alongside him, and he scrambled on board.

Two US Coast Guard vessels searching the area yesterday found five or six scallop buckets in the water, but little else, said Dave Spillman, head of search and rescue for the Boston office. He said the search team would continue working through the night and reevaluate the situation today. He added that family members of the crewmen met with Coast Guard officials yesterday at the New Bedford police station.

''The families are upset; they are concerned about what the future is," Spillman said.

The Coast Guard was investigating the cause of the sinking. Officers received a distress call from the Northern Edge at 4:44 p.m. Monday. Soon after, the crew radioed that the boat had overturned and was sinking.

Furtado said the crew had been fishing for scallops when the Northern Edge suddenly turned sideways and began taking the waves broadside. Water breached the deck, causing the vessel to founder and ultimately capsize.

Furtado said he was unsure why the boat turned into the waves, although other fishermen suggested it might be because its dredging gear, which scallopers use to dig shellfish off the bottom, became snarled on the ocean floor. The gear acted as an anchor, forcing the boat to swing around in the roiling sea and face the first of four waves that would swamp the vessel.

''When they hit that wave, they had to have known: This is the one, the one they all talk about," said Susan Dimock, a close friend of Ray Richards's girlfriend. Richards, who loved making wonton soup on fishing trips, was fondly known as ''no show" because he was always late, friends said. He normally fished on the Curlew II, but decided to go scalloping to make more money for Christmas, they said.

Built in 1979, the Northern Edge has a good safety record, Coast Guard officials said yesterday. Owned by Joseph Rato of Fairhaven, the boat is managed by his son-in-law, Peter Kilshaw of Fairhaven, New Bedford fishermen said yesterday. Rato said yesterday he was ''hoping for the best." Kilshaw's family said they were too distraught to talk.

The men were fishing in an area previously closed to fishermen as part of an effort to build up cod and haddock populations. But this year, some scallopers were allowed into the area for a trip with a limit of up to 18,000 pounds of scallops, according to fishermen and fishery officials.

The scallopers were originally to have been allowed in the area last summer, but delays by the regional fishery board had postponed the opportunity until November. The rules allowed scallopers to choose a time for their trip and also encouraged the scallopers not to break off their trips in the event of bad weather: Scallopers who stayed at sea without interruption had the best chance of coming home with the full load and without penalties.

Some fishermen blamed the federal fishery service for the men's death. ''Why didn't we get the trips in the summer or fall?" said Carlos Rafael, who owns 13 fishing boats. ''It's their fault."

Yesterday, officials of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the New England Fishery Management Council said they would review the rules to see whether they could be changed so fishermen would not be penalized for turning back in harsh weather.

''It's a bad day for us; we don't know all the details," said Teri Frady of the National Marine Fisheries Service. ''We obviously want to know what has happened."

To reach his full quota of scallops, the captain of the Diane Marie originally had planned to continue fishing after rescuing Furtado.

But the captain, Tony Alvernaz, changed his mind. The boat is expected back in New Bedford today.

''I couldn't ask my guys to continue working," Alvernaz said.

He said his vessel was nearby when it picked up the distress call from the Northern Edge. But rescuing Furtado was difficult. The lifeboat repeatedly capsized, and Alvernaz had trouble maneuvering his 200-ton boat close enough to snatch Furtado without crushing him.

''No way have I ever seen anything like it," Alvernaz said by satellite phone. ''That life raft had lights, and he's constantly flipping over and flipping over and scrambling back on."

Alvarnaz finally succeeded in bringing the boat close enough for Furtado to grab hold of ropes and pull himself onto the Diane Marie, cutting his foot as he landed on scallops strewn across the deck.

''He was beet-red like a lobster," said Alvarnaz.

Furtado, originally from Portugal, praised the Diane Marie's crew yesterday and expressed sorrow for his crewmates. He said he did not know why four crewmembers failed to jump from the sinking Northern Edge. The only one who did, Richards, drowned before he could be saved.

''I am feeling very nervous," Furtado said. Physically, he said, he was fine, other than the cut on his foot.

For New Bedford, it is the second year in a row the holiday season has been marred by fishing deaths: Last year, three scallopers died days before Christmas, when their boat capsized off Chatham.

Friends of Lopes, the ship's captain, described him as a happy-go-lucky fisherman who had embarked on this trip with an uncharacteristic sense of foreboding. He had prepaid his 2005 dues for the city's Portuguese Club. He had purchased gifts for friends, for no apparent reason.

Sarah Schweitzer of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.