Mate Saw Large Ship, Stop and Light Up Near Time of Lady Mary Accident

CAPE MAY — Fishing boat mate Jim Taylor was on board the fishing vessel Elisa G., nearby the scallop boat Lady Mary, when an accident occurred causing the Lady Mary to sink taking the lives of six crewmembers March 24.
Taylor told the Herald at around 5:15 a.m. that morning, he saw a large container ship, he believes was the Cap Beatrice, stop dead in the water and turn on all its lights.
“Those ships, very rarely will you see them out of a clear blue sky stop and light up,” he said.
“I can almost bet that ship knew that it hit him,” he said.
Normally, large ships are well lit, he said, but the container ship he saw at 5:15 a.m. did not light up until it came to a stop.
A possible scenario from a team of volunteer divers based on seeing the Lady Mary 210 feet below the surface and initial testimony of the Marine Board of Investigation, theorizes at around 5 a.m. or shortly thereafter, the 965-foot container ship, the Cap Beatrice struck the aft port comer of the Lady Mary.
Taylor said the sky was clear but the wind was blowing at about 35 knots. The wind had picked up about 1:30 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Taylor said he heard a Mayday call from a boat he now believes was the Lady Mary but at the time it was unintelligible. He said the Mayday call sounded like “eye, guy-guy-guy.”
“If they would have said the boat name or got a flare off, we or somebody else right there would have had them,” said Taylor. “I was probably two and half, three miles away from them.”
He said heard only the one Mayday call, which he said, sounded sort of like Vietnamese.
Earlier in the day, the Elisa G and the Lady Mary were 50 yards away from each other, said Taylor.
Taylor said he spoke with the U.S. Coast Guard but at that time he didn’t really think about seeing the large container ship light up and stop.
“If they had put a flare up, I would have put the dredge on deck and went right over there,” he said.
He said in 1994-1995 said he was on a fishing boat hit by an oil tanker which did not stop. The boat Taylor was aboard had an outrigger knocked off and damage to the bow.