In Maine, hope is now replaced by mourning.
Four families, one of whom has ties to Gloucester, Mass., were grieving Wednesday after the US Coast Guard ended its search for the Emmy Rose, an 82-foot long steel-hulled fishing vessel that sank into the Atlantic Ocean around 1 a.m. Monday some 20 miles off the coast of Provincetown.
Relatives, friends, and the ship’s owner launched GoFundMe campaigns to help surviving significant others, daughters, sons, and grandchildren of the Emmy Rose’s captain, Robert Blethen Jr., Jeff Matthews, Ethan M. Ward and Michael Porper Jr., a Gloucester native, according to social media postings and records.
“The crew on the F/V EmmyRose were honorable men. All were extremely passionate about the fishing industry, but most importantly, they loved and cared for their families more than anything in the world,’' Rosalee Varian,whose family owned the Emmy Rose, wrote on the GoFundMe page set up for all four men. “These four men were the best out there. They will be deeply missed, but they will never be forgotten.”
The posting noted: “These four families lost a husband, a father, a son, a grandson, a brother, and a nephew right before the holidays. These families need all the love and support that our community can give.”
The ship’s owners could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Ward, a Pownal, Maine, resident, was described as a “hard worker, a loving father, dedicated boyfriend, an honest friend, and a man any family member could be proud of…He pushed himself to be better and do better for his family, though he didn’t realize just how much we all loved and cherished him just the way he was.”
Porper, a Gloucester native who graduated from the city’s high school, held a position of trust among the four-man crew when the Emmy Rose was conducting the second most important task for fishing – offloading and selling their fish.
Nick Giacalone, co-owner of Fisherman’s Wharf Gloucester, said when the Emmy Rose was being offloaded at his company’s facility, Porper was the one who recorded the volume and type of fish that was unloaded and also made sure that boat records matched the wholesale firm’s records.
“Everyone clearly trusted him to be up there and to make sure the stuff was being recorded the right way,’' Giacalone said. “He knew what they should have gotten paid. It was definitely a trust thing.”
Giacalone said Porper and Blethen would usually spend hours at the Gloucester wharf while the time-consuming practice of unloading was underway. That meant random conversations between him, his co-owner brothers, and the Emmy Rose’s crew, especially its captain and Porper.
“For me and my brothers, it hasn’t set in yet – the guys we traditionally see once a week and talk to and hang out with are now gone,’' he said. “These guys knew what they were doing…They were just out there busting their asses to try to make a living in a dangerous business…It’s just tragic.”
Giacalone said Blethen was a veteran captain who was very good at his job both as someone skilled at locating fish and in directing his crew what to do once they were ready to haul them in.
“We’d be in touch back and forth on the sat phone to find out how much he caught, what’s the best day to come in” to hit the market at the right time, Giacalone said. “I talked to Bobby that night…That’s why he was headed in, and coming to Gloucester to off load. It’s tragic.”
Blethen’s family could not be reached for comment.
In the GoFundMe page posted for Matthews, he is described as a hard-working man devoted to fishing and to his family. One of his daughters, Reyann Matthews, told the Globe Tuesday he “was the best man I ever met in my entire life.”
“He would give the shirt off the back for someone,” she said in a Facebook message. “He would go without just to make sure his kids had everything they needed. He was the man I could lay my head on when I was crying and would give me words of wisdom so I didn’t give up. He was truly my best friend and my other half and this is the worst thing that’s ever happened.”
The Coast Guard will investigate the sinking of the 33-year-old boat, a process that could take months and most of which will be conducted on dry land as investigators search any records available about the ship’s history, its maintenance records along with available nautical data.
“An investigation will be conducted, and that can take some time,’' said Petty Officer Amanda Wyrick, a First District spokeswoman. “The main objective is to find out what happened and why this vessel sank. The reason for finding why is that it could lead to regulatory or policy changes. It’s to try and assure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
The Coast Guard was alerted that the ship was in difficulty when the on-board emergency beacon began transmitting around 1 a.m. Monday; the owner also reported he could not reach the crew on the satellite phone.
No mayday call was made, the Coast Guard said. Air crews arriving at the EPIRB’s location found a drifting, empty, lifeboat and some debris but no sign of the crew, officials said.
In the absence of survivors, the key piece of evidence, the ship itself, is under the waves. Wyrick said the Coast Guard has only limited submersible remotely operated vehicles that are more often used for shoreline inquiries, not in the open ocean.
“It really depends on what the investigation shows up,’' said Wyrick.
Whatever changes the sinking of the Emmy Rose may one day bring to the fishing industry, there is one industry practice that will remain intact – the ships will sail out to sea once again, guaranteed.
“The boats will keep fishing and the fisherman will keep fishing. That’s what we do as hard as this is. That’s what we do,’' said Hank Soule of Sustainable Harvest Sector, a cooperative that included the Emmy Rose among its members. “It’s something they are passionate about. They know the risk and they take the risk.”
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
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Family and friends mourn loss of four fishermen after Coast Guard ends search for vessel that sank off Provincetown - The Boston Globe
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