Investigative report explores F/V Lady Mary sinking

For those of you who caught Maritime Monday this morning, hopefully you found the link over to Chapter 1 of the Star Ledger’s report into the mysterious 2009 sinking of the Lady Mary, the sea scallop boat that mysteriously sank 66 miles off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey in the early morning hours of March 24, killing six of the seven crewman. The series, titled The Wreck of the Lady Mary and authored by Amy Ellis Nut, will be posted in 5 parts over 4 days, starting with Chapter 1 posted over the weekend.

Here’s a little bit about the series, provided by NJ.com:

Reporting began in January after the U.S. Coast Guard finished its investigative hearings.

For the next seven months, Amy Ellis Nutt and Andre Malok made dozens of trips, to Cape May, Philadelphia, Atlantic City and North Carolina. Those interviewed included: the co-owner of the Lady Mary; the boat’s sole survivor; family members and friends of the six men who died in the sinking; scallop fishermen, especially those working within six miles of the Lady Mary the night she disappeared; the divers who explored the sunken wreck; officials from the Coast Guard and the rescue crew who saved JosÃ© Arias; and the dock manager for Hamburg Sud, the shipping company that leases the container ship Cap Beatrice.

Some 800 pages of testimony from Coast Guard hearings were reviewed, navigation and vessel tracking records studied, and nearly two dozen marine experts interviewed, a number of whom had specific training in shipwreck forensics. Two sources with direct access to the investigation also provided documents the Coast Guard refused to make public because it has not yet released its report.

Have a read of Chapter 1 and now Chapter 2 of the series and let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to check NJ.com for Chapters 2 and 3, scheduled to be posted tomorrow.

Be sure to join the ongoing discussion on this incident in the gCaptain Forum thread HERE.

[Photo Courtesy Royal “Fuzzy” Smith via NJ.com]