CAPE MAY— Twenty days after the fishing vessel Lady Mary sank 65 miles offshore, a similar accident involving a scallop boat and a large container ship occurred in the same area.
Attorney Stevenson Lee Weeks Jr., representing the family of the Lady Mary’s deceased owner and Royal Smith Sr., told the Herald he has not dismissed the theory that the Lady Mary was struck by a large container ship.
While the Coast Guard has inspected a large, Liberian registered container ship, the Cap Beatrice, which was within one mile of the Lady Mary at the time off the accident, a press release indicated a diver found no apparent damage to that ship. The Coast Guard also interviewed crewmembers of the Cap Beatrice.
Weeks said the Cap Beatrice was inspected 50 days after the Lady Mary sinking. In the meantime, the freighter had sailed to Australia and back.
A dive team, made up of volunteers, made a second dive to the wreck of the Lady Mary. They took a number of photos that show damage to the fishing boat in detail.
Weeks said the damage to the Lady Mary was comparable to damage to the scallop boat, Dictator, which was struck by a commercial vessel in the same area, the Elephant Trunk, about 20 days after the Lady Mary accident.
“The damage was very similar,” said Weeks. “I have not written that off. I don’t know if the Coast Guard has.”
He said because damage was not found on the Cap Beatrice doesn’t mean there wasn’t collision.
Photos of the damage to the Dictator and the photos of the damage to the Lady Mary are very similar, he said.
On April 14, the Dictator, a 85-foot scallop fishing vessel home ported in Southwest Harbor, Mass. sustained an “enormous amount of damage” after an encounter with a 965-foot container vessel 47 miles off the coast of Cape May. Unlike the Lady Mary, that vessel did not sink. Three crewmembers sustained slight injuries.
The Dictator lost its drive train when its stern was struck damaging the rudder wheel and shaft.
Quick action by the crew is credited for no loss of life in that incident. There were seven crewmembers and an observer aboard.
The Dictator’s captain Rick Curtis, said safety training of the crew resulted in a good outcome of the accident. He said he saw The Florida, a 965-foot British-registered container ship going down the side of his fishing boat with water from the container ship’s wake washing over the stern.
According to Fisherman’s Voice, Curtis immediately radioed a mayday distress call. At first, The Florida did not respond and continued on its journey, he said.
Curtis said the crew of the Florida said they did not see the Dictator despite having three persons in its wheelhouse.
A key difference between the Dictator and Lady Mary accidents was that nearby fishing vessels rendered aid to the Dictator, but they did not assist the Lady Mary.
The Coast Guard Cutter Finback from Cape May arrived on scene and towed the Dictator to port.
Curtis claimed the freighter was running at 18 knots in a 10-knot zone.
The Dictator was struck by the container ship during daylight at about 2 p.m. in heavy rain and fog with 20 to 30 mph winds. Weather conditions reportedly limited the range of Dictator’s radar.
The Dictator’s towlines were in the water at the time of the collision, which limited how fast it could maneuver. Curtis said all crewmembers donned survival suits.
Weeks said the Dictator’s rudder was knocked off, the propeller was damaged, the port nozzle sustained a lot of damage and the engine was knocked off its bed from by the force that was sent through the propeller.
Weeks said he would like to have the captain of the Dictator testify when the hearing resumes due to similarities in damage to the boats. He said he has requested and received photos of damage to the Dictator from its owner.
When the Marine Board of Investigation hearing resumes, the dive team that photographed the Lady Mary will testify. Weeks said the photos from the dive team were much better in quality than those taken earlier by a remotely operated vehicle for the Coast Guard.
Weeks said the dive into 200 feet of water was dangerous. The divers breathed a mixture of three gases.
“I would personally like to see the rudder recovered so a metallurgist can look at the rudder,” he said.
There is substantial damage to the rudder, propeller and stern ramp of the Lady Mary, said Weeks.
A volleyball-size hole below the waterline has been found on the wreck, he said.
Week’s said the stern ramp was supported by four, four-inch square pieces of steel tubing.
“The port most piece of tubing supporting it, that piece of tubing is probably 10 feet long, is shoved all the way through the back of the boat,” he said.
Weeks said photographs indicate the stern ramp, on the port (left) side, is basically pushed in to within a foot or so of the hull.
Another attorney, representing the families of deceased crewmembers, told the Herald the Lady Mary was uninsured. He said the hearing is likely to be moved to Philadelphia or North Carolina to accommodate a greater percentage of people attending.
He said there might be litigation against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration due to a discrepancy of registration of an emergency distress beacon (EPIRB) that may have delayed rescue of the crewmembers.
NOAA satellite search and rescue analyst told a Coast Guard Marine Board of Inquiry May 7 that the Lady Mary’s EPIRB was incorrectly registered by a NOAA contractor which may have delayed the rescue by 90 minutes.
Because of the inaccuracy, it emitted a signal when the boat was slipping below the ocean surface after 5 a.m. March 24 but it did not identify its location, the name of the vessel or a contact phone number for its owners.
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