Hope Subsides for Five Missing Fishermen

One week ago, Tammy Misiaszek lingered on the dock here as her fiance headed off on a scalloping expedition. She gave Ray Richards a hug and a kiss and asked him to come home safely, the best Christmas present she could receive.

She did not say goodbye, because families of fishermen never say goodbye.

“You say, ‘I’ll see you when you come back,’ ” Misiaszek said.

But on Wednesday, she tearfully acknowledged that the burly cook on a boat called the Northern Edge was not coming back. The 75-foot vessel sank in a fierce storm off Nantucket on Monday, carrying five crew members to their deaths. Only one of the Northern Edge’s fishermen, 22-year-old Pedro Furtado, survived.

It was the worst fishing accident in New England since 1991, when a boat called the Andrea Gail sank and all six crew members died. The incident was documented in the book and movie “A Perfect Storm.”

After using boats and aircraft to search the area known as Nantucket Lightship, the Coast Guard late Wednesday ended its search for Richards, Glen Crowley, Juan Flores, Eric Guillen and the Northern Edge’s captain, Carlos Lopes.

In this old seaside city, where roads are paved with cobblestone and some streets are illuminated by gaslights, the fishing community grimly accepted the news.

“Every time this happens, it is just devastating,” said George Gomes, 62, a fisherman for more than four decades and a friend of most of the crew from the Northern Edge.

“I have lost so many of my friends in so many of these accidents,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky to still be here.”

A distress call sent to the Coast Guard from the Northern Edge at 4:44 p.m. Monday was quickly followed by an emergency radio dispatch saying the boat had capsized and was sinking.

Conditions in the region 45 miles southeast of Nantucket Island were brutal, with 35 to 45 mph winds and 10- to 15-foot waves.

According to Furtado -- who spoke to rescuers in his native Portuguese -- the Northern Edge was 1,000 pounds short of its 18,000-pound catch limit.

The ship, he said, listed heavily as it began one final “drag” for scallops. Suddenly, the ship turned sideways and began taking on water. A series of waves washed over the 25-year-old vessel.

Furtado said that he saw the ship’s inflatable life raft fall off the deck, and he jumped into the 45-degree water to recover it. He felt himself sinking as his boots filled with water and his clothes became soaked. He managed to kick off the boots and strip off most of his clothes.

Furtado grabbed the raft and pulled a valve to inflate it. He told the Standard-Times newspaper of New Bedford that he called to his crewmates, urging them to abandon the ship and climb into the life raft.

“I called them all,” Furtado told the newspaper. “They were all on top of the boat. They panicked. I started yelling for them to come. Nobody did.”

Richards eventually jumped off the sinking ship. Furtado said he tried to reach his 38-year-old crewmate, but Richards drowned.

Within an hour, Furtado was picked up by a fishing boat, the Dawn Marie, that had heard the SOS. On Wednesday, the Dawn Marie brought Furtado -- shaken but uninjured -- back to New Bedford.

Fisherman Joe Borges, who had known everyone aboard the Northern Edge, said he thought the vessel was unprepared for the harsh winter conditions.

“Some boats can take it, but not that one,” said Borges, 53.

Another fisherman, Bill Gallant, 69, said the Northern Edge might have pushed its luck by trying to fill its catch limit in hazardous conditions. The area where the ship went down previously had been closed off by maritime authorities to allow haddock, cod and scallop supplies to increase. It reopened last month and is scheduled to be closed again at the end of January.

Under restrictions imposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service, a boat that leaves the Nantucket Lightship area cannot reenter during the same season. Gallant said ships are monitored, and violations are met with a fine and confiscation of all or part of the catch.

“So when you go in there and you have weather, you have to stay,” Gallant said. “If you want your paycheck, you’ll stay.”

Across Front Street, many from the fishing community were congregating Wednesday at a smoky bar called the Cultivator Club. With her father -- also a fisherman -- beside her, Misiaszek received a stream of condolences.

“You are constantly concerned that something like this could happen,” said Misiaszek, 37. “You are always praying. It is always in the back of your mind.”

Misiaszek and Richards had known each other for 15 years and had been a couple for a year and a half. They planned to marry next year.

“He was a good, honest, hard-working man,” she said. “Everyone who knew him loved him.”

About this time last year, Misiaszek said, Richards had backed out of a scalloping trip aboard a ship called the Candy B. Richards lost four of his friends when the Candy B went down off Cape Cod, she said.

“This is a dangerous job,” Misiaszek said. “And they are courageous men.”