A television fisherman who vanished with his crew when their boat sank off the coast of Massachusetts on Friday made a tragic phone call to a friend just hours before the vessel went down. Captain Gus Sanfilippo, a fifth-generation commercial fisherman from Gloucester, Massachusetts, is presumed dead along with six other seamen after the Lily Jean capsized in frigid conditions.
Sanfilippo's friend and fellow fishing captain, Sebastian Noto, told NBC10 Boston they spoke at around 3am Friday while both were at sea, about 30 miles apart. Noto said Sanfilippo complained of the cold, with temperatures around 12F, and told him: 'I quit. It's too cold.' Noto later became concerned when he did not hear from his friend for the rest of the day.
The US Coast Guard received a radio beacon alert from the Lily Jean at about 7am Friday and launched a search covering 1,000 square miles. They found one body and an empty life raft but no other survivors. The search was called off on Saturday morning. The crew did not send a Mayday distress signal, and the cause of the sinking remains unknown.
Noto speculated that the vessel may have had mechanical issues, such as a problem with the bilge pump, but expressed bafflement that no SOS was sent. 'Just a guess, I could be wrong you know because even if the bilge is taking water, you got plenty of time to call Mayday,' he said. 'You got plenty of time to get into the survival suit, life raft. The boat takes time to sink.'
Sanfilippo and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show Nor'Easter Men, which depicted them working in dangerous weather conditions. The Coast Guard said suspending the search was 'an incredibly difficult and painstaking decision,' made after determining that no one could have survived given the frigid water and air temperatures and the time since the vessel sank. A formal marine casualty investigation has begun.
