Commercial Fishing Boat Sinks After Collision

A 44-foot commercial fishing boat out of Hampton Bays sank after being hit by another boat in foggy conditions Sunday morning on the Atlantic Ocean.The Elizabeth J was hit by a 48-foot sport fishing boat, the Stradivarius, at about 10:50 a.m. and roughly 17 nautical miles south of the Shinnecock Inlet, in approximately 150 feet of water. There were no injuries reported.The owner of the Elizabeth J, Jeff Kraus of Southampton, was not on the boat at the time of the accident, but he said his vessel was traveling at about three knots and fishing for scallops when his captain—Michael Mason of Hampton Bays—spotted the Stradivarius on the boat’s radar approaching at roughly 20 knots.“We have the right of way, number one,” Mr. Kraus said when he reached out to The Press on Monday morning. “And two, the captain said he spotted the sporty on the radar and made calls to try to notify him but [the other boat] never responded to the radio calls.”At the time of the accident, visibility was about a quarter of a nautical mile due to foggy conditions, according to the Coast Guard. Mr. Kraus said a boat is responsible for being able to stop within half the distance of visibility, meaning that the captain of the Stradivarius—Brian Gibson of Rhode Island—should have been traveling at a speed that would have allowed it to stop within an eighth of a mile.Mr. Gibson told the Coast Guard that the boat he was captaining was called the Nina Marie, but its owner, Thomas Ricci, also of Rhode Island, clarified Tuesday that the boat involved in Sunday’s accident was, in fact, the Stradivarius.Mr. Ricci explained that he was having Mr. Gibson transport the Stradivarius from Florida up to Rhode Island at the time. Mr. Ricci also noted that he was in Boston on the day of the collision, explaining that he knows “none of the particulars” about the incident, though he does not think Mr. Gibson did anything wrong.“He told me there was fog and when he looked up there was a boat in front of him,” Mr. Ricci said. “That’s all I got.”One of the crew members of the Elizabeth J—identified by Mr. Kraus as Rob Lindquist of Hampton Bays—was ejected into the 56-degree water. He was rescued by the two people on the Stradivarius, but that boat quickly began taking on water so all three transferred to the Elizabeth J, according to Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant Junior-grade Martin Betts.The Elizabeth J also was taking on water, so the three crew members and the two passengers from the Stradivarius contacted the Coast Guard and deployed an emergency raft from the commercial fishing boat.Two rescue boats were dispatched from the Coast Guard Station Shinnecock shortly before 11 a.m., along with two rescue helicopters from the Coast Guard’s station in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They were in the area of the accident by about noon, Lt. Betts said.After getting the call, the Coast Guard contacted another fishing vessel in the area and that boat, Adventurous, picked up all five people at 12:20 p.m. and then rendezvoused with the Coast Guard cutters, which transported the five individuals back to shore. No one required medical attention.The Elizabeth J sank but Sea-Tow Shinnecock/Moriches was able tow the Stradivarius back to shore.Captain Les Trafford, owner of Sea-Tow Shinnecock/Moriches, said he left Hampton Bays at about 11 a.m. Sunday and didn’t make it back until after 7 a.m. Monday. He said he was slowed down because he was unable to patch the leak until he got the boat back to shore.“We couldn’t get it floating off-shore,” he said. “So it was a three-and-a-half knot tow for 17 miles, with the boat mostly submerged.”After returning to Hampton Bays, Mr. Trafford said he was able to pump out the water and get the boat back on dry land.Mr. Ricci said he has not seen his boat, but was informed it was damaged further during the towing process. “Apparently the boat is totaled, that’s what I heard,” he said. “I’m the guy that’s paying the bills and I’m the guy that knows nothing at this point.”Mr. Kraus said Mr. Gibson, who was at the helm of the Stradivarius, apologized after the accident for not being more careful. Still, Mr. Kraus said he intends on taking Mr. Ricci to court to recoup what he invested in his commercial fishing boat that is now at the bottom of the ocean.The Coast Guard has not filed any charges against Mr. Gibson, though Lt. Betts noted that the accident is still under investigation.“I’ve got a boat at the bottom of the ocean and five guys who are out of work now,” Mr. Kraus said. “I’m not calling to trash the other boat here, but the reality is he was the one that was traveling too fast and he was the one who hit us.”